Josiah Meyer

The most I can do here is speak from my own experience: my wife and I used to attend a fairly large church in our town, but no longer feel comfortable there.  We still go back to sing and meet friends, but feel out of place.  The services speak little to me, and even less to her, and so we’re caught in a bit of a limbo.  Because of our respective religious experiences, baggage, and beliefs, we have had great difficulty finding even a small group to join.  I am not satisfied with simply not going to church—I feel that we need some avenue of community with fellow followers of Christ.

The cathedral does not appeal too much to me.  I realize that if kids need to be taken care of and social programs are initiated, the tendency is to create organization(s), and that falls easiest under the umbrella of a brick-and-mortar church.  However, the most obvious choices in our community are large, which bodes well if you want to disappear, but does not work so well if you want to feel welcome and connected.  The not-so-obvious churches tend to be more conservative, which is opposite from the direction we've moved.  One church in our town seems to have patterned itself after mega-churches, experiencing and targeting stupendous growth, using the latest multi-media technology for ‘worship’, and seemingly imbuing its churchgoers with an all-consuming obsession with the church itself.  I am sure that many people actively further the kingdom of God through that church, but I still don’t think its pattern is a healthy one to repeat.

Enter the small group: the method that large churches tend to use to remain relevant to each individual.  Here, communication is more effective, and relationship is better fostered.   No matter the size of the church, relationship (and some sense of community as a result) must be maintained.  Of course, a small group which is unsupported (like a house church) can probably run into serious problems.  I know of a certain house church centred on one Bachelor of Theology graduate with serious personal problems, who is obviously not qualified for his self-appointed position.

I cannot strike down either large or really small churches as unnecessary, but perhaps this will make sense: churches cannot grow large without remembering the lessons learned when small, and small churches should not operate in a vacuum.

I suppose that most forms (big, small, fancy, simple, etc.) can be good or bad, depending on the hearts. It's so hard to generalize, which is why I get quezy when people want to say that all big-churches are bad, or all small churches are bad, or whatever.

I think you hit on the core of the issue, though: somehow, there needs to be enough autonomy for real relationships and spontaneous spirituality to emerge, but there also needs to be enough structure/authority to keep the whakos (leaders and others) in line.

That's a really hard ballance to hit!

Gen 11:4 GNB  They said, "Now let's build a city with a tower that reaches the sky, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth."

The motivation for building the city of Babel was “to make a name for ourselves”.   Unfortunately it seems this is also a reason many congregations and denominations spend fortunes on elaborate buildings and call them Churches.

God has a different value system he would like to see imparted to His children.

Exo 20:25-26 GNB  If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for my use.  (26)  Do not build an altar for me with steps leading up to it; if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps.

God’s alter was to be of earth or un-cut stones, not dressed stones.  Furthermore, it was not to be high and imposing, none of these ingredients was necessary to bring honour and glory to God.  Instead, it would “expose” the worshippers, who in those days all wore what could be considered a “skirt”. 

We don’t wear “skirts” these days, but the principal seems to hold.  When we employ a worship system that requires us to be lifted up, we are exposed.

Mat 6:24 GNB  "You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

It is hard to not be attached to a grand building that you and your fellow believers have spent fortunes building and maintaining.  After a while, we end up serving what we have built, and not the kingdom of God.

This is not to say that all worship buildings are bad, that there is simply no use for them.  We as the body of Christ need to gather together and in a cold country like ours, this is impossible without 4 walls and base board heating.  The more we spend on the building however, the more “attached” we’ll be to it and the more it will demand from us.