Is this supposed to be helpful? 

The church has no interest in the people outside the doors who haven't heard of Jesus?

Sounds to me like a mutual admiration society.

Kay,

The post is aimed at people who love Jesus already yet are not getting into the church for whatever reason.

Christians do love those outside the church. I love you and what to hear more about you. I want you to get to love the church but most of all I want you to get to love Jesus.

Maybe it would be more helpful if you actually said what you mean?

Actually I've never heard anyone (least of all myself) say that they love Jesus and hate the church. 

Despite however loving the church tries to be, they are only human, and aren't capable of the unconditional love that God extends. Too often do people outside of the church see these flaws and get turned off because of them.

I almost wanted to flag this Blog as offensive. What is this, a Sunday School lesson for idiots?

• The Church loves Jesus
• The Church loves those who love Jesus
• Jesus loves the Church

Jesus was not alive to see the Christian Church formed by Paul, and even then, the Church was a gathering mainly in homes. For Jesus, the "Body of Christ" was the church.

People who "love" Jesus (love his teachings) do not need to "love" the Church. The church is a gathering of people who openly declare a belief system that is often quite rigid. Some people prefer not to be boxed in. So you go ahead and love the church for your 3 reasons and stop worrying about all of those who think differently than you. Your "Christ-centred" view, to me is Ego-centred. It is people like you who drive people away from the church.

You need to deal with some realities. We all have the love of God within us. It is there for us to use. You are not "special" because you claim to love Jesus, the Church or Kate. You are just out of touch. God's love is not about being better than anyone else. It is about seeing everyone as divine, as they were created and loving "people". This does NOT mean that you have to love their behavior or even go around recklessly telling people you love them. Divine love is not shallow. It is respectful. It does not judge those who choose to be within a Church or outside of a Church. The fact is that if "the Church" doesn't get a grip and start to join the post-modern era, it will simply disappear. People will still meet in houses as they did in Jesus time, but "Religion" as such may go underground. WHY? Because people like you don't know how to communicate the meaning of God in the 21st Century. You talk like we haven't learned anything in the past 100 years.

"How do I know? The Bible tells me so." Wow! Now that's really NOT insightful knowledge for someone who wants to know about God. Yet that is still how many fundamentalist churches discuss God. They WORSHIP the Bible. IT was inspired by God and that makes it, like God, infallable. How foolish when we KNOW that it says things that are just plain out-of-date and other things that are contradictory. It talks about a God who allows evil to run rampant and seems to enjoy punishing people by killing them off, etc. Gee, this was how God spoke to people in THOSE days. It was not MEANT to be for our Century! I think that is what Jesus came to say - "Hey folks, the nature of God has changed with time. God is now forgiving, charatable and compassionate, and He expects you to be the same!" If Jesus came today, he would talk in a different language that was more related to our present world. He would talk about God as The Creator of the evolutionary process and humans as the stewards of the Earth and co-Creators of the things thereon. He would speak, perhaps, of taking some silent time to meditate on the "God within" and listen for answers in the silence. He might talk about Churches as being self-serving and out of touch with Communities. But we have you to represent this 21st Century's answer to getting people into the Church? I don't think so....

kay,

Again I'm sorry for my lack of clarity. I actually have. There was a girl I met at Uni who wanted to worship Jesus but refused the label "Christian" and didn't want to go to church. But hey...

Freundly Giant,

I agree, it is a challenge for us all.

Lumby lad,

I am sorry if I have offended you so. I seem to have caused a lot of offense in a really short time. A lot of your criticisms seem to be based on statements I haven't made. Have you find people who base their faith on the Bible particularly cruel in the past?

I don't know where to start answering your questions. Perhaps I'll try and blog some thoughts here. But firstly all I can say is sorry for the offense caused, and sorry for the Bible-bashers that have obviously caused you some wounds.

Peace.

Tim