Chapter 4

That's sort of what Chapter 4 feels like.

Obviously, the author has some bones to pick with how the traditional church operates. In this chapter, he lays out thirty areas that need to be reformed in the Mega Shift. If you are like me, you may have been turned off by some of the sweeping generalizations he makes, and maybe you questioned whether some of his criticisms were credible. Perhaps our criticisms are valid, or perhaps sometimes he hits a little too close to home.

Our responsibility in reading things like this is listen to what God is saying to us through this book. Even if 29 of his critiques are wrong, perhaps there is one that the Spirit wants to highlight for Chi Alpha and/or Lafayette. So what do you think? Are there any of his points that you think are particularly applicable to our situation? What are some areas that you think God wants us to Shift into?

And one more set of question remains. Do you think that the individual house churches are the only answer to these issues? Do we have to entirely throw out the structure of the historic church and start over? Or are there ways to incorporate the Mega Shift elements into our existing churches?

Can we be like Frank "Cannonball" Richards and take the punch to our gut and keep standing?


http://youtube.com/watch?v=TlytmtStpdg

Chapter 3

Getting Ready for the Big Boots

Chapter Three begins to dive into the nitty gritty of the Mega Shift. Exactly how do we make the transition into empowered, everybody-ministry?

In response to this question, the author lists seven key elements that every believer should have in their lives:
(1) A new identity
(2) A new kind of empowerment
(3) A broader sense of responsibility
(4) A new freedom
(5) A new understanding of the gospel
(6) A far higher level of support
(7) A new maturity

The one that most stood out to me was #3, or as he put it, the "ownership mentality" or "responsible stewardship." The essential point here is that you don't immediately start off by raising 16 people from the dead all at once. You start with smaller faith goals that will stretch you where you are at and build your faith muscles.

That got me thinking, what are some steps we could take at Purdue? I mean, I'm sure there are things that will stretch us individually, and those will most likely be different for each of us. But what are some things that we can do together that will grow us and give God the opportunity to display his power on campus? This book talks a lot about how we we won't grow on our own, that we need others for that process. What is something we can do this fall that would be a step into the supernatural?