It’s been very interesting to think so much about church, and what it means to me and to others I know. I am struck how different each of us are—we come to worship with different church backgrounds (or not), needs, comfort zones, expectations (or not), levels of interest, abilities and desires to socialize (or not), hopes, and dreams. So based on all of these variables, what is it that makes church “work” for people? For some, it is working fine and there is no reason to change anything. For others, it doesn’t work and they either go elsewhere, or they complain each week, or they don’t attend often, or they work to make the changes they want. So how do we meet everyone’s desires and still reach beyond ourselves?
Since our committee was encouraged to attend some other growing churches and read books related to church, I’ve done both. It’s been very helpful to me. I’ve been particularly changed in my thinking by reading the book The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. While I find NFC works for me pretty well, I’m finding myself leaning toward a desire that we be more missional in our intentions. The word “missional” can have lots of meanings and I don’t even know what they all are. But for me, it means that we reach out more to those in our community for whom church does not work. As the authors of this book say, “It’s about living out the gospel within its cultural context instead of perpetuating an institutional commitment apart from its cultural context (p. x).” The culture is changing and we can’t always bring people in to the Kingdom by inviting them to church. For whatever reason, many don’t want to come. But they may be open to us being the church instead of them going to church.
As we discuss various models, structures, and ways of doing church, I keep thinking about something Frost and Hirsch say that makes me uncomfortable. They recommend planting new, culturally diverse, missional communities. But they say few established churches can pull this off. Churches that have been around awhile tend to try and “revitalize” or “reinvent” church, and in the process they just tweak the current mode or change the Sunday morning service, thinking that will help church “work” for more people. Frost and Hirsch say that instead of doing that, we should focus on mission instead of how we want church to look or sound or feel for ourselves. Jesus said “Go into all the world…(that may even include a pub). He didn’t say, invite or wait for people to come to you (p. 16).” Focus on the “outsiders” instead of the “insiders.” It’s about “them” and not about “us.” Note: the authors remind us that even though it is a huge paradigm shift, it is always Biblical.
So what does that look like for NFC? What if the church invited people to start house churches that met 2-3 Sunday mornings in homes and on the 4th Sunday came to the NFC worship service for accountability and community? What if the church blessed efforts to have church at the park or a coffee shop (instead of go to NFC on Sunday mornings)? What if a group of people met regularly on Saturday nights (instead of Sunday morning) to play games and share what was going on in their lives? Could those forms of meeting be missional? Could they be blessed and supported by NFC? Would it be okay if some folks met away from the church building and everyone wasn’t in the worship service every Sunday morning? Could we still all be a part of NFC and its mission? Would it support our vision statement? Would it be Biblical? Would it be what Jesus would do?
Ginny Birky
4 comments:
Thanks, Ginny! I get really excited when I think of a bunch of people wrestling with what it looks like to worship God, encourage each other, and join what Christ is doing in the world. I would be highly, HIGHLY in favor of anything that would help people do that.
Last Sunday, after the weekly session of the Sandals class had ended, Ginny Birky suggested that I get into the blogging game and take part in this “Next Step” blog site. I had just commented on a conviction I had of the community of a local church being a living organism. As with the organism of our physical bodies, that of the local church continually faces issues of health and welfare. I suspect that there are some members like me who become disconnected and tend to fall through the cracks. If there is very much of this happening, the organism of the church faces a serious health issue which needs to be addressed. I commend the Next Step discernment group for the project with which it is engaged. I believe that every issue of innovation that is encountered should, in part, at least, be considered with the issue of the “Body’s” health in view. Inviting a person like me to get involved in a blog exercise is a gesture that cannot help but foster health of the “Body.”
Before I sign off, I would like to share an intriguing article in the February, 2008 issue of Christianity Today. p. 22 ff., “The Future Lies in the Past,” by Chris Armstrong. It describes a conference held last Spring, at Wheaton College. It identifies an “identity crisis” among young Evangelicals uneasy and alienated with their high energy entertainment-style worship and boomer era ministry strategies modeled after the consumerism of the business world. It contains Robert Webber’s historical analysis of evangelical church life and discipleship. The traditional model (1950-1975) focused on doctrine and “being right.” The pragmatic model of the Church Growth movement (1975-2000) focused on engaging the culturally engaged with the typical innovations with which we are familiar. The intriguing third type is what he calls the “Emerging” model of younger evangelicals. Here, there is a search for historical roots and the result is a type of liturgical renewal.
What this might mean for Quakers is an interesting question. One could go back to the silent meetings of the sixteenth century. Some might want to introduce liturgical elements such as lectionaries, seasons or even the Eucharist. What occurred to me was the fascinating idea of going back and finding connection with the mystical ideas and practices of the Eastern fathers before the fifth century. In any event, this struck me as a fertile area to which you might direct your attention. Also, don’t miss the fun cartoon on p. 8.
Ed Liebman
We would like to begin by saying that we feel it is a privilege for us to be welcomed to and involved in this discussion of worship at NFC. How amazing it is to see a church willing to engage the masses to hear Jesus speaking! The mere fact that these conversations are occurring is so encouraging – many churches we have attended in the past would not go about a discussion of worship in this manner.
Our view of worship tends to be rather traditional/liturgical in many ways. We both come from a Presbyterian background (by choice, not inherited from our families). Adjusting to worship at NFC was challenging in the beginning; however, we have become accustomed to and find value in the way we at NFC are worshipping. The suggestions that have been made by this post including moving to a house church model, having small groups gatherings for dessert and games, and/or meeting Saturday nights instead of Sunday mornings have great value. And, they are already happening through Listening Life groups, small groups, and other ministries of NFC. They are not, however, a substitute for corporate worship. Corporate worship is first about recognizing the Living God. Secondly it is about the individual pursuit of edification. The danger we see in moving to a house church model is that the focus shifts from how God can be worshipped at NFC to how the worship experience meets the desires of the individuals in the smaller groups.
Also, in corporate worship we find a level of accountability that cannot consistently be found in a smaller group format. When Gregg, Steve, or another pastor speaks to the masses there are many ears listening, many eyes reading, many spirits discerning the message. In breaking this down to smaller groups, the questions that arise in our minds are: Who will lead the small groups? What will keep us from false teachings? Where will the level of commitment to the larger body of Christ be found?
NFC has welcomed our family with open and loving arms, making it a natural home for us. Our intention in entering this conversation is to give back to this body that has invested so much in us over these last two years. Our prayer is that our words on worship would be met with grace and mercy. We look forward to reading and learning from future posts!
Thanks Ed and Ben and Ashlee for your comments! Ed, I think there are a significant number of people at Newberg Friends who feel disconnected. Certainly, there are many people who feel very connected, but I agree that this is a "serious health issue that needs to be addressed." The Next Steps group has identified this issue and are prayerfully considering ways to address the issue. Personally, I would love to hear from others who feel disconnected about their ideas of what would help. Also, thanks for the info about the article. I will look it up!
Ben and Ashlee, you guys are great! I appreciate you so much. The questions you raised are important. The group has never considers not having corporate worship. Other ideas would be in addition to Sunday morning worship. However, the questions are still valid because I'm sure there would be people who would not attend Sunday morning. Actually, there already are people who consider themselves part of our body but don't attend the worship service. Good things to talk about. I'm curious, have you read the book Ginny was talking about? (The Shaping of Things to Come) If so, what did you think of it?
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