Who sets the agenda for what the church does?
I read an article recently in a Christian publication about an informal survey - done in Canada, I think. Several (I don't remember how many) college students were sent to churches in a large metropolitan area and asked to report their impressions of the effectiveness of the Sunday morning worship of these churches in reaching their community. That's a fair enough question, I suppose.
Their report went something like this. The large congregations had a variety of programs for all ages, with mostly structured services which would appeal to some people, but seemed too professional. Then there were smaller fellowships who were more friendly and sometimes less formal and they, too, reached a certain number of people, but there were a lot of things missing. Finally they attended one small inner city church which had a service followed by a community meal at which homeless and other down-and-out people came to eat. The students felt that this last church was the best example of what the church is.
I have no argument with their appraisal of such an inner city church, nor of what that church was doing to minister to its neighborhood. I do have a question, however.
Who sets the agenda for the life and mission of the church? Is it our community? Our neighborhood? The needs of society?
Do these in turn determine for us what music we use, how we worship, what we preach and teach, whether we are formal or informal, how we dress, etc? We are told to be seeker friendly. That seems to make perfect sense.
So then I ask, what did Jesus do and what did the first century church do? And does it matter that they didn't have all the conveniences and technology of the 21st century? How much difference does 2 millenia make?
If we become so carried away with being relevant to our age, will we lose the distinctiveness which was so characteristic of both Jesus and the early church? Their lives - individually and corporately - reflected the nature, character, and purpose of God and the gospel. Is that who and how we are?
If I seek to be relevant like you are, am I being honest with myself and how God made me? If my church seeks to be seeker firendly like your church, will we lose our identity and the unique purpose for which God has called us together? Maybe we are so quick to "evaluate" others based on who we are that we can't let them be the way God made them. My life is unique to me. Your life is unique to you. My church has gifts and skills and a personality all its own. Why do we want to be like you?
Maybe if we all listened to God more, and honestly, we would find that He will sovereignly set our agenda. We may end up being like others, we may end up being totally different. But in the end, it's what God wants that is important.
Oh, and a footnote to all this. God asks us to be faithful, not successful. If we are faithful, I believe He will bring fruit - even if we can't see it for ourselves.
What do you think?
Charlie
I read an article recently in a Christian publication about an informal survey - done in Canada, I think. Several (I don't remember how many) college students were sent to churches in a large metropolitan area and asked to report their impressions of the effectiveness of the Sunday morning worship of these churches in reaching their community. That's a fair enough question, I suppose.
Their report went something like this. The large congregations had a variety of programs for all ages, with mostly structured services which would appeal to some people, but seemed too professional. Then there were smaller fellowships who were more friendly and sometimes less formal and they, too, reached a certain number of people, but there were a lot of things missing. Finally they attended one small inner city church which had a service followed by a community meal at which homeless and other down-and-out people came to eat. The students felt that this last church was the best example of what the church is.
I have no argument with their appraisal of such an inner city church, nor of what that church was doing to minister to its neighborhood. I do have a question, however.
Who sets the agenda for the life and mission of the church? Is it our community? Our neighborhood? The needs of society?
Do these in turn determine for us what music we use, how we worship, what we preach and teach, whether we are formal or informal, how we dress, etc? We are told to be seeker friendly. That seems to make perfect sense.
So then I ask, what did Jesus do and what did the first century church do? And does it matter that they didn't have all the conveniences and technology of the 21st century? How much difference does 2 millenia make?
If we become so carried away with being relevant to our age, will we lose the distinctiveness which was so characteristic of both Jesus and the early church? Their lives - individually and corporately - reflected the nature, character, and purpose of God and the gospel. Is that who and how we are?
If I seek to be relevant like you are, am I being honest with myself and how God made me? If my church seeks to be seeker firendly like your church, will we lose our identity and the unique purpose for which God has called us together? Maybe we are so quick to "evaluate" others based on who we are that we can't let them be the way God made them. My life is unique to me. Your life is unique to you. My church has gifts and skills and a personality all its own. Why do we want to be like you?
Maybe if we all listened to God more, and honestly, we would find that He will sovereignly set our agenda. We may end up being like others, we may end up being totally different. But in the end, it's what God wants that is important.
Oh, and a footnote to all this. God asks us to be faithful, not successful. If we are faithful, I believe He will bring fruit - even if we can't see it for ourselves.
What do you think?
Charlie
Labels: Church Agenda
posted by Charlie | 10:21 AM
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