[djmcmath]

Hear, hear. There's a rising number of Christians who are realizing that whatever it is they're doing isn't working. The state of the Christian Church in this country is simply astounding: 9 out of 10 churches are stagnant or in decline, and the 1 that is registering growth is doing so almost entirely at the expense of the other 9. Why? What are we doing wrong?

(sigh) I suppose I could write a dissertation on the topic, having been a part of an awful lot of failing churches over the years, and as the son of an old testament theologian who no longer routinely attends any church at all. The problems that are rampant are just so bold: hypocrites, performance-based Christianity, people who go to church rather than _be_ the church, the whole shallowness of it all.

I stumbled across a church a couple of years ago that was really fantastic, actually. They taught "love, acceptance, and forgiveness," and really meant it. Remarkably, the church was experiencing record growth, unheard of community involvement, and real change in people's lives. It was amazing. We focused on Jesus -- who he was, what he did, and how we could be more like him. We read books like "Blue Like Jazz," "Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness," and "How to be Religious Without Being a Christian." If you think you might agree with the OP, I'd read all three of those, seriously.