Out youth programs should instead be focused on mentoring/discipleship, providing help/materials/encouragement for the parents and a strong dose of ministry/service outside the church in inner city projects, homeless shelters, retirement homes, etc.

I am have been examining the questions posed in your article for about 8 years now. I have had a running debate with my father about whether the church should be considered a business. As a former IMB missionary it is difficult for me to accept the idea that the church is a business. The literal meaning of the word Ekklesia is “the people called out by God”. However, our current understanding of church does not reflect that definition. Our church has more in common with Roman Catholism that has now morphed into the business model of our modern age. I am not trying to attack the church but just to state the facts.

If you ask the average person today what a church is they will point to a buiding, an organization, a pastor or programs. This is not the biblical definition of the word Ekklesia. We have traded the concept that we are all called out people of God and replaced it with the idea that it is something else. What would happen if persecution broke out against the church in America? Do you think the church would look much differently?

What if our current “models” of church and traditions are quenching God’s Spirit and creating a codependency that prohibits people from truly being dependent on Christ?

If you were to ask someone from the first century where they went to church, I’m pretty sure that they would look at you like you had 2 heads. That is because that they understood that they were the church. The people met of out necessity in order to spread the gospel and to minister to one another. They confessed sins to each other and they discussed what they were learning together. They were a people who would go and tell the good news rather than the come and see mentality that perverts our understanding of church today.

I share this with you because I have been passing through this fire over the past 8 years. There are many traditions and non biblical teachings that I God has been purging from me.

I am still connected to brothers and sisters in a more traditional church because I do believe we need one another. What I am finding is that more and more people want to transistion to different understanding of church because they are tired of being fed the same things over and over again. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

I think that it is awesome that you are taking a hard look at problems within the church and taking action on those problems. Here is a link to an article that shows some more of the differences in mindsets.
http://www.ptmin.org/Neue.pdf

Thanks for the comment. My post wasn’t meant to be a sermon, but more observation and the beginning of a discussion. I would be interested in hearing others thoughts on the alternative for outsourcing. I don’t think the road to get there is easy … but I think it’s the solution is two-pronged. Leaders have to constantly equip and encourage people that they are “ministers” in their neighborhoods, at work … wherever. They are missionaries no matter their geography. And second I think individuals have to take the Bible seriously. Read scripture and discover the kind of obedience and sacrifice Jesus calls people to.