"When the church allows itself to be distracted from attending to the wider range of theo-political issues, when it allows itself to give credence to a reductionist moral agenda, it becomes increasingly unable to provide an alternative to "business as usual" in the culture. By focusing narrowly on such issues as abortion and homosexuality, for example, the church loses its ability to critique so many of the other problems that face our world today. Worse, it puts itself in a position of appearing not to take the teachings of its own scriptures (and founder!) seriously, thus ultimately undermining its own authority and credibility. In fact, the church begins to appear as little more than a social club with particular practices it tends to avoid, with little substantive difference between its members and the culture at large."
"...non-Christians are more generous in giving to the poor, are about equally likely to have engaged in extramarital sex, and Christians are, sadly, more likely to have had divorce than non-Christians. And the rampant materialism of our culture is no more apparent than in the parking lots of most large churches on Sunday mornings. Quite simply, a major reason for the increasing irrelevance of the church for today's culture is its inability both to envision and to demand an alternative way of being in the world."
The secular dream of the good life has been baptised and brought into the church. We have accepted the way of power instead of the way of the cross. 'The Christian life is all about winning in ways that look like you are losing' - Steve Chalke quoted by Gutenson.
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