The Personality of a Church
For any of us with church experience, we all know that churches can vary from one denomination to another, from one congregation to another. There are what we call “high churches” where the service is very formal, very rigid, little congregational expression; and there are what we call “low churches” where the service can be lively and not nearly so formal, with all sorts of variations in-between. The Church of England, or the American Episcopal Church would be examples of high church, the Baptist Church or Assembly of God churches would be examples of low church. But even within each, there are individual congregations that can be different, reflecting the group personality of its members.
Even within the fellowship of Christian churches and churches of Christ (Restoration Movement) we find many variations. Some love the old hymns, while others enjoy contemporary music in worship. Some tend to rely on Sunday school classes for education, others rely on small groups. The order of service can be different from one congregation to another: when communion is served, who serves it, when is the offering taken (is it taken at all), do you sing all verses of the song or just a few, do the people dress up more, or do you find blue jeans in the winter and shorts in the summer, what is the preacher’s style of delivering the sermon, and on and on it can go. Although our churches would be considered low church, in some the people are passive during worship, while in others the people are very expressive, shouting out the “Amens” and raising their hands, etc.
What are we to make of all this? Let’s start with this point: an individual congregation cannot be all things to all people. The preferences of people can be all over the place, and many of those preferences have no right or wrong about them, involving things not specified in scripture. The old slogan “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty” comes to play here. Everything mentioned above falls in the realm of non-essentials, so we must allow liberty. The Bible doesn’t specify hymns versus other styles of music, and if we were going to use scripture to guide us here, we might need to go back to the Psalms. It doesn’t specify “high church” versus “low church,” or passive worship versus expressive worship. (But maybe a side note here: it does tell us to live sacrificially as the true form of worship [Rom. 12:1], so once we’ve “worshipped” at church we can no longer remain passive.) Jesus and his apostles never told us to choose Sunday school format over a small group format for educating. They had no suit and tie to wear in the first century, so I doubt if “dressing up” versus blue jeans was an issue. It’s wise to dress “modestly” but opinions about that can vary a lot also.
Bottom line? We need churches that do these things differently. That allow for people to find a congregation to be part of that is a comfortable fit in terms of “style.” Another slogan says, “where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” In other words, we want clear teaching from Jesus and/or his apostles, and when we have that we teach and do the same. But when we do not have that, we allow differences of opinion (including styles of corporate worship).
Here’s the thing. Although many problems in church come from the non-essentials (and shouldn’t), there are other things spelled out in the Bible that we need to be serious about. Who is Jesus, what do I believe about him? What does the Bible say is part of salvation? What characteristics should we develop to be more like Jesus? What is the basic purpose of church and how do I fit in? For all of the variations that are OK, its not a country club, lets allow the church to be what it’s supposed to be.
Even within the fellowship of Christian churches and churches of Christ (Restoration Movement) we find many variations. Some love the old hymns, while others enjoy contemporary music in worship. Some tend to rely on Sunday school classes for education, others rely on small groups. The order of service can be different from one congregation to another: when communion is served, who serves it, when is the offering taken (is it taken at all), do you sing all verses of the song or just a few, do the people dress up more, or do you find blue jeans in the winter and shorts in the summer, what is the preacher’s style of delivering the sermon, and on and on it can go. Although our churches would be considered low church, in some the people are passive during worship, while in others the people are very expressive, shouting out the “Amens” and raising their hands, etc.
What are we to make of all this? Let’s start with this point: an individual congregation cannot be all things to all people. The preferences of people can be all over the place, and many of those preferences have no right or wrong about them, involving things not specified in scripture. The old slogan “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty” comes to play here. Everything mentioned above falls in the realm of non-essentials, so we must allow liberty. The Bible doesn’t specify hymns versus other styles of music, and if we were going to use scripture to guide us here, we might need to go back to the Psalms. It doesn’t specify “high church” versus “low church,” or passive worship versus expressive worship. (But maybe a side note here: it does tell us to live sacrificially as the true form of worship [Rom. 12:1], so once we’ve “worshipped” at church we can no longer remain passive.) Jesus and his apostles never told us to choose Sunday school format over a small group format for educating. They had no suit and tie to wear in the first century, so I doubt if “dressing up” versus blue jeans was an issue. It’s wise to dress “modestly” but opinions about that can vary a lot also.
Bottom line? We need churches that do these things differently. That allow for people to find a congregation to be part of that is a comfortable fit in terms of “style.” Another slogan says, “where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” In other words, we want clear teaching from Jesus and/or his apostles, and when we have that we teach and do the same. But when we do not have that, we allow differences of opinion (including styles of corporate worship).
Here’s the thing. Although many problems in church come from the non-essentials (and shouldn’t), there are other things spelled out in the Bible that we need to be serious about. Who is Jesus, what do I believe about him? What does the Bible say is part of salvation? What characteristics should we develop to be more like Jesus? What is the basic purpose of church and how do I fit in? For all of the variations that are OK, its not a country club, lets allow the church to be what it’s supposed to be.