The Church and Its Search for Relevance in The Post Christian Era

The title sounds like a scholarly treatise should follow here. I don't think that will happen. Instead, I will offer my observations and opinions and you can do what you want with them including clicking to the next website.

There seems to be a headlong rush by evangelicals to save the way we do church in an age where fewer and fewer people choose to express and practice their faith in traditional church wrappings. Have you ever thought about the average evangelical church service? No matter where you go to church, the template is the same. Styles may vary. Sermons may differ in content. There may be some doctrinal fine tuning, but it is almost always the same no matter where you go.

-Praise Time (formerly known as the song service -) The music consists of repetitive choruses addressed to God. I hope He likes them.
-Random prayers and videos
-Maybe a selection from the choir (if there is one)
-Hug and Howdy Time (The seatbelt light is off. You may move about the cabin and bother each other)
-Special music...whatever that is...not sure what makes it special
-The Sermon - 15 to 30 minutes of a hired gun expressing his opinion about what the scriptures are telling us to do or not do with absolutely no participation by the worshippers (and they wonder why we go to sleep)
-The offering $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
-Communion (once a week, month, biannually or annually) as oft as ye do it.
-Invitation time, baptisms or confessions of faith
-Announcements (a terrible death to die)
-Closing Prayer
-Maybe a final song

That's pretty much it in varying order in most evangelical churches. There is usually some kind of Sunday school or Bible classes offered before or after the worship service. There is junior church or kids church or whatever they are calling it these days. Sometimes there are fellowship dinners and various activities spread throughout the week.

I find myself wondering how Peter or Paul or John would evaluate our attempts at doing church. If Jesus were there, what would He say about the Sunday show at our houses of worship?

The writer of Hebrews said this:

Hebrews 10:23-25

23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Is what we do on Sunday mornings anything like what the writer of Hebrews had in mind? In 60 AD, do you think the church did what we do now? I'm thinking probably not. What I see in the book of Acts and the epistles is people meeting in small groups to actually worship and discuss scripture together without formality or agenda. There may be a group leader acting as a facilitator, but his commentary would not be the uninterrupted formality of today's church shows. The celebration of the Lord's Supper would not be relegated to 8 minutes with thimble size cups of Welches and Chiclet size pieces of bread. Chances are good that it would be attached to a larger meal where the Lord's death would be remembered, testimonies of what He did in the lives of the membership would be offered and thanksgiving would be expressed by the membership. Songs from the Body in praise of God would be offered spontaneously in group and individually. Earnest prayers would be offered for the sick and spiritually fallen brethren by many. Baptisms would be a time of special celebration. In all, the meeting might last for hours or even the whole day.

Today we limit it to two hours on a given Sunday. It's believed that more than that will interfere with other events in the worshippers lives and it's more important to spend time with your family anyway. This may or may not be the case.

What is really happening though, especially with younger believers, is that they do not like the big church Sunday shows and so are not attending. They forsake the assembly to gather with a few friends that may or may not believers to experience fellowship and share life philosophies, Christian or otherwise. They would rather listen to a pod cast or hear a friend's song on the guitar and discuss it with each other than go hear someone that will not tolerate disagreement or even discussion about how they should live. Texting, social media and the Internet is what binds today's generation of the faithful together. they do not need or want 'the show'.  They would probably have little interest in the first century version of worship either. Attention spans continue to decrease as our cybernetic world pushes us forward.

And what constitutes the assembling of ourselves anyway? Shouldn't it be interactive? Is a sense of community really expressed at the church show or are we gathering to be entertained? Can a group of 8 believers constitute an assembly of the saints and have a meaningful worship time in a public place? Do we really need all this infrastructure and staff with all the financial burdens attendant to it to worship the living God?

It might be time for a change.

I think the way we do church today is in its death throes. The end is near. A new paradigm is emerging. I suppose it must. If it does not, the post Christian age will truly be upon us.