Missional vs. Cultural

February 28, 2008

Does God endorse a particular style or method of "doing" church?

That question seems to be debated time and again in our churches, on the various blogs and even among different church planting movements. Should we focus on planting "Organic" style churches, "Programmatic" style churches, "Attractional" style churches, or even "Cell-based" style churches? My answer to that question is "YES"! Yes, to all. God does not endorse any one style of "doing" church. We need every style, flavor, and method of new church possible.

The only thing we should concern ourselves with, when it comes to planting a church or refocusing a church, is our theology. If our theology is in line with Orthodox Christian theology, then how we "do" church is not an issue.

The problem is many believe that they are defending the Gospel, when in fact they are simply defending their own cultural heritage. Too often, leaders fail to understand that the Gospel, while supracultural, was written within the context of an historical culture. Jesus came during a specific time in history. He lived, taught, died and embraced the good aspects of the culture of which he was a part. Culture is not evil or the enemy of the Gospel of Christ. The scripture endorses no culture, it is culture-neutral.

Now, back to the question of "doing" church. We should be able to exegete the cultural context God has placed us in as well as the particular calling God has placed on our lives. A failure to understand either of these issues will bring disaster upon any style or method of "doing" church.

As leaders, we must be able to contextualize the Gospel. We should be intelligent and shrewd enough to realize that God uses different people and different styles and methods of "doing" church to reach everyone possible. As Paul stated, "I have become all things to all men, in order that I might win some." (1 Cor 9:22)

We should not be debating about methodologies and styles. It's a foolish debate. The issue is not should we plant Organic, Attractional, Programmatic, Cell-based, or Purpose-Driven churches. We should concern ourselves more with the dwindling effect of the church on the American culture and how we are going to take back the ground Satan has taken from us.

I believe that Aubrey Malphurs said it best in his book A New Kind of Church. "To fail to be culturally relevant is to muddy the Gospel with unnecessary trappings that serve only to miscommunicate the Christian message." (pg.105)

Posted 2/28/2008 in Stephen Gray

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Comments:

     I agree. Here is what ends up happening beyond that. A church plants or transitions to a method/ style that is different to the mainstream (call it post-modern, Contemporary or whatever) and becomes a fast-growing church. It almost always gets criticized for being "watered down" or not "theological" enough or that it does not "go deep enough". First of all.. How deep did Jesus go? It was always a simple message. How about at Pentecost? How deep or theological was that message? It was simple. It was foundational too. Are there churches that water down the message? Yes. But the issue is that people pass judgment on all such churches without even seeing them in action. Second... At many of these churches that do things different, you see something amazing happening. People getting saved in large numbers, people serving like crazy, people giving like crazy, people worshiping like crazy and heavy outreach/ evangelism taking place. I guess the point for me is that as methods change.... if the gospel kept in tact and pure, then we can all celebrate together the success of new styles and methods... Right? Really... The words "except" or "but" should never follow a salvation should they? Especially if we see the fruits like we are seeing in so many of these churches? Ultimately, when people criticize the styles without examining the fruits of what is going on... I see it as jealousy to the core. All over America this Sunday pastors will be praying for huge attendance, salvations, and revival in their church. When it does not happen in their church but it does in others, jealousy comes out in the flesh. We then pick apart the methods. My thoughts. Maybe a little off subject. Not sure.