Consuming Church

On most Sundays, unless I happen to be on one of the worship teams that week, I usually walk into church a few minutes before it starts, talk with friends that I see all week for a few minutes, take part in the worship service, and talk again with the same friends that I see all week. I can count on one hand the number of interactions I’ve initiated with someone at church outside of my circle of friends, probably only because someone onstage told us to do so.

I didn’t really see a problem with this until I went out to Boston and spent my summer with a church plant where on any given Sunday, a majority of those in attendance are college-age students and young twentysomethings.

They would come, talk to their friends, take part in the worship service, talk to their friends, and leave.

I had always heard people say here on campus that “I just go to church for the teaching since I already have fellowship with students on campus,” and have even said similar things myself.

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In his book Confessions of a Reformission Rev, Mark Driscoll recalls the history of the Mars Hill Church plant in Seattle. Let me preface what I’m about to tell you by first acknowledging that many people have thought of him as an insensitive jerk (or far worse I’m sure) at times that is not afraid to be truthful, blunt, and push the envelope…sometimes making for an interesting combination. (Donald Miller refers to him in Blue Like Jazz as “cussing Mark.”) But love him or hate him, and most people will do one or the other, he is very passionate about Jesus.

At one point along their journey to eventually becoming a mega-church, the leadership of Mars Hill sent out letters to all of the members of their church stating that some of them were coming to church on Sundays and leaving without helping out financially, volunteering, etc…they were “consuming” church.

They then proceeded to tell the members that weren’t contributing that they should either step up their involvement as members at Mars Hill or leave because the church needed people that were going to be “on mission” with their goal of bringing Seattle back to a restored relationship with God.

I’m not going to discuss whether or not I agree with this decision (though they must have done something right since following the sending out of these letters, church membership declined by 100-200 people but then eventually exploded), but there is something at the core of this one church’s decision that got me thinking…

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While parachurch ministries (i.e. Campus Crusade, Navigators, etc) have certainly had immeasurable eternal impact, they were never meant to stand alone or take the place of the local church. Often times, at least in my opinion, these types of ministries have very SPECIFIC roles that they are trying to fulfill within the Body of Christ and are not always all that wholistic.

That’s where the local church comes in. As my eyes have been opened to in the past few months, they offer far more opportunities for SERVICE and for fulfilling the social aspects of the Gospel. I’ve also gotta believe that the Apostle Paul would turn over in his grave at the thought of Christians trying to pursue the Lord and to live up to God’s potential for their lives without the fellowship of multiple generations.

See where I’m going with this? It may be true that we have great fellowship back on campus but that doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be more for us to “doing church” than simply showing up and consuming the product that they’re offering us.

It was scary to me when I came to the realization that I was one of those people that simply shows up to church and for the most part, gives nothing back to contribute to the mission that they’re on.

But as much as we might think that our local church is missing out because we’re not contributing as much as we maybe should be, WE’RE the ones that are really missing out.

God is much bigger than our campus at UW-Madison that we sometimes confine Him to. I want to see and be a part of what He’s doing in the city of Madison and throughout the world through the fellowship of a small community of believers that show up to worship together on Sunday mornings and try to help each other to become more like Christ be they 10 years old or 100.

I want to see how He’s working in young families and couples in the local church and to soak up whatever wisdom and knowledge they might be able to offer about marriage and raising kids.

I want to sit down and have coffee with the twentysomethings that are struggling to transition into the real world after graduating college as they generously open up about their lives with the hope of preparing me for what’s to come. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll have something to offer or be able to be an encouragement to them as well.

Let’s not be the typical college students that show up somewhere, consume everything that’s being offered, and not give anything back. Do that at home, not at church! We might just find that the more we invest ourselves in the local church, the better our church experience will become.