I just got off a website that proclaimed they were “church done different.”
Now, I still have my English teachers in the back of my head saying that this is awkward English (OK, they would have said the phrase was just grammatically wrong). In the front of my head is the question – “What is church done differently?”
As a retired pastor, that question has popped up more than once in my lifetime. If church is an activity, this particular website talked about happenings – with their illustrations looking eerily similar to other churches. If church is a building, the pictures looked like many other church buildings (in a day and age when church buildings range in size and splendour). If church is relationships, the exposure to leadership and to any people was lacking (there were no names of pastors or elders or ministry leaders, or any one else).
I understand the quandary. There is always a core that distinguishes any institution. The values expressed on the website were about relationship, inclusion, authenticity and Spirit filled – what I would say is fairly generic for a church.
But then, what makes you different? Is “different” the new improved approach to church? What have you decided to not pursue? Are you only interested in those who have been to church and want a new menu?
Maybe we need to ask – “What would it look like to escort God into our community in such a way that a group of people would form to proclaim God loudly, seek God deeply and rid themselves of anything that would stop that from happening?”
Would that be church done different?