Being in a city there are a number of churches which have larger gathered congregations. (I should here qualify what I mean by ‘gathered’ in this context as some have asked me. I am talking about worshipping, generally Sunday congregations which are, rather than being made up of predominantly local people, gather together people from across a wide area.) But my anxiety, as an aside, is a distraction.
There is a strong argument to be made that this is just the way that things are going, that this kind of gathered congregation is merely the church adapting to new social norms, seeking to cater to specific demographics, combined with how the fewer church attendees there are the more the geographical distance between worshipping members increases. In part I agree, particularly regarding the social norms, and I certainly will not condemn churches which hold to and practice this model. My concerns grow when we start to think about how these churches identify themselves and where a lot of the energy is at least perceived to go.
It is generally easier, when it comes to Sunday services, to gain a picture of the identity of the worshipping community quicker with a smaller congregation. Once it reaches the hundreds it is harder to figure out just by stepping through the doors on a Sunday. Now this will not be news to some, but just think about it for a minute. The midweek toddler group, the foodbank, the parenting group, the meetings in the nursing home, all and more are part of the life of your church. Any church. The variety in the socio-economic positions of those engaging with your church, the ages… Are these represented in some way on a Sunday morning? Do you want them to be? Should they be? Does it matter if they are?
This sparks a deeper question, where should our focus be as church? Is our Sunday service a window display where we sell our wares to visitors? We are called to be disciples who make disciples. The way that works out in practice will inevitably differ from person to person and church to church, but that’s the base call on the life of every Christian. The Sunday gathering, while offering the opportunity for hospitality and occasionally mission when welcoming newcomers, is not primarily positioned to be missional. It is positioned to be the space, place and time when the members of the church gather together for encouragement, teaching, edification, praise and to share in communion. Of course, anyone should be welcome and we should absolutely hold a radical posture of hospitality, but I do think Sunday services need to stop being implicitly treated like a shop window. We should not capitulate to a consumer culture in our desire to grow.
This is why, when I wrote Pick-A-Church, I suggested finding your local church (which showed signs of a heartbeat…) instead of using the Sunday morning service as a shopping trip. When people show up, welcome them into your gathered family, as that is what you are. You don’t need a shiny gloss, instead invite them to join you on the journey you are on as a church. Welcome someone as they would be welcomed into your home, as that is what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter who they are or how messy your house is, your community is not a display in a window, it is a real family, and everyone is welcome. Be who you are, don’t try to be what they are looking for. And if you are visiting don’t shrink away if what you find doesn’t match your expectation or previous church experience. Don’t just look for what the church has to offer in the form of music, age range, lights etc. Remember that this Sunday service you’ve come to is just one part of this family’s life and get stuck in, become part of the family that you find yourself near, even if they don’t all live nearby.
I haven’t written much about how to be authentic as gathered church, instead I have tried to suggest that by treating our worship gatherings, as big or small as they may be, as extended family events rather than shop window displays (to broadly categorise and stereotype!) we will move closer to having *actually* authentic, simpler worship gatherings.
While the worship gathering is, of course, a crucial part of the life of the church, the reality is that when we are working to reach the unchurched our primary focus as a body needs to shift, particularly when it comes to the gathered church interacting with local community and resource deployment. This will be the subject of my next post.
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Of Blood And Bones 