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The key to Church growth is selfishness

Friday, October 11

"Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More" - the mission of a Church without God

A Godless Church
It's been quite the news story in Christian circles over the past week. The Godless church known as the 'Sunday Assembly' has been meeting since January in London, and congregations have subsequently popped up all over the world. But in one week I was suddenly exposed to a news story, a humorous rant and an interesting interview with one of the founders.


Now I am not generally one for being fussy about language use, but the word Church in this context did start to annoy me after a while. Now, I don't particularly mind using the word 'bible' to speak about any large weighty tome (I love my curry bible) or refer to someone as 'evangelical' if they are always telling me why I should sample the best coffee they've ever tasted. These words have fairly neutral meanings with Christian associations attached to them ('evangelical' simply means to present a positive message). But the word we use for a Christian assembly: Church, is through-and-through Christian in history and etymology.

It's not a 'Church'
The word Church derives from the Greek word Kuriakos (κυριακός) which means "a thing belonging to the Lord". It is used rarely in the New Testament but here's an example:
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s [κυριακῇ] day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet" Rev 1:10
So you can probably see how this word became eventually useful in describing a Christian assembly? Just as a day can belong to God, so a group of believers can also belong to the Lord. And so the word Kuriakos travelled from it's Greek home, across the Germanic nations (German Church = Kirche) and ended up in English sounding like the word Church.

So whilst the Greek word is never used in the New Testament as a collective term for people worshipping the Lord (the word for that most often is Ecclesia (ἐκκλησία)) it is still, in its very essence, a God-focussed word. Anyone attempting to create a community that celebrates the godless life, should really start by disassociating themselves from this word.

From the recent Guardian article

It's not even 'like a church'
Whilst their most appropriate response to my little rant would be "who cares!" since very little people know the root meaning of the word church, and they are merely using it to help people understand their initiative by loose word association (so they can say: "you know church? well its like that but without God"). For me the meaning of the word Church in this context, highlights a flaw in their basic concept which may see them struggle to endure. The word church basically means belonging to the Lord. A Christian community use it to tell the world that they belong to Jesus, and that is what holds them together. But what is holding this community together? What shared cause do they all belong to?

Their website proclaims that the Sunday Assembly revolves around the following mission: "to help everyone find and fulfil their full potential". This is immediately very personal and subjective. It will change radically depending on the dynamics of the group or as soon as someone decides they have a different aim in life. It is a constantly moving goalpost which will surely give them no lasting sense of achievement. They are apparently held together by their own individual desires for self-contentment. Doesn't seem promising.

And their stated vision is "a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one". Only the places that want one! I find that ridiculously absent of any hope or conviction. The shared cause they all belong to is expanding their community but only with the people who have a like minded disposition towards the same experience. It's communal self-contentment for the already self-content. It's preaching to the converted, which doesn't seem promising either.

But this 'Church' is growing
And at an incredible rate. And whether this is a flash in the pan or whether it will last, I have no idea. But I have a peculiar feeling that they might actually see growth for quite some time. For whilst they don't seem to have anything tangible that is keeping them unified on the surface, what they have managed to do is legitimise 'communal selfishness'. People are gathering together, in order to help themselves. The founder of the 'Sunday Assembly' was asked in the interview about what motivates an atheist to make a change in society, especially if this temporary life is all they have. She struggled for an answer and said quite vaguely that a selfish life is "just horrible" and then finally said that "by helping others you're actually helping yourself". So even their rationale for helping others is essentially self-serving and... they are perfectly happy with that!

Conclusion
How critical can I be without being hypocritical? How many times has an actual 'Church' sought growth through the same temptation: by appealing to people's selfish desire for personal satisfaction. How often have I attempted to make the Gospel sound appealing by coating it in "this will make your life better" language, as if it wasn't all about Jesus being King of the whole world.

So it would seem, the key to any Church growth is selfishness. You need to get people to believe that your community holds the key to their personal life satisfaction. Promote that far and wide and you will probably rope in a fair amount of people. But then it really isn't Church is it; the Lord does not own that community. At best it ends up being a member owned co-operative. In reality it will possibly end up serving the needs of the charismatic leaders that are running it and trying so hard to keep everyone together.

No, the key to 'real Church' growth is inevitably tied up in what the word actually means: "Belonging to the Lord". A community recognising his Lordship, and being his servants regardless of how personally satisfying it is. It might not get as many numbers but at least you'll be able to use the word 'Church' and sleep at night.


(Note: the top picture comes from the Sunday Assembly's public Facebook 
page)

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