Are We Unifying or Dividing the Church?

I read JD Payne's blog today about all of the adjectives that we have in front of our church's today and it just made me stop and reflect about the author's topic. (Some of his humor was pretty good too: "Will there come a day when we speak of “Baptist, post-modern, seeker-sensitive, gen-X, cowboy, house churches”?  How’s that for your business card?")

Check the blog out here: http://bit.ly/aMH5vH

The basic context of the post in my view is this: do all of the adjectives we put in front of the church help spread the Gospel or discourage it? JD says it well:

"Do we teach our Japanese churches that they are just as responsible for reaching African-Americans as the African-American churches?  Do we teach our cowboy churches that they are to evangelize and plant churches among the hip-hop subcultures?"

I'm even wondering the same thing regarding our small groups and Sunday Schools? Do our groups understand that even though they may be a young adult group, they are also responsible to reach senior adults? Preschoolers? Students?

Comments

[Keith]

Amen, its time we stop segregating the church and become the church of JESUS CHRIST where we are neither "Jew nor Greek"(Galatians 3:28) and for that matter cowboy or indian; Korean or African/American but simply one body of the LORD JESUS CHRIST HIS church purchased by HIS blood. And the argument that these segregated churches are reaching more unchurched may be true but have we tried it as just the church. We all work together and share the same communities why not hte same church?

[Scott Zalaznik]

I second that Amen! There is a place for 'niche' outreach but there is no greater witness to the power of Christ in community than unified diversity. We must learn to be the church together and yes - reform the segregated church planting model. No small task. But a worthy one.