“We spend a way too much time talking about how to do church, and not enough time actually doing church.” That thought popped into my mind randomly today. I don’t know why. It’s kind of weird when random thoughts hijack you. 

The topic isn’t foreign to me. I’ve gone to church all my life. I pastored a traditional country church, and then planted a suburban church 22 years ago—the first seeker sensitive church planted in Missouri which I pastored for seven years. I was pro-seeker when that wasn’t cool, yet. 

Popular Missiologist Ed Stetzer is a friend of mine (I hope I don’t use that word friend too loosely—we’ve shared a few meals, I’ve been in his home, and we’ve shared a common cheerleader for many years in Lizette) and he writes a couple of times a week about different people doing church in different ways. There are studies, and think tanks, and conferences, and books about festivals and fireworks and events designed to reach people. 

I’m really tired of all the talk about how to do church. I just want to do it. 

What does doing church mean?

I can’t answer that for you and fear my answer might be theologically insufficient for God. So, I’ll just try to answer it for me. I’ll guarantee you that I’ll leave something out, so save your corrective replies and emails. This isn’t a definitive and comprehensive tome. It’s me “talking” through my thoughts. 

First and foremost church is about worshipping God. I’ve been to a lot of church where God wasn’t worshipped. In many of the services influenced by the seeker movement, God is not worshipped. Man is. The service is designed around man. I’ve concluded that’s wrong. But the traditional church doesn’t do any better. That’s why we started this who seeker thing in the first place. 

Church is about teaching people. That means we need to open the Bible and explain what it means. I’m weary of services where the big screen is full of pop stars and cultural icons drawing analogies from People Magazine. Aren’t there enough analogies in life to help us clarify what the scripture means? People Magazine and Entertainment Tonight aren’t real life. The people I live among and work around don’t have boob jobs (most of them, anyway) or Botox their lips. They work 8-10 hour days, help kids with homework, clean house on weekends, and worry about mortgage payments and paying for the kids education. Their shoes are Payless, not Prada. 

Church is about community. It’s about knowing each other, caring about each other, serving and celebrating each other. It’s about mourning together when one mourns, about crying your own tears of joy when you see their tears of joy, about helping someone translate the confusing passages of life for which you hold the experience key, and their doing the same for you when your day comes to be lost in the woods. 

Church is about being real. It’s about real answers even when the real answer is “I don’t know.” 

Church is about helping people who don’t know God come to know him organically. It’s about reproduction not evangelism. I’m for soul winning. I’ve led many people to pray the Sinner’s Prayer. But I wonder how many of them over the years, the miles and the towns really became disciples? Heaven only knows and I fear the answer. There are likely way too many notches in my Bible. 

Reproduction comes from relationship, while evangelism is an event. You might liken reproduction to the baby born from a loving marriage relationship and evangelism as the bastard child born from a one night stand where a smooth talker like me convinced somebody to pray the Sinner’s Prayer. 

Now before you start throwing stones please realize I know that people do come to know Christ from chance meetings and go on to develop into disciples. I’ve been the midwife at those spiritual births. But in the big picture, evangelistic events and emphases feel contrived to me while reproduction seems a natural outgrowth of our own maturity in Christ. Yet I also wonder how many of us who call ourselves saved really have anything that is worth reproducing, and I wonder why more babies aren’t born. It seems we might have a lot of spiritual eunuchs in our midst. Hmmm. 

What I want out of my church experience.

I want to be a part of a people who are naturally glad to see each other, and who joyfully express their love for each other when they meet. 

I want to be part of a people for whom God is the central focus—the audience, and we are the actors and singers on the stage performing for the pleasure of the audience of one. 

I want to be a part of a people for whom it’s unthinkable to not have your own copy of the scriptures in your hand (electronic is fine, but I need paper) when you gather, and where the teacher cracks open the words, phrases, concepts and truths so that the sweet nectar of solid truth you can build a life on run down our arms and necks as we devour, discuss, apply, and revel in it.   

I want people who are hurting to be able to say “I’m hurting” and to tell us how without any fear of gossip, only the confidence that we’ll surround and love them. I want people who are experiencing joy and abundance to be able to tell us how great they are doing and how God is blessing them without any fear that they’ll be accused of bragging. 

I want to be able to ask odd questions, even those that might sound heretical. I want to chase rabbits until they help me uncover a new (to me) truth, or dissolve into heresy. 

I want to be able to confess my sinful actions, and let the light of honesty shine on my temptations without fearing that I’ll be thought less of or gossiped about at the next regular meeting of the spiritually superior. I want the brothers and sisters I worship with to be able to do the same, and in the few areas where I have actually obtained mastery I want to be able to help them find success themselves. 

I want to know that I can call those people at 3:00 in the morning and they’ll answer and help, and I want them to feel like they can call me (please wait until 6:00 a.m. I’m honestly not coherent at 3:00). 

I want to be among people who gather not to swap their anxiety-filled uncertainties, but to share their faith-filled confidences because of what God has done for them. I want to be able to lean on their faith when I don’t have any, and to learn from their wisdom when I don’t have any, and to be able to share mine when I do. 

I want to know that when I am sick and needy they’ll touch Heaven for me, and I’ll do the same for them.   

I want to do life successfully. 

I want to do life together. 

I don’t ever want to talk again about how to do church. I just want to do church. 

Now, in the words of that great theological giant Forrest Gump, “That’s all I’ll say about that.” For now.