Knother Knee jerK

"Christendom is dead. We western Jesus-followers must start thinking like missionaries in our own world. We can beat, but we can’t revive this thoroughly dead horse. Taking Jesus to the western world is going to require “out of the box” thinking."
-----I read this today in some material from someone.
the who isn't as important as the what. This is an example of the kind of talk that Xian leaders are throwing around the ivory tower circuit. This is mostly bravado. The "thinking" they're talking about usually leads right back into the box.

yeah, christendom is dead. sounds cool out of a book, but when you live in the ghetto, doors down from 5 church buildings, its confusing, man...

in some classroom that stuff flies around easy and makes for a feeling of excitement. But out here, it means that equippers of the saints must work 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet for themselves and their guests, and all the saints who cling to them...

you should see what the "death of christendom" brings out here... more like the "death of christian generosity". More like the death of Christian fearlessness... As long as the majority of Christian leaders affirm people's convenience-based/consumeristic choice paradigms, there will be trememdous confusion in the world about who Jesus is...

I personally have tired of discussing this, so I don't blog so much. Church leaders need to rise up and really let people have it: the Word...
Whatever, man, most of these leaader-guys aren't even reading the stuff. They're too busy in meetings and political involvemnts. Too busy in the box.

We're like Ezekiel 34 wher the shepherds get the death threat from God. Any of you seminary guys losin' sleep on that? .

"Out of the box Thinking"? What the is that? Do you mean generous? Risky? Holy? Faithful? "Out of the box thinking" has built us a lot of conference attendance. "Out of the box Thinking" has given us a lot of "creative" stuff... But out of the Box isn't "On the Cross". The way of Jesus simply won't affirm our crowds and mammon mentality... We have to realize that following Jesus leads us from riches to poverty.

You know all those people who come off the mission trip and want to move there? They should have, but the church here just doesn't do "move there." they do "visist there" and get "out of the box", as long as you come back to the box.

Move there.
Move to the city.
Move toward the poor.
Move toward high crime.
With your children.
With your wife.

Move there.
move to the bad schools.
move to the gnarly neighbors.

Move there.
get shot.

Move there.
get mugged.

Move there.
feel the heat.
and the pollution.

There is where Jesus lives...
put away the charts and graphs and
move there...

Jesus Moved there.
He did.
Will we?

What about obedience and taking up the causes that the Word tells us to?
What abotu honoring Jesus, corporately...
Ouch. sometimes the things we say... are what we actually thought adn meant...

The apostle Paul said you'd know the real apostles by the power... That from the guy who was meek and timid in appearance, over-focused on the cross (not on "out of the box" thinking), and brought power when he came...