The Church as Vendor & Circus

Well, it's been several months since the last post, but hopefully I've found renewed vigor and interest in this method of dialog, blogging.

This post is essentially a part 2 of my previous one.

I was surfing through the Praxis Center for Church Development website just now and ran across their manifesto.

A section that really intrigued me was about the Church in the West now being a more like a Vendor and a Circus than the Church of Jesus.

Here's what was said:

Hollywood is no longer the “entertainment capital of the world” – it is now your local church megaplex. The church in the West, bent on attracting people to a location has become a consumer-driven vendor of spiritual goods and services. In short, it has become a circus where the performers are polished and the various acts of the performance timed to the minute. Very often churches which follow this path often end up competing for the same market share – Christians in other churches. (It is still the case that 95% of church growth in the USA is transfer growth.) Whoever has the best product and environment is then the one who wins the loyal support of its constituency. The pressure on the church is then
to satisfy its customer base and continue to be a vendor of spiritual goods and services.

But is this really what the church is supposed to do? Nothing wrong, mind you, with the idea of trying to meet people where they are. We are just questioning the whole concept of “doing church.” The New Testament seems to lay a foundation that tells us the Church is a community of disciples who live out the message of the Cross. What we don’t find in the New Testament is the early Christians trying
to “do church.” Rather, what we find is a community of disciples who are the church.

It seems that we spend so much of our time and energy trying to do church that we forget to actually be the Church. Maybe that has a lot to do with why the church seems so impotent in its ability to reach our world. We market our message well to those who are already in the faith, but not to those who are outside the fold. Scripture makes it plain that Jesus came “to seek and save what was lost.” (NIV, Luke 19:10)

The Church is called to be a community of disciples who not only embrace each other well, but also reach out to the world in a language and style they understand, so that we might live out for them the greatest message on the planet. It’s not as important how we “do church” as it is that we are the church. This generation is crying out for something real and tangible that can explain the greater mysteries of our existence. People know there is something more; they just don’t know where to find it.

I absolutely agree with their diagnosis. Can you think of actual examples where the churches in your neighborhood are functioning more like a vendor and circus than an actual church? I can.

So now to the reaffirmation of resisting the trend and onto the ongoing quest of understanding and living out what it in fact means to be the Church in our community . . .

The Purveyor of Religious Goods, or The Community Church

A bottom line survival goal of any church plant is to acquire enough church members in order to make the body of believers an autonomous, self-sustaining ministry. Therefore, churches are compelled to reach people who will find alignment with the church's vision and passion.

I think that often times, right at this point, a lot of churches sellout their intrinsic identity. By this I mean that it is possible for churches, in their attempts to attract members in order to survive, to get sidetracked, presenting itself to be something in the community or city that it's really not supposed to be.

Case in point: when we first arrived in our neighborhood, I kept hearing from other church planters how important it was to "meet the felt needs of the community." So, I took this axiom to mean "we need to do something cool and for FREE that people in our community's demographic will get a kick out of!" I came up with the idea of hosting some kind of community carnival down at the local community park. You know the deal: jump houses, face painting, cotton candy, games, music, food--all for free! "Yeah man," I thought to my self and tried to convince our existing core group, "this will rock. People will come out and think we're really cool, then they'll come to our church, get saved, and become financially supportive of our ministry!"

Ha, that last part is totally tongue-in-cheek, but that was the basic gist of my thinking in the most realest of terms. But then, as time progressed, I began to consider something: people who come to a church come (and should come) to meet with God. They're coming for a spiritual experience; something that will clue them in on some answers that they're seeking in life. They're not (in our situation) coming because it's fun and entertaining and because we let kids play in a jump house for free. I realized that the mission of our church was not to be a community purveyor of entertainment: the world has that niche sewn up pretty well, I'd say. Rather, the mission of our church is to be a purveyor of "religious" goods to our community. In other words: it makes much more sense to me that the church should offer this community that which other institutions "of" the world cannot. A place of prayer, a place of contemplation, a place of instruction from the Scriptures, a place of spiritual fellowship, a place of spiritual experience and encouragement--things that the community people aren't going to find at the local shopping plaza, Chuck E. Cheese, or club.

I mean, spiritual things are what people who come to church are expecting to find . . . aren't they?

Seeds not Bricks

In the effort to plant a missional church, I often reiterate to our people that the preaching of the Gospel and the establishment of churches should be likened to seed, not bricks.

Bricks are pre-crafted. They are transported a location for ready use. They are artificial, non-organic, static, and rigid.

Seeds are created organically. They flourish where they are planted, using whatever soil and resources are available in the location it finds itself. They are living, dynamic, and conforming.

Anybody can superimpose their pre-crafted church model or denominational approach to Christianity in any cultural or societal context. The problem with this, however, is two-fold:

1. It smacks of arrogance. "The people we encounter must submit to our ways, expressions, and understandings about God." That's just gross.

2. It lacks common sense. "We suppose to already know how God wants to affect and teach these people; therefore, we don't need to make any considerations of this people, their culture, values, or worldview." That's just silly.

I would much rather plant seeds than pile bricks. Seeds embody the culture and society it finds itself planted in. On one hand, the seed is already predisposed to be something in particular: namely, a worshipping body of believers in Jesus; on the other hand, the seed, as it grows, reflects and embodies the characteristics of soil in which it is grounded. Eventually, the seed becomes just as solid and sturdy as a pile of bricks as it grows into a deeply rooted tree.

And what's the best thing that seeds do that bricks cannot? Seeds become trees, trees produce fruit, and in those fruit there are more seeds. Quite missional, isn't it?