Bethiepoo03

A New Kind of Christian

I started reading this book about four or five months ago.
The name of the book is A New Kind of Christian and the
author is Brian McLaren. I would reccomend the book to
anyone, whether you have been a Christian your whole life
or whether you are not a Christian right now. At the time
that I started reading the book, I was content with the
point at which I was at in my faith. As I began reading,
it was like I experienced this great awakening, and I
realized that the modern church wasn't able to meet the
needs of our now postmodern society and that if the church
didn't shape up, they were simply going to alienate the
very people that they are trying to reach out to. As I
began to realize this, i went through a whole process
of "rebirth" in my thinking. As the school year winded
down, and the summer began, something else began to
happen. My frustration for the modern church and for
modern Christians grew within me so much so that I didn't
really want to have a part in things. Once again, for
those of you who did not read yesterdays entry, I do love
Jesus, I'm not straying away from faith in God or a
personal relationship with the Lord, but what I am straying
away from is the way that things are all done on modern
churches. I'm frustrated with it.

Naturally, as a result, I began to back away from Christian
institutions. I re-located to a new place for the summer,
and I didn't get in with a church right away, so I haven't
been going to church regularly. This is the first time in
my life that I've ever not gone to church for a prolonged
period of time. It's so wierd, cause I used to love going
to church so much, until one day I just saw all the flaws
in the church. Even my home church....my pastor had to
leave for very complicated reasons that not too many people
are sure about, and I'm watching the very foundation that I
depended on for my spiritual guidance crumble.
I recognize that God is so much bigger than these things,
and I also submit to the fact that God has chosen the
church as his medium. He set up the institution of the
church, and he will work through it. The same way that He
can work through me who is flawed, He can work through a
church that is established by flawed humans.

I decided to pick this book back up the other day..the one
that began this whole new transformation in thought, and
I've realized now that it describes the way that I'm
feeling right now perfectly. Did reading the book cause me
to become frustrated, and then the book became the
perscription for my frustration?
mmmmm interesting

beth