Has the Church institution got a chance?

The Prodigals have some challenging stuff, courtesy of Jason Clark:

"One of the reasons 55,000 Christians [across Europe] are leaving church every week is because – the problem is with the church, but [it’s] also because we will not pay the price of orientating our lives around following Jesus together…”

Read the full text here. See the extension for another simple but powerful Henri Nouwen meditation.

"Right Living and Right Speaking

To be a witness for God is to be a living sign of God's presence in the world. What we live is more important than what we say, because the right way of living always leads to the right way of speaking. When we forgive our neighbours from our hearts, our hearts will speak forgiving words. When we are grateful, we will speak grateful words, and when we are hopeful and joyful, we will speak hopeful and joyful words.

When our words come too soon and we are not yet living what we are saying, we easily give double messages. Giving double messages - one with our words and another with our actions - makes us hypocrites. May our lives give us the right words and may our words lead us to the right life."

Henri Nouwen.org, Daily Meditation 20th June 2006.