Church

I grew up going to church.  I’ve been at church on Sunday morning for most of my adult life.  I believe the teachings of Jesus.  They have changed my life.

But, seriously, what’s up with church?  Church in the United States is like McDonalds.  You can go anywhere on any given Sunday and sing some songs, listen to a well-prepared teaching where Tim Keller, CS Lewis and a few other notables are quoted, drink some coffee (or if you’re lucky a Coke!) and maybe even run into a few people you actually like (though you have to work pretty hard at the last one in my experience).

Lately I’ve been purposefully taking a step back from all of the ceremony and trying to understand what’s really happening on Sunday mornings.  I’ve been doing seemingly silly little things like wearing a jeans and a T-shirt to church instead of wearing nicer clothes.  I wanted to force myself to answer the question “why” about each part of what has become a ritual in my life and the lives of many others.

What follows are some observations and then some possible ways to think about things differently.  The spirit of this is to stir discussion, not to criticize.  Or, maybe, it is to criticize.  Maybe there needs to be some criticism.  Or, maybe I’m completely wrong.  You can decide.

What Church Appears To Be About (Outside Looking In)

• A comfortable social construct where we get to be with people like us once a week and get juiced back up to do… what exactly?
• A formulaic approach not unlike business where everything is scripted, every detail carefully considered.  When you get to this size, go to two services, and so on.
• A maniacal devotion to small group gatherings because “that’s how the early Church did it”
• A lack of truly bold thinking about a new, definite future (thank you Peter Thiel for this gem) that might look radically different.  I’m talking John the Baptist, crazy-eyed radicals who dare to blow stuff up.  People like Bob Goff come to mind.
• Obsession with church membership and a bunch of other (what might be) unimportant top-down hierarchical, man-made rules.

The Questions I’ve Been Asking

As I have watched a typical Sunday service unfold over the course of this summer, I’ve been asking myself “Would any of this matter if I lived in the Amazon or on top of a mountain somewhere?”  In other words, is Jesus only who he says he is if you attend the same church every week, take communion, get baptized, and go to a small group? If you go to any “popular” church these days, you will certainly come away with the impression that all of these things are essential elements to living a Christian life.  If you asked the leaders at a given church why all of these things happen, they’ll be able to recite chapter and verse about why each of these things are essential.

But what if none of them were possible?

• What if we couldn’t travel to meet once a week?
• What if there wasn’t some priest or minister who supposedly had authority to baptize you into the faith?
• What if there was no one to listen to your public declaration of faith, another supposed rite of passage?
• What if all you had was your Bible and your family?
• What is essential to the Christian faith, and why are we making idols and rules out of things that aren’t?

But Wait, There’s More

• What if, instead of spending 60-70% of the money given to the church on salaries, buildings and other sunk costs, that capital was deployed more efficiently to actually serve the areas where we live?  What if that number were flipped?
• What if we measured ROG (return on giving) like we do ROI (return on investment)?
• What if we were able to consume / listen to teachings from a pastor or teacher during the week and Sunday was a day to come together and DO, instead of consume and be comfortable?  Can you imagine what would happen if in a city like Raleigh every church was out doing something once a week instead of sitting in expensive clothes and worrying about what the person next to them is thinking about those clothes?
• What if ministry wasn’t a full time job?
• What if missionaries re-evaluated how technology could radically transform how they work and put them in many places at once, rather than having to raise money and move to another country to carry out their work?  There just has to be a better way.
• What if the majority of the evangelical church is wrong about the role of women?

What Does It All Mean?

Honestly, I don’t know.  I don’t pretend to know all of the answers, or even if my questions are the right ones.  I doubt, however, that Jesus made sure he had a music guy, a youth pastor, a small groups pastor, or other roles among his closest followers.  He also didn’t hang out with a bunch of people who thought like he did and debate the esoteric points of the day while sipping tea.  He was a radical dude doing radical things with people most everyone else wouldn’t go near.

I’m not that guy.  I don’t even know how to be that guy.  I’m trying to figure it out.

But I think that’s what a follower of Jesus looks like.  I don’t think he much cares about the rest of it.