Gathering or dispersing?

"Churches under the prevailing assumptions and influence of Christendom are highly structured for gathering but not for dispersing. To the extent that they are not rooted in local communities, neighborhoods, and networks of relationships, they thereby become disconnected and remote. Churches function as places to which people have to be invited, rather than as faith communities that intersect with the wider community on many issues and provide multiple entry points". Gibbs, Churchmorph, p. 96.

After a meeting yesterday, I was really challenged in a way that is summed up in this quotation. We prefer, in practice, preservation to mission: the default situation of Christians, as with all people, is a sinful one. After all, being Christian does not stop us being sinners. The Christian path demands a constant and repeated reorientation of our lives, centering afresh on Jesus Christ.

The whole of our church life needs to be reshaped by majoring on mission.

I'm conscious that whether pastors or church members, we err towards a form of church that is about 'gathering' rather than dispersing. And this, for us all, has to change.