Ketchup Bottles for the Dying Church

Nine One Act Plays for the Renewal of the Church

Dying churches seeking renewal have employed many internal symptomatic activities designed to attract new members and thus save the church from death: such as new liturgy, changing ministers, enhanced coffee hours, VBS, handicap accessibility, new outdoor signage, etc. Through nine short one act plays, this book centers on the interaction betweem a staunch conservative traditionalist ketchup bottle and one that is progressively adamant about renewal and being in mission for others; as the latter leads the former in understanding the systemic problems facing the dying church, such as doing the right thing for the wrong reason, the motivation for mission, a correct theological framework for a definition of "church", finding an authentic place for a pre-scientific document, the necessity of spirituality over religiosity, a God-centered definition of the church, attitudinal change, etc. Since these systemic problems prohibit the church from experiencing renewal and being in mission for others, this book is a unique contribution to the genre of the dying church.