"I thought this was a Southern Baptist church?" - we are but with a small "s and b"
"What time is your traditional service?" - an assumption that because we are SBC we have two different styles of worship services.
"Multiple services divide the church" - actually it brings our church together as we do what it takes to accomplish our purpose
"Is the music always this loud?" - interesting, I didn't find it to be loud
"This doesn't look like a church." - it's not the church it's just a building the church is the people
"What time is Sunday School?" - we don't do Sunday School we have small groups that meet throughout the week
"Why don't you sing hymns?" - We do:
hymn |him|nouna religious song or poem, typically of praise to God or a god : a Hellenistichymn to Apollo.• a formal song sung during Christian worship, typically by the whole congregation.• a song, text, or other composition praising or celebrating someoneor something : a most unusual passage like a hymn to the great outdoors.verb1 [ trans. ] praise or celebrate (something) : Johnson's reply hymns education.2 [ intrans. ] rare sing hymns.
The point is this: Too often we try to package church in such a way that it looks, sounds, smells a certain way and if it doesn't fit into our package then is must not be church or must not be right. Church is something we can't box up, we can't package church. God's plan is to use the church to build his kingdom. The kingdom is made up of all different kinds of people. Since there is a huge variety of people to reach that means there will be a huge variety of churches. Our church reaches folks the church up the road can't reach and vice versa. No matter the shape, size or style, church should be a place we plug in and serve (ministry) and share (missions).
The point is this: Too often we try to package church in such a way that it looks, sounds, smells a certain way and if it doesn't fit into our package then is must not be church or must not be right. Church is something we can't box up, we can't package church. God's plan is to use the church to build his kingdom. The kingdom is made up of all different kinds of people. Since there is a huge variety of people to reach that means there will be a huge variety of churches. Our church reaches folks the church up the road can't reach and vice versa. No matter the shape, size or style, church should be a place we plug in and serve (ministry) and share (missions).
2 comments:
Great post, Andy.
One of the most illogical and unfounded statements is the one about multiple services dividing the church.
It's made by those who either:
a. Have no concern or passion for reaching others;
b. Want to know everybody in the congregation. Which means a church should never grow beyond about 75, because that's pretty much an individual's limit of how many "personal relationships" are possible.
c. It makes the assumption that the church has to all meet together at the same time to be a church. Says who? Not the first church. (See Acts 2).
So burn the box. Sorry. Recycle the box. It's too small.
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