Our Bible Study reflections come from the second edition of Theology on Tap, held last Saturday. Once again we had a great turnout and plenty of good discussion. The topic of the evening was, "What is church good for?" As I was preparing for the discussion that pastors are often in the business of "selling" church, convincing people that it's a worthwhile endeavor and something in which they should invest their time. But is it always? And if so, in what ways? It occurred to me that in the course of the sales job (which I dislike anyway...if I had wanted to do that I would have gone into retail) we assume that church is good and turn a blind eye to things that can be less valuable about it. This quickly leads to that dreaded "church is good in itself no matter what it does" outlook that poisons so many ministries. So I wanted to have a night where I didn't sell one bit...where people expressed for themselves, honestly, what the most valuable parts of the experience are (if any). So that's what we did.
The reflections varied. Most everyone agreed that church was much easier to participate in when you felt that you got something out of it, though some also shared stories of continuing to go even when they weren't having the best time...making that part of their faith discipline. People identified informative preaching, the Bible being opened up, being challenged, and fellowship with their neighbors as integral to a good church experience. Some cited uplifting music as important, others the chance to share and explore their gifts.
The riveting comment of the night came from Dana Carter, who helped us distinguish between church and everything else by pointing out the open and accessible motives for acting in faith--at least when done well--when compared to most endeavors. In a sales position you're supposed to be kind to your neighbor, aware of others, diligent in your duties...many of the same things we do at church. But you do all these things in a sales job so you can sell widgets. Your neighbor is a means to an end and every action towards them is based on that end. God gives us the wonderful task of considering being kind to our neighbors an end unto itself. We're able to be together with them, love them, and get to know them as THEM, not someone we want to manipulate into doing something for us. When people go searching for "the angle" in what we do, ideally they shouldn't find one. This makes church different and special.
That comment struck me because we often give up that special characteristic in the name of preserving the church. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had that start with, "We need to get people to give more _______ or do more _______!" Now we're back to the sales job again. Instead of helping the church, we've given up one of its unique characteristics...the very reason for people to participate! The better response is to ask in what ways X and Y are necessary and how we've been dealing with them. You'll probably find that X and Y weren't as integral to the church experience as we thought OR that we've been defining X and Y in such a way as to make it impossible for people to hop on board. As soon as you make something else the end focus of the exercise besides God and our neighbor, the church suffers and lacks.
This discussion is not done by any means! What church is good for is a question we all should ask ourselves and talk about, that we might better shape our community to God's (and our) intentions. I invite you to engage the topic and this discussion as the months go by.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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