What if the church was simply a gathering of people who share life together?
I love thinking about these things, and I find myself thinking about them a lot. The only struggle I have is that when I look at what other people do in response to questions about how the church could change or about what it could be. It seems they almost always abandon everything including their church and tradition in order to start over.
For me, for whatever reason I have this strong need to help the current church shift. I cannot justify just starting something new and forgetting that I am a part of a huge tradition of people seeking God.
As a Methodist, when I go back to our beginnings with Wesley, they really seem to fit with everything the "new" churches are trying to do. The problem is that current churches are in no way similar to where the Methodist church started.
So how can we help the current church notice that they are missing it; to help them see they have missed one generation already and are on the road to miss several more?
I think one way to do this is to simplify what we are doing. We have a program for everything as if the programs themselves are a way to salvation. What would it look like if we cut out many things we currently do and just intentionally gathered together?
I think that there would be a lot of good that comes from this.
How would we still do worship of God without all the exact same people doing the exact same thing every week?
How would relationships between generations change?
How would staffing the church change?
What if a churches focus was simply "Loving God, Loving Neighbor"?
What if the church was simply a gathering of people who share life together?
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A gathering of people who share life together
Posted by Chris at 9:28 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
All so many reasons I didn't like church. And believe me, I went to A LOT of churches. I have to say that FUMC and a few others in Crossville were the only ones I ever cared going to. I never felt a part of the "congregation" at many churches, it wasn't about true fellowship.
It is always far easier to drop everything and start from scratch, than to fix the issue from the inside, and that is WHY we have so many churches, and so many denominations.
Very good thought direction, I think. Progressive thinking is exactly what is needed to continue to minister to a progressive society. Culture is beginning to shift in a radical way, and we need to think hard and prayerfully about what we can do to keep God in and leave the bad stuff out of our lives.
Shahid: There are many churches that I dont feel welcome at too. And I completely argee that this is the reason we have so many churches. Unfortunatly, this is only complicating things not solving, but I guess those who start them just need something different and it is the only way they feel it can change.
heartnut: I love the simplicity in a focus on God, and not on the problems.
Post a Comment