A Hospital for Sinners and a School for Students

The prevailing framework for the North American church today is almost entirely focused on the health and development of the people who attend it. Even attractional churches, which make evangelism central to their ministry, still see the visitor as a sinner to be rehabilitated or as a mind whose ignorance needs to be dispelled. We have perhaps overemphasized the idea that the church is a hospital for sinners. Because we have overestimated the power of the intellectual to do spiritual rehabilitation, we also operate a lot like a school, operating under the assumption that everything that is wrong with us can be taught out of us. Under these assumptions, the church is made up of its people, who are sick and unhealthy. Its leaders are the experts who offer a treatment plan, followed by helpful advice, educating us on how to stay healthy. The infrastructure is centripetal, drawing people inward. The leaders - the experts - are primarily focused on gathering, educating, and meeting the needs of those who are wounded and unwell so they can be healthy again.

- Brian Sanders, Underground Church