Re-Thinking Church
I want to start a discussion on re-thinking what church is....what is should look like. Before we start, read this:
(Don't worry, I'll wait........I'll just sit here and play solitaire.......)
Link
(black nine on red ten....Oh good, your back.)
So, this really got me thinking. We have a very interesting fellowship when it comes to schedules. Although we have some 9-5er's in our group, we also have a bunch of people with conflicting schedules. We have firemen, nurses, students (with families (eg. parents) in other towns), food service and retail employees, as well as a whole bunch of people whose job's make evenings and weekends a challenge. So, how do these people become apart of the fellowship? We have some people who only show up on Sunday's once a month or so (due to work).
The knee jerk response is podcasts, but I think that is more of a tool then a solution. There is more to church then just my sermon. Church is supposed to be about relationship...relationship to Jesus, and relationship to each other (remember the creed, Love God, Love People). So what do we do?
This is where the conversation needs to begin. I know that there are a bunch of you out there (I can see you on the map to the right). Some of you who read this have jobs or lives that make Sunday morning or some weeknight difficult. What could make a community.
I think Jordon's idea's are a good start. Perhaps we should start Podcasting everything. Perhaps the website needs to be more of a forum and less of a brochure. Perhaps we need to figure out how to make the church more accessible for people to come to for quiet time with God, or to meet others. But how should it look? What would you use? What would you want?
(Don't worry, I'll wait........I'll just sit here and play solitaire.......)
Link
(black nine on red ten....Oh good, your back.)
So, this really got me thinking. We have a very interesting fellowship when it comes to schedules. Although we have some 9-5er's in our group, we also have a bunch of people with conflicting schedules. We have firemen, nurses, students (with families (eg. parents) in other towns), food service and retail employees, as well as a whole bunch of people whose job's make evenings and weekends a challenge. So, how do these people become apart of the fellowship? We have some people who only show up on Sunday's once a month or so (due to work).
Traditionally, they might be considered back sliders, yet I know they are dedicated Christians, and they are dedicated to this fellowship. So, how do we minister to this group and what do we do to allow them to feel (as well as be) active members of the community.
The knee jerk response is podcasts, but I think that is more of a tool then a solution. There is more to church then just my sermon. Church is supposed to be about relationship...relationship to Jesus, and relationship to each other (remember the creed, Love God, Love People). So what do we do?
This is where the conversation needs to begin. I know that there are a bunch of you out there (I can see you on the map to the right). Some of you who read this have jobs or lives that make Sunday morning or some weeknight difficult. What could make a community.
I think Jordon's idea's are a good start. Perhaps we should start Podcasting everything. Perhaps the website needs to be more of a forum and less of a brochure. Perhaps we need to figure out how to make the church more accessible for people to come to for quiet time with God, or to meet others. But how should it look? What would you use? What would you want?
don't you think it's kind of neat that the "knee jerk" reaction is a podcast? i find that very cool. and it may be your best solution (for now).
Posted by
Jen |
1:00 PM
so, ok... I like the idea of podcasting but this brings up an other area of interest to me too. Do we set up chat rooms for discipleship, a paypal link for tithing, video clips of the our worship team (gasp! - as the worship leader I am entitled to gasp here) and a virtual prayer room for ministry time too? Is church really becoming a virtual reality because of society's demands? Although I see how this will meet some people's demands of life, what about those who need face to face encounters with people? Can we really do both and have the best of both worlds? hmmmm.... now you (and Mr. Cooper) have me really scratching my head on this one).
Posted by
Unknown |
1:18 PM