Bournagain

Had one of those marvellous long French lunches today with some friends (the kind where you’re still at the table at 5.00). These people know how to eat! We got onto talking about my favourite subject (the church). There seems to be no question in the minds of many evangelical friends I speak to that the church is in need of a new reformation of some description, but just how radical are we prepared to be?

There is general agreement that Christian fellowship is best lived out in small groups, that if we limit ourselves to Sunday mornings it’s too easy to fake it. It’s much harder to hide in a small group, it’s more authentic, and a more natural environment to learn in. So far nothing new.

But where we diverged a little was over whether or not just adding small groups to existing Sunday-morning-centred church was actually sufficient. Should small groups be seen as complimentary to the Sunday morning, a kind of evangelistic “stepping stone” toward church for friends who find coming to a Sunday morning too freaky. Or should small groups be seen as the real thing, with no specific aim of getting people along to a meeting on a Sunday morning?

In the first model we continue trying to get people to come to us. So much of the “evangelism” we have been involved in has been essentially a “come” message: “come to us and you’ll meet Jesus and he’ll give you a wonderful life, as long as you keep coming along on a Sunday morning.” The second model is more of a “go” thing: we go to people, and help them create church in their own situation, with their own circle of friends and contacts. The first model we’ve had loads of experience with, the second none whatsoever so everything I say on the matter is entirely theoretical. We concluded that both models are necessary.

Why I aim for a Reformation is a post I came across which has some interesting thoughts on the subject.