Too Much Focus on “The Gathering”
Written by Mark Van Steenwyk : November 26, 2004
Check out the latest post, Too Much Focus on "the Gathering" by Roger at House Church Blog. He raises a great question: How does a church keep its identity as a people mobilized by Christ instead of a gathering (a church that is identified as a meeting at a house is little better than a church that is identified as a meeting in a "sanctuary"). Roger writes:
We are
not seeking to just set up a different way to "do" church, i.e., a
different way to gather. I long to see the whole church just going and
being, taking the presence of Christ everywhere and letting the
gatherings be truly secondary. They will take care of themselves quite
naturally and powerfully when the church is being itself–the glory of
Christ–in the world.The primary reason that I seek simple expressions for church
gatherings is so that we do not expend all of our time, energy, and
resources on these gatherings and miss the point of who we really are
and how we are to go and be in the world!
How do we primarily identify ourselves as a people who take "the presence of Christ everywhere" instead of primarily as a meeting or a set of meetings? Changing our vocabulary to reflect a better ecclesiology is a good start, but where do we go from there?
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We live together. Then “time, energy, and resources” are almost non-existent, because they’re incorporated into the rest of our finances/schedules/etc.
I don’t think it’s wise to refer to Christian gatherings as “secondary” to interaction with the outside world. Neither outward nor inwardly focused Christian activity should take precedence over the other in my opinion.
That is one solution. But it isn’t always the possible or desired solution. What are some other options?
Well, the short answer is to do significantly more than just meeting together. I think our fellow blogger is right that changing the venue of our meetings doesn’t necessarily change the quality of them. That’s why it’s surprising to me that he seems to think that mission will create community. I don’t understand how being good lovers of the world’s lost will make us good lovers of each other. The unfortunate fact is that even in the Christian church, truly authentic community doesn’t happen naturally; it takes hard work and dedication, just like outward mission does.
I agree. But I do think it is far easier to start with mission and move towards community than to start with a community and try to create mission. I think I’ll blog about that.