SIZE DOESN'T MATTER
Out of Seattle comes a little story about a new church using a pizzeria as a sanctuary - oregano rather than incense. Interesting!
Eight people showed up for the first worship. The pizza parlor is in an area where artists, street youth, and a large gay population hang out - sort of a welcoming spot for seekers.
There isn't much hope that a church like that will bloat into a great big church with an expensive building to maintain. It will stay small - up to twenty or twenty-five people and in less than ten years it will be dead.
But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be started or that it shouldn't exist for as long as it has life. The truth is that many people are looking for small groups where they can safely investigate religion.
They may have many misconceptions about religion. The faith may have failed them at a crucial time. They could have been hurt by church people who didn't believe their tortured stories. Or they could be people who have always believed that religion was a crumbling and dangerous foundation.
So, they keep one eye roaming the landscape looking for a small group where they can safely ask questions and get straight answers. They will disappear if someone tries to force easy religious answers. They will flee if someone insults them with short-sighted, packaged religion. They will run away if the leaders are so pious that nobody gets close.
They want intimacy. They want to hear others reveal their weaknesses and faults. They need to hear that group-mates face similar obstacles to happiness.
A person can't get any of that in most of our great-big-old churches. The formula there is simple; in and out within an hour and nobody reveals secrets, thoughts, convictions or fears.
Church leaders ought to be paying attention to these small experiments because some of the young people showing up for worship could be leaders for tomorrow when the true crisis will strike.
For instance, if your great-big-old church is located in a hot area for youth, this could be a way to reach out. If young people aren't sticking their heads inside your traditional congregation perhaps you need an alternative.
What's wrong with asking a nearby pizza parlor or a restaurant or coffee shop to set aside one hour early Sunday morning for investigation of the faith? Then all you need is one person to be there and call the worship to order. You can sing songs, talk about faith, read a few short Bible passages, pray, and then just hang. The formula is as old as the hills.
Nobody needs to preach or sing solos or dominate the conversation with an enlarged ego. Keep it simple. Keep it sweet. If you persist, eventually you'll have a small cell worshiping - for a while.
Don't get hung up on the size of your church. Rather, remember Jesus and his small band of disciples. The real secret for people in this age is, which questions are being asked - and answered - as you engage the Almighty.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted For 5-15-02