It wasn’t too long ago… maybe 50-60 years…that the intention of the mainline Protestant church was to provide community. So folks would get together for worship, bridge club, youth group, and CWF to find their community. Their best friend sat in the pew next to them and their children played together.
Then, in the 80’s, as those children grew up and the “best
friends” grew older, the churches intention was to make us “better people.” The
self-help industry had taken off and churches claimed “making us feel good” as
their primary task. So preachers taught studies titled “10 Steps Through Jesus,
to a Bigger Bank Account” (I’m not making that up) and The Purpose Driven-ish
Everything.
By the early 2000’s, as church membership began its
exponential slide, the intention became membership retention. Panic sort of set
in as churches were left with oversized recreation centers and office
complexes. We started battening down the hatches and stopped sharing our
resources and the intention became self-preservation.
And now it’s 2013 and churches EVERYWHERE are wondering what
their intention is? How do we answer the “why church” question?
We’ve noticed that “self-perseveration” isn’t working. And
we know that the church isn’t about us, as individuals (we only have to read
the Bible in a cursory way, to get that much) and making sure we “feel good”
(though a by-product of our faith and participation in community, often makes
us feel good…it’s not the objective). And it doesn’t take much to notice that
we’re finding our community on the soccer field sidelines, the book club, and
our business networks.
So what is our intention?
I don’t know the answer to the question. I don’t. I mean of course, I have some thoughts on the
matter…but the “why church?” question, HAS to be answered by the people of
God, the community that has gathered and called this place or that place, church.
It can't be ALL there is.
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