Having been to a few churches other than the one I helped to start in the past few months, I’ve come to the conclusion that I am very, very hard to please. I almost always encounter something I’m uncomfortable with, and not necessarily in a good way.
As I’ve mentioned, that feeling is minimal when I’m with the great people at Ohana Project, and I’m starting to realize that (gasp) church should not exist to make me happy. This should really be no revelation, because we set out to plant a church that was free from the consumeristic, church-shopping mindset that informs the design of so many church plants.
We’ve avoided suburban “perfect-fit” churches intentionally, and have no interest in visiting them. I’m sure we could find one that would fit us like REI gear, but I’m not convinced that would be a good idea.
And yet, as I look back on what we did as a church when we were meeting on Sundays, it was very closely tailored to our personal preferences. This wasn’t a matter of marketing, but of the fact that we naturally did what seemed best to us. There was no one else to market to us, but we were constructing a church that would be the way we wanted it (for better or for worse).
One of the downfalls of this approach, I realized recently when speaking with Jeremy, was that we left discipleship (our own and others’) out of the equation. We held gatherings, which I liked, but did not get much out of them in the way of challenge to live a holy life - since it was up to us to challenge ourselves, not a lot of discipleship occurred.
All this makes me wonder whether you can ever be satisfied in a church that’s good for you. I think we’re so shaped by consumerism that we have lost the habit of being comfortable in situations that aren’t tailor-made to suit our preferences.
One of the things I like about Ohana, as I said the other day, is that I’m not in charge, so it’s not left up to me to challenge myself. That may make me feel uncomfortable from time to time, but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe I should break out of the assumption, expressed either by being in charge or by ruthlessly church-shopping, that church should make me comfortable and happy.
I think people can be happy/satisfied with a church. Rather than trying to find a fit for one’s self, find a church that follows God’s plan as described in the Bible. Pretty simple. Otherwise one will continue to seek out something different depending on feelings.
And obviously there will be annoyances as a church is made up of human beings, who can be a little annoying at times.
Rather than consumerism, I would think that it is human nature to want to be weekly involved in a church that is comfortable. The problem, as you have expressed, is that everyone has a different idea of what comfortable is.
I believe that God wants us to attend church not to satisfy our own gratification, but in order to obey what He is asking us.
I think it’s great to question the whole model of what worship is, but in the end, it is going to reflect society. If you attend a church in Zimbabwe, you are going to experience their reflection of Christ in their culture. I wonder if our current culture is suffering with an identity crisis of sorts because it has become so fragmented.
Remember when we only had a few genres of music? Country, Rock, Jazz? Now how many genres are there? We are becoming more diverse and fragmented and perhaps our faith is, too.
April-
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you say
Andy-
If I thought it was as simple as that, I’d agree. But all churches are the way they are for reasons other than “God’s plan.”
Hey Justin,
good question. To me church should strive to reflect diversity, and therefore be committed to staying together even when it’s uncomfortable. Diversity comes with discomfort. It’s not that I think that the pinnacle of ecclesia is diversity, but unless we hear God’s story from different perspectives than our own I think it can be difficult to avoid creating a system that justifies hearing only what we want to. The tough part is helping each other to accept the struggles when it could be easier in a tailor-made church, because it’s actually worth it.
We got a ways to go in our attempts at community, but the journey so far has been actually worth it, for me at least.
[...] Hey, here’s a question: Can People Shaped by Consumerism Be Happy in Church? [...]
I’m very hard to please in church, too. I don’t know if it’s just about consumerism, though, although I’m sure it’s a factor. The media (especially TV, for me) has helped to create in many of us a very finely discriminating and jaded set of sensibilities. [Think how everybody is now a discriminating connoisseur of pop singers now, thanks to American Idol :)]
In other words, I’m sure you’d be seriously uncomfortable with at least one thing, even in a church that fit you like REI. Whether a church is directly marketing to you or not, if you can find one that’s not seriously annoying, you’re doing great (I have, finally).
On the bright side, if you weren’t such an intelligent, well read, complicated man, not much of this stuff would bother you.
I finally came to the conclusion (possibly temporary) that our situation offers the best of both worlds: A Sunday morning service that’s traditional, conservative, and drives us nuts followed by a Sunday evening small group that’s personal, challenging, and life-giving–all in the context of the same church. The morning service is something to push against and get us fired up to change it; the evening service helps put it all in perspective and explore real solutions to the problems of the morning group.
For now, at least, we’re not asking for anything more out of organized religion.