I came across another Dallas Willard quote today which described the church as "a community of love where the bad habits of life are broken".
Ideally, this is really the kind of supportive environment we all need to experience healing and positive change that lasts. And I hope that to a degree this is still happening in our local churches in spite of all the dysfunctional dynamics that are going on at the same time.
What would you see as the biggest hindrance that holds churches back from becoming this place of recovery and school of spiritual formation? Is it cliquishness or fear to open up too much? Are we still too program focussed rather than people focussed? What would be the most important steps a church could take to show genuine love and become more involved in personal discipleship without being overly intrusive or controlling?
It would be great to hear some success stories in this context, and not just lamentations regarding all that's obviously still broken!
