I’ll try and expand my posing to something bordering on useful. (ahem!)

I’ve got no real problem (anymore!) with ‘The Church’.
Probably did for a while back. Thought it was struggling to be what I thought it should be!

I mean, services were fun, bible was referred to, people (often) felt a bit inspired or revved up etc – you know, all good stuff!

I think the relational stuff is where I felt it was falling down. There wasn’t much in terms of eye-to-eye stuff (that Cam was referring to) where you need to really address stuff in your life, or where you are actually permitted to speak truth/love/whatever into someone else’s life. (If a man speaks and it isn’t from the pulpit, can anyone hear it?)

I reckon ‘church’ should unsettle you, as people who really know you get to encourage, admonish, share, love etc you and to receive those things from you.
Where questions can be asked, and ‘I don’t know – let’s search God on it’ is a real answer.

Well, we had a small dose of that on Sunday – sharing over a meal, 2 families providing something for the other that was significant, and would have been greatly missed if it wasn’t there.
To me, it was a truer meaning of the word ‘church’.

So – what is the mass-meeting?
Perhaps it’s just that.
Potentially positive, useful, constructive, energising, resourceful etc…

I’m not sure that it is ‘church’ as I am coming to understand what that word means.
Not bad, but not ‘church’ – I think I just offended about 30 000 people with a ramble that took only 5min to type!!

I hope it puts the previous comment in a little more perspective…

(disclaimer – I’m not saying that I’m right, therefore the rest of you are wrong – just thinking aloud and outlining where I’m at. You’re allowed to think I’m stoopid. Just be sure to back up calling me ’stoopid’ with something smarter! )

We had our own ‘kick-ass’ church time on Sunday. Best in ages.
I’ll have to talk about it some time…

(I’ll give you a hint – we didn’t leave home, played 80s rock music for a while, then another family joined us for brunch, and we ‘fellowshipped’)