Church These Days

So I got a pre-release copy of David Platt, pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, book that is to set to release in a week or so and I have been challenged and convicted of how and why we in the west, particularly America "DO" church. The title of the book is Radical. Platt believes that we have bought into the "American Dream" mindset even with our faith and our churches and that we have lost sight of the true gospel...very challenging to someone who is in ministry full-time!

Then this morning after I got to the office I was looking through some mail that came on Friday and saw this quote from Stanley Hauerwas, a renowned theologian who I believe currently teaches at Duke University's Divinity School.
The church has lost its ability to be a disciplined community because we're now, religiously, in a buyer's market. Christianity has to bill itself as very good for your self-realization, and that's killing us because we're not very good for our self-realization. We're good for your salvation, which is not the same thing.
Quoted in Christian Ethics Today (Vol. 16, Num 2)

Sometimes we in the church have to pull back from what we immerse ourselves with, or sprinkle ourselves for any non-Baptists and ask the tough questions? Is what we are doing really making an impact for the Kingdom of God? Are we following God's desires or our desires? Are we seeking to make disciples or to make people feel good about themselves? Are we just a club that has a cross or a fish plastered somewhere or are we completely sold out to the gospel of Jesus Christ?