I was chatting with Andrew yesterday regarding the post below (dissing church). It's strange because language is important in some ways, but not in others. In reality it's more important that we are being kingdom people than that we have a name, however there are some practicalities in having a name: for example people who wish to connect with us are able to identify us.

At the same time we are living in an era in which language has lost its value. Relativism dictates that all "truths" are equal, and, when it comes to arguments all truths are equal - we are placing one verbal proposition against another. Following from this, in the "marketplace of ideas" language becomes meaningless.

I don't think our generation is unique in this - much of the ancient world, the world to which Jesus and his first disciples were called, was a great marketplace of ideas. How did Jesus and these early followers demonstrate the validity of their 'truth'? They demonstrated what they talked about. They said "the kingdom of God is here" and then healed. "Show and tell" as Wimber used to call it.

So there are two issues:
1) we shouldn't use language that is exclusive (filled with jargon), or has lost it's meaning, and
2) we shouldn't assume that language says it all.

We need to find language that explains who we are, but we also need to actually be that thing.