A CHURCH WITHOUT A SERVICE?

Today, as I type this, is an extraordinary day. I have been a pastor for over 10 years now, and this is the first Sunday that the church I was pastoring at the time didn't had a worship service.

Now, I have personally missed Sunday worship services before for various reasons -- participation in weekend spiritual retreats, vacations, etc. -- but, always, our church gathered for worship without me, sometimes with a visiting pastor and sometimes with a lay speaker from within the church. But not today. Today, the meeting place is empty. Today, the doors stay locked. Today, no chairs will be set up, no overheads put on the wall, no words proclaimed from the pulpit. But, you know what, I think it's okay.

You see, the church I pastor now is definitely not a "normal" church. Over half of our members were previously unchurched and joined our church when they were baptized following a true salvation experience with Christ Jesus. They don't know what a typical church does. They don't know what a typical church looks like. They don't have the baggage of tradition and expectations and the constraint of "we've always done it like this and can't possibly change."

These members read the stories of faith in the New Testament and see how the early church had all things in common and miraculous signs and wonders accompanied their preaching and teaching, and they ask me, "Why aren't we doing that? If they did that, then why can't we?" Not, "I wish that would happen" or "That would be nice to see," but "Let's go and do it, too!" And, if that means occasionally missing a scheduled worship service, so be it.

For instance, when God began to call our attention to the homeless that were around our building, we talked about what God would want us to do to help them. Meeting in a doggie daycare/boarding facility, we were kind of limited in our response ability. One day, one of our members failed to show up for worship. "She must have gotten sick," we thought. But, that wasn't the case. On the way to worship, she saw one of the homeless people we had been looking for, a young girl who was wandering in our neighborhood with all her possessions on her back. Our member saw her and said, "I need to mention that I saw her this morning when I get to church," but then God spoke to her. She stopped her car, turned around, loaded up this homeless girl, and carried her to brunch first, and then to worship that night. She missed church, but did so much more.

What I have found in my time pastoring this church is that when the focus of your church is Jesus and sharing the love of Jesus with others, then ministry can, and does, happen outside the walls of the building as your vision grows outward. Alternately, when the focus of your church is on the church service itself, your vision turns inward and ministry gets thwarted.

Reading the gospels, I can only find a handful of instances where Jesus actually attended a formal worship service. However, He ministered where He was, sharing His love and the miracles and signs with all those He happened to meet. Since He wasn't worrying about trying to get to "church" on time, He took time for others (e.g. the 10 lepers and the woman with the issue of blood). If it worked for Jesus and the disciples, why can't it work for us?

So, despite the raised eyebrows and questioning words of my peers, let me proclaim today that our church building is closed. No worship will take place. But lives may be changed instead. As I tell my people, the church is not the building, it is the people. And today, the church has left the building.