If I could change church this is what I would do. First, I would make church a place of learning, it would be a school of theology. With vast libraries and real scholars who spent years of their lives studying at well known institutions. Second, there would be no form of offering or tithe ever, all knowledge would be freely given. If people want to give to God they could give by volunteering, not just at the church but anywhere. Third, there would be open discourse about topics instead of preachings of morality. There would be debates by and with leading scholars in other religions and science. All of these things would turn church into a respectable place. Currently there are too many people who pretend like they know what they are talking about and call themselves Pastors or Preachers when in fact they never graduated high school or pretend like they have a Doctorate when they just purchased it from a diploma mill.
Church has become a place of big budget theatrics and no substance and all the people who preach about the need for substance cannot provide it.
I want a biblical scholar to help me understand why Paul thought the way he did, not someone to charge me $500 for a “Wealth Bootcamp” when they have never even taken a high school level economics course.

good to see there are some rockin churches out there… take a look at http://MarsHillChurch.org

Are we worshiping church or Jesus? Church should be less a destination or something we brag about if it’s good, complain about if it’s bad. Where two or more are gathered! Church is 24/7, where we are. We are on a mission to exhibit Jesus by our actions, reach out to the least and the ones marginalized by religion itself – that was going on in the Gospels. Live it. The current revolution in church is not about music style or whether or not to burn candles. It’s about proclaiming the kingdom of God where the people are – and most of them are not visiting our buildings. Love you, thanks for thinking about this, keeping following God! Peace, TC