Considering New Ways to do Church

What is driving Christians today to engage in new ways of doing church? I’m getting a little tired of the emphasis on postmodernism. Shouldn’t the emphasis be on God and not people or worst yet specific views of people? Certainly the church growth movement had it’s chance and what became of that, other than the wholesale commercialization of worship. Still, I also realize that effective communication requires an understanding of the culture and particularly it’s youth. Make no mistake. I’m not denying the cultural shift nor do I reject the idea of being “relevant”. It’s just that I think the word of God is always relevant and that it really doesn’t need our help to be so.

This may come as a surprise to some of you younger Christians and emergent peoples but the “traditional” church has not only survived the last 500 years but has expanded the Kingdom more than any other before of since. But with that said, we do need to continually rethink and reinvent the way we express Church in this world. That is why the Reformed Church has often referred to itself as both “reformed and reforming”. Now… if it would only mean it!

Here are some things we should be thinking about:

The Church as a family – How many times have you gone to church and seen those faces. Who are they? What’s going on in their lives. Yes we have “prayer corners” and prayer meeting but how much can you know about someone from their sound bites and worries. This has certainly been an important issue to the emerging generation why is it not an issue with all of our churches. The Church should be The Church all week long and not just during potlucks. Find a way to make your church a real family.

Participation – Our people are clamoring to be involved in something worthwhile. How many churches have witnessed massive growth and intense involvement during building projects only to loose those same members once their goal has been achieved? How many ministers have fooled themselves into believing there is such a thing as a “building pastor”? Come on! If we really want to be the Church to the world; sharing the “good news”, then we should never run low on opportunities to improve the world. Find something. Better yet, find lots of things and do them.

Open doors – Why is it that most churches seem like little closed membership clubs that freak-out the day they get a visitor but then never speak to that person again? I think every single church I’ve ever been a part of extols the virtues of its own “friendliness” but how many of them really fulfill this claim? Don’t just be inviting, be keeping! And let nothing divide you. Recently somewhere around 1/8 of all the American Baptist Churches in the US split over the homosexual issue. Although this may be quite a complicated issue it certainly shouldn’t be the divisive one! Can people absolutely not stand to worship beside someone knowing that that person might hold a slightly different interpretation on 6 verses in the entire Bible. Wake up. What kind of family is that? How is that being Christ-like? Be loving, make it real and don’t stop!

The Church down the street is a Church too – Well guess what. Your church is not the only Christian church in the world and even more importantly your church isn’t really the Church at all. The Church is made up of the whole lot of you! Don’t compete; don’t worry if someone might find a different place to worship on Sunday. It’s all the same Church! Why bag on emergent churches, organic churches, cell churches, cyber-churches, traditional or charismatic churches? Why have we cut up the body of Christ in the name of tribalism? Grow up! You’re not the only one! Work together, you might actually accomplish something.

VOTE ‘EM OUT

If you were the boss of a company and you had one guy that you had hired to handle the most important work in the company, wouldn’t you watch that person closely? Well, what if that someone just simply did not work for half the year, absolutely did not do the job that you hired them to do and yet gave himself huge pay raisers while cutting the pay and programs of other workers. What if your employee almost always set things up to work for the deep pocketed leaders of other corporations rather than listening to you?

What would you do?

Would you worry that the next guy you give the job to might also be a poor representative for your company? Would it worry you so much that you’d just keep the guy you have rather than take a chance on someone else? Would you say, “but the guy I have now is experienced” even though the only experience you’ve witnessed is his experience in doing the wrong things?

From now on, FIRE anyone that does not do the job you hired them to do! If his replacement does not do the job… then fire him too! Keep firing them until you finally get someone that does the job right.

VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS!!!