Are We Doing Church Wrong? - Part 2

My last post was a reminder that the church Jesus talks about isn’t a building - it’s his followers. We ARE the church; we don’t GO to church. When we leave the building on Sunday morning, we are the walking, living, breathing church in every single encounter and location throughout the week. Just as Jesus came to serve and not be served, so should we focus on serving rather than on being served.

It’s hard. I get it. And I’m about to throw another wrinkle in the fabric of our perception of church.

Besides the conversation with my church-shopping friend I discussed in my last post, there was one other experience that has challenged my view of what church should look like.

In one of our recent church board meetings, our pastor challenged us to read the book From Megachurch to Multiplication by Chris Galanos. In all transparency, I haven’t finished the book yet; however, it is drastically changing my view of “doing church.” Galanos changed his megachurch model to one of small (like groups of under 20) discipleship groups in obedience to what he felt was God’s way of being the church.

The idea was to reach all people groups with the Gospel message. But doing this required a huge shift in how they saw church.

So, I invite you to reflect on your experience, as I have been with mine. How does your Sunday morning church service go? We begin with some emotional worship music, a couple of announcements, maybe a special performance of some kind. Then, we welcome our preacher to bring a message that you probably won’t remember by Monday. Close out with an altar call and another worship song, and we’re dismissed in about an hour.

Let me be clear. I don’t think any of this is wrong. I really enjoy Sunday morning worship services, especially praise and worship. There is nothing quite like corporately praising God.

But I’ve also been frustrated at what I see from the church body. A few are growing, but many are not. They sit and passively nod along and “amen” with the pastor, but their lives aren’t changed. I think there are good intentions by and large, but the hour or so of sitting and listening doesn’t seem to translate into great spiritual growth. Of course, I don’t think anyone in church leadership wants that one Sunday morning service to be the only spiritual instruction a person receives, but for many it is.

I also don’t think the apostles had our modern, western idea of “church” in mind when Jesus told them to “go out and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

The church in Acts doesn’t quite look like anything I’ve experienced, either. After Pentecost, we’re told the believers “were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved” (Acts 2: 44-47).

What I see as the biggest differences in the passive worship service we identify as “church” and what we are called to do as believers is the focus on obedience and relationships. Protestant churches believe in something called the “priesthood of all believers.” In other words, it isn’t the sole responsibility of pastors to teach about God. Sharing the gospel is a command given to every believer. If this seems daunting, you might want to check out my post on saying “yes” to what God calls you to do. We aren’t supposed to just go and get some people to believe in Jesus; we are supposed to make disciples. To me, one of the scariest verses in the bible is James 2:19, which says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.” It isn’t enough to just believe in God. I’ll say it again for those in the back.

It isn’t enough to just believe that God exists. James also talks about the need to listen and obey him. Without love and obedience, how are we different from the demons, who, consequently, also believe God exists?

So, it follows then that we are not just supposed to introduce people to Jesus, but also teach them how to follow and love him in obedience.

The keyword there is “teach.”

Teaching is something I know a little bit about. It’s what I’ve dedicated my life to. I’ve been a high school English teacher for about eighteen years. Let me tell you, there are a few things you need to get right if you are going to teach someone else.

First, you need to know the material you are teaching yourself. How well do you think my lesson on The Scarlet Letter would go if I stepped in front of my class having never read the novel? Or if I just read the SparkNotes summary? Or even if just I listened to someone talk about the novel for about 20 minutes one time last year. For Christians, this translates to us knowing God and his word. It means we better spend time reading our bible. We can’t just rely on hearing a 20-minute sermon every week and think we’re learning enough. We need to dive in and immerse ourselves in what God says. God’s word is complex, multifaceted, beautiful, and life-giving. It is worthy of your time.

Another key factor in the success of any good teacher is relationships. The apostles apparently knew this. According to the passage I shared from Acts, they were together a ton. They were eating together and meeting daily. The adage in teaching is your students won’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care. For most students, this is true. They need to know they matter to me. But I also need to know them to know what they need. I need to know where their deficiencies are so I can strengthen them, and I need to know their strengths so we can use and enhance them. I can’t do this if I don’t get to know them. How many people are with you in worship services that you know? Do you know their names? Do you know where they work, what they do for fun? What are their gifts? Where do they struggle spiritually? How is their relationship with Jesus? For that matter, do they know these things about you?

Here’s another thing about teaching. I don’t just throw information out there and hope it lands on good soil, takes root, and grows. No. We do guided practices, talk through passages together, and do group work. On top of this, I give lots of feedback. Eventually, I test the students to see if they know what they were supposed to learn. I need to see the level of mastery and if they have internalized the information. Only then am I confident enough to move to a new topic.

How many times has your pastor tested you on material from last week’s sermon? Have you been given feedback on how you are applying a principle from that lesson to your life? Are you held accountable in any way for learning or growing? For being obedient?

For most of us, I’d wager not. But I think we can do better.

I don’t know what this looks like or how we do it. We’ve tried to encourage discipleship groups in our church. I’m in a group of three and it’s wonderful. I’ve grown so much through our group discussions and accountability. I know of one other group that is going with some young men in the church. But that is it. I don’t know why more don’t want to try.

I’m not suggesting we give up Sunday morning services. I think good things happen there. But I don’t think they are enough by themselves. Too often, they are treated like they are all that is needed. So, we go and sit passively, and we stay the same.

1 Peter 2:5 says, “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.” At an hour a week, we could expect to be under spiritual construction our entire lives as we wait for the pastor’s sermons to slowly accumulate and make some sort of spiritual shanty. I think our “under construction” sign has already been up for far too long. Let’s get our spiritual houses finished, friends. It is time. Let’s fulfill the great commission. Let’s learn more about the amazing God we serve. As we learn more about Jesus, we’ll grow closer to him. As we practice obedience, we’ll become more like him. There is something glorious in walking in obedience to Jesus, living every day in his abundance and peace. We can get there, friends. Stop making excuses. Let’s start building.