Yesterday I watched Steve Jobs move his ever-innovating Apple Computer Company a step further into the future. The new I-Pad may or may not succeed, but whatever the outcome the hallmark of an innovator is the willingness to stretch, change, and slip the bondage of outmoded ways of working. A foundation grant, a bit of consultancy work, and service on the Board of Examining Chaplains for the Episcopal Church has taken me coast to coast in the last year. Along the way I’ve been exposed to the mainline church — or, to be more exact, the version of it in which I worship and work. What has become clear to me is that Church needs innovation.
As Princeton’s Robert Wuthnow observes, a longing for personal and spiritual homes inspired the Church of the 50’s and 60’s. Responding to the immigration boom, the post-war return of veterans, and a host of other influences, we built our spiritual homes with all the trappings that goes along with that impulse. We built houses of worship, crafted music, installed the best of organs, prided ourselves in the best of stained glass, and evolved the mature bureaucracies and institutions. Call it Church 1.9.20 — a slightly more robust version of Church with an operating system developed in the 19th century.
The difficulty is that this version of Church no longer addresses the demands of the current environment, nor does it attract the customers. We are long overdue for a change in the product line. Call it Church 2.1.10 — an authentic product of the twenty-first century and part of what will necessarily be an evolving product line. What are the essential elements of that new platform? Hard to say and I am interested in what others might be thinking, but so far this is my shortlist:
- Worship that makes the presence of God real
- Conversation that gives my life spiritual direction
- Community that reminds me I am not alone
- Opportunities for caring and giving that make a difference in the lives of others
For those who have experienced the Immediate presence of God, that becomes essential. But what I continue to find is the “customer” is looking for community and opportunity to minister to their community more than seeking Presence or direction. BUT….. if they EVER experience the Holy…
Debbie, I think that you are right. I know you and I have talked about the surprise that people register when someone suggests that a sense of the presence of God and the ability to respond to God might somehow be central to “doing” church. Many reasons for that — big “M” materialism that stresses the importance of the senses and finds it difficult to acknowledge the presence of the Holy; seminary educations that fail to cultivate a desire for God; and institutional structures that can drive the energy of a church in so many other directions. What do you think might say to people who enters the church’s door — this IS about an encounter with God?
Just a gentle observation: I am troubled that the first three items on your list are essentially self-centered, assuming that you mean that worship should make God “real”–I’m not quite sure what you mean by that word–to me. It seems to me that the Biblical witness is that we find identity in community, meaning in relationship to others. I would argue that authentic worship comes first in pragmatic response to the Spirit and then in reflection on it.