If you’ve stuck with me from the beginning of this series called “Does Church Matter?” I want to thank you. We are at the finish line and I’m ready to answer the question for us. But, before I do that let me recap where we’ve been and where we are going in this conversation.
In the days gone by (but still true in some places) the weekly schedule of the church-goer was jam packed with activities and events centered around the local church building. The entire culture was built around two ideas: The church could provide all the social and spiritual activities a family of believers could possibly need and those outside the church just need to know what they’re missing.
Underneath these ideas was the genuine desire to present the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who were lost. Over time, it developed into a model that almost exclusively expected the “world” to come into the church for what “we” had to offer. Even with continued visitation programs, the goal was to get people to come TO the church and, ultimately, if they bought into the idea of being a church member to center their life activities around the activities of the church.
Without going into way too much detail and analysis, this model “worked” pretty well through World War 2 and on into the early 50’s. However, as our society and the world began to change into a post-modern era and, some would say, a post-Christian era the church at large failed to stay engaged with the culture. As pressures increased on families to survive in the more expensive setting of city population centers, instead of rural settings, they began to experience less free time, greater financial struggle, and less connection to the neighbors around them. As time passed, financial decisions, family decisions, and questions of relevancy began to transform the way in which we, as Americans, planned our days and the activities we engage in.
In simple terms, there are more people gathered on a summer Sunday morning at the soccer field in Anchorage than will be attending church. Understand me… this isn’t a criticism of the culture. It’s a criticism of the church, because as the culture shifted, the church seems to have taken the position that we know better than the world (maybe we do, maybe we don’t) and they should choose church over those other things and THEY’RE to blame for loss of Sunday night services, or mid-week activities etc.
The reality is, the church (Christians) have ALWAYS been called to go into the world, not beg the world to come into us. We are called to be MISSIONARIES to our neighbors, not members comfortable with one another. The reality is, the culture has given us the greatest opportunity to be missionaries in modern history because they are saying, with their choices, that they will contribute their lives to things they believe matter. We have to ask the question, if that doesn’t include our churches, maybe we aren’t offering anything of value?
If we’re offering membership, no one needs another club to belong to. But, if we are truly offering Jesus and His salvation from eternal destruction, a life that matters here on earth, and a home together forever… now that’s something. Can we reasonably expect a lost world to come to us for that message, or should be taking the message to the streets, and the coffee shop, soccer field, workplace, workout club, and more?
This is why 2020 is the Year of Mission for C3AK. You’ll see some new opportunities to support mission work in Africa, in Alaska and the Yukon, our summertime GraceWorks efforts and more. But the most important mission field is the one YOU and I work in… the streets and people of Anchorage, Alaska. And YOU and I are the missionaries!
This is why we still won’t be adding a bunch of events in the church building to our schedule. It’s why we’ve never been focused on expecting the world outside to rush to our doorstep just because we think they should. That part of our identity won’t change so, what will be different?
There will be some new elements in Sunday morning worship that we hope will be engaging for you AND for friends and visitors. We are going to make a serious focus on increasing the quality and content of what happens in the Sunday morning worship.
I will be offering a multi-session small group class on HOW to share your own Gospel story, with some tools you can use. This class won’t cost you anything but the time.
I’m going to push hard for you to get your friends to Sunday morning church and we will be faithful the share the Good News in everything we do.
Most importantly, I want you to commit to two things:
Since we only ask for one hour a week from most of our folks to join together, in one place, do your best to be there as often as possible and try to bring someone with you.
PRAY before the Lord for your church all the time, specifically that He would grow us in every way He wants to.
Let’s commit to those things together, and see what God can do!
I ask the most excellent blessings upon you all,
Pastor Tracy
