(If you have come to this blog because you’re still working through yesterday’s massive synchroblog on “What Is Missional?”…you can read my entry here.)
I’m finally making my way to the end of the book Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost. Yesterday I read some things that have already started re-shaping my thinking. Here are a couple of quotes:
“Why can’t we think of churching together as a web of relationships? Why are we obsessed with the singular event rather than seeking the rhythm of a community churching together?”
“The result of nearly two centuries of Christendom is that Christians have become used to the idea that their faith is primarily about attending meetings–worship meetings, weddings, funerals, prayer meetings, and so on.”
In the same chapter, Frost shares how in a truly missional church, the corporate meeting is merely the “tip of the iceberg”, and one simply cannot gain a good picture of this kind of community by simply “checking out” the weekly gathering. There is so much more going on in daily life that shapes them.
Reading this book is helping me verbalize some things I’ve been processing internally for some time.
In a recent conversation with a friend, I shared how I am in a season where I am just not in the mood to attend a multitude of church meetings. Almost immediately the “don’t-forsake-assembling-together” Scripture was brought into the conversation. I tried to explain that “assembling” takes many forms and doesn’t necessarily have to always be in the churchy format we have gotten so used to. But I am not sure I was able to communicate what I was truly feeling, or that my friend “got it.” I almost wish I could now re-visit that conversation, because I feel now like I could communicate better.
Yes, the Bible tells us believers to assemble together (Heb. 10); and in Paul’s epistles (especially in 1 Corinthians 12-14) he gives some instruction on what sorts of things can/should happen when we “come together”. But I am coming to realize that the early church was not defined by their meetings the same way we are; their sense of community was much deeper, and their focus was not on the meetings themselves.
I’m realizing that most of our concepts of “meeting together” are still shaped by religious Christendom rather than the Scripture itself. Think about what happens when the church assembles. Regardless of the “flavor” of church we’re talking about…these meetings are almost always focused on a set of events that are occuring in front of an auditorium while most of the people look on. Whether pre-planned or spontaneous, these events constitute an “order of service” (another term not found in the Bible). When we think of “assembling together”, this is usually what we have in our head; this is what we think it means.
But the problem is, most of this picture is not actually based on Scripture itself; it’s based on stuff that we added in hundreds of years after the church was born. And it’s so well-established in our thinking that we just assume this is what is meant when we are told to assemble together. It isn’t bad in itself; but it becomes a limitation when we define the practice of our faith by it. Why? Because what defines us also limits us. That’s why the church needs to be defined by Jesus, not by extra-Biblical presumptions.
Even as a house church pastor, I realize how much I have allowed this mindset to shape my thinking. Despite all our de-constructing…I can still see how much of what we do as a church is centered around our weekly Sunday gathering. (And if any of our people are reading this…this is not to give you an excuse to stay home Sunday. We need you to bring food. 😀 ) But I’ve really been pondering what it would look like for us to be so involved in community and mission, and other forms of coming together, that visitors couldn’t get the gist of our community just by visiting our home on Sunday. We’re already headed that way. It isn’t about planning more events; it’s about changing how we see ourselves, and how our faith plays out. It’s about seeing our faith, our sense of community, and our mission on earth as much more than an inherent obligation to go to planned events.
Don’t misunderstand me; gathering together is an important element of the church. But today my thinking is challenged–and I want pass the challenge on to you–to look outside the box and consider that first of all, assembling together is just one part of church life; and second, we could be a lot more creative about what “assembling together” even looks like. If our weekly (or multiple weekly) meetings are the only tether holding us together in community, I think it’s a weak connection indeed. And I will say it again: what defines us also limits us. We need to consider that this mindset we’ve relied on could actually be imprisoning us.
I’m not saying I know what it ought to look like; I’m just saying we could be so much more than we are. I want the freedom to re-think, re-imagine, what Christian community could be like where the meeting was only the “tip of the iceberg.”
And looking at the world now, and the overall effectiveness of the church today…I think we have a responsibility to re-imagine it.
Wayward Son
Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo.
I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
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A large part of the difficulty is cultural. All of us live in cilos, segmented off from each other. I love gadgets and technology, but the portability of our devices now allows us to shut out the world even when we are in the middle of it.
It’s no longer acceptable to just drop by someone’s house for a chat. I have discovered as a pastor that most people under the age of about 35 don’t even want you in their home at all. They would rather meet somewhere because having a stranger in their home feels like an invasion.
On top of that, the amount of hours we spend working as a country is growing. I find more and more that free time is a problem in our church. Between work, soccer practices, ballet, etc many people simply don’t have the will to add more time.
So, building a strong sense of community is really hard to do. It’s not at all impossible, but it is hard. It’s totally counter-cultural. It requires revelation from God.
Jeff,
I think we’re thinking some very similar thoughts in this area. Recently, I wrote a blog post about a phrase that I read that continues to challenge me: “To have life within the meeting, you must have life outside the meeting”. I agree that the modern church has defined itself and for the most part limited itself by its meeting. In fact, my PhD dissertation will examine many of these questions as I look into the purpose of the meeting of the church from Scripture. Keep up the study and the challenging posts… and especially keep living what God is teaching you!
-Alan
I’ve done a lot of this type of rethinking as well… but, I grew tired of all the questions and attempts trying something non-traditional (so to speak) and not finding it to really satisfy the questions. At ths point, we are back to attending regular meetings, but not so regularly. It helps that Terry isn’t pastoring a church to be able to throw up our hands and say, “I just don’t know and I don’t have to know.”
I am however, very surprised at ben’s comment about people under 35yrs not wanting anyone in their homes. I see the opposite happening here on Long Island. The younger crowd wants the heart to heart community, and in a very relaxed setting. It’s the older crowd that wants the opposite and doesn’t get the whole relational piece. I find it interesting.
Ben, thanks for the insightful comment. Some thoughts that occured to me while I was processing your remarks…
1. We do have a very individualistic culture, to be sure; but it seems that community is still a deep need in people. That’s why they will leave their homes to meet at Starbucks or someplace, even if they don’t want you IN their home. So I think part of creative community is to create it where community is happening.
2. In tandem with that thought…all the places you mentioned that currently take up people’s time (i.e., work, soccer practice, ballet class) actually are mini-communities. What if we began to think of these areas as potential places to *develop* Christian community, and helped our people start thinking that way? That way, we could possibly expand our sense of mission without the pressure of having to add events to our church schedules.
Okay, bro, you’ve got me thinking now. I feel a new post coming on…thanks!
Alan, thanks for the encouragement. I have read that phrase on your own blog, and I think it’s a great statement.
Karen,
I have seen it both ways, actually. I’ve seen the separatism Ben was talking about, and at the same time I’ve got young(er) neighbors and friends who love to have people over. I think it speaks to the fact that our culture is diverse, and we have to be sensitive to our particular culture and adapt to it. Fewer and fewer across-the-board formulas work anymore. I think your particular experience (trying non-traditional and venturing back to regular meetings) also points to the fact that these are deeper questions than just “how to do church.” My journey is teaching me that this involves a complete shift in thinking far more than it does what form or expression you happen to be involved in. I just know that despite the jadedness I feel from time to time, my heart longs for the deeper…
Jeff I know what you mean about wanting deeper. I do so want something that means more than what I have seen Christianity mean for me in the past.
I want to see it actually working too. From what I have seen in my own walk, trying to emulate the “attractional” model just wasn’t working very well. Sometimes saying nothing at all can work much more in another person’s heart than trying to impart some wisdom or even just telling them about Jesus.
I can also see why some people end up back in a more traditional setting. For the most part I feel like I am on my own here. the people that I know who are Christians feel under attack when I start asking them questions or stating my own thoughts about Christian culture.
Good post, You and a few others that I visit keep me thinking..
Peace
Jeff,
This is a very thought provoking post. It’s exactly where I’ve been for a while now in my thinking. It sounds like you and alot of others have been there a while as well. It just shows me that God is moving and wants something more for His people than has come forth in recent times.
The coming months and years are going to be very interesting to see what develops in Christianity and how meetings and coming together in any form develops within the Body of Christ.
Blessings,
Gary