@ben- I really wish I knew a solution. I do know that all organizations, as they institutionalize, insulate themselves from people outside of the organization. It’s true in non-profits, business, religious orgs, etc. I suppose my thought for those of us who work within the church institution is to recognize that our work there services the 5% and not the 95%. We need to be cognizant to have a professional life and a real life of ministry outside of the institution.

Part of me is openly wondering if we need to start a new movement… almost an antithesis of church as we know it to reach the 95%.

I agree with you about the Institutionalized church, but do assume there where people in the early church that grew explosively that were supported (at least in some sense) by the area they served in (Paul talked about have every right to have that, but he didn’t – which means that we could aspire for what Paul did too). Also, the institutionalized church in China could never grow. It’s legal, but it’s not really legal for it to grow. And there can only be so many that are officially Christian by law. The places are packed out too.

That being said, these two pictures are fantastic and should be very sobering for anyone who sees them. Displays perfectly what’s been in my mind for quite a while.

The hard core truth is that in order to stay working at churches you have to forget the vision Luke paints in Acts. Institutionalization of Christianity was the only thing that could stop the virus of Christianity that started in in AD 33 and grew explosively until Rome adopted it as their state religion 200 years later. Look at China as the antithesis for the US church. Where it is legal and institutionalized the church doesn’t grow. Where it is illegal and viral it grows like mad.

The real question is this: Could unpaid volunteers create a movement that required almost no resources that reached the 95%?