Rediscovering Church with Collin Hansen

A lot of people claim to love Jesus, but can’t be bothered with the church. The frequency of church attendance is down. Since the pandemic, some have left the church and don’t plan to return to in-person anytime soon.

It’s time to recommit to gathering together as brothers and sisters in Christ.

In this episode, Collin Hansen discusses why it’s important that we rediscover church.

Key Ideas

In the past, pastors had more information. Today, that advantage is gone.
We should consider the church as our main spiritual community where we can encounter different perspectives and people with different opinions and biases.
The church is not primarily a dispenser of information and experiences.
In-person churches can’t match the quality of music and preaching available online, but in-person churches offer something you can’t find anywhere else.
Upheavals are not new, but the recent pandemic is unique in terms of disrupting the gathering of the church and providing an online option that some argue can replace it.
Teach your people what the church is. Aim to build a church that can withstand a pandemic.
Just show up at church, and ask how you can help, and you will get so much benefit as a believer.
Good pastors know where they’ve failed and where they’re vulnerable.
The pandemic won’t last forever. Hold on.
Periods of tumult are often accompanied by an unusual work of God.
Every new technology brings unintended consequences.
Bad news is easy to find. To spot good news, step away from the screen and look for God’s work in your neighborhood, church, and family.

Quotes

“The physical gathering is the actual thing that keeps you in line with God’s plan and keeps you distinct from everything else.”

“We can complain a lot about younger generations, and then you stop and say, but who taught the younger generations? Who taught people that they should come to church as a consumer? Well, churches, churches taught them that.”

“I don’t trust any church leaders who haven’t failed. That doesn’t mean Gary the church leader has to go through an abuse scandal, no, it’s just that leadership is a crucible of exposing you. And you are lucky if God exposes your need to repent early before you can do a lot of damage.”

“The opportunity I see for the church right now is certainly to repent and to come back to him.”

“I would probably give my standard Monday morning advice, which is don’t make any decisions about your future on a Monday morning if you’re a pastor. Probably things are not as bad as they appear and things are always changing. So you just don’t know what’s around the corner. So if possible, if you can hang on.”

“If history is any indication it could be a movement of God, unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time.”