from next-wave e-zine:

I just received a question from an associate that asked how to start a service to attract people from outside the church. I encouraged her to give up on this idea.

But what could possibly be wrong with starting a relevant church service directed to spiritual seekers?

Relevant churches are rarely even closely relevant…

The worship service is no longer an evangelistic service for outsiders but a space to practice heaven for a period of time, facilitating the offering of the community life to God in worship. If a guest of the community finds God in the service, all the better, but this is not the focus. Mission happens in the ‘world’, in the world formerly known as secular, on their ‘turf’ — not ours. As servants, the Christian connects with the seeker through service in their world.

i think it was nouwen that said in his book in the name of jesus, that jesus himself was irrelevant, a thought that i struggled with for quite some time, not really being able to grasp what it was that he was trying to convey. it wasn’t until i read the missional church that things began to really begin to take shape.

we continue to try and make our church services better and better and better, continually improving upon the improvements so that we can “reach out” to more people. we continue to make our sermons and our worship more relevant to the people that come to us and call it “evangelism”. i think this push for relevancy has gotten us to the point we find ourselves in: the consumer-driven christian filled with ‘how-to’s’ and a ‘formulaic faith’. our “reaching out”, our stylized services aren’t really us reaching out at all but rather it’s them reaching out to us. we don’t do enough ‘going’. the church still suffers from the ‘field of dreams’ mentality- “if you build it they will come.” jesus didn’t do this. jesus was difficult and extremely irrelevant to the culture in his teachings–but he was relevant when he was healing people, talking with the outcast and diposed, feeding the 5000 and loving on the widows and children (all outside of the temple by the way.)

we need to do more going, and change our mentality that the service is the “end-all-be-all” of the faith. “if only we can get so and so to come to church, then they’ll be okay.” that doesn’t cut it. people come to us and we scoot them through classes. then, all of a sudden they’re christians!? i know that works for some and some churches are growing this way, but is it the best way? it’s not working for everyone–in fact, it’s not working for hardly anyone. i’m thinking more and more that church services should be for the christians, equipping them and encouraging, rejuvinating them and refreshing them for their week ahead of difference making in the world (in their homes, jobs, the mall, restaurants, etc). i think it’s about time we really seriously begin to reconsider our practice of “church”.

this article makes some good points:
.::link

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