This week, Andy is taking a week-long intensive course on "The Missional Church in a Postmodern Context." The guest instructor, Milfred Minatrea, wrote the primary book on which the course is based: Shaped by God's Heart: The Passion and Practices of the Missional Church. One particular paragraph stood out to me as I skimmed the preface and conclusion:
"For many, His church has become not a place of relationship but merely a place where people gather for religious ceremonies. Members belong to the church just as they may belong to the Lions or Rotary Club. They go to church, but often they do not see themselves as the church. Even (members) speak of the facilities where they meet as 'the church.' What was intended by God as a living Body has been reduced to bricks and mortar, a building made with hands."
