Track Two

This post is from the defunct blog "Dying Church"

The first track of disillusionment with modern approaches to church disillusioned me. There's a second track that gives me hope.

• It's the track of rediscovering the Gospel as more than just a decision. It's about sin, but it's about so much more.
• It's about rediscovering the mandate in the Bible to bless the world. It goes all the way back to Abraham (blessed to be a blessing) and continues right up to today.
• It's about discovering that many people at Richview were way ahead of me in sensing that the programmatic church model doesn't work, and they were already longing for something more.
• It's about thinking about the church as a community of apprentices of Jesus Christ, trying to learn together what it means to follow him.

This list tells you a lot about me - when was the church anything but concerned with these things? - but the thought of being part of a community of people trying to figure out how to follow Jesus, bless the world, and live the Gospel - that excites me. It's like the life that comes on the other side of dying.

Track One: Moving Away From	Track Two: Moving Toward
Gospel as a decision	Gospel as a way of life
Focus: managing church	Focus: blessing the community
Being alone	Being with others
Church as a provider of programs and services	Church as a community of apprentices