I started teaching my Missional Church class at Whitworth University again this week. This is the 4th year that I have taught the course. If I teach it again it will morph into a course entitled, "A Church for the World." One of my introductory exercises I use is asking them to give a one word description of the church and why. Here are their responses (some were duplicates – 19 in the class):
Transforming, Alive, Colorful
All-over, Shifting, Diverse
Disappointed, Confused, Helpful
Opportunity, Dislocated, Silent
Giving, Community, Reactionary
The interesting thing in this for me is that they all were not negative responses In the past, almost all of them would be negative. Obviously, this is not a scientific survey, but it did catch me off guard a bit (and threw off my intro – partly because I was juxtaposing where the church is and where it should be) that there was a potential attitudinal shift in amongst collegians.
If you were to answer the question – what is one word that describes the church for you and why, how would you answer?
