DJ Says...

The older I get, the more I think that we have bastarized the gospel. As I look around at American society and culture, it occurs to me that most of what we learn in our churches has little to do with the gospel as spelled out in the Bible.

We talk about success in this or that, as if the Bible is simply another self-help book. Our churches, be they Baptist, Pentecostal, non-denominational, Catholic or Orthodox seek to make the church more 'relevant' in the world.

I was reading one church's website this morning (random Google ad popped up on LST) and their focus is on sports because that is what their community likes. And true to form, they feature sports on their site but they also feature the 'expansion' committee, complete with a mission statement and purpose.

I'm thinking, Duh! Why the hell does a church need to formulate a freaking mission statement and purpose?

Let's make it real simple. Rather than focusing on becoming relevant and growing our budgets, why not just:

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

I dunno, but I think that if we just read that every morning when we woke up and tried to live it out, our lives, our churches and our country would be better off.

But hey, that's just my opinion.