You hear that phrase quite a lot these days. I’m not sure when the phrase ‘do’ became connected to ‘church’, but the recollection I have of the verb ‘do’ replacing ‘go’ was hearing ‘Let’s do lunch’, probably in a television program or commercial in which a couple of upper middle class friends/business types. It actually sounded a little pretentious. Most ordinary folk either ‘go to’ or ‘eat’ lunch depending on whether or not they are headed that way, or are seated with something ready to be consumed on the table/counter top in front of them. ‘Doing’ lunch includes the other things that will occur during the period of time designated/allotted for an event for two or more people. If you are alone you don’t ‘do’ lunch, unless maybe you are talking to yourself. If you are ‘doing’ lunch you aren’t in the kitchen fixing, cooking, making, or preparing it.
From what I have observed, ‘doing’ church involves the sum of activity that is associated with an entity called ‘church’. The term is used by those involved in planning and presenting, along with those who attend. ‘Doing’ church is ‘hip’, ‘cool’, ‘fun’, and oh. . . ‘so now’ (as opposed to ‘so yesterday’). ‘Doing’ church is contemporary, positive, encouraging, upbeat and exciting. It is never a negative experience. It’s everything YOU could want!
. . .but is it what GOD wants?
First of all, ‘church’ by definition is the ‘called out (of the mass of fallen humanity and by God) body of believers, not buildings, programs or activities. That, however is a small point compared to the bigger issue reflected in the question “WHO is the central focus of ‘doing church’?”
By all appearances, even the casual ‘unchurched’ observer would probably conclude it’s in order to get as many of the ‘unchurched’ IN church and then keep them coming so that they can become ‘churched’? Well, not exactly. The goal is for the ‘unchurched’ to become believers, or followers of Christ, which IS the right goal. So why not just use the term ‘non-believers’? Well, in the always positive, upbeat and encouraging world of ‘doing church’, if we called the ‘unchurched’ ‘non-believers’ it could be perceived as negative, maybe a personal attack, or even hate speech! That’s an opinion – maybe exaggerated a bit, but I think there’s truth in it.
Everywhere I look at the typical American church these days, it seems to all about ‘satisfying the consumer’ than first and foremost about God and his glory. I see self-centeredness instead of God-centeredness. I don’t care if you call it seeker-friendly, purpose driven, ‘real’ church for ‘real’ people, or whatever, if God is not at the center, it’s upside down, and in direct opposition to everything Jesus had to say about the new covenant and discipleship.
This is not about music or worship styles, or any of the other ‘things’ that accompany the gathering of God’s people, although some of the ‘things’ these days are highly questionable. It’s about GOD and HIS glory. But to grasp what that really means, one must have a proper understanding of who we are and who God IS.
. . .and that’s another worthy and much needed discussion these last days.
Be blessed,
B4B
The Battle Cry 
Good thoughts here.
I’ve always felt that how we “do” church has a lot of freedom, because it is not a Biblical concept. However, the Bible has much to say about “who” we are as a body of believers.
I kind of like running things through that filter. Is this a “who” or a “do” and which one should it be.
You’ve nailed it. Who we are has everything to do with Who He is. God has to be the center, Jesus has to be seen in all of us. When a church ceases to make Him the main thing, it ceases to be a true church and becomes no more than a cool place to hang out. Which encourages the “consumer” mentality.
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inWorship,
I hope my heart came through better this time. . .thanks for stopping by!
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The reason “non-believers” really isn’t an effective description is because EVERYBODY believes something. And in my experience most believe something about a “god” whether they believe in Yahweh or not. So, to start from that terminology often comes across to mean that they don’t believe what I do and they must get to that point.
In my understanding of our faith what we must agree on are the essentials and we should have liberty regarding non-essentials. So even within the body of followers of Christ there are those who don’t “believe” exactly the way I do.
Not a “moral” issue, but I know that before I was a follower someone calling me a non or unbeliever wouldn’t have made sense to me. Of course, not nearly as bad as referring to non-followers as pagans, wicked, etc. Scripture does remind us that the battle is not against “flesh and blood” but against powers, principalities . . .
The other point you make is very accurate in that whether a church is seen as “traditional” or “contemporary” isn’t the point; whether they are “being” church is the question.
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Lee,
Intresting point, I didn’t look at it from the point of view of somone who is ‘unchurched’. From a non-believer’s perspective ‘unchurched’ might make even less sense than ‘non-believer.
Thanks for stopping by!
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Found you! 😆 I love your blog, and as Michelle said “Iron sharpens Iron” so hope you don’t mind if I hang out. Peace (if I knew how to make the emoticon giving peace I would do it!)
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Welcome!
Feel free to hang out! I really liked your question over at Michelle’s place. I’ll have to go over there and catch up!
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I’m so happy to report we have found a place that continually moves us closer to the Lord. Every week we have been challenged in ways that strengthen our walk – and the worship time is truly uplifting. AND they seem to have the mission thing – reaching out to the community and world – figured out. We’re loving it and feel we’ve been edified each week – it’s really cool to walk out of the service and have our teenagers talk about what they learned. Praising God and hearing from Him through His Word is the focus. We love it! It’s vital and not at all a club…I only wish everyone could feel the same about their place of worship.
It’s awesome when it’s “done” as the scripture suggests: come together to pray, sing hymns and spiritual songs, read and teach the scripture, give out of your poverty for others, to building up of one another…
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Teens excited about what they learn! that’s got to be a blessing to any parent in tune with God!
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Umm…Boy this is one seriously confusing blog you’ve got here, B4. Confusing to me, at least.
I have never used the term “unchurched” to describe those who don’t go to church. I just say something like, “Well, that woman has plans with her kids weekend so she said she wasn’t going to go to church.”
Or, quite simply, “He said he doesn’t go to church.” Of course, not going to church doesn’t necessisairly make one a “non-believer”–good thing, too because I was way too tired to go to this past Sunday! (Yes, I know I can’t spell this evening.)
And I have never heard the phrase “do church.” And your definition actually left me even more confused:
“‘Doing’ church is contemporary, positive, encouraging, upbeat and exciting. It is never a negative experience. It’s everything YOU could want!
…but is it what GOD wants?”
Why on earth would God want us to be old-fashioned, negative, discouraging, depressed, and boring? Heck, I’m all of those things all by myself. I don’t want to feel that way on Sunday morning when I’m in the company of my spiritual siblings and in the Presence of God.
Why shouldn’t I rejoice that I am forgiven? Why shouldn’t Communion be celebrated? I always thought it was called “Good News” for a good reason.
I’ve certainly had more than my fair share of negative experiences at my church–see “A Dark & Stormy Night” if you haven’t already–but it’s still my church and they’re still my spiritual family.
And are you talking about the way people THINK church should be or the way it is? That confused me, too, because I have never been to a church that was “everything YOU could want”.
Granted, when I was younger and I went to a non-denominational fundamentalist church I always felt I had to act a certain way because everyone always acted like everything should always be just dandy.
And that really bothered me when I was growing up because I spent a lot of time wondering where my next meal was coming from while everybody else always seemed to have dinner together seven-hundred nights a week.
These days, I am just grateful I still know how to laugh. 😉
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I’ve been following trends in evangelicalism for a long time. ‘Unchurched’ and ‘doing church’ never would have been in my vocabulary or in my mind until I started hearing them over and over again in certain circles. ‘Unchurched’ cn refer to those who do not attend and might be believers but more often refers to those who do not believe in Christ. “Doing” church is not used quite as much, but it’s all over the place too. I’ve heard it from both sides of the fence, attenders as well as those who conduct. Both terms are probably more up to date versions of earlier terms.
I am all for the positive aspects of our faith and rejoicing in and over them! But there is also the issue of sin. Christ died for our sin, in our place when we deserved God’s wrath, not his Son. That’s what the Bible tells us – that’s where it starts – with Christ’s death on our behalf. It doesn’t start with God loves you and has this great plan for you, or focus on having our best life now. that does come though, on His terms. 🙂
What I should have said about church is that things that could be perceived as negative are not permitted any more – like sin, judgment, God’s wrath. ‘Guilt’ is a negative experience so lets not have anything that might lead to someone feeling guilty. But knowing our guilt before a holy God, confessing and repenting, then receiving his forgiveness is a negative that leads to a HUGE positive!
Maybe that’s a better explanation.
I hear where you are coming from ‘when you were younger’ and it pains me to know you had to go through that.
Again, thanks for stopping by!
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Seeker Friendly “churches” are full of poison. The entire foundation that they are built upon is flawed. Once a “pastor” decides that he is going to transition “his” church after this model…look out, the changes are coming. As someone who has been in a Bible believing church that “transitioned” to attract the lost I can say first hand that the confusion this movement breeds and bringsclearly makes it a false gospel. Scripture is completely ignored by “leadership” and those who oppose or express concerns about their church being hijacked by seducing spirits and doctrines of devils are labeled as religous troublemakers who are stuck in the mud and hate change. The first thing you will notice is the changes in “how your church has church”. The music is ALWAYS the first change. Now isn’t that amazing? The very thing that Satan was trying to get from our Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness was God’s worship and that’s the first thing this movement goes after. Puzzling isn’t it?
Seeker Friendly churches/pastors are told that you have to use the kind of music that the target is used to hearing everyday. I thought God was the target of our Worship and not men. This confuses the beliver who is being bombarded by what he/she used to listen too. Even if this methology was true it still exposes another problem. By using music that targets a certain group,you are saying that they are exclusively who you are trying to “reach”. The overwhelmingly majority of the music in this movement targets white affluent Americans. You thought they were trying to reach everybody right? Not so!
Other changes you will begin to notice over a period of time is a change in terminology. The unsaved, ungodly and unredemmed are redefined as “Unchurched”. Conformity to the image of Christ is thrown out and cultural relevance is brought in. Multiple service times on the weekends because yuppies like having options to chose from. Your Sunday night and mid week service may become a thing of the past. You pastor will say it’s so that you can have more family time but it’s really not to interfere with the yuppie’s busy schedule. A starbucks type coffee bar will be brought in and the foyers will begin to look less like a church. Anything that represents a visual distinction from the world and wll be removed to provide a non offensive atmosphere. At some point your pastor might use a laptop at the pulpit instead of a Bible because that’s how he’s been taught to connect with the corporate business minded target he is after. It’s just a propt or visual aid like in a movie or show. The services will become very very short because the unchurched yuppie cannot endure long services. Funny, they have no problem watching a 3 hour NFL game, a long golf round, hours of television or movie theaters or hours of the home shopping network. How can God require them to sit in a long service, they have lives to live! The true Holy Spirit would NEVER stoop to such spiritual non sense. This movement is full of error!
This movement is also full of manipulation, intimidation, control and subtility. When a member of the congregation begins to express concerns about the changes in their church,they don’t even know that their pastor has been trained by the church growth gurus in how to counter them.
They will sound so spiritual when they say things like…” the vision” or “God’s vision for the house”, and they will try and change the minds and convictions of the flock to get them on board. My post is not an attack on Pastors but it is an attack on this movement that is false doctrine and a false gospel. I have mentioned no names and no names of churches. Usually a combination of 3 things will happen when a congregation member expresses concern about this ungodly spirit of change in their church.
1.The pastor or leadership will attempt to get the member to embrace the changes. The pastor has made his mind up, sat in meetings and considered the cost and has determined he is transitioning “his” church with you or without you.
2. You are either going to embrace the changes or begin to pray and seek God about leaving. If the Lord directs you to leave you will be confronted by that church with…this is your covering you cannot leave or you need to submit to delegated authority. If you are at a place where you notice changes in your church play time is over and this is serious. You must pray and stay in the word because you know the truth now. Don’t let anything or anyone pull you away from the Lord, the Word and prayer. The startling thing about “covering” is this. If you initially came there from another church why didn’t they tell you to go back to your “covering”? But now it’s time to move on somewhere else and……that’s a problem for them. It affects the numbers which is the chief motivator of those who let thismovement into their churches.
3. Something is going to happen. Either the pastor is going to be awaken by the Lord and get the movement out, you are going to change and become part of it or you are going to leave. The people that trained the pastors in this movement also trained them how to deal with opposition. If he is determined to go the way he is going and you are determined to stand with God and the truth, there will be a confrontation. Once they see you will not change and give up your beliefs(that were engraved in you by the Holy Spirit) they are going to kick you out. The same people who told you in previous steps that you could not leave because they were your covering will now tell you you have to leave. When you pray and research this movement and test it with scripture you must conclude that it is the working of deceiving spirits. It is our Heavely Father who convicts and draws men to Jesus Christs for repentance and conversion not our marketing gimmicks or latest trends. Shame on the American Church!
Prior to entering the ministry men must spend time in God’s school of hard knocks. It’s called the wilderness. It’s in this place that we die to self, ungodly ambition, and the unquenchable thirst to be one of the “Big Don’s” of modern day ministry. The wilderness is a place of stripping and filling and a place of preparation. Jesus had a wilderness, Paul had a wilderness, Moses had a wilderness and even Elijah had to learn dependence upon God when his brookdried up. The American Gospel of Accomodation is the only place where it seems more energy is spent trying to avoid God’s place of preparation than just surrenduring and letting Him have His way in us and through us.
My heart grieves at what I see happening to God’s people. The Apostasy is here! We must pray that God will raise up men and provide his people with true shepards who will love them and protect them from error regardless of personal cost. When the remnant begins to leave these modern day so called “churches” they must have somewhere to go and not become spiritually homeless or worse go back to the house of compromise and carnality.
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remnantvoice, Welcome to The Battle Cry.
I spent time today trying to explain to someone that there is really not much difference in most of today’s church than the situation that caused Christ’s zeal for God to take a whip and drive them into the street, in principal – it’s not the particulars, but it’s about dishonoring God and His house of worship. She just doesn’t get it, but it’s not all her fault, I suspect. What you say is very true, the ‘purpose-driven’ franchise system! I have a friend who were struggling with leaving a church that embraced ‘purpose-driven’. When they were considering becoming Emergent, then fled. That’s the next logical step for those with the mindset that we have to help Christ build the church instead of following His model in Acts – hardly a ‘purpose-driven’ or ‘seeker-friendly’ example.
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THanks DAN…don’t bother
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Thanks for stopping by, Darla. I need to do a bit of editing of my reply to remantvoice. Concerning the issue at hand, I have spoken with a lot of people over time, examined scripture, and tried in all manner of ways to justify the postmodern way of ‘doing’ church. I left out the name of the ‘someone’ mentioned above because I really don’t think she can see the ‘bigger picture’, and I meant it when I said it’s probably not all her fault. I see in her a big heart for God. I also visited her church’s site and found a GREAT set of doctrinal statements and noticed it’s founding in 1941. What I found disheartening was that the statement of doctrine was buried beneath a rather bland ‘About Us’ page. I have found that all over the place – doctrinal statements, if they exist at all, are buried beneath bland general statements minus scripture. I notice that the senior pastor is a graduate of Dallaa Theological Seminary, a very good one. Many sites I go to either leave pastors’ credentials off completely, that is if they even have any, in some cases. I did some research there also.
Why do I do all this ‘investigating, study, and research’? I hope it is because I am zealous for my God, His Son and His church, and a return to the true gospel.
And I still love you, Darla.
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