Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Is your church a stumbling block to full devotion or pathway to discipleship?

Reggie McNeil made a bold statement at the Exponential conference that I have been pondering the past few days.  He said that if the church is not producing disciples then all it is doing is producing consumers.  In the book And: The Gathered and Scattered Church, Hugh Halter writes, Consumerism reflects what Jesus came to call people out of. It's exactly the opposite of what Jesus is telling us to go and make!
It is the consensus of many pastors and church leaders that the church in general does not do a very good job of producing disciples.  Therefore, if the two statements above are true, then we must conclude that the church is actually leading people away from discipleship.  The church can be and is often a stumbling block to many believer's pursuit of Christ.  Now that is something to chew on.

Created uniquely in God’s image

In the beginning God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, He created them male and female.  Genesis 12:26 All men and wome...