Shifting the Center of Gravity: Part 1

Most any discussion of church these days quickly reveals that there is a definite center of gravity that determines the form and fruit of Christ's body in our culture. Think about the questions we ask about the church:

     Where does your church meet?
   
     What style of worship do you have?

     How big is your church (meaning how many people attend on Sunday)?

     What programs does your church have? 

All of these questions assume that the substance of the church can be weighed according to a particular center of gravity... the Sunday morning gathering. In fact this assumption is so pervasive that the vast majority of people in our culture, including Christians, speak of the church primarily as a place to go (or not, more commonly), or an event to attend.

More than just our language, within the church world our scorecards betrays our common understanding of the church. What is a successful church? Well, it may be said that we measure our success by the ABC's: attendance, buildings and cash. How many people come to our expensive buildings to put cash in the plate so we can afford our buildings?

This is a bit crude and generalized, of course, but the attractional nature of our scorecards is undeniable. We also measure participation in our programs, our men's and women's groups, our youth groups and kids' programs, our bible studies and Sunday school classes. While many of these programs likely occur throughout the week, they produce the same effect as the Sunday morning center of gravity... namely, that church is understood as something I leave my school, work, neighborhood (and all of the relationships naturally associated  with these fields of life) in order to go to the church to do the God thing.

There are several problems with all of this. First, when we think and speak of the church as a place to go or as an event to attend we lose the deep sense that the church is a people on mission together to bear witness to Good News that in Jesus the Kingdom of God has come near, and to make disciples who, because of his life, death and resurrection live according to the reality and in the ways of that Kingdom.

Second, by creating a culture of "come" (come to worship, come to Bible study, come to youth, come to the committee meeting) we actually work against our ability to heed Jesus' commission for us to GO. Rather than being a people on mission, we extract ourselves from the harvest field; we leave the everyday places of life in which God has placed us as missionaries; we go to church and fail to be the church.

Third, in the culture of "come" we end up dumping an enormous amount of time, energy and resources into a one hour event that is demonstrably ineffective toward our primary goal of making disciples. It has been said that attending church for most people has the formative impact of going to the gym, drinking coffee and eating donuts while watching your trainer work out. We must face the reality that a tragic number of the folks who attend our churches faithfully are not deeply formed in the ways of Jesus. Simply put, participation does not equate to formation.

So what are we to do? Should we do away with the Sunday morning worship gatherings?

By no means. 

Rather, I have become convinced that we simply must shift our center of gravity. Where corporate worship is a vitally important element of the church's life, we must not expect it to be the primary bearer of the weight of disciple formation.

If we are to make such a shift, what would be a more fruitful center of gravity? Might there be ways to be the church in the daily rhythms of our lives, in the natural fields of life to which God has appointed us to live and bear witness? Might it be that a new center of gravity would more deeply form us in the ways of Jesus and free us to be a people on mission together whose faith, homes, work, schools, neighborhoods and relationships become an integrated whole?

The writing is on the wall. Our current forms of church are not producing deeply formed disciples of Jesus who are capable or motivated to go and make disciples themselves. And so the church in the west is dying. Something foundational must change or we will certainly get where we are heading. We must shift the center of gravity for what it means to be the church. The CityWell will be an experiment in just such a gravitational shift, and I am hopeful that the Lord will show us fruitful ways forward, that we might be a people who show forth with our lives the life-giving Good News that Jesus is Lord.

Perhaps you will join us for the shift.