Have you ever had thoughts flit through your mind and you wonder, “Where did that come from?” There is one thought that came through my mind this past week and it’s a thought that I have had before. It’s this crazy question – “So ya think ya have this church thing all figured out, do ya?” And with that thought comes this other one – I can’t help but wonder how or what church would look like if I was able to erase all preconceived ideas from my mind and was given the Bible and nothing else and told to figure out what Christians would do when they are together.
Where does such a thought come from? I just look at what ‘church’ has become all over North America…and I wonder. At times it ‘feels’ like we have it all figured out, and then at other times it ‘feels’ like we don’t have a clue.
So what would I do if I had to gather with other Christians and figure out what to do? Where would I start? What would be first?
A building or property would be the furthest thing from my mind. So too would advertising or marketing or anything of that ilk. I don’t think I would be concerning myself with getting known in the city – not in a business sense, anyway.
When we gather I would want us to focus on the gospels. What is Jesus teaching us. Study how he lived his life. Try to live my own life like his. Encourage others who are followers to live their lives like his. I would focus on Matthew 5 – 7, or the sermon on the mount. That to me would make sense as to where to start.
I would do my best to explain to others what various passages mean and how to apply it to their life.
Definitely take my cue from Acts. And definitely from Acts 2: 42ff. So I guess we would devote ourselves to prayer, the Apostles teaching, fellowship and the breaking of bread. I’m guessing we would sing some songs, since there would be references to hymns and singing ‘spiritual songs’ from the New Testament.
I don’t think there would be any focus on whether or not the music was professional or polished. Although we would do our best in everything we do. In order to do that, we would be about doing what you’re good at. Hey, since schools encourage people to take ‘tracks’ that fit their interests, skill level, and natural ability, why not us? Seems to me that society does fairly well letting people do what comes natural to them. Who knows…maybe God designed it this way! How nice would that be!!
I think once / week we would gather in homes or smaller groups to eat together. When we eat we would do communion together. I think that’s the only time we would do communion together – when it’s part of a meal.
I would place a lot of emphasis on developing other people to lead other people. I wouldn’t think that there would be this need to burn out or do everything on my own.
I think any outreach would be a natural part of who we were. However, I’m not so sure how organized it would be…’natural’ would be a key word. Hopefully it would just be who we were.
And kids? They would just play while we do teaching. Of course they would have their instruction, mostly from home. But I don’t think we as the ‘church’ would offer any real instruction until maybe 12 years of age.
I could go on, but then it would look like a 10 year vision, and I would have to develop a strategic plan, and have committees, and write it all out and put it in book form…and I’m not feeling so well now.
Anyone know where I can find a mind-eraser?
