Pop Quiz
This article by Pastor Scott Thomas comes across obviously biased but worth reflecting on. What description best defines what we should be about? Here is the entire article. If you go there, take the test after the description of each church.
The Missional Church:
- Sent by God as missionaries in their own culture (Mt. 4:19).
- Exists to take Christ to the lost: Go to the world (Mt. 28:18-20).
- Members are personally engaged in their communities (Acts 16:20; 17:6).
- Submerged into its culture like Christ (Luke 7:34).
- Main focus is training and equipping others to be missionaries (Eph. 4:11-16).
- Dependent upon Holy Spirit to use individuals as agents for evangelizing (Acts 1:8).
- Develops relationships with the lost on purpose (Matt. 5:13-16).
- Relationships are the means to influence others in their journey toward Christ (John 15:12-17; 1 John 4:19-21).
- The goal is to help others find Jesus in their own way and timing (1 Cor. 9:20-23).
- Participants are affected in every way through a calling by God to be an agent for the gospel (Acts 4:13, 31-35).
- Faith is practiced in community - groups of people together (Acts 2:42-45; Phil. 1:27).
- Worship is unpredictable, spontaneous, Spirit-directed and messy (John 4:23-24).
The Evangelical Church:
- Has a program of missions alongside numerous activities of the church.
- Exists as a place for the lost to find Christ: Come to the Church.
- Members are supportive of mission efforts.
- Separated from its culture as a holy quest.
- Main focus is supporting mission works - mainly overseas.
- Dependent upon altar call and big events as its main tool for evangelization.
- Knows a few lost people and prays for their salvation.
- Uses marketing techniques & business principles to draw people to a corporate gathering.
- The goal is to produce salvation results.
- Participants conform to man-made standards through guilt and pressure. Change is through self-will, not Spirit.
- Faith is practiced at the church building during prescribed gathering times.
- Worship is structured, predictable and orderly.
The Institutional Church:
- Sends money to missionaries in foreign countries if it is convenient.
- Exists for the members of the church: Join the Church.
- Members expect pastors to bring in the lost and unchurched.
- Has become a sub-culture of Christians living in a parallel universe.
- Main focus is supporting church activities to attract new families.
- Dependent upon pastors and staff to evangelize the lost.
- Stays away from the lost; has very few dealings with those outside the church.
- Uses tradition, denomination and family ties to attract and keep members.
- The goal is to increase attendance.
- Participants compartmentalize their religion and their lives - generally facades of religious adherence.
- Faith is a routine activity that is private and personal.
- Worship is ritualistic.
May 16th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Well, since the Missional church is the only one that gets Scripture references to back it up, I’m going to vote for that one!
I will comment on one of the points that got my attention:
This concept is something I find quite difficult to flesh out in tangible ways. When we lock ourselves in to a certain order of the service, 16 1/2 minutes for singing, 3 minutes for prayer, 4 minutes for Scripture reading, etc., are we guaranteeing that we won’t be led by God’s Spirit to do something different? Should we be planning services with more of an open-hand approach (willing to change if needed)? That seems much more difficult, but I suppose it could also be more rewarding if it caused us to be more dependent on the Spirit of God to lead us in our times together.
I would love to see us feel the freedom to sing more songs occasionally, even if we hadn’t planned on it. (horrors!) Or spend more time in prayer. Those sound like such safe, easy changes, I wonder if I’m so tied to a rigid structure that I can’t even think outside of that box?
I will make this observation: I think that the unchurched (who are being drawn by God and whose eyes are open or are being opened to the beauty of the gospel) would find our worship times much more compelling if they were “unpredictable, spontaneous, Spirit-directed, and messy.” That seems to be one of the hallmarks of a genuine relationship.
I would love to hear what others have to say on this.
May 16th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Perhaps I am a bit skittish but the words, “unpredictable, spontaneous, Spirit-directed, and messy,” stirred a bit of caution in me. If the author means that our worship should be more passionate, expressive, or even extended I am all for it. However, if he is referring to some sort of out of control, disorderly worship I do not think that I would agree. I do not think there is virtue in this- we are to purposely control and direct ourselves towards passionate worship as we dwell on the truth of the glory of Christ. We do this with an atittude of complete reliance on the Spirit and recognition of our need for Him to soften and work in our hearts.
Certainly our hearts grow cold and strictly ritualistic in our worship at times but I would say that this is much more of a heart issue than a structure or planning issue. In the context of discussing the sign gifts (an area where many would argue for less structure and planning) Paul clearly states that “all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner” (1 Corinthians 14:40).
Even as I write this I do find myself needing to admit that there could be times of spontinaity where we take stray from the service order in some way. However, in the moment that this step is taken it too should be done with purpose and thoughtfulness even as the Spirit works through His word in our minds.
I come back to some of my initial thoughts- perhaps we should work (plan) towards more passionate, expressive, and extended times in worship for the glory of Christ.