Who Is Church For Anyway?

One of the most common questions I hear today regarding Church is: “Who is Church for?”

I hear this question expressed verbally in conversation with friends and acquaintances, but most often I see the conversation played out in church attendance week after week.

The past couple years of my life have given me a front row seat to a new decade and new season in my life. I’m now one of those 40-somethings as a bonded, card-carrying member of Generation X. One of the pronounced lifestyle patterns of my generation, and the millennial generation following us, is saying loud and clear that we do not see church as relevant to our everyday lives. Let me show you what the numbers tell us:

In 2012 the National Post commissioned a poll and here is what they found:

“A new Forum Research Poll commissioned exclusively for the National Post shows that two thirds of Canadians are “spiritual”while just half say they are “religious.” The poll comes at a time when most Canadians say that they do not consider religion important and when claiming non religious is a more common answer than ever before. Less than 1 percent of Canadians ticked off “no religion” four decades ago, but according to 2001 census data 16 percent marked that box. At home here in British Columbia as of 2014, 44.1 percent of BCers said they have no religious affiliation while 55.5 percent of British Columbians said they never attend a religious service at all.”

Now if you are still reading this thank you for sticking with me because, I get that we’re not all numbers people! Back in the real world where you and I live the numbers translate into a conversation I had with a friend just before Christmas. Our conversation eventually drifted from the catch up of how’s the family, how’s work etc., to the current state of church attendance in the City of Abbotsford. My friend said to me, “Jared, there was a time when people in Abbotsford who were hurt or pushed out of church would simply move on to something new, or something shinier, where they could plug in or blend in and hide. Now they just drop out of church altogether. We have a city full of homeless Christians.”

Maybe we need to change the conversation? Could it be that our neighbours and friends who don’t see church as being relevant to their lives, feel that way because they don’t feel valued by those of us who claim to be the church?

I ask because when we look back at the birth of the church in the book of Acts, we see two distinct, yet interrelated, values at work. These values made the church who it would become over the next three centuries.

In the second chapter of Acts we witness the birth of a brand new movement of the Ecclesia, also known as The Way. Jesus had commanded his followers not to go anywhere  until they had received the promised Holy Spirit who would empower them to be a witness of Jesus. When that promise was fulfilled these followers of The Way didn’t stay inside the four walls of the upper room. Their first act of empowered ministry was to move out into the community and communicate the reality of a risen Jesus in a language that was understood by all who were present. The 120 disciples in the upper room that morning turned into community of three thousand believers that afternoon. The first value of the followers was communicating the good news of Jesus to their community and beyond.

Later in Chapter 4 of Acts we see the second value at work in this new community of believers. Acts 4:32-34 tells us that if anyone of those who had been added to the church lacked anything their need was met through other believers because they were of one heart and one mind. The second value was taking Jesus at his command: “This new command I give you that you should love one another even as I have loved you.”

There is only one word that I can think of that does justice to the overriding values of the early church and that word is HOME. I whole heartedly believe that our society no longer values church because, for the most part, we are not going out into our communities and to our circles of friends and calling the homeless back home. Instead we put up barriers that tell those who need to come home that they are not welcome. Those barriers tell our community outside the church that we don’t value them.

Acts 5:13 tells us that none of the rest of the religious crowd, those who valued their rituals and institutions over people, dared to join them.  But the community esteemed them highly and came home in droves, both men and women. It wasn’t just individuals who came home, but families!

I believe that our society will find value in church when we value calling those without a home to find home in the House of God. When we begin to value lost and hurting people (families and individuals) more than we value our own comfort or traditions or institutions then the community will begin to see that their true value is found when they are planted in the House.

At Lifehouse Victory Church our dream statement says:

We have a dream to grow a church without walls, bringing a living Jesus to a lost and dying world.

We have a dream to grow a church where cultural barriers are torn down, where home is together in God’s Presence and everyone belongs.

One of our stated values is:

We will do whatever it takes, apart from sin, to reach the unchurched.

So to answer the question, who is church for anyway?

My answer, and the a heartbeat of Lifehouse Church: church is for anyone who needs a home, for those who need value and we are the house of God that is calling everyone to come home!