I spent the other night at a BBQ with folks from 2 of our Churches house groups. I was chatting with a friend there in discussion around the subject of us probably ceasing to attend regularly the house group and also the fact that I'm just not sure our service is where I want to be right now quite often on a Sunday morning. He asked me what it would have to be like for me to think it WAS worthwhile and later that evening after what I'd say was a great night some stuff came to me... See what u think...
This is what I emailed him...
Hi,
Wot a gr8 evenin it was at the BBQ!
That was exactly wot i think church should be like at the core - real, normal & natural connection 2 each other b4 God (well it was for me at least!).
Milling, mixing, catching up, sharing life, playing, eating, living 2gether . I came back recharged and blessed (and full) and like I'd truly been in community.
[Aside - It didn't tick the boxes of what you could regard as "spiritual" activity. But I think it WAS wholly spiritual. Am I right in thinking the Jews/early church would never separate out "spiritual acts" and "non" like we do in todays church? ALL aspects of life were wrapped up in spirituality weren't they?]
Anyway...IF we have the above things - I think THEN we have fellowship that can pray 2gether, reach into mission and so much more.
If we don't have that then into what can we hope to bring others? A service? A "group"?
To have prayer, "worship" (singing type), discussion, a message or study without real relationship seems to me to be just religion. I wonder if the former (in red) should be our non negotiable hub of church life & not an add-on bonus or "special". I wonder if that glorifies God more than our services and many of our "group" activities. A couple in our leadership told me they had discussed that they think a big issue in our church is that we just aren't REALLY friends with each other...I tend to agree....Isn't that kind of a damning observation? What kind of “Kingdom" is that? So are we occasional colleagues in a club? Who'll want to join that and stay? A wot club?
"This is how you will know they are my disciples - by their ............meetings?" Er - I think it was Love 4-1 another!
...If we don't really know each other & love each other and we don't really walk life together then I wonder about all the prayin or doin religious stuff together coz we might as well phone a prayer line and do a course or read a book...there's something fundamentally missing surely? This isn't great church 4 me.
As I consider the parallel with our relationship with Daddy in Heaven it seems to me that works the same way.
After about 6 years in Romania with very little of what we would call "church activity" the thing I needed (and made sure I found) the most in regard to “church” was relationship. (And I wonder if people would be more willing to pull out the stops to come to things like this bbq and less so on other things deemed “more spiritual” for the very reason that we all already see this truth on some level?)
Please don't get me wrong - I'm not saying the "other stuff" isn't good and necessary and nor am I saying I don't think the world of our church family because after 18 years in this church – I really do, and I think this group of misfits (like the disciples) has the potential to change Ormskirk (and to some extent already is)....What I'm doing is questioning what we should be spending our time doing, what should be 1st on a churches agenda - core and "non-negotiable".
Am I wrong? Missing something or is this just a side issue that happens to be MY passion? Or just a season for me while I'm finding having a young family pretty demanding?...or something worse? Or is this legit?.....I'm open to your ideas.....wot do u think?
TBC
Jz
PS Do I have the answer? No...Not as such, but I believe this kind of discussion & question asking will be part of the journey onwards.
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Reflections along the way
2 comments:
WOW! Very well put. You put to words what so many of us "feel" is wrong with the "church" these days but don't have the words for. Or we are just too afraid to question the system. Either way, lets have the courage to continue the journey of questioning ourselves and this thing called "church"...together
I like the vision of BBQ church - the church of high cholesterol.
So how do we get past the barriers to 'Milling, mixing, catching up, sharing life, playing, eating, living together'?
For me the barriers that I can identify between myself and others include busy lives (I, perhaps wrongly, feel that people are too busy for me to be calling round), shyness (perhaps thinking people will get bored of spending time with me), etc
I suppose if we want to get to your BBQ vision, we each have to identify the barriers to us living like that community would require and making an effort to put them aside.
But I also think that there are a lot of connections in OCF that we don't see - the internet's an amazing thing.
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