After a few days of posting and comments about our ideas of the ideal church (and some requisite warnings about even considering such a thing) there were some obvious themes that I will pick up and post on in the days ahead.
A quick synopsis of most of our ideal church is pretty simple: A sincere, humble, accepting people of genuine worship, sound biblical teaching, authentic community, transformed lives, service to others, love for each other. (Did I miss anything?)
But what was most interesting (but actually not surprising) was what was missing.
No one mentioned any of the following as part of their ideal church:
Food courts, coffee carts, fresh-baked cookies, skateboard ramps, rock-climbing walls, or gymnasiums of any kind.
Powerpoint.
Dazzling preachers, cool worship leaders, star soloists, stirring pipe organs, great choirs, jamming bands, drum sets, electric guitars.
Beautiful buildings, impressive programs, activities for all ages (though someone did mention an annual dance, I believe!)
Websites. Blogs.
These words also never appeared either: User-friendly, seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven, emergent.
So, if our ideals are so “simple”, why are our churches so complicated? Are we going the way of the world with all of our plans, buildings, programs and such? Or really is there more to some of our madness than meets the eye? Is there a way to separate and focus on the “wine” of church that make us more and more “the people through whom God heals and reconciles the world” (N. T. Wright), while still acknowledging that we must invest a certain amount in the “wineskin”?
Are we being naïve, less than truthful, or in denial about our ideals, or are we pointing to a reality that the church being in the world, is always enculturated as part of the world?
I, too, long for the ideals of the church that we all put forward. Indeed, I think it was the right list; and to the degree that my church embodies those larger, better values (albeit imperfectly) my joy as a pastor increases.
But yesterday as a pastor I had to work with my team of staff and lay leaders to figure out whether to spend money on buying newspaper ads for Easter, how to grow our budget so I can give my staff long overdue raises, and how to pay for the increased pension and medical costs our denomination has imposed. (Oh yeah…in our ideal church nobody mentioned, “We’d have enough resources for all we are doing for Christ” either.)
To me this is all of one piece. It is both mystery and mess. And in some ways I love it all. While longing for the ideal community where everyone shows up because of devotion to Christ and love for each other, we still offer pie on the patio on Wednesday nights to encourage our growing, diverse, busy bunch of people to linger and get to know each other.
So what should we make of the ideals and the reality?
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