3 Questions About the Church
Blogger Dave Ingland asked me and others to answer three questions on the church for an upcoming blog series.
Here are his three questions and my replies.
What do you think? How would you answer?
1) How would you define the (local) church?
In a nutshell, the local church is a community of sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ who join God in his mission in the world.
Symbolically of course, the Church is referred to as the Body of Christ, Bride of Christ,and Family of God. Scripture gives us purposes, distinctions, and directions on how we are to function and organize but to answer your question, I’ll stick with my simple answer.
2) Is the church relevant? Why?
Five to ten years ago I would have said, “no.” The music is outdated, the dress code is too stuffy, the church buildings are on the cutting edge of 1890, etc. I’d refer to myself as a “Christ Follower” instead of a “Christian” because I didn’t want to be connected to THOSE people.
I was immature.
Many of us were.
Many of us still are.
A church is relevant because the gospel is (I’m assuming a genuine church is a gospel-centered church). The message is unchanging and relevant but communicating the message will depend on your culture. Speak the language but don’t change the message.
I’m all for contextualizing the gospel to our culture but it’s so much more than cool lights, killer environments, and pop worship. Frankly, a traditional church service full of liturgy can be just as (or more) “relevant” as a rock show worship experience. As I look out at the church planting landscape, I’m seeing a bunch of cookie-cutter “relevant” churches who somehow believe their graphic t-shirts and a coffee bars are the good news. Sad. So sad.
Throwing a pair of hipster jeans on the gospel doesn’t make it relevant.
The gospel is about a King and a Kingdom.
Every community is different but I do know this: love is relevant in any language. Jesus doesn’t need make-up to be attractive to our culture, he is to be lifted up and he said he would draw people to himself (John 12:32).
I’m not against creating environments, talking plainly, having modern music etc., (our church does that), but I think “relevance” as we know it is superficial at best. It’s so much more than style and preferences. I think our generation needs to understand the gospel better and learn how to diagnose idolatry in their culture and people’s hearts and treat it with the gospel. Show people how they fit into God’s epic story. That’s relevant to any people in any time, and any place.
P.S. Nothing is sadder than a middle-aged pastor wearing his college kids clothes and trying to talk Snoop in a sermon. That’s not relevant, that’s goofy.
3) Do you see the church looking different in the future? Please explain.
I believe in the church because I believe in Jesus.
This defeatist attitude we have about the church in the west is pathetic. We already know how this will all end! We are the Body of Christ! He said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The question is, do we believe it?
In the future, just as in the past, churches will gather in various expressions and models and forms, but we all have the same mission: Make disciples who love God and people. From house churches to mega-churches, from traditional churches to contemporary churches and everything in between, we need them all. The point isn’t to build the Church, the Lord will do that. The point is to point people to him.
I don’t know about tomorrow but I know about today. The future is a product of the present. We were born for such a time as this and the need for the gospel has never been greater. The time is now!
Imagine if churches followed Jesus and lived out passages like Luke 4:18-19,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
That’s a future I want to help create!
a bit wordy.. but good.. I still believe that the leader of any church should not only share the words of the bible but be a motivating speaker. to turn gospel into something positive and motivating is great way to spread the word. keeps it interesting. I like Project Church and its way of looking at people being human. Its not as motivating as i would like, but myself and my family get a good message each week.
Jason,
Thanks for the very thoughtful insight. I’ve seen these same questions addressed by others in a much more shallow way. It was quite refreshing to see thoughts that are based on what we know (God’s Word) instead of what WE feel or believe.
I agree on the subject of relevancy. I worry that too many churches will fall flat when people start to realize that there is no hope in “production value”. Eventually, people will become desensitized to the visuals, dress, etc and if there isn’t any depth, they will potentially feel betrayed. Something they were once excited about will seem to have no more depth than the shallow world they are trying to get away from. I pray that these churches will truly focus more on the message instead of the method.
I found your words about revelancy in the church really interesting, because I’ve been searching for a church where I felt I fit in…. First of all, I’m 25, and just moved back to Rapid city around 10 months ago from a YWAM DTS, a christian worldwide missionairy orginization. And on the DTS, I lived and worked with 20 peers for 6 months and was able to experience what I believe church truly is. I had never experienced community like that before, we loved each other, we prayed and worshiped together, did outreach together, so we grew a lot around each other as well. But coming home here to Rapid has been the worst transition because there is so few younge adults here who love Jesus! Or at least I havn’t found many… And as I church “shopped” for months, I was looking for that community, that fellowship with people, and could not find it.
But then I came to Project Church, and not only did it have younger kids, but also had a more laid back feel, and more of a family feel than the other churches. So for me, I believe all the churches here in Rapid can preach the same gospel, but relevancy to a generation can also help people my age, around my age, to feel like they can be a part of it. I felt so out of place at every church I tried, but not here. So I don’t think relevancy is important, but the more the heart of the church, if the church has a open heart, not meaning equality, but just open to God allowing a different set up, or different mood, or just a fresh look on Jesus, it makes a big difference who is going to be drawn to come there!
I was so excited when Taryn told me about Project Church, and after having gone, I realized I fit in there, it’s a church I feel can have that community and fellowship I had .. So it’s awesome! So maybe the music, or the coffee doesn’t matter too much in the big picture, but I do know that for this generation, it makes us feel more at home…