A community for those that are not here yet.

Chapter 3 of the book calls us to be that church that Pastor Casey has been talking about! A church focused on being the community that exists for those that are not there yet. It is not about us and you do not need to first know the secret code before you arrive.

If I were an enemy and I wanted to attack a community, one of the first things I would do would be to divide them. Individuals are so much easier prey. If I couldnt break them into individuals at least seperate house holds, isolated away from their neighbors. Then as I came in for the kill many would not know what was going on.
There is an enemy and I just described North America.

Richardson, conveys that today the isolation that has been deepening in our communities has left large numbers not knowing the elementry basics of our faith.
I know a guy in his 50's who named his dog Luke. He had no idea it was a biblical name, let alone the name of a gospel, (he didn't know what a gospel was either). He had choosen it from an old movie, "Cool Hand Luke" and wanted it made clear it was not about that skywalker guy. Anyway the point is he grew up in a family that was unchurched and raised his kids the same and they have kids now. They are a long way from God and his people. There are two churchs in sight of where he lives. In the twenty years he has lived in his home he has never meet anyone that went to those churchs. He told me I am the only guy who has ever bugged him much about church.

When I think about it I am not sure why a guy like him would ever just decide to go to church any way. He doesn't know he is missing anything. Now I am thinking differently, the next time I see him I am going to tell him that I have been praying for him. Then I am going to ask him if there is anything he would like my prayers for him to contain or cover. Where you going to go when you die, has never seemed friendly to me, even if it is. Next time my Christian buddies are doing a guy thing or a go and serve someone else thing, he is invited for sure. I need to invite him to our community, we have some nice folks.

Richardson says on page 51, "the conversion process takes longer and requires learning the language, concepts and identity of being Christian. This kind of learning can take place only in community".