Un-Movement

Reading a bit of Wendell Berry, I came across this quote:

"I HAVE HAD WITH MY friend Wes Jackson a number of useful conversations about the necessity of getting out of movements — even movements that have seemed necessary and dear to us — when they have lapsed into self-righteousness and self-betrayal, as movements seem almost invariably to do. People in movements too readily learn to deny to others the rights and privileges they demand for themselves. They too easily become unable to mean their own language, as when a “peace movement” becomes violent. They often become too specialized, as if finally they cannot help taking refuge in the pinhole vision of the institutional intellectuals. They almost always fail to be radical enough, dealing finally in effects rather than causes. Or they deal with single issues or single solutions, as if to assure themselves that they will not be radical enough."

Which is why, in my humble opinion, the emerging church should not be a movement, but a lifestyle change.

Diets don't work, but permanent lifestyle adjustments do.

Adjusting the form of the church doesn't work, but reworking the purpose, refocusing the mission, living the talk and truly integrating God's purposes into every aspect of our existence, do.

Random thoughts...