The three legged stool. Where in the Word is that?

This ought to rock your boat.

In a Crosswalk interview, Kay Warren had a whole bunch to say. And, by the way… this is not a mean-spirited post against Kay Warren or another rant against all the contemplative-seeker-purpose-yada-yada-yada. But the alarm is blaring. Can you hear it?

A few years ago Kay Warren read a magazine article presenting the plight of the HIV-positive millions and the millions with AIDS. “If He couldn’t get my attention with the pictures, He got my attention with the words. There was a little box off to the side that said, “12 million children orphaned in Africa due to AIDS. I had no idea. I didn’t know a single orphan, so I just couldn’t imagine that there were 12 million anywhere, not yet in one place.”

In the back of my mind I was recalling the recent One campaign, the Red campaign and other comments regarding the plight of the world and then her comments as I read the rest of that interview. It is incredible to me to consider that just bcz *some* of the “church” doesn’t know about real problems in the world doesn’t mean that *all* of the “church” is AWOL or that the church hasn’t been doing lots of ministering around the world. Sure it hasn’t been as flashy and splashy as conventions, rock concerts or mega-benefit shows, but what she either refuses to see or ignorantly doesn’t realize is that men and women have been working tirelessly for many decades to reach people. But when the social gospel agenda is the focus everything else is out of focus. The church has been asleep?

“We believe the church has been the missing leg of a three-legged stool. Governments are doing things. Private sector businesses are doing things, trying to go after global giants, but the church has been absent. We have been trying to bring the church back to the table and say “It’s going to take all three.” The main reason is that the church has the widest distribution center. The church exists in places where there is nothing else. To utilize the distribution channels for care and compassion and teaching and training. It’s the way to go. It’s smart!” – Kay Warren

Genesis 3.6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

“I’d like to encourage the readers to become seriously disturbed. God is looking for seriously disturbed men and women who will no longer be OK with people living in poverty or without medical care. We won’t be content to be in our own little world. We are so focused on our own lives. All of us are. “My family, my life, my church, my job, my ministry.” God wants us to be disturbed by the pain and suffering in this world, and do something about it.” [Kay Warren answering questions in a Crosswalk interview.

It’s a pretty arrogant position to believe that the “church” has not responded to the needs of the world. Says, Mrs. Warren, “We have abdicated our God-given responsibility to care for the sick and the poor. We have been AWOL from that. In that vacuum, nongovernmental organizations have come in and filled that gap admirably and with incredible dedication and love and compassion – being the hands and feet of Jesus. I think the paradigm must shift a little. I think that, in time, the parachurch organizations will exist to support the local church, rather than the local church existing to resource the NGO.”

Who is the NGO? Do you know? Can you say: The United Nations?

And people thought “a thousand points of light” was dangerous. That was NOTHING.

More and much better stuff from Slice of Laodicea and you sure ought to read Steve Camp’s entry here. If the pictures don’t grab you, nothing will.

I’m thinking that we’re soon going to see a whole lot of jumping ship by genuine believers in mainstream churches. When reality dawns, there will be many who gasp and say: Wait, I’m not part of that! I didn’t know they believed that. You know how it goes: O, I never believed all the PDC stuff. I just went along bcz other people were doing it. I just wanted to do what all the other pastors were doing. That, or *many* will slide and be carried away.

More and much better stuff(!) from Slice of Laodicea here.