The Present Future II: Summary

Chapter 2: The Shift from Church Growth to Kingdom Growth

Wrong Question: How do we grow this church? (How do we get them to come to us?)
Tough Question: How do we transform our community? (How do we hit the streets with the gospel?)

Key statements: "Seminars offered in the church world increasingly offered church growth 'insights,' 'principles,' and 'prescriptions.' The focus was on methodology - how to catch peoples' attention, sign 'em up, keep 'em busy, and get em to contribute money, talent, and energy to church efforts."
"Jesus' evangelism strategy directly challenged the Pharisees' approach. Instead of 'Come and get it!' it was 'Go get 'em!" Intead of withdrawing from people for fear of contamination, he ate with them. This was horrifying to the Pharisees."
"The call to take the gospel to the streets is more than the call to think up some new evangelism or outreach program. The church's efforts at these generally fall way short because the approaches are devised by a bunch of church members trying to come up with ideas that will entice unchurched people to want to come to church."
"This is what it's going to take to gain a hearing for the gospel in the streets of the twenty-first century - the smell of cleaning solution, dirty faces, obvious acts of servanthood."