Is Sunday Enough?

 Is Sunday Enough?

In the UK we are not short of church buildings.  They are everywhere!  Take Market Harborough for example.  In a town of 28,000 there are eight church buildings, with two being shared, and another three or four churches meeting in hired premises.  In the surrounding villages, historic buildings point their spires upwards while a smattering of chapels nestle between the housing.  Of all these, most only have church services on Sundays, while many rural Parish Churches in England now only have a service once a month. 

Imagine what it would be like if the same level of activity was found on our buses and trains. You have a journey that is important to you.  Perhaps you need to visit a sick relative, or attend a job interview, or even do your shopping.  But when you arrive at the bus stop or station you find a sign that says buses (or trains) only run for one hour on Sundays.  Of course, that would be ridiculous, but is the point I am trying to make any less ridiculous?

I don’t want to argue for more activities through the week, though in some situations, that might be a good idea.  Rather I want us to think about church as the people.  There is nothing new in that.  For me, the tragedy is that many who would describe themselves as Christians are only active for one hour on one day a week.

So, getting back to my bus analogy, what is the point of a bus service?  Clearly, it is to help people make a journey from one place to another at times that are likely to be convenient to them.  And what is the point of church?  Is it not to help people to make a journey from one situation to another?  That might be from life without Christ to glorious daily living with Jesus.  Or it might be from a life dominated by sinful or bad habits, to holiness.  Or it might be from being pretty ignorant about the Bible to discovering what an exciting collection of books it contains.  You might think of other spiritual journeys people need to take, but is the one hour on one day a week the service we should be offering?

Of course, when the buses aren’t running, people could use a taxi, a private car or even a bicycle. But we would want normal service to be resumed.  If people have the inclination, there are library books and religious meetings on TV and the internet.  They could get themselves there!  But then why has God given all his people gifts to be used in service?

My Bible tells me that God gives various gifts to his people for the fulfilling of his purposes.  Do we think that God’s purposes are only relevant for one hour on one day a week?  Of course not.  So, who has what gifts in your church?  Who are those with pastoral caring ministries (I don’t mean the official ones)?  Who are those who are natural evangelists, prepared to share faith with others?  Who are those with sufficient spiritual maturity who can teach others and nurture new believers?

Do they (or perhaps we) have a vision for being available to serve the Lord with their gifts at any time on any day?  What would the leaders in your church need to do to encourage these ministries?  Imagine a church where people leave after the Sunday service, ready to engage in the work God wants us to do.  Now imagine the meeting the following Sunday, where stories are shared about their exciting experiences through the week, and where new people are introduced and matters for prayer are shared.  
Is it not tragic, that instead of that, we will turn up for the same old one hour Sunday service of collective worship, sing hymns and songs, say prayers and listen to a sermon?

Is Sunday enough?  In the immediately previous issue of Praise & Prayer News I raised the question, “Is God Interested in Your Church?”. In it, I suggested that, often, the preservation and care of inherited buildings was not on God’s list of things that are important.  Yet it is something that absorbs huge amounts of time, money and energy.  I wondered if I might have been too outspoken and might have offended some who love their buildings.  I nearly sent out a follow up apologising to any I might have offended.  The point I was trying to make was that what God is concerned about, as illustrated in the life of Jesus Christ, is people.

If you believe that God cares about those people next door, if he longs that they would come to experience his love and forgiveness, if he longs that people in your church would know him better, then is one hour on one day a week sufficient?  If WE are the church rather than the building, can we be open 24/7?  Perhaps we should stop thinking about the Minister, and release and encourage the ministers.
  
Barry Osborne 18th March 2022

Is God Interested In Your Church?

 I find myself wondering how you will have reacted to this question.  Actually, it is a modified version of the title I had intended to use: “God is Not Interested in Your Church”.  Obviously, it is intended to provoke a response, and many will feel that it is an unnecessary question, because you are convinced already that he is.  But is he?

I awoke from a good night's sleep recently with the words of the intended title ringing in my mind.  I have no idea why, unless it was that God wanted to get me thinking and writing on the topic.  For many Christians in the rural areas, while we might say that the church is really the people and not the building, it is the building that becomes dominant and all consuming.  Beloved ancient piles of stones, some with towers, some with steeples, some with both, and some with neither, stand as a witness to our faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.  They were lovingly erected at considerable cost by a generous benefactor or congregation.  As such, they are treasured.  But is God interested?

Christians know that everything material is temporal, and we cannot take it with us when the time comes.  However, we develop attachment to buildings, chairs (even pews), and various traditions.  We build a world around ourselves of all this, almost as if we need it to feel at home.  Of course, you know that home is not here but hereafter.  So, while our very human attachment to these things also makes them precious to us, is God interested in our whims?

Even Christian organisations, such as Rural Mission Solutions, cannot have any long-term guarantee of holding God’s interest.  So, what is God interested in?  The simple answer is “people”.  Now, I am not arguing that God is not interested in his created world; I am convinced that he is.  The point I wish to make is that I am equally convinced he would not be interested in the ‘Parish Church of St Barry and All Angels’, as far as the building is concerned, though I am sure it would be splendid.
 
The Bible reveals that God is passionate about people - even those who couldn't care less about him.  Those that do not know him, he longs that they would come to know him.  Those of us who do know him, he longs that we would share in his plan and purposes for us all.  God is not on his own when it comes to an interest in people.  I am an avid people watcher. From early life to old age, people fascinate me. Their looks and mannerisms are almost mesmerising.  I just love people.  I watch them on television, often through tears generated by various emotions.  But God loves them so much more.

Call me a church building luddite if you wish, but I really do believe that God is not only disinterested in our church buildings, but that there are times when he might rejoice if they fell down!  All that time and money that goes into maintenance, heating and lighting, insuring and polishing the things WE call holy, really ought to be spent on the things that God calls or would like to call holy.  Most of the buildings were designed to meet the needs that existed in days gone by.  If they do not meet the needs of the real church today, then they are not needed.

Did we learn anything about church during the pandemic?   Interestingly, many churches said that members of their congregations drew closer using Zoom meetings when they were unable to meet face to face.  Many also said that new people attended, some have started meeting face to face and some have become committed members.  Most churches maintained income while saving running costs!
Of course, meeting face to face and being able to sing again is an advantage, but we learned (I hope) that we are not utterly dependent on our historic buildings.  

 By law each member of the Parochial Church Council in the Church of England has responsibility, with others including the Church Wardens, for the maintenance of all their church premises.  Often this includes a costly historic building.  PCC members find themselves cast in the role of curators.  Significant amounts of money and time are spent in this way.  But the PCC is also responsible, together with the incumbent, for the mission of the church which, in the guidance for Church Office Holders, is set before matters of buildings.  But what happens if the care of the property hinders the mission of the church?

Free churches do not normally carry such a legal burden but might have a chapel that is a ‘Listed Building’ which is restrictive.  In Baptist, Congregational, and some other denominations the maintenance of the inherited premises is the responsibility of the local congregation, much like the Church of England but not as onerous. 

We live in a world where many millions of men, women, and children have yet to understand the wonder of the gospel message, and where people suffer illness unnecessarily, and where people live in poverty and go hungry.  Is God interested in them?  

If we had not inherited mediaeval or other old buildings, largely inappropriate for our use today, we would find other ways of meeting economically and share our financial resources with those in need. Yes, our church buildings matter to us, but is God interested in them as much as he is in the poor, the sick, the homeless and the hungry?

Right now, in the face of the appalling invasion of Ukraine and the dispossession of tens of thousands, European churches are stepping up to show God’s love.  Because the churches are ‘out there where the need is’, the world is taking notice.  Now that’s the kind of church in which God is interested.  But is God interested in your church?

 

Barry Osborne 4th March 2022