sounds to me like you need to plant a(nother) new kind of church. I'll come visit.

word ryan, word.

i'm going to be honest. I didn't read this blog. But I heard you talking to Jess about it the other night and I realized this same thing when you said it. Reno'what-us feels more to me like church for people who know You Know Who... I didn't realize it until you said it though.... That's all. I wanted to say it the other night, but you did not ask for my 2 cents like you have done by posting it here.

Ok..so how do we solve this problem?

I just had a little question. I agree with you but was wondering...

Is the majority of the time that you are not in church spent with fellow christians?

How many people do you really share your life with that aren't christians?

I think that would be the problem for me, but maybe its just my life situation right now. Small kids, no job. Not a lot of doing anything outside of our neighbors, my hubby and our family.

Do some investigating for me Ry: what percentage of americans are non-christian? I don't know where you would find this, but probably that google thing that we played with when I first got there. I'm sure Google is the answer to everything. But I'm just saying... if 92% of the US is Christian, what are the chances that you will be able to actually find that 8% who aren't in your boat? Plus, it just came to me here: while R is a church for "The Churched", I think that is possibly an age thing. Not the age of the attendants, but the age of the church. What if... stay with me here... What if "members" finding "Jesus"(insert sound effect here) comes later? Right now you are at the stage of "family building". You're gaining ... trust isn't the right word, but that is sort of what I'm going for. I'm willing to bet that many of the "non- churched" are going to be younger peeps... the teenagers and there aren't many of them. Those kids are where you're going to have your close encounters. It seems like I am always telling you to be patient with your church.... but I think the CEs will come, you just have to be patient. Get em while they're young.

Oh, and like someone (Matt maybe?) said, your communion talk was great. I know I already told you this, but it was really good. And I'm not just jockin your balls....

Dody: I've been talking with others about how to solve this problem. The answer is "I dont' know". But here are some of my thoughts. First, church is kind of for christians. I mean, who wants to worship God except for God followers. And in that respect I think that Renovatus is a place where people are able to jump in easily or to sit back and watch comfortably.
Secondly, in a normal church plant launch you would have a time where you built a launch team of about 50 people (3/4 christians), in some round a bout way this time is still our launch team growth time. We need more servants and followers to creat home communities, to work at homeless shelters, etc.
Thirdly, we need to remember and to push the idea that Sundays are only supposed to be a culmination of what happens throughout the week. Followers who worship at Renovatus on Sunday need to know that sunday is a part of a larger and much more important entity.

Sarah: Do you remember growing up where we were told to only hang out with other christ followers? Yeah, I think that was bad theology. Today I find myself seeking out those who don't know Jesus. The only problem is that generally their relational activity is going out late after work and drinking. Now, I've got no problem with a little booze, but I've got a wife and child and little money. So going out late and spending money don't work so well. So in that respect I'm a little handicapped. The challenge for me is to create opportunity for those moments to happen.

Arwen: The number of people who claim Christianity has been decresing for 20 years in America. I think right now it's around 60 someodd percent. That number is pretty inlfated, though, if you consider all the people that might check the "chrisitan" box when filling out a survey. I mean, who wants to check a box that says "pagan"? My guess is that the number of people who really seek to follow and serve God is somwhere significantly under 50%.

I'm not raggin' on my most favorite church ever really. I think that as long as we keep this stuff in mind we will not fall too far off our mission.

you should have people share their Close Encounters at HC nights and then "recycle those" on Sunday morning and let everyone know. Consider it inspiration maybe?

hc nights?

Tricky... Tricky... I feel like I'm inclined to find christians. In Abilene and surrounding area I feel like that's all I find. When you meet someone you find a commonality and that ables you to continue a relationship of some sort. I think I have found myself looking for christians maybe because it's comfortable but maybe because I always thought I was suppose to. That doesn't really work out when your goal is to actually talk about Jesus to someone who DOESN'T have the scoop... Hmmm... Maybe I want people to come to worship with me because I hope they'll find out enough so that I'm relieved of the initial conversation about Jesus. I always wanted to ask people to come to church with me not to pray with me or have a spiritual conversation... What's that about? that sucks!