False Assumption 2:

Christian Comm[Unity] Is Best Attained Through Everyone Meeting Weekly Together For A Common Worship Experience


When the Church accepts this assumption certain consequences seem to follow. They are these...

1. This assumption assumes that the forms used (for worship) will be meaningful to everyone in the congregation and everyone ought to be able to connect with God through the forms which are used. This one-size-fits-all approach has been used by churches throughout the 20th century but fails to take into consideration where people are on the continuum of growing faith.
2. It usually follows this assumption that the worship service becomes a "showcase" for the church; people come to believe that this "is" the church. In fact we have come to call it "church" (as in, "I am going to church).
3. It usually follows this assumption that the service becomes the main entry point for "seekers" to enter the Christian Community. Most people who, from our culture, desire to pursue spirituality find the forms, jargon and methods used in our worship experience so foreign to their inner spiritual needs that they find it difficult to relate.
4. It usually follows this assumption that the minister becomes the "human point of contact" for everyone in the church. This makes for one busy minister and was never the intent of God's plan of gifting every member for the work of the ministry.
5. It usually follows this assumption that the church becomes obsessed with the numbers game and determines success of the ministry by how many people attend the services.

I want to avoid these concequences at all costs.

Why not considering the following ways of developing unity in (and the basis for "belonging" to) the Christian Community?
1. Develop a sense of belonging to a Christian community which nurtures spirituality for everyone wherever they are along the continuum of faith and offers different spiritual environments so that people may connect with the sacred.
2. Develop a sense of belonging to a Christian community whose focus is on being sensitive and perceptive to the culture in such a way it finds ways to connect with it and finds ways to develop forms appropriate to the culture
3. Develop a sense of belonging to a Christian community which seeks to strengthen networks of relationships formally and informally which cannot, at times, be monitored, controlled, counted or categorised.

This, seems to me, to be a better description of the Christian Community as God intended it.