Rabbits breed "like rabbits.” They reach maturity in just 4 months, and their gestation period is a mere thirty days. And rabbits are extremely--well, let's just say they're always "in the mood". Elephants, however, take years to reach maturity and have a long gestation period. It takes 2 years and tons of food to reproduce even a single elephant. Something small and simple multiplies easily, but something large and complex is hard to reproduce.
A megachurch is like an elephant. It dominates the landscape and it's highly visible, even a little scary. A major investment of both money and energy is required to produce another megachurch, and the odds of success are very remote.
But an unChurch is like a rabbit. Rabbits live underground and you cannot easily find them, but they are everywhere. They are nonthreatening...even cute and cuddly. And they're always in the mood to multiply. They are very easy to duplicate, because anybody can gather a few people together in a living room or coffee shop.
A “plague” of rabbit churches could easily transform a nation, very quickly. It's happened before; there's no better example than China in the Communist era, 1950-2000. We're talking over 100,000,000 tasty little bunnies in just 2 elephant generations!
Elephants are cool. But I like rabbits. I identify.
Adapted without permission from Rabbit & Elephant by Tony and Felicity Dale. Download chapter 1 here.
Joe B
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4 comments:
nonthreatening, cute and cuddly. That's you and me Joe!
Hey girl, you're the Project Manager, not me.
When I was in high school one of my best friends had this beautiful rabbit named Thumper (yes, really!). As Joe said "nonthreatening, cute and cuddly"... until Thumper would get her back leg going and really THUMP... just for a few seconds... right before she attacked! Seriously she was MEAN! She'd chase you around the house. My point is that looks can be deceiving. Given my feelings on Church I tend to want to agree with this article, but... there can be some comfort in the elephant, shade so to speak. Those big mega churches can provide a place to hide... probably no one will notice you, certainly know one will call you out or make you accountable. Small unChurch's can be scary... certainly they'll notice you, probably hold you accountable, you'll stand out... nowhere really to hide. Some rabbits may look all cuddly, but they're just waiting for the time to attack!
L-M-A-O!
And the "A" stands for some innocuous non-profanity. This IS a Christian blog, after all.
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