Is your Church ready for this?

Below is a summary of the helpful book, "No Perfect People Allowed" by John Burke. In the book, Burke exposes the 5 hurdles facing the Church and offers insight as to how the Church can bridge the gap and become more effective at reaching out.

Enjoy!

The church is facing its greatest challenge—and its greatest opportunity—in our postmodern, post-Christian world.  God is drawing thousands of spiritually curious “imperfect people” to become his church-but how are we doing at welcoming them?

The postmodern experiment has made Christianity and the church in America very messy. We’re dealing with the fallout of the sexual revolution, drugs, new worldviews and more. Therefore, the 5 main issues emerging generations are dealing with are: Trust, Tolerance, Truth, Brokenness, and Aloneness.

Trust – We must create a culture in our church that recognizes the incongruence in our lives. Address our hypocrisy and correct it. Encourage and create dialogue about difficult issues. Let go of the churchy facades and create a culture of authenticity.

Tolerance – Accept people as they are, but create a system for spiritual growth. There are two litmus test questions for postmoderns – “What do you think about other religions?” and “What do you think about gays?” What people are really asking is “Are you arrogant with what you believe?”.

Truth – While we know that we have truth, we need to be humble with our knowledge. Postmoderns don’t care about what we know. We need to introduce them to who we know. Jesus is Truth. We don’t just know the information of truth, we knew the person of Truth. We must then encourage new believers to share their newly discovered Truth with their friends and family.

Brokenness – People are hurting for all kinds of reasons. We must create a culture of hope so they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In dealing with sexual wholeness, Burke presents the idea of first practicing mental monogamy. The idea is to first fully understand all of the right reasons to remain abstinent before marriage. He presents the whole package on the issue, and it’s great. Finally, we must create a culture of healing. If you can tell by now, the issues and culture creation are building upon each other, and this progresses until the end of the book.

Aloneness – People are lonely. We find ways to escape, whether it is alcohol, porn, drugs, whatever. In the church, we must create a culture of connection that allows people to be authentic and vulnerable. We can only find true intimacy with others when we are authentic and vulnerable. This must first be modeled by the Pastor and pastoral staff. Through small groups, we can then create a culture of family.

What do you think? Is there anything missing?

Would you add anything?