Ahh creeping towards the wee hours up north here in Canada. Yes there is a unique challenge to this dynamic duo as we are almost a continent apart lol. Never mind the fact that we both are aclimatized to very different climates.

But I thought it was a good night to just drop a line, and put out there the idea of how complicated we can make things in the church. On my other blog I tossed out a line from a song about prayer, but even Bible Study I think we tend to make it too complex for newbies, that it can actually scare them away from reading the Bible. I mean it is an imposing book to first look at, and then some have the audacity to say you need all this other stuff to properly understand the Word, when it is the Bible that will speak to us.
Funny story about the Bible: There was a huge church planting operation happening in China (SCW will appreciate this, it was Southern Baptist)....and the North American Church asked what was needed, the planters responded Bibles (as good church planters will hopefully)...any ways thousands of Bibles were shipped overseas, distributed and the church members eagerly snatched them up. Finally able to read the word's of Christ for themselves, then this little boy came up to the pastor. "Why is Jesus mad at me? why does he hate me?" he asked through tears.
You see, the Bibles had the Words of Jesus in red, and for that culture things written in red ink meant that the reader was hated, despised and unloved. Yes even in our printing process we can make the Word too complicated.
Hmmm....What barriers does your church have to welcoming new people in? (a shared passion of ours is Unlocking the Kingdom to those kept out of the normal church clique and throw open the doors to teens in the neighbourhoods!!--check out the Presbyterian Record archives for my column on Unlocking the Kingdom)
-Hoody Man in AB