What is Church?

The first time I heard the term "The Dones" was probably around the time that Joshua Packard published this short column on Christianity Today. I heard it (of course) on social media, and my initial reaction was one of disgust, but not with the concept. I hated that the institution - media, researchers, leaders, the church itself - felt the need to come up with a label for a group of people just so it could try to explain who they were.

Nevertheless, here I sit about 18 months later reading about how faithful Christians are leaving churches all across the country and all I can think is how it's about time. I myself have attended church the vast majority of my life, with two large periods of non-attendance. The first was during college, right around the ages of 20 to 23. At that time I was outside of my parents' control and I just didn't want to go to a Baptist church. The second period was during the early years of my marriage when my wife and I were moving every few months (it seemed) and couldn't - or didn't really want to - find a stable place to attend.

What is church anyway? The ready answer to that is exactly what comes to mind for me. For about 32 of my 36 years on this earth I have spent Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings (and many, many more days and nights) in a building set aside for the practices of Christian worship. My early years were spent in Southern Baptist churches in Amarillo, TX. My latter years in various non-denominational churches. I spent almost eight years at Messiah's House in Amarillo until, for a variety of reasons, I didn't see the point in going anymore.

But surely church is not simply what we've come to expect it to be here in America? A social gathering mid-morning on Sundays - or if your particularly hip, Saturday night - where about 20 minutes is spent in song and another 40 listening to a single person (probably a man) preach a prepared sermon with lots of Bible references. On Wednesday night there is probably a small group or a Bible study, activities for the children, and a lot of friendly Hellos and How-are-yous as you rush about gathering up your kids so you can hustle home and get them in bed.

If that is what church is then it's no wonder people are done with it. When I read the Acts of the Apostles and the exciting work of the First Church, I'm dumbfounded at how what I've been doing most of my life comes anywhere close to the activity of Paul and Peter and all those new converts. When I hear a pastor brag about how a gathering of Believers in a living room swelled to the auditorium he's preaching in now, I can't help but wonder what exactly has been achieved. Why was the living room such a lowly location for the fervent pursuit of God? What makes an auditorium, replete with fog machines and jumbo screens, a holier location for the preaching of the Good News?

The irony is that what a new generation of Believers is searching for is exactly what so many pastors gave up to get into a building down the street. The authenticity of Jesus' love and redemption is far more at home in someone's house than in an American Suburban Temple. The stories of Jesus's miracles, of his healing and deliverance and grace, make such greater impact when we share them in the intimacy of small groups and real relationships. For some reason the church continues to pursue the caprice of newer buildings, better sound, and full-time salaried staff as if the formula of Church-Done-Right will be a better guarantee of salvation for the World. The reality is that Jesus Christ is personal. If we want to do his work on the earth, we're going to have to get personal, too.

Maybe that's what Church is - the Gospel of Jesus Christ delivered in a personal way. At one time I thought my most recent church experience was personal. Ours was a small church (about 200 people), and we saw the most impactful ministry occur in small groups on Wednesday nights. For a while it was a heady spiritual experience. There was freedom in ways I hadn't known there could be at church. And there was power - real spriritual power that was revealed in prophecies and healing and breakthrough for heartbroken people. But for some reason the specter of Church-Done-Right began to creep in. Before I knew it all of the most spiritually minded elders were gone, replaced by administrators with more disposable income. The mood shifted and so did the focus - from deliverance and relationships to programs and "involvement." The mantra became "getting plugged in" as if each of us was a spiritual appliance looking for juice from the ever-charged church. After a while it was too much. Without intimacy and the pure pursuit of God and the Spirit, it seemed like we were wasting our time. The worst part was that no one seemed to really care when we stopped showing up.

I don't know exactly what church is supposed to look like, and thank God and Jesus I don't have to. I'm not called to be the head of the Church; no man is. If I know my Bible right, the head of the Church is Jesus Christ himself, so I can't figure out why so many men (and sometimes women) are trying so damn hard to take control of this thing we call church. I would rather give over the larger vision to the Creator of the World and the Perfecter of my Faith and instead spend my time making friendships and bringing bits of heaven into this world. There are better ways to accomplish that then sitting in a pew on Sunday. Surely there are. Please God, please tell me there are.