The question you need to ask yourself is: Is the Church an EVENT or an EXPERIENCE?
Jesus has designs on the church. What may surprise you is that it looks nothing like a building on the side of the road. The church that is in the heart of God has nothing to do with services, nothing to do with signs that light up, and nothing to do with what we have commonly called "church". This is hard for a lot of people to swallow simply because we haven't experienced church in any other way. The reality is that what most of us have come to know about the church is that it is an event. In some places it is one event after another. The event oriented church has done great harm to God's original intention. I'm not saying that He cannot bless it. I'm simply saying that we have strayed far from the blueprint.
Malachi 1:8 provides some great insight into what happens when our faith becomes centered around an event. The setting is an Old Covenant relationship with God filled with tradition, ritual, and sacrifice. Israel had been going through the motions. They were still bringing their sacrifices. They were still making their offerings. However, God was not satisfied. Listen to these words: "When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts." What we lose in an event oriented faith is the heart of worship. God's people had made their worship a routine, a tradition...an event. As long as they went through the motions they believed they were blessed. What we discover in Malachi's prophecy is that this was not at all what God wanted. He has always desired a people that would serve Him from their heart.
The coming of the Holy Spirit created a new people on the earth. This community of believers that were called out are referred to in the Greek as the "Ekklesia". As a people who were filled with the Spirit of God, they became the Body of Christ within the earth. Just as Jesus came to represent the Father, we now re-present Jesus to the world. Paul's imagery of the church and the language he uses to describe it are breathtaking. The church IS the body of Christ - the fullness of Him. Think about it. WE (as a community of believers) are called together to be the fullness of Christ! We are His Body! Jesus, of course, being the Head. The problem is that as long as we keep church as an event then we will miss out on the genuine relational experience that God intended it to be.
As long as we are "going to church" or "attending church" - we keep church as an event.
When we understand that "we are the church" - church remains an experience that happens through relationship.
Church as an event struggles with change in schedule, structure, and systems. Church as an experience that comes through relationship never struggles with these things because the experience is never about these things. Church happens wherever the church is present. And the church is present wherever we are assembled.
Think about it this way: How many times have you heard of a church splitting over forms of worship, styles of leadership, the color of carpet, etc.? If you are like me then you have heard of it too often to keep count. How is it possible that "churches" could possibly split over these things? It's possible because of the event mindset. Church as an event cannot handle change. Any change to the event changes the experience. And when you change the experience of the event...well...we know how that works out. Have you ever attended conferences that were basically the same layout every year and they were good but then one year they change it? Take notice of how people respond to the change. Any change to the event creates a change in the experience. Is it any wonder why so many churches today struggle to change?
On the contrary, when church is an experience that happens through relationship then we understand that splitting is not easy. It's not easy because we are members of the same body. The last time I checked, the Body of Christ was never meant to be amputated. You don't read about Jesus walking around lame, or missing an arm, or losing an eye. What read about Christ is that He was whole. His Body in the earth is to walk in wholeness as well. The relationships that we have entered into are not easily severed. This is true because we understand the value of having all the members present.
You know what else gets lost in the "church as an event" mindset? LIFE
We cannot share life through an event.
We only share life through relationship.
The church in America needs to move quickly in this area. Although I doubt we could totally lose all the structure that has been established and be considered valid to the world. I do believe we can make it much more about relationship. In fact...I know we can. This is what the church was designed to be - a community of believers who continually shared life with one another. This community was a light to the rest of the world. They would see our love for one another and know that we were disciples of Jesus. They would see our good works and it would glorify God in heaven. They would see our holiness as a community and they would be reminded that there was one other person who lived this way. There was one other person who demonstrated this kind of grace. There was one other person that would walk in this kind of power. They would see us living together as a community of believers and they would see Jesus.
Bring on the Experience!!!
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