Half-way into day two of the Verge conference and I wanted to post a few thoughts, drawn primarily from Jeff Vanderstelt’s 15-minute presentation and Ed Stetzer’s breakout session, though there is much more I could draw from.

There is a theme throughout the conference of repentance. That might seem a bit odd, but it is actually quite encouraging. There is a growing consensus that the way that we have “done” church in America has not only not been every effective, it’s probably not very biblical. We have adopted a mix of seeker-sensitive and corporate mentalities that has turned the church into the purveyor of religious goods rather than the maker of disciples and the transformation of culture.

This is an exciting time because there is a growing number of people looking to the Bible and, shockingly coming away with the idea that the church is called to make disciples! No, this is not new, yes, you’ve probably heard it before, but why do so few of our churches make robust disciples? As Ed Stetzer said this morning, it’s almost as if, somewhere along the way, the American church took some serious birth control because we have stopped multiplying.

For too long we have treated the church as an amusement park where, if we simply keep adding the newest, biggest and best rides, people will come. When we don’t keep up, they will go to the newer, bigger, better amusement church just down the road. Much of what we do is simply not reproducible. That should be a problem for us, but it is not. Much of our conception of “church” involves multi-million dollar budgets and rock bands. Not only is this not reproducible, it may or may not even be church. What if we unleashed our people on the mission of God in their everyday lives?

You may or may not believe that the idea of missional community is the right solution, but before you lump it in with liberalism, before you write it off, at least listen to what’s being said. You may believe that the term is fuzzy, but have you really listened to the voices in the conversation and have you watched the lives living missionally?

A conference like this is not only exciting, it is necessary. It is a much-needed clarification for some about what the term even means and it is a call to repentance for others. We have tried to plan and push the church along on our own strength for far too long and we have very little to show for it. No matter what your conclusion is, certainly we can at least agree that it’s time to consider a change.