Written by Nate Hamblin, Planter at Neighborhood Church
Question: The Spirit compels you to enter a new city to establish a new expression of Christ’s church. Where do you start? Or more accurately, with what do you start? Answer: A worship service, of course. In the words of Lee Corso, “not so fast my friend!” (My apologies to all non-college football fans for the obscure gameday reference.)
Neighborhood church has been gathering weekly since January. And our gatherings are not a worship service, which begs two questions. Why not? And if not, what are they?
Make no mistake. Worship services are great. In no way is our lack of a worship service an edict against them. We’ve attended worship services all our life. We’ve planned and preached in them for years. Scripture is proclaimed. God is praised through song. People are encouraged. It is a wonderful element of the church. But, hear this. Don’t miss this. Pay attention. Worship services are NOT the church. Far too many people, believers and not-yet-believers alike, mistakenly understand church as something you attend. A place to which you go before heading back home or out to lunch. We wrote about this in the blog, Going to Church.
The church–which there’s only one by the way–is Christ’s presence in Christ’s everyday people, in every place they live, work and play every day. The apostle Paul says it this way to the church in Ephesus, “And the church is his (Christ’s) body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.” (Ephesians 1:23 NLT)
There’s nothing new about this truth. This is not some revolutionary or heretical thought. In fact, I’d be surprised to find any pastor who would disagree that the church is not a building or worship service. We know the church is Christ’s people. But can I be the first to confess? We forget. We get caught up in preparing messages. We work hard to plan worship services. We use phrases like, “how many were at church Sunday?” or “I pastor the church at 100 North Main street.” It is oh so easy to slip into the mindset of church as location or worship service. This is why we have been so intentional in beginning neighborhood church with something else.
