Through the Front Door Conversations 

As Complimentary to Steeple Teachings

Must conversations and understanding of church always start by coming through the steeple with God’s words?  Can the conversations and understanding of church also start by going through the front doors and listening to what’s on the minds of the people of that community of God? 

Both approaches, through the steeple and through the front door, assume the betterment of our life together through faith, hope, grace and the love of neighbor as oneself. 

The “potential for good” from listening to what is personally meaningful and on the minds of people of God’s community accessed through the front door, can be seen as complimentary to essential teachings of God accessed through the steeple. 

I argue that if we don’t begin soon addressing both the healing and the empowering components of our local church by listening to conversations started with what is on the mind of people in local churches, we will never solve the several difficulties our contemporary church is facing.

I am going to paraphrase the thoughts of Mark D. Roberts in his Reflections on Christ, Church and Culture: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/what-is-a-church/  drawn 8/27/2014.

---------------------

The very thing that our church should be focusing on – our life together as a community – is hampered by misdirected efforts to focus as a church on larger societal issues through pronouncements.  We must try harder to get our own act together in local congregations.

We need to pay more attention to the regular, tangible, essential gatherings of our local church community.

It means that the larger church body needs to put more energy into nurturing (empowering) local church engagements. 

It means that both the larger church body and the local congregations need to be open to new structures that support both broad church and local congregation purposes, rather than holding on to structures of the past that serve existing hierarchies but do not support the common life and mission of local churches.

It means that we would strive harder to form complimentary gatherings that truly reflect the gospel of Jesus Christ, one that shines as a light into our dark world and gives hope to individual and community alike.

It means that we would see our local gatherings as essential, not only to our congregational life, but also to the health of our local communities.

It means we would care as much about God’s justice unfolding within the unique contexts of local churches as we do about the overarching message of God’s justice from church hierarchies.

--------------------

Bruce