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I came across this quote earlier in the week
“Churches too afraid of being called mean, often commit the greater sin of embracing meaninglessness”
The quote was from an American evangelist and in its original context addressed to churches in the United States. However, the point the speaker is making crosses the Atlantic and resonates on these shores too. Very often churches, individually and corporately, have done so much to try and appeal to those outside the church and in doing so have tried to take out anything of their church life and witness that they think will be unpalatable, (or mean), to those outside. Now for many churches there are sensible things to address and change enabling them, for example, to be more welcoming, communicate better or to reach out to the surrounding communities.
However, sometimes churches remove from their identity those things which actually are foundational to the Christian faith. In so doing, the message of the gospel that they are then communicating loses its distinctiveness and is emptied of its true meaning and power. That is a warning to heed on both sides of the Atlantic.
Every blessing
Peter
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