Churches

Feeling a little like a copy cat…was totally planning to talk about church and the modern church and different types of churches and why ours is so cool.  But Joel totally touched on some of what I wanted to say. Great minds do think alike. So here’s my 2 cents.

My mom visited "my" church today. I certainly didn’t expect her to love it enough to make it her new home church, but I thought she would enjoy the sermon. She did. But she said something I expected, what a lot of those “older” (not old) than me will say. It didn’t feel like church.

Most great churches will tell you to find a church that fits you so long as it preaches from the Bible, teaches that Jesus was the son of God who was fully God and fully man who died for our sins to allow us the ability to enter heaven despite our sins when we accept him as our Savior….those kinds of core beliefs. I would certainly agree. The arguments that have separated churches come down to everything from music to the pastor to…really anything can quickly become an area of argument. I think we’ve come a little way in our church building journey where I personally have seen less splits and just more new opportunities. Maybe I’m way off base. That’s just what I’ve seen.

But one thing I think we’ve all seen is a shift in the non-traditional. Generation X and Y are taking the things that make us happy and comfortable and fitting it into our church life. Meeting places have been a big one - Action Church meets in a movie theatre (before I became part of the team, they met in a bar), the church Joel mentioned has a very small meeting place. All of sudden, we stop focusing on have a building. (There’s nothing wrong with having a building, however. There’s good and bad to both. For instance, we didn’t have a Christmas Eve service because…well, that’s a good day for business for Frank’s Theatres.) For the church I attend, I don’t know that having our own building would work. You see, it’s attracted more people by being accessible. “Well, I have to go to church. I guess I’ll attend this service before I see a movie so I get my brownie points.” Why not? After all, God is big enough to capture us no matter where we start or where our hearts begin.

Need I say much about the music? It’s a highly debatable subject. Are hymns obsolete? (probably not) Is rock music inappropriate for church? (Nah.) Is there a right way to praise God? (David danced naked, so…I vote not really there too.) I’m not going to type paragraph upon paragraph about music because I’ve always felt strongly that if it’s something that’s really important to you, you should find a great church that preaches Christ and closely matches your needs. Some people don’t mind, they have other priorities for where they worship.

How about dress? I remember growing up that the appropriate church attire (as a girl) was a skirt at the very least, then pants were appropriate, but regardless, you had to be dressy. Now I’m not out to say that it’s a horrible thing to do. After all, it’s a great way to demonstrate to God how you approach worship, putting forward your best. But there’s also something to be said about accessibility. What if someone who works in a factory setting and has a couple children wants to go to a church, but feels uncomfortable because he doesn’t have anything really nice to wear? And as much as we’d like to say we wouldn’t look at him funny or judge him, at least most would. (Myself included in past experiences.) But if everyone’s comfy, jeans, tees, whatever, it’s easier to just drop in. One of the reasons my friend’s husband likes to come to church is because he can wear his hat during the sermon. And why not?

The way I see it, the more we move to this “non-traditional” church, the more we capture the heart of Christianity. God gives us immense freedom. It’s never something we should take advantage of, but something we can be thankful for. It also reminds us that we don’t have to save our Christianity for church. It plays a part in everything we do. (Just check out the action through the week on twitter with our congregation, if you will.) When we stop feeling like we have to be a different person or put on an act, we realize that God is present at all times, and we should include Him in every step.

The disclaimer, of course, is that if you attend a church that is “traditional” and it helps you worship God, then that’s where you should be. God can use anything to teach us. But I think if we start to think outside of the box, we can reach more people, and better yet, we’ll learn how to grow without the confines of tradition or “the norm.” The world we live in is constantly changing, but God’s word is staying the same, and it’s still relevant. How we apply it and use it remains the challenge, then passing that on to others takes it up a notch. Because whether we like to admit it or not, God’s way works. We’d be wise to follow his wisdom and Word.

-Jacki
(dismounting soap box)

References
www.actionchurch.com (the church I attend)
http://joeleo86.blogspot.com (Joel's blog)