Believers go to Church meetings without asking “Why do we go to these meetings?” The assumption really becoms a cyclic argument that we go to Church because that what Christians do.
In the Southern Baptists (USA style at least) the answer was determined that the Church meetings were for evangelism.
The real question properly becomes “Should believers have formal meetings scheduled without having a specific need to have a meeting (or service)?” The problem with the Church services comes as a result of having traditional meetings without having a directive from scripture to have these formal meetings. People end up interpreting the Bible based on the culture of the Church rather than relying on the Bible to define, mold and explain the Church.
When Jesus spoke the “Sermon on the mount”, He taught ideas that had to be heard at that moment. When a pastor gives a Sunday sermon, usually he speaks what he thinks may be useful. Even if such a pastor has no important or useful message, he speaks anyhow instead of saying that there is no need for a sermon that week.
Scripture talks about a less formal gathering where believers gather as family and then find out if there are any needs. Those needs are handled individually or by the group as the dynamics may lead.
This original version of the Church behavior seems to be the mode that would also appeal to the Y-generation that seeks relationship over ritual.
Isn’t it interesting that the scriptures seem to have all ready provided the solution?
meeting or Meeting
Mike,
Thanks for bringing this issue to the fore. I agree that there are many churches that see the gathering of the saints together in one place as just to hear a lecture than to worship God. But I do think that we see in scripture the desire for a gathering of some sort. We are told in Acts that they gathered together in the temple courts and house to house. So even though they had gone beyond the idea that God only dwelled in the temple to the fact that he now dwelled in human hearts, they still found value in assembling together in the public place of worship. We also see in Acts that they dedicated themselves to the apostles teaching which means that teaching was important to some extent.
I think sometimes we make our gatherings too much about us and what we will get out of it. So we are either filled or disappointed so I can see where it might be natural to say, let’s not meet all together unless there is something important to say. Problem is, each person then becomes the arbiter of what is important and what is not. So I don’t think we need to throw the proverbial baby of uncompelling teaching with the bathwater of weekly gatherings. Also, if those gatherings are about the worship of God then it is not about us anyway so no matter what the pastor teaches, we can experience God in and through the experience.
I think it is more people’s views of church as a ritual that kill it as much as the pastor who doesn’t have anything to say. I know I do experience a freshness most weeks and I keep coming back because I sense God’s presence in that place and it is encouraging to be with others who have the same passion and mission. Some weeks the teaching speaks to me more than others but I always have things to learn so that I can grow so opening the scriptures and hearing the story helps me in my own personal story.
You do raise a good question to ponder though about how church should and could function. Gathering together regularly does not have to be a big traditional church meeting. For some, small groups (house churches whatever name you want to put on them) are church or THE gathering for many. Yet it seems even those home churches have the desire to gather with other home churches, thus a bigger meeting. I still don’t have a problem with meeting as a whole church and in my small group on a weekly basis because I see and experience the value of worshipping God in each case, each bringing something different and fresh to my spiritual life. I also wonder if they met house to house because they had to instead of trying to set a model to follow (again I see and experience the value of gathering with a small group of people in my own neighborhood). All that to say that context, necessity,growth and mission play a big role in what a church looks like and how it organizes and operates. Thanks for letting me ramble :)