Jan 03 2009
the core events of the church
I have been wondering lately what are the core events of the life of the church. What kinds of events ought we expect from every church in all times and what kinds of events are more tied to the form of the church or the culture it inhabits.
Is a weekly “worship service” necessary? What should Christian worship look like anyway?
Are outreach events considered core events? (Certainly outreach is, but what about big events designed for outreach?)
Are teaching events something that every church should have? (Again, I am not asking if teaching should happen, I am asking if its should happen in events.)
Of course churches will have lots of good programming that is beyond core programming but since programming decisions always involve hard choices with limited resources of time and money, it is worth asking what kinds of events lie at the core of the church and what are occasional (even if important) expressions of its mission at a particular cultural moment.
I am choosing the word “core” carefully. I am not trying to come with a list of essentials. I don’t want to say that every church will have these events and if a given church licks these events they are less than ideal. On the other hand it would not surprise me if we could discern a rough handful of events that are so deeply tied to the mission and purpose of God church that they are core events.
I am also choosing the word events with some care. I don’t mean to pretend that the forms of these events will be static. On the contrary, I would specifically expect that they forms of these events would need to be redeveloped at least every other generation if not more frequently.
To get started, I will turn to the New Testament. Let’s wander through it together and see what kinds of events are described on its pages. That list may not be the whole answer (as I will soon discuss) but it certainly is an important part of the answer.
I hope that many who care about the church and the programming of the church might join me in this conversation. I’ll start with a comment about the dangers of biblicism and then we will get rolling with the first few chapters of Acts.
on the walk
-Ethan
