Current Culture and the Church

This link was sent to me because of my many visits to the religion page of USA today.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/index?csp=FandR&csp=

Interesting articles - I find the USA Today religion page often has articles that help us understand where the American culture is going when it comes to belief in God. Some good info and some presented challenges for the Church of the 21st century (challenges particulary in the articles "No God? No Problem!" and "The Gap's 'Happy Whatever-You-Wannakah' ad ...").

Missional Church

Ok team, here's what I'd like to do as we move toward meeting together again. I'd like to hear your thoughts on Dave Fitch's definition of missional church (below). Read it through a couple times, sit on it for a day or so, and then respond.

"I define the Missional church as the church mobilized for incarnational (as opposed to attractional) ministry occupying the place of Christ’s humble servant presence in a locale (as opposed to a place of coercion and presumption) whereby we live (visibly) an entire way of life that witnesses to the salvation of God (His Kingdom) birthed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is natural, it is concrete, and it is above all local. In this witness, people are invited out of their lostness into a vital relationship with the Triune God and all He is doing to make the world right through Jesus Christ." (Dave Fitch blogs at www.reclaimingthemission.com)

When we started our small groups at First Free, there was an intentional focus on sharing kingdom moments with one another. I think that was an abstract concept to most people, but this article is a perfect example of what we meant by "kingdom moments."
http://missiolux.blogspot.com/2009/11/another-kingdom-story.html