Large segments of the contemporary church are stuck, as in the mud. The church has developed its own little box from which is cannot escape. It cannot escape in part because it does not want to escape. It does not know it needs to escape. It cannot recognize that there is a brand new (and better) world out there.
Let me share an illustration (partially borrowed, but I don’t know the original source) from the world of information technology (IT) and computers. If you use a computer, you probably know about freeware as opposed to the software programs you have to buy. Software development communities produce Open Source software (the Linux operating system is an example), then give the software and the source code away. This approach to software development seems weird in our consumer culture. Why would people contribute time, talents, energy and resources simply to give the product away for free? Isn’t there a lot of money to be made by restricting software access? Isn’t Bill Gates rich? Isn’t the stuff you pay for better than the stuff you can get for free?
This presents an interesting question: Why do people continue to pay hundreds of dollars for operating systems when they can get Linux free of charge? What compels us to spend money on commercial Office Suite software when Open Office is free? Answer: We are uncomfortable with things that go against the dominant thinking of our consumer culture. We are taught to spend money and expect a product in return. We think quality is somehow directly proportional to the amount of money invested. We have been taught to focus on the product. What if we focused on the process instead of the product?
The MAC vs. PC debate is fun. Last year, Oklahoma Christian went from providing students Dell products loaded with Microsoft products to Apples. You may get more frills with the latest gizmos and gadgets and you may also provide what students think they want (consumer demand driven), but having either does not make one a better computer user. Some people in the computer world approach things differently. Those who develop Linux want to create passionate contributors to the project instead of passive consumers of a product. As a result, Linux users need to know a little bit more about their computer’s history, architecture and hardware and how it all works together to take full advantage of the benefits Linux offers. The ultimate goal of the Linux development process is not to create a better operating system–that is a byproduct. The real aim is to create a growing software development community populated with better computer users, programmers, developers, and contributors. The strength of that community rests in creating an open, collaborative environment that allows people to contribute in multiple ways to this ongoing process.
Thanks for sticking with me to this point. To paraphrase Paul after a lengthy discourse on marriage and husband-wife relationships in Ephesians 5, I am speaking about the church. Two options exist in the contemporary church world. The choice is counter intuitive. We are tempted to make the wrong decision. Let me describe the choice this way: There is the pre-packaged version that you have to pay for, and then there is the free version (grace and all).
There is a consumer version and a participating version. There is the let someone else do it version, and there is a version that demands your involvement. There is a product version of church, and there is a process version of church.
For years, our world has told us that the former approach is the better one. Wrong! The biblical approach is the latter one. Church is not pre-packaged, already thought out, performance for spectators, feel good entertainment. Church is about you and God. Participation and involvement are mandatory. Church is daily. Church is a process. You never quite arrive. You never wrap your hands around the product and say, “I’ve got it.” Church is not about a product—whether salvation, or the precise duplication of a first century model. Christianity is about thoughtful worship, meaningful prayers, committed lives, and Christian people. The goal at church is to develop better Christians, better Bible students, more benevolent caring people, more intimate fellowship, more open ways for everyone to answer the call of God in their lives.