The Steeple OR Starbucks?

I'm reading a book by Reggie McNeal right now and I love it! It is a scathing indictment of how we "do church" today. I don't love that we are indicted, but I do love that someone is pointing out that "doing" church and "being" the church have become two very different things. For example, in his book "The Present Future", McNeal writes, "The death of the church culture will not be the death of the church. The church Jesus founded is good; it is right. The church established by Jesus will survive until he returns. The imminent demise under discussion is the collapse of the unique culture in North America that has come to be called "church." This church culture has become confused with biblical Christianity, both inside the church and out. In reality, the church culture in North America is a vestige of the original movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part a civil religion and in part a club where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview, and lifestyle match theirs. As he hung on the cross Jesus probably never thought the impact of his sacrifice would be reduced to an invitation for people to join and support an institution."

I love this stuff. I don't love it because I always agree. I love it because of the challenge. These words, McNeal's book and others like it are challenging the church today to be the church Jesus truly did envision as he hung on the cross. In so many ways, we are falling short and we need to hear the critique of those pushing us all to be more missional or outward focused. We will only be better off by praying and applying our way through the missional zingers being zung at the institutional church today.

On the other hand, it does seem like the missional movement would like nothing more than to tear down the walls of the "institutional" church. I could not agree more that some walls need to be torn down, but I strongly believe that there is still plenty of room for "church as we know it" today too. There is room for the "attractional model" in balance with the missional. We absolutely need both. The reason for this is the power of the fellowship.

There is real power (dunamis) in the fellowship. Yes, there is power in the fellowship at Starbucks as the missional movement rightly points out. Believers need to infiltrate the Starbucks' of the world for Jesus. It is God's Will! But we also need to be in our church buildings for Jesus as well. Yes, we even need to invite people there. The reason for this is that God is within those walls! Okay, okay, I know God is not ONLY there. He is in Starbucks too, of course. He was especially in that Vanilla Creme Frappachino I just slurped down last night! Praise God! Make no mistake though, when believers come together to worship, and praise, and rightly preach and teach the Word, God is in that fellowship in a powerful way. Guess what? If you invite someone into that fellowship, the one we're not supposed to give up (Heb. 10:25) even if it happens to be inside a brick building with a cross on top, something powerful will happen. Praise God for that too!

Paul had confidence in the power of the fellowship. I like to call it his ministry of presence. Paul knew there was power (dunamis) in the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17), but he also knew there was power in just his presence. Romans 1:11 says, "I long to see you that I may impart some spiritual gift to make you strong, that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith." For Paul, it was powerful for him to just show up. He knew God's power was at work in the presence of believers meeting together. Sooooooo, it is our responsibility to invite the lost, the lonely, the afraid, fellow believers, seekers, and unbelievers into the fellowship of God. If we do, trust God, something powerful will happen there. I am pretty sure the bible says something about that.

It is my humble opinion that the death knell of the institutional church was rung a bit prematurely by the missional movement today (of which I am part of by the way). This church has been around for thousands of years. Rightly or wrongly, we humans built those walls to meet in. It is okay though. Whether it is the walls of the church or the walls of Starbucks, God is there, and He can handle it.