Its about BEING, not GOING!

For years now, I've been saying that we've got to stop going to church and start being the church. What I mean is that, as sincere followers of Jesus, our concern should be the active, intentional, daily engagement with the Holy Spirit in a way of life that is marked by humility, obedience, love and power. The problem with simply "going" to church is that it tends to reduce the practice of the Christian life to a scheduled event that happens for a couple of hours every Sunday; church attendance gets confused with real adherence to the teachings and demands of Jesus.

"Now wait just a minute!" you say, "going to church is still a legitimate way to help people live rightly and fulfill our mission!"

That's an increasingly weak argument.

A recent report issued by the Church Research Project presents a scathing indictment on church-as-usual. Seven findings are worth some serious, collective soul-searching:

1. Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church; half of what the pollsters report.

2. American church attendance is steadily declining.

3. In only one state is church growth outpacing its population growth.

4. Mid-sized churches are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches are growing.

5. Established churches 40 to 190 years old are, on average, declining.

6. The increase in churches is only 1/4 of what's needed to keep up with population growth.

7. In 2050, the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it was in 1990.

Makes me wonder what if...

What if Church-as-usual was NOT what Jesus intended? What if we worried less about getting people to come to and event and focused more on helping them become a certain kind of person? (Jesus called it being a "disciple?) What if the front door of our homes became the front door of our churches? What if we began to see our kitchen tables as sacred places? What if we spent less on buildings, sound systems, staffing and landscaping and more on strengthening the poor and oppressed? What if we deliberately created margins in our schedules that allowed for spontaneity and created space in which friendships could deepen and grow?

What if...

The Lord only knows.