Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Victorious Living

Home
Family, Parenting and Religion
Is It Time to Rethink Church?

Is It Time to Rethink Church?

Last updated on: July 1, 2021 at 5:00 am by Victorious Living

Is It Time to Rethink Church? 2021-06-16T14:17:25-04:00 Victorious Living

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

When the Covid-19 pandemic rushed through Christendom in 2020, it rattled an already unstable system. For years, the bigger denominations have seen a steady decline in membership. Stories about people being wounded rather than edified by the church had become commonplace. An array of clergy addictions – embezzlement, adultery, deceit – were a plague on church leaders and church communities.

Many were leaving the church outright. Others were reconsidering what church is supposed to be. What it looks like and why.

Enter Disease

When Covid-19 came along, these were well established realities in the Modern American church. These issues were being addressed in a variety of ways – more accountability for church leaders, different worship service designs (like sitting in a circle rather than rows), and a reevaluation of many church norms surrounding inclusion, just to name a few.

At the same time, God’s people continue to do good things. Church is not all bad and many have found life, and life abundant, through participation in their local church.

Then, the pandemic swept through and put our services on pause.

Churches scrambled to put on an online version of their Sunday services. And small groups took to ZOOM.

Many Christians, over the past year and a half, have been wondering what they should do about church. Do we go back? When? And, most importantly, what did we miss about church?

Restructuring

Most of the people we talk to about church missed their Sunday services the same way they missed the NBA playoffs. That may sound crude, but it seems to be true to a significant degree.

What people seemed to miss, like really, really missed, is their small groups. The gathering of their community.

Which has bled into a growing movement of new home churches and “micro” churches around the country.

Not only have many believers discovered small group involvement as the real heart of church, they are starting to see it as an opportunity to address many of the ills that were plaguing the church well before the pandemic came along.

For us, we have totally changed the way we think about church. Our small group means so much to us that we now consider it our “church”. When people ask, “where do you go to church?”, instead of saying the name of the place I go to one hour a week, I now tell about my “small group”.

In fact, I have discovered that some of the best manifestations of church happen through the small group medium. It is easier to serve together, to truly be seen and heard, to be held accountable, to wrestle through tough decisions and life realities, just to name a few.

To be fair, the church as an institution (in some places) has been saying this for some time. The importance of community group involvement, and that we need to take our walk into our week.

But there is one problem; our structure does not match our message. Said another way, the design of church, the mindset around it, the efforts we put into it, and the things we celebrate and invest in do not communicate the value of daily living. They communicate the value of a weekly performance.

What we need to do is call it what it is. Sunday morning is not church. Sunday morning is like a conference where many churches gather. In that proper context, Sunday morning is doing its job. But it isn’t really church. Church is your small group, the people you are doing life with on the daily. You gather and eat and pray and serve. You are known and invited to know.

We’ve got the cart before the horse. And that consistent structure feeds a mindset that reinforces a certain kind of behavior, one that often undermines the true expression of what church ought to be (even of what a church says it is).

What do we do moving forward? How do we take the opportunity of a global pause to reevaluate and reframe our structures? It will come at a cost and it will take an adjustment. But the change is less in practice than in perception (the practice, in turn, will follow the change in perception).

The pandemic is always going to be a marker in human history. What will it mark for the American church? What we decide in the coming years, what each of us decides in the coming months, will help to shape American Church for years to come. Will we choose more of the same or will we take this opportunity to really and truly, humbly and honestly, rethink church?

Previous Post

June 29, 2021

Hypocrisy and Blind Spots

Next Post

July 6, 2021 The Danger of a Split Vision

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Choices Conflict Resolution Culture Change Emotions Failure Faith Fear Freedom V Growth Healthy Communication Hope Identity Influence Leadership Learn Mistakes Mood Curve Ownership Perspective Power Relationships Self-Awareness Self-Governance Systems Thinking Three Things You Control Transformational Leadership Trust Truth Uncategorized Values Vision

Select a Month January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul tell Timothy to guard in 1 Timothy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The gospel His heart The church What has been entrusted to his care

Books by This Author Books by Victorious Living

See All Titles »