There are two kinds of sentences that one should hear at church or in relationships with other Christians.  One should be primary, the foundation for everything that could follow.  Unfortunately, the second one has become the actual primary sentence stem, and (as good as things might be), things are worse of for it.

The primary conversation with Christians should begin with “What has God been saying …” or “What is God doing …”  These bring the reminder that God is always at work, that He is present and real and the proper foundation for things.  The real is relational.

The secondary conversation can then move to the “Could you …” or “Would you …”  Because life as we often choose to set it up requires people to get things done.  Remove the primary conversation, though, what you end up with is systems management and people as pawns in programs.  This becomes something like institutional instrumentalism, and while it gets things done, it comes with an unnecessary long-term cost.

There has to be room for both conversations, but primacy should be given to the first, especially in the long run.  The Christian faith is more than program management.