Thinking about the paradigms within the church world...I want to consider this question: If making disciples is the primary mission of the church, then why do we use the paradigm that we do on Sunday mornings? Is it an effective means to meeting the goal or is it just an old ineffective paradigm? And if it is ineffective, what are other options/paradigms that might be more effective?
What do I mean? Well, simply put, most every church does the same thing on Sunday's. Generally it looks like this:
- Opening song
- Greeting/Welcome
- Music we sing to (anywhere from 3-7 songs)
- Message (anywhere from 20-60 minutes depending on the ego...err...uhm...wordiness of the pastor/teacher)
- go home
So - the question to consider is: Is this the best use of 1-2 hours every week in an effort to fulfill the said goal of making disciples? And if not, why do we do it this way? Is it biblical - therefore - we must? Is it cultural - therefore we do?
And if changes were to occur - what would they look like? What would take its place?
Let's get creative!
Well, I always thought that the "Non-Denominational Christian Church" denomination was about getting back to the way the disciples did things after Jesus left them in charge of the movement. If that is indeed the case, it seems we have done several things wrong.
ReplyDeleteAs we all know, the early church met in each others homes, and it seems like they ate together; in fact, communion seemed to be a feast in remembrance of Christ, rather than a cracker and sip of juice... I believe that when Jesus said "do this in remembrance of me", he was saying that each time we meet together for a meal, we should remember Him. How did that take place back then? Well, they probably told stories of things Jesus did and how kind, gentle, cool, funny, loving he was.
Then, i think there would be one or two elders who would get up and say something, whether it was something prepared beforehand, or straight from the heart, or even a letter from another teacher like Paul or Peter or James.
Following the short teaching or admonishment or announcement, whathaveyou, they would probably stay up all night praying.
In short, I think the closest anyone today is practicing "church" to the way it was done then is Shane Claiborne's group "The Simple Way" in Phillidelphia. If you haven't read his book "The Irresistible Revolution", I suggest you do.
sweet, i guess i was logged into my wife's account when i posted that... my bad.
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