What Scripture Teaches About Meeting Together Is Far Different Than Our Sunday Services
We talked about three options for a house church gathering: duplicate a typical service, participate online, or just hang out. Each of these three approaches have their strengths and weaknesses.
However, in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives us some ideas of what we could do for a house church (1 Corinthians 14:26-27). He gives five activities that could take place: singing, teaching, sharing a revelation, speaking in tongues, and giving an interpretation.
But before we dig into these five
areas, let’s look at some other key items first.
When You Gather
Paul says when you gather, not if you gather. This reminds us that getting together with other followers of Jesus should be a regular occurrence, not random (check out Hebrews 10:25).
This idea of meeting together can occur on Sunday morning or can happen at any other time. The Bible doesn’t command the day or the hour when we should meet, nor is the timing sacred. Gathering Sunday morning is merely a practice that developed over the centuries.
Each Person
Next, let’s look at the phrase that
precedes Paul’s list. He says, “each of you.” This means everyone should
participate. The idea of all those present taking part suggests an egalitarian
house church gathering, where everyone contributes, and everyone ministers to
each other.
This instruction removes the divide
between leader and follower, which happens in today’s church services. On a
typical Sunday morning a few people lead, while most people watch. This means
that a few people are active during church, while most sit as passive
observers, as if going to a concert or attending a lecture.
Five Actions for House Church Gatherings
Instead Paul wants everyone
involved, where each person can minister to one another. He lists five
activities that should take place in our house church gathering.
1. Sing a Song
When we meet together, we should
sing a hymn or share a song—likely more than one. This could mean playing a
musical instrument so that others can sing along. For those who can’t play an
instrument or lead others in singing, a modern-day option might be to play a
recording of a song. Anyone can do that.
It could also mean—it probably does
means—launching into a song or chorus a cappella as the Holy Spirit leads. This
requires no preparation at all, just a willingness to listen to the direction
of God’s Spirit.
2. Teach a Lesson
The same approach applies for
giving a word of instruction. We don’t need to preach a half-hour to an
hour-long sermon. In this case less is more. We can often communicate much by
speaking little. Saying something concisely in thirty seconds may be more
meaningful than droning on for thirty minutes. Again, no preparation required.
And everyone present can do this.
All we need is a willingness to
share something that God taught us during the week, or that we learned through
studying Scripture. In addition, we can rely on the Holy Spirit to tell us what
to share during our meeting. It can build off what someone else has already
said, or it may be a new topic.
3. Share a Revelation
The idea of having a revelation to
share will seem normal to some and a bit mystical to others. Think of a
revelation as special knowledge that God has given to us. He could do this
through a writing we read or an action we observe. And it can be through Holy
Spirit insight. Regardless of the source of our revelation, Paul wants us to
share these perceptions with those gathered.
4. Speak in Tongues
The last two items on the list may,
or may not, be a comfortable activity in our group, depending on our practices
and comfort level. The first of these two items is speaking in tongues.
The Bible talks about speaking in
tongues, and Paul instructs the people in Corinth to do it. It’s biblical, and
we should consider this for our house church gathering. But it may be optional,
because Paul later says, if anyone speaks in tongues. This implies it’s
not a requirement. But he does say that if people speak in tongues, only a few
people should do it and then one at a time.
5. Interpret the Tongue
After someone speaks in an unknown
language, someone must interpret it. Implicitly, if no one can interpret the
message, then the person shouldn’t share it. After all, how can words that no
one understands build up the church?
Holy Spirit at Our House Church Gathering
Much of the activity for a house church gathering means listening to the Holy Spirit and responding as he directs. Implicit in this we will encounter times of silence—sometimes lengthy—as we wait and listen. Silence unnerves some people, so if this idea of waiting for God to speak is new to you, move forward with care as you build up the ability to sit, listen, and share. Hearing from the Holy Spirit, however, is central to our house church gathering.
Build Up the Church
To conclude his list of five items,
Paul says everything we do at a house church gathering must be for the purpose
of building up the church, to strengthen the faith and community of those
present. Doing or saying anything to elevate ourselves or draw attention to our
abilities benefits our ego. This detracts from the group.
Instead we should humble ourselves and do things for our common good. This will advance the kingdom of God and the good news of Jesus.
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
I recently read an article about church attendance that vexed me. It came from a Christian magazine. It addressed going to church. The author claimed to have statistical proof that Christians were turning their backs on their faith. What was the stat that caused him to make this rash conclusion?
Quite simply that overall church attendance is down. He made the erroneous assumption that church attendance equated to faith. In his mind, no church attendance meant no faith.
Sadly, I’ve heard the same misguided assumption too many times.
Joyce Meyer, however, smartly puts this in perspective. She says, “Just because you go to church doesn’t mean you’re a Christian. I can go sit in the garage all day and it doesn’t make me a car.”
Well said, Joyce.
Christians in Church
Many Christians attend church. Some go every week, some go once or twice a month, and a few go sporadically. That’s what good Christians do; they have a practice of going to church. At least that’s the conventional wisdom from those on the inside.
I’m there most every week, but the hour I spend at church each Sunday morning isn’t central to my faith. My faith grows most at other times of the week. The Sunday service is an ancillary practice.
Christians Not in Church
Yet not all Christians are in church on Sunday. Some stay away, either through circumstances or preference. I don’t view these folks as less than, even though most well-meaning church proponents do.
I don’t know who said it first, but many have repeated it over the years or agree with its sentiment. “I didn’t leave the church because I lost my faith. I left the church to keep it.”
Yes, there are those who stopped going to church because the experience detracted from their faith instead of enhancing it. Their meaningful spiritual experiences happen outside the four walls of the traditional church on Sunday morning.
Non-Christians in Church
There are three groups of people at most churches each Sunday:
Christians
People who think they’re Christians
Non-Christians who want to learn more
Most churches are comprised of people in the first two groups. The third group rarely comes to church anymore. The church was once a respected institution, a safe place to go to find answers, but few in the non-churched portion of society feel that way anymore.
They may have needs, but they stay away. This brings us to the final category.
Non-Christians Not in Church
Aside from the people who think they’re Christians and aren’t, most non-Christians would never dream of walking into a church building to seek answers or have their spiritual needs met.
These people reside outside the church. If the church wants to reach them, they need to leave the comfort of their building and go out into the world to tell others about Jesus and make disciples (see Matthew 28:19-20).
The Truth about Church
In our discussion about church, we’ve not addressed the most critical consideration. That is, church is not a building. The true church of Jesus is the people. We are—or at least we should be—one united, universal collection of people who follow Jesus as his disciples.
Given this perspective, going to church each Sunday morning doesn’t matter too much. How we live our faith the other 167 hours of the week is where we need to focus.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
When going to church—whether as a visitor or a regular attendee—there are three keys to having a successful, meaningful, and spirit-filled experience. These are attitude, prayer, and expectation.
Without addressing these critical elements, many church services will fall short of expectations.
Following these three essential steps, however, can make most any church experience—despite its shortcomings—positive, even beneficial, and, dare I say, memorable.
Yes, it is true. In visiting all these churches, I’ve experienced both positive and negative outcomes. And most of these outcomes hinged on attitude, prayer, and expectation.
1. Attitude Is Everything
If we go to church with a bad attitude, we shouldn’t expect to enjoy our time there. It’s foolish to assume a positive outcome from church if we go there with a surly disposition.
When we approach church with positive anticipation of what will occur, our attention will focus on the positive elements of the service and give us the ability to extend grace to the negative aspects.
Our attention will celebrate the noteworthy and give us the ability to overlook the not-so-great.
And remember, every church, congregation, and service will possess both positive and negative elements. No church is perfect in every way, just as no church is completely flawed. Our attitude determines which of those two aspects we focus on.
I approached most all the churches we visited with a positive perspective. Most of the time this came naturally. A few times, however, I needed to work on adjusting my attitude.
Seeking a positive attitude means my overall approach to the church was positive.
Even so, that doesn’t mean I noted only positive elements. In visiting churches, I sought to share both positive and negative, celebrating the good that I witnessed and attempting to learn from the not-so-good that I encountered.
This is the reason I opted not to visit Church #69 (“Suffering from a Bad Rap”). From what people told me about their experience with this church and how the people who went there treated them, I formed a highly negative impression.
Based completely on this secondhand information, I developed a bad attitude about this church and suspected my experience would confirm what I anticipated.
Since I had such a bad perspective, I saw no point in visiting them until I could turn my mindset from negative to positive. I tried unsuccessfully for a couple of years to adjust my attitude, but I never could.
Therefore, I felt a visit would unfold as a futile encounter and produce no valuable insight or significant spiritual interaction.
I now realize—albeit too late—that I never prayed about this. I never sought the Holy Spirit’s intervention to correct my flagging attitude.
Through prayer, I’m quite confident God would have turned my attitude around. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to seek him in this.
This brings us to the next point: prayer.
2. Prayer Is Essential
When Candy and I embarked on our 52 Churches adventure, we committed ourselves to a pre-church prayer each week. Initially this was before we left our house, but later it occurred during our drive to church.
Our intent was to seek God’s blessing for our time with that church and to request a positive outcome. We only forgot to do this a couple of times, with our lack of prayer serving to diminish what we encountered at those churches.
So significant were the benefits of our pre-church prayer that we continued this practice when we weren’t visiting a new church but instead were attending our home church.
Most of the time I would pray, and Candy would add her addendum as she felt led. Other times I asked her to pray.
After a few weeks, I realized our pre-church prayer could easily slip into a rut, with us repeating the same phrases week after week.
To avoid falling into a vain repetition (see Matthew 6:7 in the KJV), I would seek Holy Spirit insight on what specific things to pray for during our drive to church each Sunday.
As a way of example, and not to imply something for you to copy, here are parts of some of our pre-church prayers:
“Thank you, God, for the opportunity to go to church today. Please teach us what you would have us learn.”
“Papa, at church today may we receive what you want us to receive and give to others what you want us to give.”
“May we worship you today in spirit and truth” (see John 4:23–24).
“Holy Spirit, direct us to divine encounters with the people at this church so that we may encourage them, and they may encourage us, as needed.”
“Please give us positive attitudes so that we may see what you want us to see.” (I prayed this prayer a few times, but Candy clarified that she already had a good attitude. It was mine that needed adjustment. She was right.)
“We thank you, Jesus, for who you are and what you’ve done for us. May we celebrate you today at church.”
“God, please speak to us through the sermon today.”
As we returned to our home church, these types of prayers continued, though some new ones were a bit more pointed, as in:
“Please direct us, Holy Spirit, to someone to minister to today at church.”
“May you give us opportunities to pray for others before and after the church service.”
“Father, today at church, may we see others through your eyes and encourage them in Jesus’s name.”
Use these examples to form your own pre-church prayers. But regardless of the words you say, know that prayer is essential when you head off to church.
These prayers don’t need to be fancy, but they should be heartfelt and Holy Spirit driven.
Prayer establishes the groundwork for what happens next.
3. Expectations Form Experience
The foundation formed by prayer prepares us for the church service. It serves to shape our expectations, which will drive our experience.
Most of the time, positive expectations result in positive outcomes, while negative expectations prompt negative results.
With prayer establishing the basis to move forward, we should easily slide into a mindset of positive expectation. This is how we put our faith into action.
We say our pre-church prayer in faith, and we prove it from the actions that spring forth from our expectations.
When we expect great things to happen at church, we will see the positive most every time. If we expect disappointment, we will surely encounter it.
As I said before, we will never experience a 100 percent perfect service, nor will we ever experience a 100 percent horrible one.
Church experiences exist on a continuum from good to bad, positive to negative. And yet, when we walk in with positive expectations, our experience will skew toward the positive.
For most Sundays, our pre-church prayer did exactly that. Yet, on a few occasions, I needed to breathe a booster prayer as we pulled into the church parking lot, walked through the doors, or encountered some initial disappointment.
These prayers sometimes came forth as little more than a groan, but God granted my plea every time.
How to Go to Church Summary
Whether visiting a new church or attending our home church, we should follow a wise strategy, remembering that attitude is everything, prayer is essential, and expectations form experience.
May we receive God’s blessing when we go to church, and while we’re there, may we be a blessing to others.
May it be so.
Action Step
Go to church with the right attitude, covered with prayer, and with high expectations.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
The experiences I share in this book More Than 52 Churches are just that: my experiences. Other people will have different observations when visiting a church.
I am an introvert, as is a slight majority of the population, but my reactions are not unique to or representative of introverts.
Indeed, everyone, both introvert and extrovert, will share my perspective to varying degrees—some more profoundly and others less so.
Regardless, know that I have never talked with anyone who claimed they could visit a new church without some degree of anxiety.
Also know that I had a most supportive wife accompanying me each week (except for the week she was out of town and I went solo: Church #61, “The Wrong Time to Visit”).
With her at my side, I stood much braver than I would have on my own.
Even so, I had to fight the urge to make a U-turn in the parking lot at Church #54 (“Emergent Maybe”) and pray earnestly to stave off a bit of a panic attack while walking into Church #58 (“Not So Friendly”).
Visiting a church with a non-supportive spouse would be even harder, as well as showing up by yourself. Given all this, it’s easy to see why someone with even the best intentions of visiting a church will decide not to.
Instead, they’ll maintain their Sunday morning status quo—whether staying home or attending the church they know, even if it’s the wrong one. Sticking with what we’re used to is so much easier than confronting our fears and going someplace unknown.
That’s why it’s so critical for a church to do everything possible to make it less scary for a visitor to show up. Being a welcoming church is a great start, but it’s not enough.
Churches need to go beyond welcoming visitors. They need to engage with them. You must be a disarming church, likeable, even irresistible.
There are many factors that make a church engaging. Three recurring themes emerged from our visits to other churches. These stand out as essential skills to master to be an engaging church.
1. Make it Easy for Visitors
Most people today go online to find information. This includes someone thinking about visiting your church. Therefore, having an attractive, up-to-date, and visitor-friendly website is key. This is the first key to be an engaging church.
A few churches try to skip this step by establishing their online home base on various social media sites. This, however, is shortsighted.
Social media platforms can change their rules of engagement at any time, restrict who sees your information, and even summarily shut you down without notice.
Yes, a church can still have social media pages, but these should direct visitors to the church website, which the church owns and controls.
As mentioned, the website must be attractive. It should look current and be easy to navigate. It must follow best practices.
This means your website needs a makeover every couple of years, or else it will look dated, which will cause visitors to dismiss your church as out of touch.
Next, your website needs current information. Remove obsolete content and add new info as soon as changes occur.
Nothing will cause website visitors to bounce from your site faster—and dismiss your church quicker—than when it includes information that’s no longer relevant.
A third key is accuracy. Some church websites are as misleading as dating profiles. (Not that I have any firsthand experience with dating websites, but I’ve heard that embellished claims abound).
Some church websites paint a picture of what the church once was but no longer is, while other sites present an image of what they want to become.
Both are lies and seriously mislead visitors, which results in disappointment. This causes first-time church visitors to become one-time visitors.
As far as the specific information a website should have, clear and easy to find service times are critical. Don’t make people search for this or wonder if what they find is accurate.
Just as important is your street address. Unless your location is well known and highly visible, assume visitors will use their GPS to get there. Make it easy for them to do so.
Next, people will wonder what they should wear to feel comfortable at your church. And even if you don’t care what they wear, they will.
They’ll want to fit in, so let them know how most people dress. Is your church come-as-you-are, business casual, or Sunday best? Somewhere in between?
If you have multiple services, note the times. Highlight any differences, such as in format, music content, and sermon style. Also note any other Sunday programming you may offer.
Do you have Sunday school? Is it concurrent to the service or at a different time? Do you have something separate for teens? What about college students or young singles? These are two demographics that many churches overlook.
Let newcomers know what to expect. Beyond explaining a typical service, tell them what they can encounter before and after.
Let them know how long the service typically lasts. And please, tell them the offering is just for members and regular attendees.
You should also explain your communion practices, since these vary a lot from one church to another.
At most of the churches we visited that included communion, my desire to understand and fit in with their practices so distracted me that I failed to focus on the reason why I was taking communion.
This was an epic fail for me—and for them.
Lastly, make it easy for prospective visitors to contact your church with questions. This includes listing your phone number and email address.
Just make sure you respond quickly to both. Most churches don’t, with a few delaying their response to visitor communication for days, weeks, and, in one case, even months. And some don’t respond at all.
What I’ve not included on this list of website information is a doctrinal statement. I don’t think most people care, and those who read it may seek one hot-button word or phrase, using it to eliminate your church from further consideration.
The reality is that at most churches, the people who go there don’t know what their church’s core beliefs are, and those who do know, often disagree with an element or two.
2. Create a Great Impression
Okay, so your website did a good enough job to entice someone to visit your church. Now you need to make a great impression when they arrive, knowing that their first perception of your church began with your website.
This is the second key to be an engaging church.
You’ve given them your street address, so their GPS will get them to your facility.
If you only have one entrance to your parking lot, they’ll know where to go, but if you have multiple entrances, be sure to have signs, banners, or flags directing them to the right one.
Some large churches have parking lot attendants to direct traffic to open spaces, but even some forward-thinking mid-sized churches have greeters in their parking lot to welcome visitors and be available to answer questions.
You must have someone greet them at your building entrance to give them a smile, welcome them well, and open the door. This person should focus on people they don’t recognize and not their friends.
This greeter should look for signs of apprehension or confusion, doing whatever they can to ease a visitor’s concerns or fears.
A positive welcome, however, extends inside the building too. Larger churches have visible and attractive information centers, staffed by approachable and outgoing people to assist visitors in any way possible.
At smaller churches, or those lacking the space for a visitor center, station people inside to assist those who look lost or confused.
In all this, the goal is to make a great impression, welcoming visitors well and helping them enjoy their experience.
3. Greet Well
As I mentioned in 52 Churches, there are three opportunities to greet visitors: before the service, during the service, and after the service.
Few churches do all three well. And too many fail at each one. Greeting well is the third key to be an engaging church.
As already mentioned, the pre-service greeting occurs in the parking lot, at the front door, and inside your facility. But that’s not enough.
These people serve as official greeters because they’re outgoing, engaging, and have a knack at helping people feel comfortable. However, this doesn’t mean the other 99 percent of your church shouldn’t also greet visitors.
The pre-church greeting extends into the sanctuary or worship space. This secondary form of greeting could be as simple as making eye contact, smiling, and waving or saying hello. Anyone should be able to do that.
Beyond that, everyone should look for people standing by themselves with no one to talk to or who look lost. T
alking with friends should always take second place to interacting with visitors. And remember, most visitors won’t care if someone’s approach may be a bit awkward. They’ll just be thrilled that someone cared enough to try.
For stoic churches, a nod of acknowledgment may be all you can do, while for more outgoing churches, the time before the service is a great opportunity to get to know someone.
You can even offer to sit with them during the service to help them feel more comfortable and better navigate the service. This is extremely important for churches with liturgical services, which are hard for most visitors to follow.
Next is the greeting during the service. From a visitor perspective, most churches do this so poorly they might be better off skipping it. Seriously.
If you do have a greeting time during the service, train your people to be visitor-focused, not friend-focused.
Give visitors the bulk of your attention. Make eye contact, smile, and offer a handshake. Share your name. Ask theirs. Now introduce them to someone else.
And whatever you do, don’t allow visitors to squirm in silence while everyone else is talking with others.
Don’t call out visitors by having them raise their hand, or worse, stand up. This is most embarrassing. Instead, invite them to go to the back of the sanctuary or visitor center after the service.
The final greeting occurs after the service ends. It’s true that some visitors scoot out as quickly as possible—especially if they had a bad experience—but other visitors may be open to tarry.
Reward them for their bravery by talking to them. At the same time, don’t overwhelm or interrogate them, just be friendly.
Seek to establish a connection. If there’s any after-church activity, invite them to stay for it. This may be coffee and refreshments. Or it could be a potluck. Assure them there will be plenty of food and that they’re welcome to stay.
Ask them if they have any questions. If you don’t know the answer, take them to someone else who will be able to help.
Though not as common as it once was, you can invite them to have lunch with you.
Even if your church failed at the pre-church greeting and the mid-service greeting, a good post-church greeting can still salvage the situation, serving as a final and positive impression for them to take home.
Good worship music and engaging preaching may draw visitors, but it’s the human connection that keeps them coming back. This starts with greeting visitors well.
Engaging Church Summary
If you want your church to grow—and every church should—strive to engage with visitors; you must be an engaging church. This starts with the information you provide online, which should make it easy for them to decide to visit.
It continues by making multiple good impressions when they arrive at your facility. Then it culminates with greeting them well before, during, and after the service.
You won’t succeed in each of these areas every time, but you should work to succeed in as many of them as possible, as often as possible.
The Next Step
To do your part in being an engaging church, turn your focus from yourself and your friends to visitors and those you don’t know.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Align with Other Believers to Build Ourselves Up and Serve Others
In my post about spiritual mastermind groups I talked about the benefit of aligning ourselves with other like-minded followers of Jesus to walk with on our spiritual journey. Now I’d like to look at the word cohort and apply that too. Let’s call this a Christian cohort.
What a Cohort Is
A cohort is a group or band of people. Though a secondary application refers to a single companion or associate, the more widely used understanding refers to many.
Though we could intentionally form a Christian cohort, just as we might a spiritual mastermind group, I think of most cohorts as being informal.
If we view a Christian cohort as a naturally developing assemblage of people in our church or parachurch organization, then most of us have a cohort, possibly several of them, which vary with the setting.
We can also be more intentional about forming a Christian cohort. Though this could take many forms, with varying functions, it could also approach being a spiritual mastermind group.
For our Christian cohort to be effective and reach its highest potential, however, it shouldn’t have only an internal focus, but an outward one as well.
Though there is a time to build each other up, there is also a time to go out into our community and help others. Forming a Christian cohort to serve is a great application of this concept.
What a Christian Cohort Isn’t
A secondary definition of the word cohort is with the military. This first started in the Roman Empire, where it identified a group of 300 to 600 soldiers. But a cohort can more generically refer to any group of combatants.
However, let us not apply this military understanding of cohort to our theology. We are not Christian soldiers marching off to war. God forbid! May we never have a repeat of the Crusades.
Though the idea of a battle applies to our journey with Jesus, this is a spiritual one—warring against spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12)—not a physical one fighting other people we may disagree with.
What a Cohort Shouldn’t Be
Though the idea of a Christian cohort is appealing, it also carries a huge risk. This is that our cohort could easily become a click, a Christian click. These clicks have existed in every church I’ve been part of. I suspect all churches suffer from Christian clicks.
These clicks are groups of friends, cronies if you will, who informally, yet effectively, form an inner circle within the Christian fellowship that excludes all others, essentially relegating them to a second-class status in the church.
Though I’m not aware of it, I suspect I’ve been part of these a time or two. But what I do realize—most painfully—is the many times I’ve been on the outside looking in. It’s a lonely place to be. May our Christian cohort never become a click.
Cohort Conclusion
When done rightly, a Christian cohort can produce an encouraging peer group to move us into a closer, more effective relationship with God—and each other. When done wrongly, our cohort becomes a click that serves as a barrier to Christian community.
May we embrace the positive side of Christian cohort and guard against its wrong use.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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The Bible Should Inform Our Actions, Not Justify Our Habits
Christianity has its traditions and religious practices. We often persist in them with unexamined acceptance. And if we do question our behaviors, we can often find a verse in the Bible to justify them. But that doesn’t make them right.
The Lens of Scripture
We need to interpret the Bible through the lens of Scripture and not from the perspective of our own practices. The Bible is the starting point, not the ending.
When we begin with what we do today and work backwards, looking to the Bible for support, we will usually find it, but we may be in error.
Consider the following.
Church Attendance
The Bible says to not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25). Most people interpret this as a command to go to church. That’s not what the verse says. This command is a call to Christian community.
The point of this verse is that we shouldn’t attempt to live our faith in isolation.
Communion
Another area is our practice of communion. We even read the Bible when we partake. This makes us wrongly conclude that our celebration of communion is biblical. It’s not.
The context of communion is at home with family, not as part of a church service. We’re doing communion wrong.
Sermon
Why do we have a sermon every Sunday at church? Because it’s in the Bible, right? Yet biblical preaching is to those outside the church.
You’ve heard the phrase, “preaching to the choir,” which is understood as the futility of telling people the things they already know. Yet preaching to the choir is effectively what we do at most churches every Sunday. P
reaching is for people outside the church.
Worship Music
Why does a significant portion of our Sunday service include music? While singing to God is prevalent throughout the Bible, it’s interesting to note that nowhere in the New Testament is the use of musical instruments mentioned.
Does this mean our singing to God should be a capella? It’s worth considering.
And the idea of having a worship leader is also an anathema to the biblical narrative. When we gather together we should all be prepared to share and to participate, which might include leading the group in a song.
Sunday School
The justification for Sunday School—aside from tradition and “that’s the way we’ve always done it”—often comes from the Old Testament verses to train up a child (Proverbs 22:6) and teach your children (Deuteronomy 11:19 and Deuteronomy 6:6-8).
But who’s to do this training? The parents. Delegating this critical job to the church is lazy parenting.
Though there is some basis for the Sunday offering, we’ve co-opted it into something it wasn’t meant to be. Paul’s instruction to take up a collection each week was for the express purpose of giving money to those in need (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).
How much of a church’s weekly offering goes to that?
Church Buildings
Though the Old Testament had their Temple and the Jewish people added synagogues, the New Testament followers of Jesus met in homes and sought to connect with others in public spaces.
The idea of building churches didn’t occur until a few centuries later. Church facilities cost a lot of money and take a lot of time, distracting us from what is more important.
Paid Staff
The concept of professional, paid clergy also didn’t occur until a couple centuries after the early church started. Peter tells us that we are all priests (1 Peter 2:5, 9), and Paul tells us that we should minister to each other (1 Corinthians 14:26).
When we pay staff to do what we’re supposed to be doing ourselves, we’re subjugating our responsibility and acting with laziness. Paul set a great example, often paying his own way on his missionary journeys. Today’s ministers should consider this. Seriously.
Read the Bible
Prior posts have touched on these subjects in greater detail. They might be worth considering as you contemplate the above items. We persist in these practices out of habit and under the assumption that the Bible commands us to do so.
We conclude this because we read the Bible wearing blinders, focusing our attention on our practices and seeking to find them supported in the Bible.
It’s time we reexamine everything we do through the lens of Scripture and make needed changes. And if we do, it will be a game-changer.
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #51.
This mega church does so many things right. Though I don’t want to go to a large church, this one really draws me. Of all the churches we’ve visited, this one appeals to me far more than any other.
If I were searching for a new church to attend, I’d give this one serious consideration.
This church also has a Sunday evening meeting, which allows for more intentional connections, as well as small groups. These two options offer to counteract my reluctance to go to a large church.
However, I won’t come back twelve times to see how my faith grows, as our tour guide suggested. If I did, I’m sure I’d just keep coming, having formed a comfortable habit after three months.
This would be an easy church for me to slide into. I’d feel comfortable, and surely my faith would grow. But I know that with so many people who attend this church it would be hard to consistently see the same people each week.
That would make it hard to form friendships, even if my faith grows.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
In college I heard an account about a struggling church who hired a minister to help them grow. He was full of energy, enthusiasm, and ideas. In no time he connected with the local community.
They responded by showing up for church on Sunday morning and for the community programs throughout the week.
By the time he reached his one-year anniversary as their pastor, the church had added programs, went to two Sunday-morning services, and had more than doubled their attendance.
And the church fired him.
A False Assumption
What neither the church leaders nor the congregation were aware of when they hired their pastor, their goal to grow their church carried an unspoken expectation, a false assumption. They anticipated the new attendees would be people just like them.
When their growth came from people who differed from them, they realized they weren’t getting the results they wanted and blamed their new pastor.
This church was in an urban location. The members, however, drove from their suburban homes to this inner-city church each Sunday.
These white-collar, middle-class people carried the false assumption that their increase in numbers would come from people just like them: white-collar, middle-class.
Yet the church didn’t reside in a white-collar, middle-class neighborhood. It sat in the middle of a diverse community of blue-collar workers along with the underemployed and unemployed.
The church members didn’t feel comfortable with this rapid shift in the demographic of their church. They blamed the minister and got rid of the problem.
The church soon returned to what it once was. Most of the locals stopped attending, the church retreated to one service, and its members ceased their outreach into the community.
Though the church members’ desire for numeric growth is admirable, their failure to embrace the outcome isn’t. Though we can understand their false assumption of what the growth would look like, we can’t excuse their reaction to it.
Love and Embrace Everyone
Their surprised results should have caused them to look inside themselves, to uncover their biases of people and who they wanted to go to church with.
Yes, embracing a different socioeconomic group might have been uncomfortable for a time, but it would’ve been a necessary interpersonal development for each of them on their spiritual journey.
It’s easy to be critical of this close-minded congregation, yet I wonder if we are all a bit like them, just in diverse ways.
God, reveal to us our blind spots—any false assumption we may carry—and show us how to loveall your people, not just those who are just like us.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #41.
Aside from the usher, we had limited significant contact with the people at this church. (Shaking hands and saying “welcome” is not a significant contact; it’s a trivial one.)
The one woman we connect with is not a member of this church and usually attends another one, but she does go here from time to time.
This is not the first instance when our prime connection at a church is through a nonmember or another visitor.
Too often, visitors are ignored by most church members. They are either unaware of those who are visiting or assume someone else will make the effort.
Reach Out
While it’s correct to note that visitors know fewer people and therefore have more incentive to reach out, the sad opposite is that members know more people and therefore have little incentive to reach out to those they don’t know.
Hanging Out
Hanging out with our friends is the easy thing to do and the most natural. It’s also the most limiting. If we only spend time with people we know, how will we ever meet more people?
If a church truly wants to grow, connecting with visitors is the easiest place to start. Why then do so many churches fail to do this?
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
