Be the Church OR Go to Church?

I have been having an ongoing discussion with some folks about a topic that is rather critical to the mission of the church. The followers of Jesus Christ are called to go and to make disciples. That is the mission. And I think the disciples of the early church had a good understanding of what that meant. But somewhere along the line, the concept of going into the world, connecting with the world, and living alongside people in the world in order to draw them to Jesus as disciples, drastically changed.

What changed? The mission became more about what took place at a certain address and the activities and programs offered at that address and in that building within those four walls. Unfortunately, the churches characterized by a faulty mission have exported this concept around the world. Our form of missions or simply the accomplishing of  Matthew 28:18-20–discipling the nations–has changed. Well, yes, we still believe we should take the gospel to the world, but as soon as possible we must have an address, a building, and a program that will draw people to us. That sentence represents the philosophical drive that moves many churches. “WE HAVE WHAT THEY NEED. SO WE NEED TO GET THEM TO THIS FACILITY, THIS BUILDING. Then they can be disciples.” This philosophy has done immeasurable damage.

I am sure that it was not intended to be this way at the point when the early church went from being chased into the catacombs to being a mainstream idea around the time of Constantine. When the Christians came out of the catacombs and into the society around them, they still had to interact with the people and to disciple those people that were around them. And I have no idea at what period of time the idea of discipleship became unfortunately linked to a program that had to take place at the address of the “church.” But that link was a distinct change. And that philosophy of edifice equals church equals program equals “God is pleased that we are accomplishing his mission because of what we do at our building” has handicapped our impact on our culture and our world.

Another part of the historical picture is the movement of separation from the world (including its educational system) that pulled us even deeper into our fortress and behind our four walls. I grew up in that system and believed that we could give unbelievers the gospel in some form; but that they really had to get to our building and involved in our program in order for them to be truly God’s separate people. And except for our brief forays into the malls and nursing homes and other places where we could present godly, holy music and concerts (along with, of course, passing out tons of tracts), we expected that we would invite them to our building and to our address; then there at our holy and special place where God meets with us, they would attend and become a disciple of Jesus.

What this system of “discipling” produced was mostly a revolving door of religious people moving from one city to the next city and from one church address to the next church address. Greatly diminished was the fact that we actually lived and impacted and sought to disciple those around us in the community who had never known God or had never had an interest in religious stuff. They were the monsters to avoid. In fact, as I have talked with people that grew up in these kinds of church systems and philosophies (as described above) between the 1960s to 2000 (even up to 2010), I began to realize that they had no idea how to interact with a totally irreligious person. And they admit this fact. The church lost something between A.D. 400 and A.D. 2000. Where was the salt and light?

Interestingly enough, another phenomenon is taking place. We expect kids to grow up hearing the teaching and automatically get what they have heard because they were “there” at the right address and building for all of those years. We cannot understand how they did not become a disciple of Jesus. One mother, upon a Christian school closing, came to us and said, “How will my children hear about God now?” If we as Christians are not discipling our own children and teens, we are far from reaching out to the community at large.

Everything we have discussed is a “go to church” mentality and philosophy that mirrors mainline denominations. What happened to “we are the church”?

What does it look like to “go to church” as opposed to “be the church”? What is the difference between these two opposing philosophies of life and discipleship in Christianity?

Go to church (General Characteristics)

• Activities must take place at this address where we meet. In fact, we shut down any idea of ministry or discipleship that is not in this building. After all, anything offsite from our church building is probably something weird or cultish.
• People need to hear the gospel here at our church building so that they will be saved. This is the “special place” of God.
• Our programs that are developed to disciple people take place on certain nights and with the right materials that help people become apart of what is going on at this address.
• Come up with new and fresh ideas to get people to this building to meet Jesus.
• If you do not attend here at our church building, then I’m not sure about you. You probably are not a Christian.
• Focus on people in programs and on the membership rolls. As long as you have been through our membership class and you attend our scheduled services, you are a good disciple of Jesus.
• If you are faithful to all of the weekly scheduled meetings, you are at the top of the leadership and preferred member chart, a dangerous practice of performance orientation. This practice tends to hide the sin in our lives and to cover as much as possible in order to maintain some good standing in the eyes of others. Hiding sin is easy to do for 45-90 minutes on Sunday morning.
• We tend to endeavor to get totally unsaved folks to the church building first, where they will be extremely uncomfortable.
• Therefore, we host special events so that folks can get to that building. But then we have no further contact with them beyond those events, unless they come back to that building for further events.
• The church comes alive at 9:45 on Sunday morning and dies at noon.  Then it regenerates for a brief time on Wednesdays, perhaps.  This is “going to church,” and not “being the church” because many folks fall through the cracks and interact with no one or may be discipled by no one. They manage their own spiritual lives throughout the week.

Be the church (The Goal)

• Activities take place wherever the disciplers live and gather–having neighbors into our homes, helping co-workers, loving on needy people.
• People share their lives and beliefs wherever they connect with others. They do not have to wait to come to “the church building.”
• Programs are limited to specific goals of drawing people in through the layers of unbelief and their comfort apart from God towards discussion of God and life and the story of the gospel. In fact, the program is life, and the goal is discipleship.
• Discipleship is a lifestyle of building relationships, connecting with people, and speaking truth. We grow these relationships towards Christ. As people begin to see we care about them and they begin to desire truth, they press in towards hearing more about God and seeing how we live.
• The church gathers weekly in places sufficiently able to handle its meeting, to build its theology, and to gain continuity of growth.
• We celebrate all those who are a part of the greater, true body of Christ and who are discipling the world around them and bringing them to Christ.
• We are serious about discipling while opening our hearts and lives to people. We are honest and open with one another as we meet at a restaurant, a home, or a coffee house.
• Leaders are developed as they become committed to the mission and the story of God as it is lived out together throughout the week wherever they are. They live and disciple alongside someone else who is already in leadership in order to see how they function.
• We shape our lives and schedule around the mission first and then around the ways and means to accomplish that mission rather than building our lives around a building and a place and its programs.
• We look forward to sharing what God is doing in the main gathering of the church weekly where we are teaching solid truth directly from Scriptures that will help us to live daily as disciples.
• We are a family carrying out the “one-anothering” of the New Testament.  We live and breathe together throughout the week serving our community and loving on community members in need.
• We should readily admit that we are all broken sinners in a broken world who are becoming more like Christ through the Gospel.

LIVING THE MISSION: Briefly, we saw a body of believers that drew in a blind woman through their missional living.  Their first question to her was not “Can you come to church with me on Sunday morning?”  Their first question to her was “How can we help you?” After they poured their lives into hers with genuine love, she saw a difference in them.  She desired to know more.  The local body of believers went to her where she was.  After two years of living out the Gospel with her, she came to personal faith in Christ; she was baptized recently.