What about Madison?

What about the people you have reached in Madison? Don't you think that you should be encouraging them to go to church? If they don't go to church, then aren't they just friends? How is a group of friends that are not connected to one another sustainable?

Churches close their doors every day. People leave and join churches every day. Are we able to say that starting a church today will be sustainable? How will they know if they don't hear. They aren't going to church, they have made a conscious decision not to. Why not be in community with them anyway - we just don't put it on the map, name it, and make the rules.

One statement made by a influential business owner, who is also a believer with a long history in Madison sticks out to us. When asked what the presence of the church is in Madison, she replied, "non-existent"..."While many of their buildings sit right in the center of the city, they exist on the fringes, they are no longer heard at all - that is if they are even trying, I don't know". Maybe one day, this will become an understood, embraced, powerful manifestation of the Body of Christ in itself. People who follow Jesus out in the community, living the life of the Kingdom of God, who just find one another on the sailing crews, in the market place, at book clubs. All of a sudden that which seems would be invisible is more visible than any church could ever be.