DEBUNKING THE SACRED/SECULAR MYTH

There is a poison that runs through Western Christianity, that many are aware of, but it has largely gone unaddressed - our churches are filled with lukewarm Christians. Sadly, our churches are designed to produce exactly what we are getting - nominalism. This is not to say that the church has failed, and that there are not churches that do well at raising up mature fully-devoted followers of Jesus. But if we look around at how our people are living there is a clear divide: that which is sacred (church, prayer, Bible reading/study, small groups, fasting etc.) and that which is secular (everything else, work, school, hobbies, etc.).

For 1700 years, since the time of Constantine, our churches have been designed to exacerbate this divide: church has transitioned from a verb to a noun: We go to church, we serve a church, we attend a church and all of his is done in a designated place at a designated time. And for years churches have fought to reclaim church as a verb - and God has blessed those endeavors. But the design of the church has proved to be a massive barrier in this battle from noun to verb. We know the sacred/secular divide is a myth - for Isaiah 6:3 declares that "The whole earth is filled with his glory" - not only certain spaces and times of the week. So we've asked ourselves: rather than fighting an uphill battle - why not simply remove the hill? Justo Gonzáles in his book The Story of Christianity makes an astounding observation about the early Christian movement. He states, "In truth, most missionary work was not carried out by the apostles, but rather by the countless and nameless Christians who for different reasons - persecution, business or missionary calling - traveled from place to place taking the news of the gospel with them" (p.39). We believe that in order to reclaim the Church as a verb, we must restore the original design of the church: missional incarnation in the marketplace, in neighborhoods, and communities.