The Church Of The 21st Century (Part 2 in a series)

Okay, so that video may have been a little harsh, or over the top, but it gets the conversation started. I have been doing quite a bit of study in recent years about the effectiveness of how we do church and much of what has begun to shape my opinions comes from a few principal books I have read on the subject.

The first and most profound is entitled "The Shaping Of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission For The Church Of The 21st Century," by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. Now some of you, friends, family and colleagues, may not find anything new here. Others of you may be rather challenged. The width and breadth of what is covered in that book is far more than you would want to read in this blog, but I will try to hit the high spots.

Three factors are key to understanding how churches are, and how they should be. Frost and Hirsch say that traditional churches are attractional, dualistic and hierarchical, but that they need to be missional, messianic and apostolic.

Attractional versus Missional

Frost and Hirsch say that traditional churches create sacred spaces that are fundamentally uncomfortable for not-yet-Christians (their term for lost folks). Then they try to draw not-yet-Christians into those spaces. They say that in the attractional church evangelism becomes about inviting people to meetings and this limits our vision for what God can do both in time and in space. But Jesus didn't say, sit in your church and wait for people to come to you.

Even when traditional churches set out to be evangelistic, Frost and Hirsch suggest that church planting generally involves planting Sunday services rather than real Christian communities.

The Missional church, on the other hand does not seek to attract people to it. It seeps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don't know him yet. It does this through proximity spaces, shared projects, and commercial enterprises. Proximity spaces are places or events where Christians and not-yet-Christians can interact meaningfully with each other.

They are definitely not churches. Examples of proximity spaces include art workshops, pubs and cafes where Christians form part of the regular clientele. Shared projects are activities of genuine interest to the wider community, which meet a need and provide an opportunity for Christians and not-yet-Christians to meet in a natural situation. Commercial enterprises are real businesses, run by Christians for the wider community, but which are not overtly evangelistic. Examples included a shoe shop in San Francisco and a pub in Barnsley. The point of all of these activities is to find neutral ground where the Church can intentionally meet with the wider world.

This does not mean that the Church merely becomes a social club. Bible teaching and worship are still very much part of the life of the church (though perhaps not done in traditional ways), as is mutual commitment and accountability.

Dualistic versus Messianic

Frost and Hirsch say that traditional churches are dualistic. That is, they believe that there is a separation between the secular and the sacred. This idea is rooted in Greek philosophy, not the Bible. Most churches and Christians in the West have bought into this idea, so that they do not even question it. This distinction impacts all aspects of life. We have sacred and secular people (clergy and laity), sacred and secular places (church buildings and the rest of the world), and sacred and secular activities (church services and the rest). And don't get me started on our sacred versus secular music! This separation of the sacred and the secular infects our thoughts to a great extent. It allows us to contract out spiritual duties such as evangelism to the professional Christians of the clergy. And it leads us to think that only activities which take place in our church buildings are truly spiritual.

Frost and Hirsch encourage the Church to abandon this distinction between secular and sacred, and to adopt the attitude of Jesus, who saw all activity as part of his ministry. We need to adopt an attitude which sees all of our activity, work, relaxation and specifically Christian service as a sacrament. All of our life must be sacred, and we must take Jesus with us wherever we go.

The church in the West must adopt a missionary stance in relation to its cultural context or die.

Hierarchical versus Apostolic

Frost and Hirsch say that all traditional churches have a hierarchical leadership system, though some are more overtly hierarchical than others. Think of it this way: you have the senior pastor, maybe some staff pastors, then the deacons or elders and then the "laity," or the "regular folks." This can create an atmosphere where the regular folks feel that they are unqualified to do certain aspects of ministry. They argue that this is neither Biblical nor efficient, and the Church needs to adopt the "APEPT" system of leadership taken from Ephesians 4 (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and Pastor Teachers). This plurality of leadership based on spiritual gifting meets all of the needs of the Church, whereas a traditional hierarchical model often leaves gaping holes.

In Summation...

Many times our churches trade members. I refer to these folks as church nomads who roam to and fro in search of the church that "meets their needs" or "feeds them, spiritually." We fight over the same folks and all the while the not-yet-Christian sits back totally disinterested because for all of the reasons mentioned above and many others, she can't make heads or tails of our church speak, our church practices or our church life. It is about being a Christ-follower, not conforming to some Christian-ideal that was established long ago by tradition. We should conform to a Biblical lifestyle and no other.

Are we going to keep doing the same things and expect different results or are we going to meet people where they are? It is a radical and revolutionary idea that Jesus demonstrated 2000 years ago.