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Here are two excerpts from “The Forgotten Ways” by Alan Hirsch A Note to Leaders and Introduction: http://www.cmaresources.org/files/ForgottenWaysHandbook-excerpt.pdf and Introduction and Chapter 1 – Confessions of a Frustrated Missionary: http://assets.bakerpublishinggroup.com/processed/book-resources/files/Hirsch.pdf? 1362591025 I’m not sure if I’m allowed to link to these or not, which is why I am not hosting them on my own pages but leading you back to their original sites.
Why are the places and groups I’ve experienced that were the most like the CHURCH that I see in the Bible adamant about saying “We are not a church!” and the churches that I’ve been to that say “Come to church” aren’t anything like what I see in the Bible? Why is this basic unit of Christian people such a hard thing to pin down, and why is it so warped today? I’m going to focus on what really stands out in a few groups I’ve been in that made it more like what the Bible says than what people say. Community One element is a sense of community. There is a difference between hanging out for the sake of the Lord and having a bunch of activities. Times that I’d say I experienced real church would be the times that people came together often with no agenda or goal, but only to be together and as a result talk about Jesus. When Jesus...