Ok, so the cool thing, according to George Barna might be to forget the building, forget the coffee socials. Forget the nursery for the little ones. Lets just do church at ....my house, or the golf course, or the local coffee house. That is where the cutting edge people are. If you are really hip, and into the latest mod trend, forget the local church; after all, they are tired out loosers. Goners. Yesterday. Uncool. Lets just start booing.
I hope you have been reading Tod's thoughts about church over the past several days. Tod's musings have me thinking quite a bit. For me, this thinking makes the whole blog thing worthwhile.
One of my favorite song writers, Christian or not, is a rather jolly fellow from Whittier, California named Bob Bennett. A number of years ago, Bob wrote a song entitled "Jesus in Our Time". This song, for me, illustrates the depth of what the church has to offer.
Jesus in Our Time
Countless legions of the faithful
Crossing every generation
Hand to shoulder in an unbroken line
Lead us to this Sabbath morning
We humbly count ourselves among them
To seek and find the face of Jesus in our time
Though an imperfect congregation
Full of folly and of doubt
We presume to ask our questions
And we wrestle with their finding out
We break the bread and pass the cup
And try to bear each other up
There are those who are among us
Who believe they are not worthy
We offer you the Word of life
We bid you come and dine
Upon the mercy we have tasted
And the love given so freely
Come take your place at table now
With Jesus in our time
And as He promised so we proclaim
He will be among us as we gather in His name
To heal the broken hearted
To ease our troubled minds
We want to know you - to follow You
Jesus in our time
I am not so sure I could accomplish all these things in my living room, with my friends, on a boat, playing golf, or just doing coffee. I think I need......a church.
10 comments:
Did you photoshop this pix or is it a real photo of a church sign? It's pretty funny...
After reading Barna's book, and thinking about it for a while, I guess I have a different take on the book than most others... I am not so sure he is promoting "closing down churches" as much as he is trying to help we who DO "work in the church" to take a closer look at what it is we are actually accomplishing (or not accomplishing.)
Barna certainly tends to come off a bit negative. He's passionate. So am I. And I come off sounding negative sometimes, too. But that's what burning passion does to a person - it stirs things up inside of them.
My prayer has been that we leaders would not be so quick to brush Barna's "revolutionary" thoughts aside as "left-field banter" but, rather, actually give some more thought to how we might be able to re-shape or re-think the way we DO church - and see if there might not be, yet, another possibility out there for reaching and serving people effectively within the walls of our stained-glass shelters.
Ok, you guys are all hooking me into thinking MUCH DEEPER... which was already pretty deep to begin with! Grins.
I would have to say just off the cuff (without researching it and without reading the book that was mentioned) that my initial answer is that the church is the body of Christ as a whole, whether together or seperate. The church is not the institutional building or structure nor the membership of such, but instead, it is all of us who have Jesus in our hearts. Though, it is important to bring up Hebrews 10:25 that says we should NOT stop meeting together as many of us are in the habit of doing... It is interesting to see in this scripture why it is we aren't suppose to stop meeting together. Hebrews 10:24 says "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Then the second part of Hebrews 10:25 says, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day apporaching."
Cindy Ovokaitys
Not to play the devil's advocate here... but...
I agree that we should "meet together" but this demands certain definitions. For example - how MANY people equals "meeting together?" Could it be three? Seven? Twenty-six? Does it matter how many people are in the gathering to be viewed as "meeting together?"
Secondly, does it matter where those folks "meet together?" Could it be on a golf course? In a coffee shop? At an arboretum? (did I spell that right?) Or does it have to be within an "actual church building?"
Heb 10:25 doesn't really answer those questions... which leads me to believe that so long as we are meeting together to spur each other towards love and good deeds and encourage one another as The Day continues to approach, then we're obeying God's Word - right?
I think this is the one of the main points of Barna's latest book.
That Heb 10:25 verse doesn't really say ahything about HOW to accomplish that, does it? I mean - it doesn't really say WHERE we are to remember to gather together for encouraging one another.
My point being - in a home, on a golf course, in an "official" church building - really, does it matter? So long as we are being obedient to what this verse says, we can gather just about anywhere...
I am sooooooooo sorry... ugh! I had tried responding last night and kept getting this odd prompt telling me it was not going through. So I responded again this morning - and now I see that I have 3 responses!!!! Feel free to delete any of those three you like - honestly, it was not my intention to drop so many comments on this particular post... oh well..
Dan, Would Barna think we are meeting together now for church over the web? Though I haven't read the book to say I agree or disagree with Barna, I'm thinking of Matthew 18:20, "Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them." Then, I ask myself, am I gathered together with others "in His name" while I'm on the golf course (though I don't golf...but I do mini-golf once in a while-wink), at the coffee shop, or in the living room? Hmmm...."In His Name..."what exactly does that mean? I'm stumped.
Our church (the institution) will be doing a new sermon series on the early church soon...this whole converstation will have me very attentive to it.
Cindy Ovokaitys
Your comment here reminds me of something I found pretty funny... about a year ago (perhaps longer) I found something I think was called "The First Cyber Church" or something to that effect... This group of people were "fed up" with all the arguing and debating that goes on inside the walls of churches - so they left their "building" church and decided to start a "cyber church" so that they could be "free" of all the arguing, debating and personal taste issues people were bringing with them into worship...
The SECOND week of this "Cyber church" someone posted a comment that they did "...not like the colors used on the home page!"
I could not stop laughing... you can run but you can't hide...
Dan- If I knew how to add one of those smiley faces that looks like it is laughing, I'd add it. Cindy
Hey Steve, Bob Benett is one of my favorites, too. My wife and I met him in San Jose in the early 1980's, and were captivated by his songs. "A Song About Baseball" is wonderful, as is "Lord of the Past."
How's the elder thing going?
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