Growing Church Congregations

 

I just mentioned in my previous post that I attend worship services of a church that's attempting to figure out how to "grow."

 

They are looking for input.

 

I have a lot of thoughts, but I'm not sure which ones they'll think are "helpful."

 

• Look around. We have more "churches" in this U.S. towns than restaurants. Is there a reason we're not all on the same page? How hard would it be to remove barriers to being ONE community "church?" Too hard? Then we aren't loving as Jesus loved.
  
• It's OK if the idea of Sunday "worship services" dies.
• It's OK if the idea of formal congregations/members/structure dies.
• As I've said in other posts, unless we have purposes outside of a "worship service" a church is nothing more than either a(n)
  
• social club
• mini-Jesus-concert
• Christ-centered TED talk
• attempt to manipulate a feeling of spiritual well-being

                or

•  business that "works" something akin to a Multi-level marketing, pyramid-scheme.
  

• It's OK to keep going with the gatherings as they are, if you are HONEST about the fact that they fit one or more of the above definitions.
• Jesus called people to go and love. Churches seem to think that means "go and get."
• There was a time when churches were the center of a community and therefore just an extension of the community. Now they seem to serve as a location in which an unnatural, ethnocentric, exclusionary, and comfortable bubble of a family/community is maintained.  This is damaging to the mission of Jesus.
• "Church" should seek to be relevant to its community. Sadly, the most they often accomplish is being contemporary to community styling - presenting a "relatable" Ted-talk/Jesus show.

 

I have already said a few times, a "Worship Service is the least meaningful thing we do for Jesus."

I hope to convince them further; that maybe we could begin to drop the "worship" from our service.

(I have heard of churches that, especially during summer months, skip at least one Sunday gathering a month and tell there congregants to go do something in their community. I could see some church groups in our area easily just setting up free food at local parks.)

A church that seeks to serve its community; to love by any means the community needs - this is the heaven Jesus preached. If we can do that without expecting to "gain members," we may get somewhere. If we can serve without passing a donation plate, we can escape the MLM schema. If we can love, without planning to preach, we can be the Jesus we were called to be.