Old wineskins

This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”

A long time ago, I spoke on Jesus' image of putting new wine into old wineskins. My friend Sandy e-mailed this question:

In response to your message, I'd like to ask a provocative question: Is it a waste of time to try to change an "old" church into a "new" church? Should new churches be started from scratch rather than trying to convert or adapt established churches? (Do you think that's stretching the "old wineskins" metaphor beyond Jesus' intentions?)

What do you think?