NEXT

No not, the highstreet clothes store, but rather the church.
What is next for the church? This question comes (like most of the ideas for blogging) from a book I am reading cleverly entitled Church:Next.

But seriously, what is next for the church. The line on the back of the book reads :

The church has always been potentially just one generation away from extinction!
Its a sobering thought!

Last week, I sat in on a R.E lesson at a local secondary school. The lesson was for year 7's about church. It was what I expected. When asked what is church? they said the classical student like answers: A buidling, for old people, BORING!
When taught that the church isn't the building, but rather the people, it was almost uncomprehendable!

The reality is that church has a bad name, in some instances it is deserved. But, in others it is not.
If we profess that church is the people, we have to be a people to the communities we live in.
We have to be united, we have to be excited about God, we have to have vision and passion that permeates into and through those who we come into contact with.
Bill Hybels lives in th vision the 'The Local Church is the Hope of the World'

I believe we can be that hope.
For me the future of church, is as it always has been, a body of believers living out a radical faith in a hurting world!!
But we need to make the choice to live, breathe and embody that!