What does church do?
At our church we are reviewing everything that we do a, trying to see how we need to adapt and change.
Last night we were looking at the question “what does a church do?”. Our group started to list all the usual things: evangelism, worship, prayer etc. But we felt that there was something limiting in the language - there were pre-conceived notions of how we “do” these activities. So we decided to experiment with new language. So what does church do?
- The primary aim of church is to enable people to have an experience of God - wherever that occurs on a person’s journey of faith. This might involve exploring the concept of faith with a friend, praying alongside someone going through a difficult time, or sharing a time of worship and contemplation with a group of people.
- We also have an opportunity to demonstrate spiritual thought leadership. This adapts and subverts a business concept. It means an opportunity to change the way that people view the world through relating spiritual concepts to everyday life. Traditionally this would be called “prophecy”.
- Part of our role is to challenge boundaries. This means stretching and challenging people within the church to think outside their traditional comfort zone, but also challenging those outside the church.
- We have a responsibility to care for others and work towards their wholeness. This can mean that we speak up for those who have no voice, locally or around the world. We treat others as individuals and we refuse to stereotype.
- Finally, the very nature of the church is one that forms networks and communities. The church is a community of people that is open to and welcomes people from outside the community; it also reaches out through individuals to countless other networks.
Those of us in our group found that thinking about new language was quite refreshing (although a sense of irony was mandatory). The most interesting thing was the strength of the negative reaction from other discussion groups!
That’s a pretty refreshing way of looking at it. It is interesting that some find it hard to accept and perhaps illustrates how people love the language and tradition of church without grasping the meaning, and missing the point of the whole enterprise.