A young woman attended my church's Sunday morning worship a few times this month. She is a twenty-something RN administrator at a local hospital. She is a transplant from another town,a few hours north of here. She has a boyfriend. She grew up going to a Lutheran church. After a year off, she decided to reactivate her faith life. She googled Lutherans in akron, pa and found us. She has participated. I hope she desires to belong with us. We have not seen her in a few weeks. I wonder if we'll see her again. I'm not sure, but she may have been the first person to find us online. That's actually sad. We have had a website for several years now. We have a facebook page too. We don't get much traffic on them.
We are not a big, flashy, attractional church. We are not entertaining. We are surrounded by churches casting a more sophisticated net than we are. There are churches around us with young people, big buildings, auditoriums, praise bands, coffee shops, bookstores, big screens, fancy signs, programs for every life stage and hobby, full-time staff and multi-million dollar budgets. We don't really have those things here.
The congregation of Lutherans I serve, Zion, has been here since the late 1890's. They reached the height of their "powers" in the early 1980s. Their membership has been declining since then. The decline of the mainline has been carefully dissected, discussed, announced, monitored, hypothesized about, and statistically concluded and published. Forty years of decline in the dominating 20th century denominational protestant bodies. Lutherans and the rest. in the past 5 years, the growing trend in American religious identification is non-affiliated. The nones, as they are affectionately called. (I would be resentful at being placed in a category that places me in a negative category. As if one is either religious or not. I think it wiser for us to think of them anthropocentric: a word which simply means humanitarian, in a broader sense. Centering life on the present human condition.) I suspect a lot of people are more or less on the fence about religion today. Even religious people. Extremism has distorted the global picture and distracted from the goodness of religious faith and its institutions. So, add the computer, the sexual revolution, and the war on drugs to an ever-changing world and you get religious institutional decline. I'm not blaming these things for church decline. I'm suggesting that cultural change forces adaptation or alienation. Adaptation is harder, but the better choice. Alienation temporarily stops decline, but it eventually leads to death.
I have been here 8 years. I believe that small congregations can be vital churches offering joyful worship, spiritual guidance and learning, and opportunities to serve their communities.
Zion went through an identity crisis. An identity crisis begins with a pair of assumptions. 1. We are not yet what we will be. 2. We can be remade, restored, renewed, redesigned by the God who made all things and has a future prepared for us. This assumption says, God is not finished with us yet. We don't have it all figured out. We can be better than this. These assumptions challenge us to be self-reflective, self-critical, and repentant (a church word that really means, to have one's mind changed). We needed to be challenged.
So, we asked ourselves hard questions: What is God calling us to be and do on Main Street? How do we remain faithful and what does being faithful mean now? What must we give up and/or take up in order to live faithfully? How must we adapt to our surroundings, given that they have changed so much? Akron is not the same place it was 10, 20, 40, 60 years ago. The world is not the same place. Since 9/11. Since the iphone. Since Obama. Since Oprah. Since_______(you fill in the thing that has rocked the world.) How do we make sense of this world? What message and work do we carry out in this world that will do the most good and be the most faithful?
I have seen many people come and go from this congregation. I have seen disgruntled members leave out of anger or pain or grief. I have seen people die and their loved ones hide. I have seen babies born and baptized and welcomed in. I have seen hurting people seeking shelter from the storms they are facing. I have seen divorces and relocations. I have seen people worship here once, twice, four times and then never come back. I have seen non-practicing, non-religious people find a way to live faithfully here.
What helps people to participate, to belong, to live faithful? Is it the building, the music, the leader (s), their friends, an emotional experience, the lights? I don't think guests who come here are really looking for those things actually. I suspect when guests come to this church they are looking for God or Jesus or peace or forgiveness or extended family. When people come here, they will find food. They will find kindness and generosity. They will find old and young people together. They will find a group small enough for everyone to be known, noticed, and named. They will find doubters praying. They will find workers and those seeking rest.
We serve breakfast and distribute food and clothing to our neighbors. We give generously to global partners, working on the end of deadly diseases like malaria and hunger.
I think what people find in a small congregation, this microchurch, is communion. It is a deep sense of belonging to God and to one another. It is a physical and spiritual connection to something bigger than you are. It may not be accompanied by euphoria, as at a concert or great movie or ball game. Church is not an event. It is not pious religious expression and sentimentalism. Church is Jesus and people, making a loving, creative God visible in words and actions. Church is a way to live a God-centered life, where we become more like Christ. Church is confronting (s)injustice. To LIVE is the reverse EVIL. Part of Jesus' own work was to cast out the demons that possessed people, setting them free to live good, healthy lives in communion with God and others. Confronting darkness is always a part of every good story.
I propose that we find out who Jesus is and what Jesus was like. For over 2,000 years people have said that his life is worth following and imitating. Discover what grace and peace sound and look like. It includes a message to learn and a simple meal to eat and drink. That is what church is supposed to be about. Discover communion with the creator and the creation, including the creator's most precious gift, the messed up, crazy, passionate, dangerous, wild human family.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
what a microchurch is
A microchurch is a gathering of people, seeking to be faithful to God by following Jesus. It has fewer than 70 people. In some places, a microchurch is called a small missional community or SMC. A microchurch is missional, meaning they are participating in God's mission to emancipate the world from (s)injustice. God's good creation has been corrupted, distorted, broken by an enemy force. BUT, the goodness of GOD sustains and renews creation with the promise that God will make all things new. Jesus' death and resurrection begins the restoration of the whole creation to become what God made us to be---beloved children, loving caregivers, good stewards, faithful and holy priests of the new covenant. God's mission is to heal wounds, release those imprisoned and enslaved, feed the hungry, reconcile enemies, and bring peace.
MIcrochurches begin by:
- Listening to the Word of God. God speaks to us in the bible. Creation itself speaks God's word to us. Martin Luther, doctor of theology and bible (1483-1546) said this: God writes the gospel not in the bible alone but also on trees, and in the flowers, the clouds, and stars. So, a microchurch must be acquainted with the bible and the natural world that God has made. Also, we listen to the whole bible and not discreet verses or passages that confirm our thoughts about God.
- Listening to our neighbors. According to Jesus the neighbor is someone who shows compassion and mercy to someone who suffers. Listening to the neighbor means becoming sensitive to others' hungers, thirsts, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, longings, diseases.Not to exploit or take advantage but to serve them.
- Listening to one another . Building Christian community means living vulnerably and transparently with people we come to know and trust.
- practicing justice with and for people struggling on the margins, at the bottom of the human pyramid, or outside the accepted center. justice is love setting right the things that threaten to dehumanize and destroy us. Justice is healing and reconciliation in public.
- Missional incarnational expression. Microchurches live to serve locally, promoting the common good, restoring the beauty of creation, and building bridges to heal divisions in communities.
- microchurches are sacramental communities of prayer and action. Baptism and the eucharist, the means of grace, draw us into relationship with Jesus and the creator. We gatheraround font and table to be refreshed, nourished, and remade in the way of Jesus. His way is the way of the cross and resurrection. We learn to die, togive freely, so that we can live for our neighbors who need us. Our prayers emerge from our experiences and from the Psalms, the ancient prayer book of God's people.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
microchurch and worship, part 2
There is an ancient greeting or welcome that Christians say to one another: "The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you." It is a biblical phrase found in the New Testament, at the end of the 2nd letter to the Corinthian church. It expands another greeting common to Paul's writing: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace and peace. Who doesn't want more of those in their lives? Peace instead of anxiety, worry, fear. Grace instead of debt, scarcity, slavery to unjust systems. I know people who are worried about their growing debts. They need grace and peace. May it be so, not only in our speaking, but in our living with one another.
We say the longer, three person greeting every Sunday morning to begin worship. The communal response is: "And also with you", which becomes a Lutheran joke. What happens when a group of Lutherans watch "Star Wars" and hear the phrase "May the force be with you?" They all say, "And also with you." Reciprocity build relationships. We do not only receive, we also give.
I want to suggest something important about microchurch worship that must not be overlooked or underestimated. Something happens at worship that begs description for a general audience. If someone asked me why I go to worship I would have a three-fold response. I worship because of the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. And this is what I mean:
First, Jesus was and is God's free gift to the world. Jesus reorients and reconciles God's people with God. He teaches people what it looks like to live a life with God at the center. Jesus was crucified, a form of public execution. He was raised So I worship God because of Jesus.
Second, God is love. I experience that love everyday in the abundant fecundity and beauty of the earth. I have been raised with love by parents, grandparents, and other caring adults. I am married with children. I know what love is because of them. God is love. Love produces life. I worship God because of love.
Third, I worship because of the communion of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for 'communion' is koinonia. It means to hold in common, to become one, to share. In worship, where the Word of God is spoken and heard, where faithful people gather around a common table, something happens. In the microchurch, a gathering of 70 or less, Communion happens. It is not an emotional response. A lot of people confuse their emotional responses with communion. Communion is not only when some experience feels good or produces euphoria. I have been to great concerts and experienced a kind of euphoria. But I did not experience communion. Communion binds one's heart, mind, body to others. Some people describe it as becoming like "family". I know that families are not always places of communion for people; of peace, of love, of grace. Jesus himself recognized that one's family of origin, one's blood relative or ancestors, could very well prevent someone from encountering God or experiencing the good life. Communion transcends familial bonds and establishes another kind of relationality. We become bound to the life of another person. Marriage is a place where communion can and ought to happen. But it is not the only location. Bonds of mutuality, friendship, kinship occur among people that transcend family ties. We may call it community formation. Mutuality to accomplish a common purpose or intent. More and more, however, we see the erosion of communities. Because of dislocation, fragmentation, and transiency, neighborhoods and porches no longer function as communities. People dwell anonymously and privately in big houses with back patios.
People need and want communion today. What they are getting is Facebook. Social media through technology does not give us basic, authentic human interaction. Its always like peeking in a window at someone else's life. It is not sharing, even though there is a 'share' function that allows you to 'share' videos, pictures, stories, etc...I have used the share button many times. But it is not spiritual communion. It isn't because a sound bite, a video clip, a tweet do not allow us enough access to each other to know and be known with grace and peace and love between us. We need more. And increasingly people do not know how or where to get what they are missing. We are thirsty. We long for communion, but have lost our way to it.
Many churches assemble for worship, but do not experience communion. A big gathering can feel euphoric, powerful, emotionally charged. Billy Graham Crusades led the way toward the kind of megachurchianity that has emerged in the last 30 years in the U.S. Where Christian faith has been equated with a personal, emotional response to two basic anthropocentric ideas: humans are sinful. God punishes sinners. But God forgives sinners who confess, and welcomes us into eternal life because of Jesus Christ. One is invited to respond to the divine offer by pledging faith and rejecting sins. Music has been used to draw out the emotions that prompt conviction. Increasingly video and image is used to prompt emotional responses, too. I went to a Crusade once. I felt manipulated. I believed I was saved as a baptized Christian. But that wasn't enough. I had to feel different, too. No communion in an auditorium full of people. Only private faith between me and God.
But that was not the way of the first Christians or of Jesus. The way of salvation was always communal. It was always about formation as a community, an assembly or following. Jesus called disciples (plural) to feed and heal people (plural). He commanded them to make disciples of all nations (plural). The multiplying effect of the church's witness was accomplished through a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic outreach that included non-Jews. The first Christians learned to be less prejudiced and discriminatory. Communion often occurred when different people, enemies or factions, came together around the Word and the table. So it is today.
Communion. Koinonia. It is what is missing for so many of us. It is what the microchurch offers. More than a feeling, it is a sense of being knit or bound together with God and one another. Of the Holy Spirit means that we breathe together the very breath of life. It happens when 2 or more are gathered in the name of Christ to bring resolution, peace, and reconciliation to human relationships. It can only happen because of the Word and the table of grace and peace. You can't make it happen. But it does. What we say and what we do together matters. Microchurch begins with this promise and gift: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
We say the longer, three person greeting every Sunday morning to begin worship. The communal response is: "And also with you", which becomes a Lutheran joke. What happens when a group of Lutherans watch "Star Wars" and hear the phrase "May the force be with you?" They all say, "And also with you." Reciprocity build relationships. We do not only receive, we also give.
I want to suggest something important about microchurch worship that must not be overlooked or underestimated. Something happens at worship that begs description for a general audience. If someone asked me why I go to worship I would have a three-fold response. I worship because of the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. And this is what I mean:
First, Jesus was and is God's free gift to the world. Jesus reorients and reconciles God's people with God. He teaches people what it looks like to live a life with God at the center. Jesus was crucified, a form of public execution. He was raised So I worship God because of Jesus.
Second, God is love. I experience that love everyday in the abundant fecundity and beauty of the earth. I have been raised with love by parents, grandparents, and other caring adults. I am married with children. I know what love is because of them. God is love. Love produces life. I worship God because of love.
Third, I worship because of the communion of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for 'communion' is koinonia. It means to hold in common, to become one, to share. In worship, where the Word of God is spoken and heard, where faithful people gather around a common table, something happens. In the microchurch, a gathering of 70 or less, Communion happens. It is not an emotional response. A lot of people confuse their emotional responses with communion. Communion is not only when some experience feels good or produces euphoria. I have been to great concerts and experienced a kind of euphoria. But I did not experience communion. Communion binds one's heart, mind, body to others. Some people describe it as becoming like "family". I know that families are not always places of communion for people; of peace, of love, of grace. Jesus himself recognized that one's family of origin, one's blood relative or ancestors, could very well prevent someone from encountering God or experiencing the good life. Communion transcends familial bonds and establishes another kind of relationality. We become bound to the life of another person. Marriage is a place where communion can and ought to happen. But it is not the only location. Bonds of mutuality, friendship, kinship occur among people that transcend family ties. We may call it community formation. Mutuality to accomplish a common purpose or intent. More and more, however, we see the erosion of communities. Because of dislocation, fragmentation, and transiency, neighborhoods and porches no longer function as communities. People dwell anonymously and privately in big houses with back patios.
People need and want communion today. What they are getting is Facebook. Social media through technology does not give us basic, authentic human interaction. Its always like peeking in a window at someone else's life. It is not sharing, even though there is a 'share' function that allows you to 'share' videos, pictures, stories, etc...I have used the share button many times. But it is not spiritual communion. It isn't because a sound bite, a video clip, a tweet do not allow us enough access to each other to know and be known with grace and peace and love between us. We need more. And increasingly people do not know how or where to get what they are missing. We are thirsty. We long for communion, but have lost our way to it.
Many churches assemble for worship, but do not experience communion. A big gathering can feel euphoric, powerful, emotionally charged. Billy Graham Crusades led the way toward the kind of megachurchianity that has emerged in the last 30 years in the U.S. Where Christian faith has been equated with a personal, emotional response to two basic anthropocentric ideas: humans are sinful. God punishes sinners. But God forgives sinners who confess, and welcomes us into eternal life because of Jesus Christ. One is invited to respond to the divine offer by pledging faith and rejecting sins. Music has been used to draw out the emotions that prompt conviction. Increasingly video and image is used to prompt emotional responses, too. I went to a Crusade once. I felt manipulated. I believed I was saved as a baptized Christian. But that wasn't enough. I had to feel different, too. No communion in an auditorium full of people. Only private faith between me and God.
But that was not the way of the first Christians or of Jesus. The way of salvation was always communal. It was always about formation as a community, an assembly or following. Jesus called disciples (plural) to feed and heal people (plural). He commanded them to make disciples of all nations (plural). The multiplying effect of the church's witness was accomplished through a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic outreach that included non-Jews. The first Christians learned to be less prejudiced and discriminatory. Communion often occurred when different people, enemies or factions, came together around the Word and the table. So it is today.
Communion. Koinonia. It is what is missing for so many of us. It is what the microchurch offers. More than a feeling, it is a sense of being knit or bound together with God and one another. Of the Holy Spirit means that we breathe together the very breath of life. It happens when 2 or more are gathered in the name of Christ to bring resolution, peace, and reconciliation to human relationships. It can only happen because of the Word and the table of grace and peace. You can't make it happen. But it does. What we say and what we do together matters. Microchurch begins with this promise and gift: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
microchurch and worship, part 1
Since its inception, Christian worship has been liturgical, following a pattern that established a tradition. Much of Christian worship comes from the Jewish synagogue and temple. The reading of Scripture and interpretation or preaching of it for the gathered assembly certainly comes from the synagogue tradition. Oral telling of the story of Jesus and,subsequently, the reading of authorized sacred texts that formed the New testament dominated the work of the assembly. The Lord's Supper, Holy Communion, or Holy Eucharist was an innovative twist on the Passover meal celebrated by the Jews annually. Jesus reconstituted the Passover meal, symbolic of the Exodus journey out of Egypt, as a memorial of his death. After His resurrection, meal time and the breaking of bread came to signify His eternal presence as Lord of heaven and earth for the faithful. Early Christians believed that Jesus was revealed to them or present with them in both a physical and spiritual sense in the sharing of the common bread and cup.
The church understood divine worship in the context of a holy rite for God's chosen people, for the fellowship of believers. One had to be baptized in order to fully participate in the Eucharist. Proper teaching preceded one's entry to the table fellowship. Over time, access was limited to the priesthood and those under holy orders. Lay people had limited access to both the Word of God and the Lord's table until the 16th century reformation.
Music has been a cherished part of worship for centuries. Always taking on the particular local culture's musical inclinations, it became an essential part of the assembly's collective praise of God. Western culture produced a lot of sacred music; from gregorian chant to classical music, southern gospel to jazz Christian worship music has evolved over the centuries. Christian music has told the stories of oppression in the Negro Spiritual. It has told the story of western triumphalism. It has brought hope to those despairing and healing to those who are in pain. For as long as there has been Christian music, however, there has been musical innovation in worship. Worship music has not been stagnant. It evolves. And, at its best, it is inclusive. That is, worship music ought not to be monocultural. It ought to help worshipers transcend their cultural location to connect with Christians around the world. Worship music can give us a sense of what it means to be one choir with one voice singing in many languages.
Now, Christian worship music in a lot of the most popular and growing congregations in the U.S. has become very monocultural. It is primarily pop rock music with biblically-inspired lyrics. A lot of hymns emerged this way too. Well known tunes and popular instruments were utilized to tell the biblical story or share the emotions pious believers attached to the work of Christ. But today's popular Christian worship music is professional and made for the entertainment market as much as it is made for Sunday worship. It tends to ignore other musical genre in favor of pop rock music.
A renewal movement like taize, however, has swept through the church and seems to transcend cultural borders.
I am a Gen Xer. I grew up listening to the Beatles, James Taylor, and the Rolling Stones. I listen to country, classic rock, R & B, classical, jazz, and pop. I do not discriminate musically, because music is a gift that conveys meaning to people. Empathy draws me to listen to music I would not personally choose, because I know what it means to someone else. This is the future of music in worship. Eclecticism. Not because nothing matters, but because everything does!
Microchurches will be musically innovative gatherings; where worship is not monotonic but diverse and rich in musical expression. I have led a coup in my church around weekly worship and music. We have developed four worship settings that we seem to enjoy here; one musical setting employs worship music from the global south, African and Latin American. Another setting employs taize chant and Celtic hymns. We have a setting that is an homage to classic 18th-20th century hymns (often pietistic, from the great awakenings and revival movements). And we sing contemporary worship songs, the pop rock variety. We do not do a jazz service here,although we've had a New Orleans jazz sound in worship before complete with a dixieland band.
Microchurches will embrace music that transcends culture and invites participation from diverse peoples. Worship will not be vanilla music but 31 flavors of praise and prayer and vocal communion. We will sing a new song to the Lord. Tune in for part 2 on microchurches and worship... after post on microchurches and mission.
The church understood divine worship in the context of a holy rite for God's chosen people, for the fellowship of believers. One had to be baptized in order to fully participate in the Eucharist. Proper teaching preceded one's entry to the table fellowship. Over time, access was limited to the priesthood and those under holy orders. Lay people had limited access to both the Word of God and the Lord's table until the 16th century reformation.
Music has been a cherished part of worship for centuries. Always taking on the particular local culture's musical inclinations, it became an essential part of the assembly's collective praise of God. Western culture produced a lot of sacred music; from gregorian chant to classical music, southern gospel to jazz Christian worship music has evolved over the centuries. Christian music has told the stories of oppression in the Negro Spiritual. It has told the story of western triumphalism. It has brought hope to those despairing and healing to those who are in pain. For as long as there has been Christian music, however, there has been musical innovation in worship. Worship music has not been stagnant. It evolves. And, at its best, it is inclusive. That is, worship music ought not to be monocultural. It ought to help worshipers transcend their cultural location to connect with Christians around the world. Worship music can give us a sense of what it means to be one choir with one voice singing in many languages.
Now, Christian worship music in a lot of the most popular and growing congregations in the U.S. has become very monocultural. It is primarily pop rock music with biblically-inspired lyrics. A lot of hymns emerged this way too. Well known tunes and popular instruments were utilized to tell the biblical story or share the emotions pious believers attached to the work of Christ. But today's popular Christian worship music is professional and made for the entertainment market as much as it is made for Sunday worship. It tends to ignore other musical genre in favor of pop rock music.
A renewal movement like taize, however, has swept through the church and seems to transcend cultural borders.
I am a Gen Xer. I grew up listening to the Beatles, James Taylor, and the Rolling Stones. I listen to country, classic rock, R & B, classical, jazz, and pop. I do not discriminate musically, because music is a gift that conveys meaning to people. Empathy draws me to listen to music I would not personally choose, because I know what it means to someone else. This is the future of music in worship. Eclecticism. Not because nothing matters, but because everything does!
Microchurches will be musically innovative gatherings; where worship is not monotonic but diverse and rich in musical expression. I have led a coup in my church around weekly worship and music. We have developed four worship settings that we seem to enjoy here; one musical setting employs worship music from the global south, African and Latin American. Another setting employs taize chant and Celtic hymns. We have a setting that is an homage to classic 18th-20th century hymns (often pietistic, from the great awakenings and revival movements). And we sing contemporary worship songs, the pop rock variety. We do not do a jazz service here,although we've had a New Orleans jazz sound in worship before complete with a dixieland band.
Microchurches will embrace music that transcends culture and invites participation from diverse peoples. Worship will not be vanilla music but 31 flavors of praise and prayer and vocal communion. We will sing a new song to the Lord. Tune in for part 2 on microchurches and worship... after post on microchurches and mission.
the microchurch
Some time ago, I wrote a blog entry suggesting that the future for the church will be found in smaller, mission-focused gatherings called microchurches. I used that descriptor in contrast to the megachurch phenomenon of the past 30 years.
Megachurches are found in many denominational and non-denominational forms throughout the U.S. They record an average worship attendance of over 500 people. They are products of this American culture. Mostly led by baby boomers, they are known for pop rock worship music, a large staff of hipsters with cool tattoos and blue jeans from the Gap, and cafes to rival Starbucks. They have cool websites, visual media in worship, and big buildings that look like auditoriums and/or malls.
Now, I'm not just going to mock megachurchianity. It is to the second half of the 20th century what a lot of mainline denominations' congregations were in the first half. The center. The big show. The top game in town for religious consumers of the Christian persuasion. Many Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and UCC churches grew during the war years. Large unified bodies,denominations, emerged during this period too. Corporate structures were adopted as beneficial organizing functions of the growing churches. Unifying denominational worship books, publishing houses, church buildings, centralized governing offices (HQ), and seminary education developed as the beams and pillars of the church triumphant. And then the 1960's and 1970's happen. What was built up, begins to crumble. This may sound like basic circle of life stuff. The Church as an organic reality has a life cycle, from birth to death. Congregations and larger church bodies are not immune to it. But that is not the only reason why I think megachurchianity is a short-lived phonomenon.
Megachurches have a limited appeal in an ever-changing cultural landscape that prizes innovation and novelty. Business models tell us that quantifiable growth, more of something, is better than less of that thing. For church, more "saved" or faithful people becomes the positive metric for justifying one's brand.
Nevertheless, we cannot deny that large churches have contributed to the continuing presence of Christianity in North America. Large churches can and are generous. One large Lutheran congregation gave a substantial gift to the denominations campaign against Malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that continues to kill over 600,00 people every year. Large churches have resources to share. But it is not the only way to be Christian. And increasingly disenchanted megachurch worshipers are seeking another way to live faithfully.
It turns out, people don't want to be nameless, unknown quantities paying for religious services rendered. They don't want the concert or the caffeine. They don't want to be counted. They want to count. They don't want a message from God that sounds like an infomercial. They are hungry or thirsty for things like reconciliation and restoration and healing and peace and meaningful engagement with the hurting world around them. They want to be known and loved. They want to contribute something important to the world while they can. They want to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. And they want to do so in the company of others. They appreciate diversity and an openness to varying opinions. They recognize that religion and politics are interconnected in this globally-shrinking age. They want to know the truth, so that they can be truly free. Because they feel bound, trapped, and squeezed by social structures that are buckling under their own weight.
So, an alternative. I call it microchurch. It is simple. The first Christians did this together; "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Acts 2:42. I admit this passage follows on the heels of a story that begins with preaching about Jesus and ends with 3,000 people being baptized. That sounds like a megachurch. But bear with me. The book of Acts is more about the scattering of the church of Jesus Christ than the gathering of any large group. One of the key principles to Acts is that multiplication of the message about Jesus requires division of the labor. The church was sent. It was sent before establishment religion takes over. It was sent as a change movement to the ends of the earth. The church was not bound or tied to place. It was bound to a person; Jesus of Nazareth. And as a resurrected and ascended heavenly being, Jesus became available to them in every time and place though His words and through a simple meal of bread and wine (dietary staples in the region). The church became available wherever his people went. And the church was sent wherever there were people who did not know, hear, or see the living God made known in Jesus. They were missionaries.
So, in a context of growing skepticism, institutional mistrust, and ubiquitous marketing of sexier alternatives, the church emerges. It emerges small. No more than a dozen people coming together to listen and become. Here's how to begin:
Listen to God speak in Scripture and prayer; Listen to our neighbors. Listen to one another, as members of the family of faith. I will unpack these in my next three blog posts.
Megachurches are found in many denominational and non-denominational forms throughout the U.S. They record an average worship attendance of over 500 people. They are products of this American culture. Mostly led by baby boomers, they are known for pop rock worship music, a large staff of hipsters with cool tattoos and blue jeans from the Gap, and cafes to rival Starbucks. They have cool websites, visual media in worship, and big buildings that look like auditoriums and/or malls.
Now, I'm not just going to mock megachurchianity. It is to the second half of the 20th century what a lot of mainline denominations' congregations were in the first half. The center. The big show. The top game in town for religious consumers of the Christian persuasion. Many Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and UCC churches grew during the war years. Large unified bodies,denominations, emerged during this period too. Corporate structures were adopted as beneficial organizing functions of the growing churches. Unifying denominational worship books, publishing houses, church buildings, centralized governing offices (HQ), and seminary education developed as the beams and pillars of the church triumphant. And then the 1960's and 1970's happen. What was built up, begins to crumble. This may sound like basic circle of life stuff. The Church as an organic reality has a life cycle, from birth to death. Congregations and larger church bodies are not immune to it. But that is not the only reason why I think megachurchianity is a short-lived phonomenon.
Megachurches have a limited appeal in an ever-changing cultural landscape that prizes innovation and novelty. Business models tell us that quantifiable growth, more of something, is better than less of that thing. For church, more "saved" or faithful people becomes the positive metric for justifying one's brand.
Nevertheless, we cannot deny that large churches have contributed to the continuing presence of Christianity in North America. Large churches can and are generous. One large Lutheran congregation gave a substantial gift to the denominations campaign against Malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that continues to kill over 600,00 people every year. Large churches have resources to share. But it is not the only way to be Christian. And increasingly disenchanted megachurch worshipers are seeking another way to live faithfully.
It turns out, people don't want to be nameless, unknown quantities paying for religious services rendered. They don't want the concert or the caffeine. They don't want to be counted. They want to count. They don't want a message from God that sounds like an infomercial. They are hungry or thirsty for things like reconciliation and restoration and healing and peace and meaningful engagement with the hurting world around them. They want to be known and loved. They want to contribute something important to the world while they can. They want to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. And they want to do so in the company of others. They appreciate diversity and an openness to varying opinions. They recognize that religion and politics are interconnected in this globally-shrinking age. They want to know the truth, so that they can be truly free. Because they feel bound, trapped, and squeezed by social structures that are buckling under their own weight.
So, an alternative. I call it microchurch. It is simple. The first Christians did this together; "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Acts 2:42. I admit this passage follows on the heels of a story that begins with preaching about Jesus and ends with 3,000 people being baptized. That sounds like a megachurch. But bear with me. The book of Acts is more about the scattering of the church of Jesus Christ than the gathering of any large group. One of the key principles to Acts is that multiplication of the message about Jesus requires division of the labor. The church was sent. It was sent before establishment religion takes over. It was sent as a change movement to the ends of the earth. The church was not bound or tied to place. It was bound to a person; Jesus of Nazareth. And as a resurrected and ascended heavenly being, Jesus became available to them in every time and place though His words and through a simple meal of bread and wine (dietary staples in the region). The church became available wherever his people went. And the church was sent wherever there were people who did not know, hear, or see the living God made known in Jesus. They were missionaries.
So, in a context of growing skepticism, institutional mistrust, and ubiquitous marketing of sexier alternatives, the church emerges. It emerges small. No more than a dozen people coming together to listen and become. Here's how to begin:
Listen to God speak in Scripture and prayer; Listen to our neighbors. Listen to one another, as members of the family of faith. I will unpack these in my next three blog posts.
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