The entrepreneurs are leaving

Somalian refugees and immigrants in the Netherlands are collectively moving to the United Kingdom. The reason: Dutch government is making life too easy for them. They get several payments and financial benefits, while not being encouraged (even restricted by complicated regulations) to start companies and shops and thus make a living for themselves. So they are kept in a position of passivity, which is not good for their self-respect and community life. Therefore they decided to collectively move to the UK, where government funding is much lower, but the 'entrepreneurial climate' is better, and so they work hard to start their own businesses. As a result the Somalian communities in the UK are thriving, and research shows that 70% of the Somalians who still live in the Netherlands plan to move to the UK as well.

In a way this situation is not much different from the church. At our city leaders meeting this morning a pastor remarked that we take so much of church life for granted. What will remain of our faith if persecution comes? I would take the question a bit further: aren't we keeping Christians in a position of passivity by offering endless easy-to-consume church programs? Shouldn't we encourage people to become entrepreneurs, to explore and launch out in new ways of community and missions, and not limit them by complicated regulations that we call 'theology', 'church program', or 'church structure'? I guess it's a retoric question. Already many 'entrepreneurs' are leaving conventional church to form their own communities, taking less support for granted.