HOW MINISTRY FOCUSED AROUND THE CHURCH BUILDING HAS LOST MOMENTUM
Church was different when I was a kid.
Everything seemed to happen inside the church building. Back then, it wasn’t unusual to be at the church in service and fellowship a few nights per week. There seemed to be an expectation placed on my parents to attend all church functions.
I remember my Dad especially not being too excited about carting three boys out to church every other day!
“But what would people think? What would the pastor say?”
All of sudden, the early 90’s came around and culture changed!
Gen-Xer’s like me started asking, “Why?”
“Why are we doing all of this stuff? Why does it all have to happen at the church?”
The answers to these questions consistently seemed to echo the theatre classic, Fiddler On The Roof: “Tradition! Tradition!”
Soon people just started staying home. Little by little, through the nineties and into the new millennium, we have seen churches of every denomination and fellowship cancel their evening services, cancel prayer meetings, cancel weekly Bible studies, etc.
Everyone was churched-out of church!
Thankfully, you can’t cancel the Holy Spirit!
The mission of the Gospel, hunger for the God’s Word and desire for fellowship remained in the Believer. The shift? The institutionalised setting of the church building was no longer an essential.
Evangelism, Bible studies, prayer meetings and service events are still happening, but now in people’s homes, neighbourhoods, community centres and even movie theatres! And some church leaders are stunned at this movement back to early church practice.
Perhaps your pastor or an elder has asked the question: “Why would people choose to meet in homes, when the church building is here and empty all week long?”
Well, the answers can be found.
There’s lots of research being done by Barna Group and LifeWay, unpacked in top-Christian publications like Christianity Today and Outreach Magazine. These studies show a shift back to community-based church.
This shift isn’t just driven by personal preference or comfort. It seems to be a substantial movement of Western Believer’s with a desire to share the Gospel and use their gifts on home-turf and in their marketplace.
That’s right; Christians moving from pews to communities!
Don’t get me wrong; the church building still has value! In this shift, the church building has become a place we drive to on Sunday mornings for worship or maybe for special events. But it’s no longer the hub of Christian community where everything happens.
Realistically, foyer chit-chat is not an accurate depiction of authentic relationship. Instead, when meeting in a home or in a preferred community location, there’s a warmth and openness that seems to come naturally.
The church building can sometimes be a barrier to that.
The pendulum can and likely will swing back eventually. But for now, Christians are changing how the Church looks. And I don’t think it’s such bad thing.
Join the Conversation, Leave Your Thoughts
How has home-based ministry positively impacted your church or community?
Hey Jer,
Great thoughts here.
As a church plant that still meets in a school we just don’t have the facility for church building based programs … and it’s actually been great!
By having so much home-based ministry there is a greater opportunity to push ministry into the congregation … less sitting and watching the “experts” do all the ministry and more using your gifts. It’s so cool to see leaders and teachers and shepherds develop in small groups and then reproduce more leaders and disciplers, etc. It’s also great to see so much ministry (caring, praying, digging into the Word, evangelism, community involvement, hospitality, etc) happening all week long and not just on Wednesday night at the church.
I’m not saying I would turn down a free church building 🙂
Hey Kaj,
Great to hear from you!
The description of your church is adding to the list of examples. There is something strange that happens once a congregation moves into their own building. So many times, the building sits empty all week long; save for a few mid-week evening programs.
It’s easy to slip into the mode that says, “now that we have a building, the pastor can handle this without us.” Seemingly, the set-up and take-down of church-plants and other churches without buildings gives an understanding that EVERYONE must do their share to make this thing (the church) exist.
Thanks for taking some of your valuable time to read this article. It was a huge encouragement to see your face in the comments box this morning!