In Genesis 28:16 Jacob remarks upon waking from his dream of a ladder set on earth reaching to heaven: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."

I wonder how many of us can say the same thing. I have this sneaking suspicion that most Christians are oblivious to the presence and activity of the Lord in a given locality. Evangelical Christianity has so confined God's presence and activity to the church that it is mostly unaware of what God is doing in their city or neighborhood.

We lack a theology of place. Ours is a theology of time and eternity dealing with abstract concepts while considering geography as irrelevant in the pursuit of truth. Any serious reading of Scripture, however, clearly reveals the importance of place in God's mind.

Incarnation without place is meaningless. If we are to be an incarnational people, then we must be aware of the significance of place as far as God is concerned. It isn't just so much real estate as is the case with the mindset of western culture. It's the people of a given locality that make that place what it is. So God's compassionate nature prompts him to send his prophet to the pagan city of Nineveh, he tells Paul he has many people in the immoral city of Corinth, and he shapes and forms his son in Nazareth, a town with a good-for-nothing reputation.

So what is God doing in your city? Can we be involved with him if we are unaware of his compassion for our city, as well as his presence and activity in that place?

Frost and Hirsch in their book The Shaping of Things to Come use the huge cattle ranches of the Australian Outback to illustrate the difference between two perspectives: viewing people as Christian and non-Christian or Christian and not-yet-Christian.

Many farms fence in their livestock, clearly delineating which is in and which is out (Christian - non-Christian). But fencing is not practical on the vast cattle ranches of the Outback. So wells are dug whereby the cattle stay close to where they can get water. This is more of a picture of Jesus and his followers. He had his twelve, but there were many more who gravitated to Jesus in varying degrees. So it probably was a lot fuzzier trying to figure out who was in and who was out. One that appeared to be "in" of the "elite twelve" we know now was one that was far off. Then there were the 70 that Jesus sent out. What about the many women that followed him? How about the people he touched and ministered to? What about the Samaritans of Sychar? How about the 500 that he appeared to after his resurrection? Where were all of these on the spectrum?

It seems that Jesus functioned from the metaphor of the well. No fences, just living water that drew people to him. Would we be more effective functioning from Jesus perspective that didn't categorize people as in or out but seeing people as on a continuum in relation to Jesus?

Len Hjalmarson makes the following statements:

Community without mission is a social club.
Mission without community is a social agency or focus group.
Mission and community without devotion is western churchy technocracy (Pelagianism?)
Devotion alone is a mystic or a monastery.

Each of these statements is a subject in and of itself. Looking at them as a whole can be overwhelming. But  in considering them together, something occurred to me that I'll throw out as a conversation starter.

From what I've observed and experienced, we can get one of the above in place - community, mission, or devotion. Sometimes we're able to get two of them in place. But seldom, if ever, have I seen all three of them functioning in a healthy relationship in any given group on an on-going basis.

I'm wondering if it is impossible for a group to function in community, mission, and devotion without short-changing at least one of them.

My sense is that only the Holy Spirit can accomplish this. (That which is impossible with man is possible with God.)

So what do we do to remedy this? Is it doable? Or maybe you're involved with a group where it's already happening. If so, enlighten us.

The incident in San Diego where the authorities demanded that a home Bible study shut down because it was in violation of local codes has attracted nationwide attention. The last I heard was that the authorities backed down because of the firestorm that was created by their prohibition of the Bible study.

This Bible study was brought to the authorities' attention when neighbors complained about all the cars that were parked in the neighborhood by those attending the Bible study. It was far too congested as far as the neighbors were concerned.

I wonder if those who are hosting the Bible study have any healthy relationships with their neighbors. Do they host anything for their neighbors, like backyard barbecues, Super Bowl parties, birthday parties, etc.?

What would happen if all the people who were driving into this one neighborhood for a Bible study would start gathering with people in their own neighborhoods, developing friendships whereby some of their own neighbors might become interested in checking out the Scriptures together with them? One thing for sure, there would be no congestion or parking problems because everyone lives within walking distance of each other's homes.

Perhaps this San Diego incident is indicative of the mentality that is so predominate in western Christianity. We will travel miles to gather with other believers ensconcing ourselves deeper and deeper in our Christian bubble while ignoring our neighbors that live right in our own block. So how are we advancing God's kingdom on the geographical turf where he has placed us?

Continuing with the conversation concerning meetings, some thoughts have been stirring in me. I'll pose them in the form of questions, trusting that they may provoke some thought and insight that will be constructive in working our way through this maze of Christianity as we have known it.

Are the structured meetings that are so common in traditional Christianity misleading people? In other words, are they delusional?

Is it understood that the more one participates in these meetings, the more spiritually mature he/she will become? I believe this question has been profoundly answered by the Reveal study done by Willow Creek. Their findings have now been documented as showing that the problem is not unique to Willow Creek, but is common to churches across the board: participation in church meetings and programs doesn't produce maturity.

So the question: Why do we continue with something that bears little or no fruit? And in doing so, are we deceiving people, causing them to believe something that is false - that their faithful attendance will result in maturity?

Can Jesus apply the words of Isaiah to his people today as he did in the first century?

"You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return and I should heal them" (Matthew 13:14-15).

So what is with the obsession that the American church has for meetings?

Meetings have become the life of the church. Take away the meetings, and it appears the church would collapse. Is this really what Jesus had in mind when he said, "Upon this rock I will build my church"? The interpretation of "rock" in that statement, with the present obsession for meetings would lead one to believe that what Jesus meant was: "Upon meetings I will build my church".

We all know how ludicrous that is. But isn't that how we build our churches, with meetings? Isn't that a primary measuring stick for faithfulness and maturity, as to how consistent one is in attending meetings?

What would happen if a church canceled its scheduled meetings for the summer months?

So what would the church do if there were no meetings like it presently has?

N. T. Wright deals with the meaning of salvation in Surprised by Hope. He examines it in the context of Scripture, exposing the false concept of salvation that most western Christians embrace. Wright states that the normal western Christian view is "that salvation is about 'my relationship with God' in the present and about 'going home to God and finding peace' in the future." Wright then adds, "This is simply not what the New Testament teaches."

My purpose here is not to deal with salvation per se, but to simply use it to illustrate how far off course western Christianity has strayed. If something as basic as salvation is skewed, how much is the rest of our theology twisted to the extent that it bears little or no resemblance to the truth of Scripture?

At the risk of being simplistic, I think a primary culprit in our corruption of the Scriptures is our interpreting them from an individualistic man-centered perspective. When interpreted from a corporate God-centered perspective, they take on a radically different meaning.

We desperately need Spirit-inspired scholarly study of the Scriptures in their original context if we are to recalibrate and redefine western Christianity to the intent of original Scripture.

Ron submitted some great questions posed by missiologist Gailyn Van Rheenen's group put out to those disciples desiring to plant ne communities.

- Given your passions and spiritual gifts, what do you believe God is calling you to do?
- If you knew you would not fail, what direction would you take your ministry?
- Considering your already full schedule, what will you stop doing in order to make space to do what you believe God is calling you to do?
- How will you know 6 months from now that God has been working through you?

Are these questions for folks seeking to "enter the ministry" or "the basic fundamental call to follow Jesus"?

How does this relate to Mark 8:34 and then the incident with "the rich young ruler" in 10:17-30?

There have been all kinds of reasons suggested for the decline of Christianity in the West while secular postmodernism continues to gain momentum. Whole ministries are devoted to restoring Christianity in the public place. Yet secularism continues to increase.

It's common to hear scriptures quoted in support of efforts to turn the tide, but they seem little more than empty platitudes in the midst of a profane culture. One of the most used scriptures is Matthew 16:18 where Jesus says the gates of Hades will not be able to prevail against the community that Jesus builds. However, what we see occurring in our culture appears to be the reverse, with the gates of Hades prevailing against God's people. How can this be?

Could it be that without community the gates of Hades will prevail? Could it be that the only thing that will prevail against the gates of Hades will be the community of Jesus - not individuals devoted to Jesus, or even individual groups devoted to Jesus, but a community devoted to Jesus?

Is community the only thing that will stop the decline of Western Christianity? Is community the only effective means whereby the mission of God can be effectively carried out? If not, what's the alternative?

Quoting Fred Peatross, "Jesus' ministry was a fringe ministry." By "fringe ministry" we mean that the ministry of Jesus did not function from the center of the "religious" sector.

The overwhelming testimony of the gospels reveals that Jesus associated with those who were considered outcasts by the ardent practitioners of Judaism. It was from these "unbelievers" that Jesus received the most promising response to his message.

If Jesus is the prototype, the one we are being conformed to, the one we are to learn from and be disciples of, should not our ministry also be a fringe ministry?

And what about Paul? Was his a fringe ministry?

Why do we continue to minister primarily from the center when we see the greatest results come from the fringes?

It appears that our whole approach to ministry has been skewed. We've been doing it backward all these years? Why? Have we been blind, or has it been fear?

Can we be incarnational and not function from the same perspective as Jesus did?