Understanding Church Has to be Relevant to be Sticky
Relevance is surely another word that makes the church sticky. For too long the impression that many people get is that the church is no longer relevant to their everyday lives. For a start most of our buildings are only open during limited periods in the week. The thing is that many of them are situated in really prominent positions. People walk past them every day. However the building and its facade is often screaming. Keep out! I sometimes wonder if those of us who attend church regularly ever think how difficult we make it for people to attend church. Take for instance the times. We say we would like young people in their teens and twenties to attend, however we have times of worship that often make it difficult to attend. 10.30 am or 11.00am on a Sunday may not be the best time to engage young people. Then there is the content of what we do. Too often that in itself is far from relevant to their lives? I don't have the answers but I know the present way we do church needs to be revised.
Could it be that we don't challenge people the way that Jesus did. Are we preaching a Christianity that speaks of convenience rather than sacrifice. A Christianity that asks very little of those who attend. A faith that is consumer led. this week as many of you will know is the beginning of Lent. Jesus called his followers to the place of self denial and struggle. Too often we make excuses for those and for ourselves when it comes to living out faith. We try to make it easy for people to believe. the thing is the easier we make it the more w weaken the power of the gospel in the life of the believer. have a look at this little video clip. Someone sent me a series of these pictures over the internet a few years ago. I worked with Rae at Sanctus Media and this is what we produced from the series of pictures.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWtISXWpSRw[/youtube]
In saying all I've said, this week has been such an encouragement for me to see how a Parish Church like St Andrew's can be relevant to so many age groups, simply because we have an open door policy. Every week hundreds of people come through the door. Many more touch base with us during week than those who come around on a Sunday. Wednesday night was quite a special night. the India team were reporting back about their visit. the tables in the hall were filled with a group of very different people from children to teenagers to young adults to older adults. All were being inspired by the stories of India. The young woman's group some of them in their late teens or early twenties had been down from the late afternoon preparing food for all who would come later. This was what church is all about. fellowship friendship, food and faith- sharing. The relevance was that it was obvious to see that their was something sticky about the church. It might have been the food, it could have been the sincerity of the teenagers as they told their story. One thing for certain was that when i got up to speak about St Andrew's being a touching place, a kind of colony of heaven, in the middle of a busy week, i could see all kinds of people nodding. The sticky factor is that the church has become a space that is owned a home from home. An open door where all can come and find acceptance and through the acceptance a relevance for their everyday life.
Posted By: italker On: 12 Mar 2011 At: 11:46am
Your right Mike and it was good to see that on wednesday a few more of God’s children were finding a place in the choir.