I was reading a blog post by Lew Graff who mentioned that he had read something about church being like a consumption monster. He quoted his source who stated this:
“Attractional models of church and need-based programs simply do not leave time for people to actually be in their communities. There is just too much effort required to pull these things off, and the monster must be continually fed by more money, more volunteers, more staff, and more time.”
As a church planter, I have to say I agree with this. If you notice from the model above, most people equate “church” with the worship service, others as well equate church with everything done “at the church” which is why most people can’t even fathom NOT having a building.
One of the perception challenges I’ve dealt with and have talked about with my husband who planted Grace Fellowship with me is this very thing. Real estate is so hard to come by and we’ve had a not so good experience with a Spanish AG church that we rented from (so sad that my denomination is of SO LITTLE help in this planting journey) and we are now in a place that we can’t continue to meet in my living room due to community association rules (too many cars on the lawn make neigbors unhappy).
The models we have seen require MORE, MORE, MORE. However, the Shane Claiborne’s and others who do ministry and “church” without a large overhead are showing us different models. In the Latino community though, for many Latinos, church isn’t church unless you have a building, a place where they can “run” a ministry and be “in charge” of something. Yeah, I am going to go there. It is sad to me that alot of people just don’t get it. “Being” a church community is much more than a dog gone building. That is why we have a world that thinks so little of our God because we think so little of how our God can make a difference in people’s lives without a place to put the nice little cross in the front, or the pulpit, or a place to have the bulletins.
However, mi gente don’t make it easy for me. They don’t give creedence to what we do because we’re small. Because we don’t have an address. Because we don’t dress up. What should “attract” people to a church community is the love in action displayed by those who call themselves Christian, not the programs or fancy things they have inside. Don’t get me wrong, for a church plant we have alot of things. Cutting-edge technology, not one but two portable sound systems, screens, etc. etc. But what we are trying to get our heads around is doing “simple church” without the price tag.
What’s your take? Come on stop lurking participate in the discussion.
Okay, I don’t want to fill up your blog with comments. But I couldn’t help chiming in here. I belong to a newer church, 3-1/2 years old. We don’t have a building, we meet in a school gym, and our pastor constantly tells us to STOP ASKING him when we are going to have a building, because God hasn’t indicated that we will EVER have a building of our own. Consequently, we go nuts raising funds to help people in our community and around the world. We do have a “building fund” though — it’s a fund to purchase a four-plex that the church will convert into transitional housing for people in our community going through hard times. This is the only building our pastor is interested in talking about!
Despite all this, the church has grown rapidly (far too much for my taste, but hey, it’s not all about me) and in this short of time we already have a few thousand people.
I should mention we live in a rather unique community. It’s very Christian-friendly and also a rapidly growing area. Hence, there are a lot of new churches and almost every public school in our town has a church meeting in it on the weekends. Kind of goes against the church/state separation mantra that people love to preach, but it works for us.
What’s really cool about this is that many Christians in our area are beginning to learn the true meaning of “the church” since most of us don’t have pretty buildings with steeples. For my family, it’s been great because we’re teaching our children to understand the meaning of church. (The only problem is that they sometimes think church means a school gym with lots of chairs and a stage. I think we have a ways to go in our teaching.)
Thanks for the great post!
Liz great post,
I don’t think there is this bold, black line of demarcation between attractional and incarnational, though there are some obvious differences.
Sometimes churches are simple, yet people are “attracted” to some elements of the gathering, whether its preaching, the community, involvement of arts, etc. But I think you make a great distinction using the model that you posted. Alot of folks emphasize the Sunday gathering as opposed to other elements and people still need the dang building too.
I have to admit, I haven’t figured out that tension here because we’re still so young…and preaching missionally (church with out walls) isn’t always the “sexiest” message.
Thanks for this post.
Wow, what a great post! Very encouraging. Encouraging because I know that what is in my heart is not in MY heart only. Community is church for me. Love in action is the outward manifestation. Keep me in prayer as God moves us.
E