Week 2 Wednesday

After class lecture I walked away with the message that, "Jesus is inviting us to be agents of transformation in the world." The method we employ to become an agent of change is up for debate. I think in a large part it comes down to where you see the Holy Spirit using the community in which you belong most effectively. I think one of the ways that this course is interesting is it begs us to look at the way we're involved in our own churches and the way our churches are involved in the community. I think about how my church can become more missional and what it will take to mobilize and move the congregation towards that next step. As a guy who grew up in the Midwest, I could identify with Bolger's statements about the interviews he conducted with Midwesterners and how they could fall into two categories...those that went to church every Sunday or those who used to attend church. In a weird way, I feel as if living in SoCal the past seven years, in a society that is much more religiously diverse and pluralistic, has created in me a stronger urge and desire to explore my Christian faith. As I think about the impact of living in different environments it seems to me that there is a real danger in living in place where so many claim to believe in the same religion. I see the movement towards a more and more pluralistic Western nation as a positive in that it will really confront Christians to examine what and why they believe in Jesus.