pragmatic evangelicals aren’t really that evangelical

I was chatting to my friend in the UK the other week about why Jesus loving,  ESV thumping, gospel good guys ( their code for the only guys) like having small groups in their preaching centers (they would call them churches but we know what they mean). He said they call themselves evangelical but really that are just pragmatics. They are into what works even more then they are into Jesus and his word centering and shaping them and God’s people. 

a bit harsh I thought – but then he said - ask them why they have small groups in their churches- and better still ask them if they are in one. 

it seems that for all their theological high ground often evangelicals use small groups for fundamentally pragmatic reasons like pastoral care, bible learning and fellowship – that is because it makes church work – not because they inherently value them as fundamental for what it means to be a gospel community. 

but they’re good things you say – why wouldn’t you want them? of course we want them – but not because they are complimentary to my preaching ministry and somehow beef it up where it is lacking –  but because they are the very essence of what it means to be a gospel community- dare I say you can lose your preacher and whatever events he like to be the centre of and still be a church if you have a genuine word community operating. 

we don’t do small church, or community groups or bible study studies or whatever you call them because it assists the building up of the church – we do community groups because thats what it means for us to be the church! 

John Stott said recently in his 50th book that there is “something unnatural and subhuman about large crowds…. they tend to be aggregations rather than congregations – aggregations of unrelated people”.  

Now I like a big gatherings and preaching , and I want to work out how we grow to be a bigger church, but if the heart of the church is the dual fidelities of gospel and community - or put another the community of related people living in and through the word, then we can’t be a church with community groups – we must be a church of  community groups.( indeed if you are in a gospel community you are in church.) 

so here’s some diagnostics to work out how pragmatic or evangelical you really are:

1. is the big gatheirng the main event or a good event 

2. are community groups optional or essential to membership 

3. is your pastor and his wife in a communitygroup or are they too busy 

4. when the pastors/ elders/ leadership  of the church meet – is it primarily an exercise of fellowship or organization - does it look like a family gathering  or a business meeting.

5. when c groups are promoted in your church, is it marketed to meet a need, hit a niche  or to drive the whole  mission. 

6. is the community group or the sunday event spoken of as the primary locus of believing and belonging? 

7. is mission a vital aspect of your community group – or is that another department in the organisation? 

8. do you see church as an event you go to or a community you belong to and serve in

9. when you or others speak of your church, is it defined primarily by the experience of he  preacher or by the impact of the community that loves Jesus. 

 

i am sure there is more. I know dichotomies are terrible charactertures  but they can be helpful diagnostics. sure you have both – but what is primary and principle as opposed to secondary and pragmatic? that’s the real question.

 wouldn’t  it be a terrible deception if in our efforts to be big and have impact that  we stopped being and thinking and doing things without the gospel centering shaping and directing us. to think we are evangelical when at heart we are just pragmatists with gospel sympathies.

Thinking Church and Mission part 1

What kind of church are we going to be?

I have been reading a stimulating book by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis called Total Church. In its introduction it raises some very probing questions about how effective faithful and loving churches are being in impacting the culture in which they live.

Two issues I found to be particularly acute.
First, despite how faithfully we might give ourselves to proclaiming Christ, in reality how many unbelievers have the opportunity to hear and respond the word of Grace?
Second, despite how loving we might be as a believing community, how much are unbelievers exposed to it?

This raises the whole question of how we do church and therefore what it means to be a church. The book has been helpful for me in articulating what lies at the centre of our spirituality and reminds us that we need to think about church as a body of relationships rather than a place or an event. Church is an identity that is shaped by two key aspects, Gospel and community.