the minute a church becomes more concerned with itself than it is about the rest of the world is the minute it ceases to be the Church.
Explain? I have never attending a church business meeting where we discussed the direction of the rest of the world.
I've attended those kinds of church meetings too. I don't anymore. I see churches take donations above budget and hold on to them like retained earnings in "rainy day funds" while the neighborhood literally right on their doorstep is surrounded by people in real need. I have a difficult time squaring that corporate approach with the Sermon on the Mount. I resigned from a church's board over that stuff. Just my two cents.
they're supposed to be. what i see now is church not being a group of people but rather being a place and a building. that's how we've come to define it, sadly.
#1 they have basketball courts etc. not to keep kids off the street, but to get people to become believers often times. #2 they go on missionary trips to.... help spread their beliefs... I will agree with you on one point, I hear agnostics or non religious people complain about the "christian agenda" or Christian charity.... if they dont like it, then form non-religious based charities... a HUGE number of charities are Christian based, especially in this country. Further, not all all Christian charities are created equal. Some such as Catholic Charities, or some Anglican based charities have very little pushing of the faith with their distribution of charities... others, often evangelical, not usually soft on the message.
