“Why do we need another church?” As our family embarks on leading our third church start-up (aka “plant”), I’m getting this question a lot. I doubt I would get it as much out West where there are very few churches per capita. Nor do I imagine I’d get this question in areas overseas where Christianity is a decidedly minority culture. But here in St. Louis, where there are gobs of churches, the question is totally understandable.
The church’s purpose
To begin to answer this question, we have to start with the reason the church exists. Foundationally, the church is not a place to ensure your eternal destiny and relieve your guilt a few times a year. Nor is it a place to get your emotional “spiritual vitamins”. It’s not a place where you can get your kids a good dose of morality. Nor is it a place where you can find decent spouse candidates. And it’s certainly not a culturally accepted gathering where you get hear a little bit of inspiration, exercise your singing voice, and go about your way. The church is – fundamentally – a gathering of people who – to quote the Blues Brothers – “are on a mission from God.”
No seriously. How many times have you scratched your head about how screwed up the world is? How many times have you been hurt by others or wondered why in the world you’ve done your share of hurting without wanting to? Have you ever been afraid that the world is “going to hell in a hand basket”? Or why you sound just like your parents in saying that? Or maybe you’ve wondered why there is so much suffering, or you’ve been assaulted by the sting of disease and death? The Bible says that this is the reality of the world we’re living in, but that God doesn’t like it that way. In fact, he’s so concerned that it doesn’t stay that way that he sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to make sure it didn’t remain so. This is the “mission of God.” And Jesus – in one way – accomplished that mission when he came, died on a cross, and rose again. His rising from the dead was – as the Apostle Paul said – the “first-fruits” of our own rising. In other words, when he rose from the dead on Easter, he was giving us a picture of our future! That promised day to come when our lives here on earth wouldn’t be defined by our brokenness or stupidity or even by death. No, one day, the world will be fixed through his Easter power.
All that is left to be done to bring that mission to completion, then, is a group of people who would spread the Word of that good news of what Jesus did to the ends of the earth. A group of people who will reach into their communities and workplaces and families with the truth in word and deed that things aren’t going to stay the way they are. And that group of people is called “The Church”. As Chris Wright has said, “It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the church; the church was made for mission – God’s mission.”
SO, if that is true (and I believe it is), then wouldn’t it make infinite sense to have as many “churches” as possible? It seems infinitely logical to me that as God’s people embark on this “mission of God”, they would be chiefly concerned about planting new churches (and working with existing ones) to help complete his mission to let everyone know with words and actions about the promises and his work to fulfill those promises through Christ. With that purpose of the church squarely in view, I turn then to the practical side of this mission. It’s not always pretty.
A two-steps forward, one step back process
So here’s the difficulty with the church and it’s calling on this mission. It’s full of humans like you and me. Us. You. Me. Your husband. Your wife. Your in-laws. Your kid. Your friend. Your enemy, even. And we are a fickle, weird bunch. We like things the way we like them. We like to be in control. We have opinions about everything and everyone else’s opinions. We like to think we can do it better. And – yes – we hurt people sometimes by judging them. Or by saying stupid things. Or by being racist or bigoted or prideful or self-righteous. Welcome to the church. But our missteps (or backwards ones) are not a surprise to God. Part of his good news is that he uses US in his mission. And so we are called to pitch in – to push forward – to share – to love – to befriend – to care. To be signposts, if you will, to his love. Even us. And that means we will do it imperfectly. We will have mixed motives. And while we will help, we will also hurt. Two steps forward, one step back. Many of the people who ask why we need another church are asking because they’ve been hurt by the church in this two-steps forward, one step back process. They’ve only felt the backward step of legalism or rigidity or crazy fundamentalism or meaninglessness in the church’s missional steps.
Acknowledging the global reality that church’s die (and need to) and new ones are born.
If the progression of the church in God’s mission were linear and always creeping forward within each particular church then there would still be a church in Philippi (the first European church) which was started in Acts 16 and lasted for a remarkable seven centuries. But then it didn’t. As commerce moved out of that area, so did the population, and so the church adapted because the church was never meant to establish a life-long institution apart from the people to whom it served. In fact, the church is not an institution. It’s simply a gathering of God’s people. And so the church in Philippi “died” or more accurately “moved” as the people of God moved to different places. Just as I’m sure it changed during the seven centuries of its life as it ministered between the wealthy class and the poor and the Romans that we see in Acts 16. The same is true of the churches all around America. Each one has a limited life-span. Some last longer than others. But when they “die” or “move”, it’s not a sign that the global church is being defeated or even slowing down. No. It’s just a sign that God’s mission in all its powerful fluidity is moving on in a different way. Perhaps in a different place. But it’s still moving on so long as it’s faithfully participating in God’s mission.
Some churches “die” like a faithful servant who proclaims the good news until the end. But others fall away from the truth of the good news and thus God brings them to a close. Some lose contact with the truth and begin to teach falsehood. Some refuse to change with the times and thus fail to reach (or care) about reaching the next generation. Some fail because they become too big and the institution becomes more important than the message. And some fail because they fail to make the good news applicable to anyone. In other words, they stop answering the real questions real people are really asking. Regardless, new churches are needed to pick up these balls and carry the Gospel mission forward. To reach new generations. To reach the unchurched and those who are hurt by the church. And to reach those who are looking for a new community in which to fit in and be heard and to wrestle with God’s Word.
Conclusion
You may be baffled as to why I didn’t mention the need for churches to reach different temperaments or cultures or style preferences or races. Or the role church size dynamics play in ministering to people of different stripes. Those things are important and do matter. All the more reason we should have a variety of churches. But ultimately for God’s people, those things ought to be secondary to contribution into the mission of God. To pitching into the mission of God through his chosen and designed institution – The Church – that he calls “The Body of Christ.” Why does he call it that? Because we are to be the BODY of Jesus in the world at this present time. We are to show with our lives and our community the love and grace and courage and sacrifice that Christ showed us – all-the-while witnessing to him until his mission is complete. We need more churches because God’s mission is not done. At last count, there are about 2 billion Christians in a world of 7 billion people. That’s a LOT of mission yet to be done. And in the neighborhood in which we are planting, almost 2/3 of the lovely humans who live there are not connected with any kind of local church at all. And therefore are not in the path of the mission of God. Two-thirds. Even though there are gobs of churches.
God’s mission cannot fail. Jesus made sure of that on Easter. But he does want us to continue – as the church – to proclaim the good news far and wide and so we’d love to have you join ours (www.allsoulsstl.com) as we dive into God’s mission in our neighborhood. We’re excited. Because he loves the world that much.