Comments on: Dangerous Churches

By: Juliana Carone

Juliana Carone — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:55:17 +0000

My family & I attend a dangerous church.The truth of God’s word needs to be spoken. Parents have stopped disciplining their children and look at what has happend. I for one do not want to stop being disciplined and spoken the truth too. With it comes growth and blessings. Both for myself and the church. People who attend a safe church will eventually stop going to church because they see no growth and no change. If we don’t preach and teach all the word then are we in fact changing the word to suit us.Keep up the good work. The truth needs to be told.

By: Jesus and Jack » Blog Archive » Dangerous Church

Jesus and Jack » Blog Archive » Dangerous Church — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:12:33 +0000

[...] But in the meantime . . . would you go to a dangerous church? [...]

By: Louise

Louise — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:23:56 +0000

I have not heard of dangerous churches. This is a good site thought I would drop by. I am going to church on Sunday and In one of these comments I feel i have lost everything and feel im in the same boat as jesus but its true.
God bless

By: Links of the Week « My World

Links of the Week « My World — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:23:18 +0000

[...] Craig Groeschel on Dangerous churches [...]

By: The Marshian Chronicles » Short Rounds #115

The Marshian Chronicles » Short Rounds #115 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:03:49 +0000

[...] Dangerous Churches - we need more of them! [...]

By: Friendly Church with Dangerous Message « Jesus and Jack

Friendly Church with Dangerous Message « Jesus and Jack — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:14:32 +0000

[...] in his post Dangerous Churches, he writes: When I read about the New Testament Church, it was filled with people with a dangerous [...]

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:26:22 +0000

No long comment here… the key for that fellow is Jeremiah 29:13, his complacency is a reflection of where he is spiritually more than the church he tried. He could have come to the NT church described and left for the same reasons, and someone earnestly searching for God can still find him in the safe church.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:18:04 +0000

I too was talking on the same subject with some church friends. Some responses were, the church should only present the “New Testament God i.e. Love”. Some said that’s why many were leaving mainline churches, because they were not “uplifting”.
I sometimes wonder if our church growth strategies are aimed primarily at tares only and not redeeming the lost.
I still like Edwards’ imagry of a spider hanging over the flames of hell or Spurgeon’s , when after an eternity in the flames of hell, the unsaved will still realize that they have but an eternity ahead but to suffer.. now that’s a dangerous message!
The gospel has NEVER changed, it’s the same today as it was at Pentecost…repent, believe, follow..
Then God saw fit to provide 27 additional writings to HIS body, for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Preaching and teaching those, things ARE the mission of the Church……….at home, around the corner, to the uttermost parts of the world!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:52:28 +0000

One of the things that we did to make a welcoming environment with a dangerous message was to just think. For example, we were doing a series about what it means to be abandoned to Jesus, not being lukewarm, etc. The title of the series was “Turn Up the Heat”. Our original stage design was to have flames and use fire. Then we thought through it and realized that if someone entered into our church to see flames all over the place that we were talking about _______. Yeah you guessed it hell. We believe that Scripture is clear about hell. We talk about that reality. BUT…we did not want people to walk in with a preconceived idea for the message and create a barrier. Plus, we were calling the series “Turn Up the Heat” which would really make us Baptists look morbid. “Yeah we are talking about hell and we want to turn up the heat!” So instead we went with hot sauce bottles! Nice way to create a welcoming environment with a very dangerous and in your face message.

By: A good reminder, it’s dangerous!

A good reminder, it’s dangerous! — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:26:56 +0000

[...] This is a good reminder for Student Ministries. We too are building a church.! The students we lead today will be leading the church tomorrow. (WRITTEN BY: Craig Groeschel) [...]

By: Tim Moore

Tim Moore — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:19:45 +0000

I just preached on this last Sunday (Message series called TNT). I believe the reason so many have stopped going to church is because nothing ever happened. We made it BORING. Jesus was not boring when he was on earth. I believe that when we as the church stop making church so “safe” and boring that is when the world will take notice. I agree with you Craig. The church should be dangerous and exciting. That is why we are hitting the streets for 7 Days of Servolution this week! It’s going to be incredible.

By: Berry

Berry — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:54:26 +0000

All too often I think everyone wants to put the “Church” in one happy feel good package. For the “Church” to be effective it has to be the “Church”. For that to take place we the people have to be willing to put aside what we want and reach out to those in need and give them what God wants. In are politically correct world the “Church” falls prey to trying to make everyone happy in an attempt to not step on any toes. It is not our job to tip toe around avoiding the real issuses but to spread God’s message. Those in the pews that are already saved should be more focused on bringing more people to be followers of Christ than what program, sermon or song makes then feel good. Hope this is not too deep, but what a great topic for dicussion.

By: Avery

Avery — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:34:15 +0000

First off… great message today…

When I am looking for a church, wherever I might be there are two questions I ask:

Is the church “inviting”…?

Is the church faithful and challenging members to grow deeper with Christ ?

All else doesn’t mean much to me…

The music, the environment, or anything else is secondary to the life of Jesus to me… though some of those things compliment that and facilitate that…

He was inviting and had a dangerous message… and if I am not seeing both of those… like you said… He probably isn’t in the area… and there will be people who probably won’t meet Him as a result… so I think to myself… “Can I invest here to bring that to this church, or should I find one already there and get involved?”, which brings me to the next point…

Secondly, concerning “levels” of churches…

I think there can be levels of churches… depending on where people are or how they are growing… but the call, and the calling is always only on one level…all or nothing…and all of Jesus churches are in unison…everything else is playing church… and the wise person won’t waste their time playing games with God…

That was Jesus message always.. all or nothing… and I think that there was never any room for anything less…

Either trust him with all or nothing… the steps to get there can vary, but the call is, was and always will be the same… just like the One who is calling…

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever…

By: long time, no post… « just let go

long time, no post… « just let go — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:19:39 +0000

[...] by Craig Groeschel [...]

By: Kurt

Kurt — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:07:01 +0000

Jesus wasn’t afraid to preach “deep” and have people misunderstand Him. (John 6)

By: L Smith

L Smith — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:26:14 +0000

Dangerous assumptions! Why didn’t you ASK the guy WHY he stopped going to church??? This is the biggest problem I see from this discussion. It is a one-way monologue. If we really want to know how to connect to our world, then we must ENGAGE with those outside of our bubble. ASK, don’t ASSUME!

By: Kenyon

Kenyon — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:22:29 +0000

In answer to Marty’s question: No. Discipleship is a process. You start with basic things and mature into the “deeper” things. I think the trend earlier this centruy among churches was to take the entire message to a very basic level in an effort to appeal to those turned off by church. I’ve begun to realize that you don’e have to sacrifice the entire message. We don’t give the Holy Spirit enough credit when we think certain people will be turned off or confused by certain teachings. Yes we have to be mindful of our audience. But we can teach on prayer or salvation or other things in a way that speaks to those who have yet to proclaim faith in Christ as well as those who are much more mature in their faith.

By: Craig T. Owens

Craig T. Owens — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:03:32 +0000

I think one of the reasons the messages in our churches become safe is for fear of upsetting the “church folk.” Pastors start to think, “What will Brother So-And-So think about this? What if they get upset? What if they leave?” When pastors begin to craft their sermons to keep people happy, the message clearly has become safe.

I constantly remind myself that God called me to this work and to this church — not man — so I am working for the approval of an audience of One. I like how Craig addresses focus in his book “it” - “Focus tends to let it breathe. Lack of focus generally suffocates it.” Focusing on what God calls us to do keep our messages dangerous!

By: Tom E. Snyder

Tom E. Snyder — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:25:10 +0000

Will said:
“It seems that at times very large churches spend an inordinant amount of time on internal issues and efforts whereas smaller churches are often more able to focus their resources on actually meeting needs in the community.”

I find the opposite to be true.

It seems to me that you could have a church with new believers and mature believers and a large group moving from the former to the latter. You could also have a group attending that are “pre-believers”. If you try to have one church for “pre-” and new believers, one for mature believers, and a third for those in-between you have a major problem. If all the mature believers are in their own church, who is going to disciple those in the former two churches–a staff that is as big as the “non-staff”? Churches need to find a way to involve and nurture those in every situation.

The Church has utilized the internet for much of it’s mission. I have yet to hear of a full-blown, systematic online disciple program, however. I hope my wait will be short.

By: will

will — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:58:55 +0000

Also, would it be dangerous to consider a de-institutionalization of the Church in order that both human and practical resources are better leveraged for compassion ministries than for corporate systems.

It seems that at times very large churches spend an inordinant amount of time on internal issues and efforts whereas smaller churches are often more able to focus their resources on actually meeting needs in the community.

What if we strategically became smaller so that our work could become bigger? Would that be dangerous enough for all you spiritual risk-takers out there?

Just another thoguht for everyone’s Monday…