Many years ago, there was a book titled Your God Is Too Small. I've been thinking about how churches are too small. The megachurches are especially too small.
You see, we tend to think of "our" church as simply the group we may gather with on Sundays. George Barna 'documents' millions who've 'left' the church. And we live and breath as if the churches we attend are "ours", though we mouth that they belong to Jesus.
But it's interesting that while there are 33 references to churches in the New Testament, there are 112 to "church". Most of those 33 references refer to churches across multiple cities. There is no clear example of referring to churches within a single city. This despite historical evidence that in many areas, churches met in homes. It seems to imply that groups meeting in different homes in the same city were considered a part of the same church.
We tend to think of a church, or at least practice church, as being a club we join. We talk of "placing membership" (a club mentality). Our churches add amenities, they offer programs, they approach ministry as being some centralized bureaucracy. To do anything for the club, you pretty much have to be a faithful attender, go through some screening of the church, et al. I'm increasingly seeing this as all such small thinking.
Acts tells us that the Lord added the first disciples to the church. The church is the body of Christ, not the bodies of Christ.
The book So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore presents an image of church that is so much larger. It shows it as a community of believers that live beyond the clubs we've formed. It is a beautiful picture in my mind.
We need to adopt a mentality that every disciple is a member of our church, and treat him as such. We need to get beyond our club mentality. It'll mean practicing more hospitality, being less programmatic and open about our ministries. It will mean that some of us don't attend the same "church" two Sundays in a row, or even the same one more than once per month. It may lead to the collapse of some churches. More meeting in homes.
You see, your church is every disciple around you. Every disciple you meet while working in a strange city away from home.
Such an approach to thinking is new to me. Something mouthed about church that I'm really beginning to digest. It undermines, I'm discovering, much of what I've previously written in this part of the blogosphere. Much to revisit about the thinking on "redemptive community". There's still a place, I believe, for walking with a "core", to having a community within this larger church.
I'd love responses. I'd love input. Write, comment, whichever.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Your Church is too small
Posted by Mark Winstead at 5:19 PM
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2 comments:
I read a comment of yours that you left on Neil Cole's site and thought I would check out yours. Some of what you are suggesting I would certainly agree with. The modern Church has little in common with the Church we find in the New Testament. There is an older book that provides a wonderful theological discussion of this by Emil Brunner called The Misunderstanding of the Church. The country club mentality you speak of is almost certainly due in part to the institutionalization of what began as a movement. However, I would be cautious of the model of church you suggest in your latter paragraphs. Here's why? Without question, there is a strong emphasis in the New Testament on living in community. This community, as described in the NT, was not simply a spiritual connection, but a truly material connection. They did life together. They lived in a holy interdependence. While we are all certainly part of something larger, i.e. the Church, we cannot think of our relationship to the Church only in terms of the ecclesia invisibilis- the invisible Church. The weakness is that it emphasizes the Church as loose connection of individuals. If a person is worshipping in a different location each week, apart from community, I believe discipleship would be difficult to the extreme because biblically discipleship is understood in the context of a community where the encouragement and accountability of the saints is present. That presumes a depth of community only developed by people who are doing life together.
Tom, I've gone ahead and posted your comment, but realize this is a "dead" blog. I had a team, but I was the only one ever posting. I've moved my posts and added post in this vein to restoringheart.blogspot.com. Let me know where you saw the pointer to this site, and I'll move it.
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