The war between attractional and incarnational approaches to ministry
I've been mulling this over for the last little while and trying to figure out which we are going to be as a church. Is it wrong to want to be both? I want people to come to our sunday gathering and be creatively engaged in the story of God. I want people to be excited about it. I want us to think outside the box in our approach.
At the same time, I want us to be sent each week. I want us to see that we are the church and that you can't go to church. You can gather together as the corporate church, but you can't attend a church because it isn't a physical place. I want us to see that we are supposed to be Jesus with skin on. That every encounter we have with someone is significant. That Sunday should be the beginning of the week, not the end.
Many people would say that this can't be done. That you have choose one or the other. I'm not so sure about that and am going to attempt to do both. I'd like to see us not putting all our eggs in the basket of inviting friends to church to get them saved, but inviting them once we have led them to Jesus out in the marketplace so they have some sort of connection to a community of believers. Once they come, we don't want them to be bored. I'm tired of hearing that churches are the most uncreative places ever. Someone sings. Someone talks. We sit on hard benches. Read from books (hymn books...not bibles) that make no sense whatsoever. I wanna see us use our gifts to maximum potential and communicate in creative and innovative ways that engage the whole person. Will it work? We've just have to wait and see.
At the same time, I want us to be sent each week. I want us to see that we are the church and that you can't go to church. You can gather together as the corporate church, but you can't attend a church because it isn't a physical place. I want us to see that we are supposed to be Jesus with skin on. That every encounter we have with someone is significant. That Sunday should be the beginning of the week, not the end.
Many people would say that this can't be done. That you have choose one or the other. I'm not so sure about that and am going to attempt to do both. I'd like to see us not putting all our eggs in the basket of inviting friends to church to get them saved, but inviting them once we have led them to Jesus out in the marketplace so they have some sort of connection to a community of believers. Once they come, we don't want them to be bored. I'm tired of hearing that churches are the most uncreative places ever. Someone sings. Someone talks. We sit on hard benches. Read from books (hymn books...not bibles) that make no sense whatsoever. I wanna see us use our gifts to maximum potential and communicate in creative and innovative ways that engage the whole person. Will it work? We've just have to wait and see.
