A New Church

Last night I saw a program describing the decline in church attendance in Canada. In the 50's, 70% of Canadians attended a church service at least once a week. Today, that number is only 17%. At the same time, many Canadians still say that they are interested or involved in spirituality. So why are they not going into the buildings? There were a number of reasons given, but most centered around the consumerist and individualistic mindsets of Christians coupled with the churches attempts to appeal to them. Ironically to some, it is the lack of solid doctrinal adherence that has people wandering out of church buildings and into personal spiritually. If there is nothing worth standing up for, there is no reason to stand.
Another element of the show was a look at Gateway Centre, a "church" in Missisauga, Ont. It was shown as a community centre complete with gymnasium, dance studio, offices, and classrooms. The goal of Gateway was to provide people with what would be a positive influence in their community. It was succesful in attracting people who needed a place to gather and feel safe, a place to belong to something that fed their needs for relationship.
I do not know what their doctrinal statement is, or how they adhere to it, but based on the reality of our cultural mindset and the model of Gateway Centre, I think there should be a "new" way to do church. And I say "new" because it would be new to us, but it really goes back to the way of the early Church.
First, a church should be for the benefit of the community it is in. Today, while most church buildings are in a community, the members come from other communities, sometimes even other towns. This church is like a drop in centre, a place where we get together on one day of the week in one place, and share a couple of hours of worship and together time, but we live someplace else and rarely see much of each other the rest of the week. The community of the church does not get very strong in this way. As for the effect of the church on the community the building is in, it is pretty much zero. We drop in, we pull out, and our paths never cross in a meaningful way.
The church needs to refocus and minister to the people who do not know Jesus. We need to get back into offering help to those who need it, in any way they need it. We can offer a safe place for their kids to play, a safe and affordable daycare, a place to have a coffee and do some scrapbooking or crafting, a place to play games and sports, a place to offer help to single parents and newlyweds, a place to offer courses to help parents raise their kids, or get through a divorce, or heal their marriage.
Yes, that's a long list of things we can offer to our communities, and it is not in the least a complete list. And it certainly isn't a list that can be filled by the typically dozen or so people who normally get involved in helping out in a church. This leads to the second change we need to see.
We all need to be far less individualistic and self-centered. We are so busy with ourselves that we have no time for others. When we get a free evening or two, we use those for ourselves, considering it well deserved downtime. But I don't know if that's what we are supposed to be doing. We need to meet people where they are, not where we are. The church and the members in it need to refocus on activities that offer opportunities for relationships which allow the sharing of the gospel of Christ.
So, todays church should be built around a community centre, should even be the community centre, so that all the people of the community may be touched by the joy and truth of Jesus.
Jesus changed the world by teaching in the fields, feeding the hungry, ministering to the sick. He did not have a building. Maybe we need to see that as a message as well. Maybe we need to stop seeing church as a community of christians in a building and start seeing church as group of believers engaged in a community.