In our historical context the answer to the question of purpose would revolve around a sense of "chaplaincy" - the church exists to meet needs, provide comfort in times of trial, and a place that is stable and secure so that legacies and memories have somewhere to reside. This is the "traditional" emphasis.
A more recent development, surrounding and built on the charismatic renewal of the 1970's and 80's, pick up an emphasis on transcending experiences. This is particularly related to music and an emphasis on the more "supernatural" manifestations of the Holy Spirit which are valued together with touchy-feely values of fellowship and being "God's family."
Alongside this however, has been another emphasis - often placed at odds against charismatic values. This emphasis was rooted in post-war apologetics and evangelicalism and in recent times has been manifested through emphases on direct evangelism of the gospel - usually as shaped by reformed theology - and the catchcry of "mission" and of growing the Kingdom of God through the preaching/proclamation of the word to produce converts.I don't want to malign these emphases. I respect the traditional view, and I identify greatly with both the other views - which I'm going to call the "experience emphasis" and the "mission emphasis." What I want us to consider is how we can look at both "experience" and "mission" - and seek the best from them to drive our vision and our plans for Connections.
So let us begin with a critique and firstly consider the "experience emphasis." This emphasis can of course be an overemphasis. But it has considerable strengths. This view, in particular, puts a great emphasis on personal and corporate spiritual growth. The view of God is that he is desirable and that relationship with him is necessary for full spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical health. The catchcry towards God is "I'm lost without you." The experience of times of "worship" (in the sense of "adoration") - including through music - is an expression of intimacy in that relationship with God. It incorporates a prayerful exhortation that God would touch the deepest parts of a persons being and walk them through the valleys of brokenness and sin so that each one of God's people may witness by their very lives and experiences the greatness of God and the reality of the Spirit of Christ at work in the world. This holy desire is found in Scripture, for instance:
"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" - Psalm 42:1-2Of course, the experiential emphasis taken to its extreme becomes unbalanced. The quest to experience God personally can lead to a focus on self - and the experience itself becomes more important than what is being experienced - "I heard" becomes more important - even more authoritative - than "God said." It can also lead to people becoming too passive - as long as I'm happy with my experiences, I need not do anything - as long at the music is good at church in doesn't matter what goes on outside of those four walls.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." - Romans 12:1
Jesus prays for his disciples and those who would believe through their message - "... that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." - John 17:21
And this is why the mission emphasis is also needed. Godly mission is about being active and about doing God's will and applying God's purposes for the world and not just for the self. It's about preaching the gospel, speaking out the call and commands of God and seeking the response of faith. It's about going and doing and getting on with the job. The catchcry scriptures for this emphasis are ones like:
"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." - Matt 28:18-20We see this emphasis played out in books such as Peter Bolt's Mission-Minded - a very useful book for helping get things done in church in a manner that aligns with the evangelistic purposes of the Kingdom of God.
"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine... But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." - 2 Tim 4:2,3a,5
But the point is this: the mission-emphasis helps balance the experience-emphasis - but the reverse is also true. The danger, for instance, with Bolt's book is that, taken simplistically, it turns the purpose of church into a "convert machine" - put non-Christians in one end, and if you do the right things and have the right sequence of public awareness, pre-evangelistic, evangelistic, nurturing and training activities, you will have evangelists coming out the other end. This is the danger that the mission of the church moves from glorifying God to glorifying the mission.
Perhaps the first part of Hebrews 12 gives us the balance:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1-2Here we see that while we have a race to run (our mission) we do so setting our eyes on Jesus and experiencing him in the casting off of sin and entanglements and allowing him to author and perfect us. There is a dual emphasis on being and doing in this framework for God's people.
At Connections our vision is to be "a community forming people to be and do what Christ has intended" and so we try to encapsulate this framework. It makes for a dynamic experience. Sometimes we need to emphasise the doing - responding to needs, seizing opportunities, living and speaking out the gospel, putting into place activities, events and programs.
At other times, (such as the present season it seems), there is an appropriate emphasis on being. We can load ourselves up with programs - new and old - and run the risk of showing ourselves to be the stressed, burned out and scatterbrained people of God. Rather the programs that we start or change this year (and that will happen, we do have stuff to do) need to founded on a growing depth - a beating heart, a spiritual awareness, a renewed passion, a wholehearted abandonment of self that comes from faith, a true calling, a move of the Holy Spirit, a experienced sense of the love of God for us and for the world.
At the moment, that seems to be an appropriate emphasis for us. We need to use the current time to seek God and find in Him the answer to things that entangle us, individually and corporately. It is a blessed season - a season to look to God.
Sometimes our call is not to build up too quick, but to dig down - building strong foundations for the work ahead. In that lies both experiencing God for who he is, and being caught up in his mission and purpose. In that framework when both the experience of God, and the carrying out of his commands, together become the essence of what the church is really about: worshipping the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and body.
Worship is founded on an experience of God. Worship is active and declarative.
We are a people who worship.
