Sometimes the church gets it right. Dave Ferguson is a creative type, so in some ways selling things on eBay  as an application of Scripture doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me (a little bit at least) is that so many young pastors are dreaming of a church like this that's involved in serving the community. Keith Drury, who teaches at Indiana Wesleyan University and blogs regularly at his web site, noticed the same thing among future church leaders in a class he was teaching. He relates his thoughts on it at Bono Church.

Now let me say something radical: If all you want to do is serve the community, join Kiwanis or Rotary or the Lions Club. If you're into funny hats become a Shriner. But DON'T join the church because you want to serve the community. The service is simply the outflow of the Gospel message. It is NOT an end in itself. Same way with fellowship. It is the outflow of the Gospel message, not a function of the message itself. That's why it bugs me when people (the professional whiners that populate so many churches) say "We just need more fellowship in the church." Fellowship is not a feeling. New Testament koinonia means "participation in a common activity or purpose". Absent evangelism - the Gospel message - there will be no fellowship. There may be warm fuzzies, but there will be no fellowship.

That's my radical thought for today. What do you think?