Church is Not Enough

When you think of “church” do you envision a building you go to on Sundays? You know the place. It’s where you go dressed slightly better than you dress during the week. You sit in a group, all facing the same way. You are looking in the same direction so you can see and hear better. You are an observer, a listener. When you think about it, it’s much like going to a movie, a concert, or a town hall meeting. It’s a lot like being in school. You are there to watch and learn. Your participation may include singing along, dropping something in the collection basket, and responding to verbal clues as is customary in your “denomination.” Frankly, your “participation” is minimal and mostly scripted. Modern church is essentially a “school.” It’s participation principally through observation.

During the pandemic, many churchgoers learned they could “go to church” without leaving their homes. More dramatically, they learned they could have a “better” “church” experience virtually. From the comfort of their homes, they could dress more comfortably than they did during the week. They could “church” while reading the Sunday paper and having a leisurely breakfast. They could choose from many talented preachers, better than their own and could “worship” to music that could never be reproduced at their own church. They could choose music or teaching that met them “where they are.” Even better, if the first choice of “church” didn’t quite “cut it” on a particular Sunday, other choices were a remote manipulation away. Best of all they didn’t have to deal with those “people” at church.

According to data collected in April/May 2020 by Barna Group, one-in-three practicing Christians dropped out of church completely during COVID-19.  One of the reasons had to be that the lesson was learned that they could get the entire “church” experience sitting in front of a TV at home. The pandemic exposed the myth that 21st century “church” is all church was meant to be. Tell me it ain’t so.

When we ask how the early Christians “churched” we look to Acts 2:

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2

Our “churching” certainly includes “the apostles’ teaching” and “prayer.” Arguably it may include “breaking of bread” if we take that to mean a communion service. However, our “communion” services aren’t breaking of “bread in their homes” or eating “together with glad and sincere hearts.”

Our “churching” doesn’t gain us “the favor of all the people.” On Sundays we shut ourselves away, apart from the world and when we emerge from our buildings we are usually not changed enough to even be noticed by the world. There is little to encourage the “unchurched” to become “churched.”

To me our churching, that many think can be duplicated in front of a TV, lacks a key element: fellowship. Showing up at church minutes before the service begins, staying in place for an hour or two, beating the crowd to the parking lot doesn’t allow for much fellowship. “Church” is not enough.

Adding “fellowship” to our church experiences is best achieved in small groups. Some try to provide this in “Sunday school” classes. These classes are great but they are generally based on the same “school” model that prevails in the “main” service. Sunday school is minimally participative. We have Sunday School “teachers.” The non-teachers may get to read a verse or maybe comment on the lesson of the day, but there is little sharing or fellowship.

Early Christians were as devoted to “fellowship” as they were to teaching and prayer. They recognized the need to share how Jesus is alive in our lives daily. It’s crucial to learn that our struggles may be personal, but they are not unique. We need to be in situations in which our real selves emerge, where it is safe to be honest and to respond compassionately to that honesty in others. We need to be involved in conversations deeper than:

“How’s it going?”

“Great. How about you.”

“Great.”

In truth. God is working in most of our lives and we need to share that and know it’s happening to others. But we also need to share how we “fall short of the glory of God” and that we are not alone in that.

Notice the Acts 2 “church” pattern:

Apostles teaching – Hearing from God.

Fellowship – Talking about God in our lives.

Prayer – Taking it back to God.

Without the Fellowship element what we hear from God is unlikely to be applied and our taking it back to God will be empty and meaningless.

Without fellowship, church is not enough. It’s not enough for us to grow. It’s not enough to change a desperate world.