A METAPHOR ABOUT THE "CHURCH"...

I saw a great metaphor for the church tonight. You can check it out here.

The author of the blog writes:

Imagine an art collector who finds rare and beautiful paintings that have been soiled and apparently ruined. This art collector rescues them from the junk heap, then packages them up in boxes and stores them in a warehouse indefinitely—still dirty, just safe (not perfect, just forgiven?). Not a very inspiring story, but this is precisely the metaphor that many churches have been working under.

He then changes the metaphor a bit and adds:

"Imagine another art collector who not only rescues rare and beautiful paintings from the junk heap, but also cleans them up and restores them to their original beauty. Now imagine that, instead of warehousing the artwork, the art collector donates them to museums all around the world so they can be seen by everyone—showcases to inspire artists and poets and lovers all over the world."

This sounds a lot like the New Testament (Acts) church. Making disciples - creating other followers of Christ who go around displaying (through their lifestyle and acts of service) what Christ has done in their lives.

It's about being people of action - people who are not just claiming to be "Christ followers", but who are actually following the acts of Christ - loving, accepting, offering hope and peace and all the other things that the world cannot offer.

If the church is truly going to make a difference in this world it has to offer something that the world cannot get anywhere else. People can go a lot of places to hear good music, good public speaking and even watch a great drama. But the one thing that they cannot get anywhere else is HOPE. So we better make sure that is featured on our menu every week - every day - and at every moment.

So how do we offer hope? You tell me. Comment.