Let's replace "I want to be Fed" with "I want to Exercise"

Wade Hodges offers us a paradigm shift in our way of thinking about church.

• " 'We just want to be fed.'

Every pastor has heard it from someone. Sometimes you catch it when they’re coming and sometimes when they’re going... Have you ever really thought of what imagery accompanies the 'fed' metaphor?...

...We need a new metaphor and fast, because too many 'mature' Christians are making a fool of themselves by walking around saying they just want to be fed. It’s time they take off the bib, grab a spoon, and start feeding themselves.

What if one day the chief complaint from church going Christians were to be something like this:

• 'The problem with our old church is that we weren’t being exercised. We’re looking for a church where we can work, serve, and maybe even suffer. We want to pay a price for something other than adding a new education wing to our building. We want to put it all on the line and do something crazy for God. We’re tired of being fed. We’ve been fed so much, for so long, that we’ve gotten fat. We’re spiritually obese and we can’t take it anymore. We want to be exercised!'

Now that’s a metaphor."

ht: Scot McKnight

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