Worlds Apart

Check out this video by someone who loves God, loves his local church, and also loves friends at his local cricket club. Its an honest reflection by someone who wants to lead his friends to Christ, but wonders whether they would ever want to come to his church.

Now at least this person is entertaining the possibility of inviting friends to church. I've met many who simply don't (or won't) even bother for a variety of reasons (and most of the reasons seem not that good to me!). Yet isn't there a real issue in that church itself can be a culture/experience that is simply too foreign to drop someone into?

Are we not better off finding ways to bridge out to where people are and help them discover Christ 'out there' somewhere? After all, Jesus preached the Kingdom of God rather than the 're-culturing' of people. This is not to throw out church, but to remember that 'church' is the body of people (or perhaps assembly of people) and not necessarily the 'body of people with all kinds of trappings and cultural expectations'.

Maybe there is a church waiting to be planted at the cricket club. As long as it doesn't itself become introverted, and recognises its own God given calling to send out cross-cultural missionaries, why should we be against it?