Why We Gather On Sundays, Part One: For The Lost

As a precursor to introducing the Calvin Grant and goals of @V21Church over the grant year, we’ll examine why the church gathers on Sundays. Asking this question of congregants across denominations would likely produce a plethora of answers, and it’s our hope at @V21Church to learn why we gather as a church and, ultimately, why we exist. In this series at worship.vintage21.com we will examine several reasons the church gathers, and the unhealthy results when one aspect is given greater significance than Scripture calls us to.

In recent years there have been many churches, @V21Church being one of them, that have sought to make the language and environment of church welcoming, the culture relevant to the surrounding city and attractive to those outside the church, all in an attempt to bring glory to Jesus. I speak from experience that as this continues, if there is not equal effort, prayer, and time spent making disciples of those who are saved, a development of biblical community where we love one another and bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), and a continued humility in seeking God’s will, the attractive and welcoming nature may grow, but the depth of the church will begin to wane. Soon what people are being drawn to is a service, a speaker, or social event. The words of Jesus to the Church in Sardis in Revelation 3 may describe the result: “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

Having grown up in the church, my experience week after week was like the movie “Groundhog Day” – it seemed like every week the same people repeated the same actions. People sat in the same seats, sang the same songs, and the minister said the same things. Rarely did new people attend, and when this occurred those people looked just like everyone else. On the rare occasion someone showed up who looked extremely different and was open about not believing in Jesus, it  inspired discomfort among the congregation. They were treated like a biker uncle who showed up unexpectedly at Thanksgiving – we don’t really have a place set for you at the table, and we aren’t open to you ruining this nice day we’re having.

When @V21Church was planted in November 2002, there was a strong desire to welcome people who did not follow Jesus. In addition to calling followers of Christ to be warm and friendly towards everyone who attended, it was important to address what was said from up front. We examined the language and style of the songs, the liturgy and the sermon. We soon figured out this should not result in a dumbed-down or super-simplistic approach to Scripture. The arrogance underlying such an approach is astounding, as it communicates “You just don’t understand. We’ll make it simple for you so you can see the light.” This implies people who do not follow Christ are idiots, and followers of Christ have arrived at the conclusion that Jesus is Lord on their own merit. In addition, if you preach a dumbed-down portrayal of God and people began to follow this, they will grow frustrated as they’re unable to reconcile Scripture with this compartmentalized snapshot they signed up for. In other words, preach, teach and follow the God of the Bible.

Those who were open about not believing Jesus was God responded with enthusiasm to the challenging truths found in the Bible, while many who had grown up in church had an amazing ability to hear direct challenges to their lives and promptly ignore those convictions. We soon learned that people were coming to church to see if Jesus was really God, and wanted us to be clear and direct with them. The key to creating an environment welcome to those who do not follow Jesus was not a watered-down message but clarity. In addition, it was a sincere love for God, for others and for the city we live in – the ever-popular term “authenticity”.

Several years in we found the teachings of Tim Keller that brought even more clarity to what we had found true in practice at @V21Church. Below is a video that sums this up well.

We’re honored that God has brought people that do not know Him to @V21Church and given us a heart for those people. We’re humbled by those who have been saved by God who are involved in @V21Church, and encouraged to make sure we continue to shape our service in such a way that those without a church background or who have been “burned” by the church are welcome here.

Here’s the thing: if this becomes the main goal of our gatherings on Sunday, we’re in error. When one aspect receives more attention than Scripture dictates or to the detriment of other duties of the church, the pendulum has swung too far. Like a football team that only recruits and practices offense, the result will be an unhealthy organization. While a football team that only practices offense could argue “The goal of the game is to score points. We’re going to do everything we can to score points”, to win the game you also have to keep the other team from scoring points. The coach in this instance would be taking one command – “score touchdowns” – and blowing it out of proportion to what is needed to win the game. For a church, it’s not about winning or losing, but about being the Body of Christ. We desire to follow the commands of Scripture, the example set for us by church history, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. While Jesus commanded us to “go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19-20) this is not our only command. When Jesus speaks to the churches in Revelation 1-3, he said more than “Did you make disciples of all nations?” Therefore, if we make our service entirely about attracting non-believers, we’re missing our call as the church.

Join us tomorrow as we examine the other side of the coin: circling the wagons, and gathering only for the followers of Christ.