being the body…identity crisis (part 2)

if you haven’t read the most recent comments on being the body (part 1), i recommend you do so before continuing onward. there are a lot of good thoughts, examples, and truths shared by so many of you.

two common themes which showed up and i’d like to discuss further are:

1. we live in a consumeristic culture, so it’s difficult for the church to reach people in ways where they don’t feel comfortable or justified in “going” to church. some questions brought up in the book: since when is the gospel of christ comfortable? since when is confronting sin comfortable? grace is all encompassing and forgiveness covers all sin, as well as the fact we serve and worship a loving god, but the truth is god cannot stand to look at us if it weren’t for the cross. does this message get watered down? not necessarily from the pulpit or platform, but from the layers the church (local) adds in order to “bring people in” so they may be reached?
2. the church’s call is to go and make disciples. in what ways do you see local churches obeying this call? is there too much emphasis placed on “saving people” and as RobP said in the comments, once any sort of commitment is asked or sacrifice is required, people bail out because they have been conditioned by society to get something out of every investment. do we also condition them by the bells and whistles and programs and not communicate the necessary sacrifice in being a christ-follower?