McDonald's, Panera Bread, Chick fil a, Barnes and Noble have it down. You can go to any of them anywhere in this country and find the same service and same flavor. Variety...yeah, somewhat in the building structure. But content is mostly the same. The colors are the same. The flavor of the burgers, soups, sandwiches: the same.
I'm sure somebody has written about this somewhere, but I was wondering if that happens in the church. A solid idea is discovered, one that brings success, brings joy and contentment. Perhaps a men's prayer breakfast on saturday morning. And when that idea is discovered it is shared with other churches, and then other churches make it their own, adopting that idea. So, we end up with a bunch of churches that look the same in form and content.
I haven't conveyed it very well, but for some reason that doesn't sit well in my spirit. Yes, there is unity in the Spirit, unity in our salvation, unity in our humanity, but i'm not sure that means conformity in Church. I wonder if we hinder the Spirit of the Kingdom by being McDonalds-Church...Is there anything here...?
3 comments:
Only if you are trying to force the program or whatever, down the throat of an entirely diff. culture then the one the idea originally came from. When I say culture, that doesn't necessarily mean ethnicity. Culture changes from town to town, city to city. So what people experiance in a church in New York, may not work for a congragation in Phoenix. But maybe that program or whatever might work in another church also located in New York. I look at it as the sharing of ideas. It's like in a family when one member says to another, "I had the same problem too. but I tried this and it worked. Maybe it will work for you." If it works, great. If it doesn't, then don't force it. That's were the problem comes. Also, you don't have to copy the program exactly. After all, the McDonalds in th Dominican Republic added fried chicken to there menu.
I do feel that we at least try to do this in the church. We go to a conference or see or hear some one do something powerful or helpful to us and then try to replicate it where we are. I also think that this is especially true when we see someone else be "successful" with it. If they have a lot of people at their church then they must have the secret and if we just did what they do, then we'd be just like them in attendance too. Or something like that.
I often think that every church in every town should have some significant differences. I'm all for local music, local interpretations, etc, etc. Not only does that make it more real, but it makes me have to really do the work (no faking it). That means no canned songs, no canned sermons, no canned meat... oh wait...
The point is that if we really tried to be an expression of the body of Christ as we are called and gifted to be - we wouldn't look alike. There can be only one right hand after all.
I liked Isabel's comments about sharing ideas like a family. I also like your comments about not forcing it. I think that may be where I have struggled.
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