My good friend James asked a great question about this picture on his blog:

Is this picture a good metaphor for the church in our culture and context?

I agree with James that for the most part it is. Although I struggle with the picture of the building moving and the implication of the “institution” moving (identifying the “brick and mortar” or our “structural models” as somehow definitive for the Church), I like the general idea of the Church moving into the community rather than simply expecting people to come to the Church. I think the Church needs to be on the move and that the Church needs to be mobile; however, I also believe the Church is people rather than simply an organization, denomination, building, structure, etc. Along with replacing the image of a stationary church, I think we need to shed the picture of the Church as the physical building or organization and instead, see is as the community of faith and local Churches and local expression of this larger community. Maybe a better picture would be people joined together, shedding the trappings of the modern building and structures (all of which are important but not a defining point of the Church) and moving freely, influencing culture, spreading hope, love and new life.