Part of the reason why I left my church, and why I suspect that it will be very difficult to find another church, is because I now realize that most churches are placing the emphasis on the wrong things.

Don't misunderstand me: most of the people at most churches mean very well, and many of them earnestly desire to serve and follow God, and some of them are true saints.

But when we really look at what our churches are all about, many of them are primarily about serving their own members. We talk a lot about God, and try to teach people about serving Him, but we don't really do a whole lot, or really show people what that means. We're quite content to show up at our meetings, as long as it fits our idea of what the meeting should be like, and let other people do the tough work. Thinking about this reminded me of a sermon illustration I've heard Pat use, of a story of the life-saving station.

As I think about church ministry, there are three aspects that I think are involved:

Mission: an important part of church ministry is its mission. Who is the church trying to reach? Where is it going out into the world, making a difference? Christ showed us mission in his healing ministry. He had compassion on everyone he met. He showed us mission when he shared truth in a language that people could understand, their common tongue (Aramaic), and not the language of the religious elite (Hebrew).

Attraction: another important part of church ministry is that people are drawn to what we have. Christ modeled this as well - thousands of people would crowd around him to hear him speak, to try to get healed, or even just to catch a small glimpse of him. Acts describes a church that was growing dramatically, by the thousands.

Family: the third important part of church ministry is the sense of family and belonging within the group. Christ modeled this in his selection of the twelve to be his closest friends and ministry partners, and the way in which he mentored them, "parented" them, prepared them to be leaders themselves.

While some churches might be good at one or more of these aspects of ministry, most churches distort and change the reality of these aspects to please themselves. I don't believe, as some do, that missional/attractional is an either/or situation. I believe it is both. The question is, how do you view your mission? What is it you are attracting people to? And also importantly, do you develop a sense of family?

Most churches view their mere existence as part of fulfilling their mission - they are on a mission to make a change in the community. Therefore, they believe that volunteering as a teacher, nursery worker, usher, musician, etc. is part of being on a mission. I'm starting to feel otherwise. Weekend gatherings often serve two purposes - a gathering for those in the church, and an entry point for those checking out the church. You can certainly minister in such a context, but missions involves a lot more than that. It involves taking care of the "widows and orphans." Those who have the least. The homeless. The abused. The dying. Those that are generally forgotten when we're planning our flashy weekend church service. We need to take a more basic view of mission, and view it primarily as direct service to the "least of these."

Most churches understand the need to have something attractive, and they try to fulfill that need by having great music, a beautiful building, people dressed up nicely, and a professional worship service that flows smoothly. Churches on all ranges of traditional to modern to emergent do this - whether it's massive pipe organs, MTV-style video breaks, or interactive art stations, we're always trying to attract people to our church with some gimmick. But Jesus used none of that. He didn't need it, and we don't either. I'm not necessarily against pipe organs, MTV-style video breaks, or interactive art stations. They're not unbiblical. But the reality is that what we save people with is usually what we save them to. What we need to save people with is Jesus. We need to take a more basic view of attraction, and realize that the more we become like Christ, the more people will not be attracted us - they will be attracted to Him.

Most churches understand the family aspect as social gatherings. We know each other, we enjoy hanging out together, and we do favors for each other. That's a great start. But we're really called to live life together. Jesus didn't just see the twelve a couple of times a week. They lived together. They slept together, ate together, traveled together, worshipped together, and ministered together. Real family cannot be experienced in a group of a thousand, five hundred, or even fifty. We have to get smaller, but we have to seek something more than just "small groups." We need to take a more basic view of church family, and seek our primary connection with the church through a family-sized unit instead of a congregational one.

The overall solution to all of this mess is to earnestly seek to become more like Christ. Only then will we place the appropriate emphasis on mission, attraction, and family, and not distort them to fit our personal view of what a church should be like.

Labels: church