Introduction

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.