Your "Dangerous" Challange...

This is a season when days grow longer and attention spans grow shorter and life seems to slow down a little. Yet, God's Spirit does not go on vacation. He continues to work within us, teaching us, molding us, preparing us for a future season.

At Reading City Church, we believe this Summer is a season of growth into what church truly is. In order for this to happen, everyone needs to do the work of thinking, praying and journaling.

Specifically, we are asking you to consider this question: "What is church?" Simple enough, right? I wonder though, if the answers that come most easily and readily are shaped not by the Bible but by our cultural understanding of Christianity/Church?

Imagine for a moment that you have no idea what church is. You have never been to one. You have never heard of one. Everyone you know is unchurched. You yourself, are intrigued by the person of Jesus. You search the scriptures and as your hunger grows, you decide to become a follower and to learn what it means to be His disciple. Others begin to notice your value systems change and your passions increase and they are curious. A few actually become followers of Jesus themselves. Now, you are a group. You instinctively realize the need to function as community on mission for Jesus but you don't know how to do it. You search the scriptures again, only this time, you are taking note of every reference to church - its function, its purpose, its power, its problems.

If you only had the Bible to shape your idea of what church should be, would it look anything like church that we see most today?

The challenge before you is to read carefully through the book of Acts. Write down any insights or thoughts you may have about the overall birth and growth of the church. You may even decide to go into the some of the letters written by Paul to the churches to see more specific details about how they are to function. As hard as it may be, try and do this with fresh eyes and a clean slate of your mind.

I and the elders will be doing the same thing this Summer and will share devotions based on our thoughts and findings. But please don't depend on us to think and pray for you. You and we together ARE the church. And so, before we share, each week, we will open the mic up to you all. Feel free to come up and share any insights you may have along the way. If you cannot be with us, please feel free to reply to this post with your thoughts and they will be shared on Sunday morning as well.

Personally, I am very excited about this challenge because it was the personal challenge in part, that led to the birth of Reading City Church. If you take this challenge seriously, some comfortable assumptions may begin to unravel, some preconceived ideas of what matters, may seem far less important while others that you may have only given verbal homage to in the past, begin to come to the forefront as urgent. And there will be a gnawing sense that these ideas cannot any longer remain in the brain alone, but most have consequences in our day to day lives together as church.

What a season THAT will be.