So as many of you know, I love to read. With the adjustment of
married life, moving, a new job, and new friends, I'm just now starting
to tackle the stack of books I've accumulated over the past few months.
This morning I finished Rob Bell's most recent book: "Jesus Wants to
Save Christians." Although this books is a bit short in length (only
215 pages including endnotes) I found it to be jam packed with valuable
content. To find out more, I encourage you to pick it up and read for
yourself.

 

While there were many things that I am still currently
wrestling with and processing, this morning I came across a quote and a
question that have really challenged me. Rob Bell quotes the Archbishop
William Temple saying: 

 

"A church is an organization that exists for the benefit of its nonmembers" (p 166).
Rob Bell then follows this statement with the question: "If our church
was taken away -- from our city, our neighborhood, our region -- who
would protest?" 

 

I've heard challenges similar to
this one in the past but this morning it has taken on a deeper meaning.
What this deeper meaning is, I don't know. I don't have it figured out 
and I don't have a nice way to wrap up this blog. I believe this is the
tension that we all live in. If your church was taken away, who would
notice? Only the church members? The community? Those in need? If
Adventures in Missions was taken away, who would notice? Only those
over seas? Would anyone in Gainesville, GA notice other than those of
us that work here?

 

And this is the tension that I am living in. I guess the challenge for me this morning is will this tension lead to action?