What Would Jesus Deconstruct? Caputo (1-5)

Chapter 1

This chapter would’ve challenged the church to reexamine who they are and what they do. Most churches’ foundations come from history and a long line of tradition. This makes it very difficult for churches to reconstruct. Changes are never easy, but because of inconvenience churches will dishonor God and Christian practices to maintain comfort or even power. The church should allow all the leaders of the church to take a few days to retreat. During this time the leaders can reflect and seriously discuss the church and how effective they are in ‘being’ the church. Hopefully this will be an opportunity for honestly, correction, love and prayer.

Chapter 2

What this author shares about deconstruction and the journey being a ‘risky’ business can make people feel really uncomfortable. I’ve seen, in many circumstances, change being the catalyst for people leaving the church and causing division. How the changes are communicated and carried out needs to be done with wisdom, careful consideration and prayer. Another option is to have a church planting committee. One of the best solutions in harboring new ideas for a church is a church plant. If there are those within the church that want to change directions of where the church is wanting to go, other leaders should encourage and support them through finance, resources, and people. In this way, we don’t neglect those parts of the community that desires to continue in the way of things.

Chapter 3

From this chapter the church can evaluate how they excel in the areas of justice, gift, forgiveness, and hospitality. The author describes these as things that happened but is always arriving. The church needs to ask itself how do these things look and act out in today society and culture. These things can look differently depending on the community, city, and culture the church exists in. After evaluating, the church should move to communicating and teaching all members on these topics. A sermon series can be helpful in teaching, challenging, and encouraging the church.

Chapter 4

A few years ago Evangelical Christians were one of the most feared people in the U.S. I think this is because the church is overly aggressive in protesting and voicing their opinions on what they don’t believe in such as abortion and same sex marriage. In this chapter the author shares about the mercy, compassion, and tenderness of God in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. I don’t believe the church needs to be timid in things that are offensive to God, but I believe there are ways in which we can express the love and compassion of God as we deal with these things.

Chapter 5
This chapter challenges the church once again to look at scripture and Jesus to construct an accurate attitude and approach to some of the challenges in this world. Some churches are too involved in the protests and openly expressing oppositions, but then you get those churches that don’t care at all. Churches need to be well informed of the things offensive to God, but at the same time needs proper perspective in how to go about dealing with them in loving ways.