They Like Jesus

This past weekend I finished reading the thought provoking book "They Like Jesus But Not the Church" by Dan Kimball. Dan Kimball is pastor of Vintage Faith Church in California. He spends time in coffeehouses preparing sermons. When people see Dan with Bibles and commentaries, drinking coffee, they'll often ask him what he's doing. He'll tell them he's a pastor and is preparing a message. Most of the time, people can't believe a pastor is preparing for a sermon in a coffeehouse. But then Dan will ask the people he comes in contact with what they think about Jesus and the church. Most people respect Jesus, even "love" Him, but most find it difficult to connect with a church. Dan shares six of the major concerns people have with the church. Remember these are people outside the church. Look over the list and see what you think...
*the church is an organized religion with a political agenda
*the church is judgmental and negative
*the church is dominated by males and oppresses females
*the church is homophobic
*the church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
*the church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally
Dan does a great job of looking at each of these issues and tells us how we can respond. "They Like Jesus But Not the Church" is really a good book for giving people responses (apologetics) to their questions and concerns. It's 1 Peter 3:15.
Tomorrow I'll share Dan Kimball's six responses to the six concerns.
These are the days my friend,
Jim "Train"