re-imagining church

"Which church do you go to?"

I have answered that question many times in my life. I have also asked that question many times in my life. Until the last few years, it felt like a natural question to me. But more recently, I find myself pausing whenever I hear it because it indicates both that church is a location that there are various church options to choose from in our society. How did this question even come about? Somehow over the past 2000 years, church became a location, a place to go during certain times of the week, a building that we enter or a worship service that we attend. Moreover, at some point, church-goers were presented with multiple options of churches to attend - a holy buffet of sorts, to appease all doctrinal sensitivities and worship style appetites. Church-goers can now choose a church based on the pastor, the politics, the length of the service, the music, the outreach opportunities, the Bible translation, the view on spiritual gifts, the theological framework, the baptism style, and more. 

I'm not certain when all of these choices developed, but I don't think early Christians had many church options. I doubt many members of the church in Laodicea left and went to Ephesus every Sunday in search of better music and more options for the youth. Sometimes, I find myself idealizing the early church. If only we could be more like them, I have thought many times while reading particular passages in the book of Acts and the epistles. For them, church wasn't a place to go - it was a community that they were a part of. They shared everything they had. They devoted themselves to prayer and to the teaching of the apostles. They met in homes and sang songs, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in their hearts to God. This sounds perfect, I think. But then I keep reading, and things get less and less perfect. I read that the earliest church people bickered and quarrelled with one another. The earliest churches were filled with drama and conflict, so much so that much of what is preserved as the New Testament today was originally written to churches in the first century to address their failure to love one another and resolve conflict in healthy ways. Maybe they weren't so ideal after all, and maybe being like them isn't the golden standard of church. They were not free of the racism, sexism, classism, and quarrelling that we continue to battle today. 

As much as I want to follow a "biblical" model for church, the more I search scripture I am less and less convinced that that model exists. It would be convenient if scripture spelled out exactly what church should be, exactly what events should be hosted, exactly what gatherings should consist of, and exactly what to do on Sunday mornings, minute by minute. But we don't find passages like that in scripture. The biblical authors and Jesus himself tell us to love one another and they leave us with a great deal of freedom pertaining to what that looks like and how we do it in our contexts. We are reminded that God loves children, but we aren't told what our childrens ministry should do on Wednesday nights. We are reminded to give generously, but we are not told what the church budget should be. It seems that God intends to give us freedom in the ways that we gather as community and care for one another. 

I have very few answers, but I have many questions. What should churches do? What even is church? What is the purpose of church? What if the sanctuary was a table instead of an auditorium? What if there was no sermon? What if there was no guitar or stage or pulpit or singing? What if there was no paid staff or church building? What if there was no nursery or children's church? Would it still be church if we gathered to plant a community garden instead of listen to a sermon and sing songs? We have so long associated certain things and activities with church that it is hard to envision church without them. 

Could a sermon be a conversation instead of one human's uncontested interpretation of a passage? Could worship be our constant adoration for the Creator expressed in every way imaginable instead of only the musical portion of a Sunday morning gathering? Could serving extend beyond volunteering in the nursery one Sunday morning a month or greeting people at the door every second Sunday and instead be about meeting the needs of our neighbors? 

There may not be anything wrong with gathering on Sunday mornings to sing praise songs together and listen to a sermon. But I don't think that is the only way to do what we call church. Let's imagine other ways to be community. Let's imagine other ways to connect with one another and with God. Let's imagine other ways to love our neighbors and to recognize and honor the image of God in the people that God made. Let's imagine and not limit ourselves to what we have always known church to be.