The Trek. Journey. Expedition. Imagio Dei. Solomon’s Porch. Mars Hill. If your church doesn’t have a cool name today, you might as well lock up the doors and call it quits. Seriously though, if you were thinking about naming your new church “First Baptist” or “Parkville Methodist”, you might want to rethink that decision. Emerging churches, for the most part, have chosen “non traditional” names that express their mission statement more than their location or denomination. Often, you are left scratching your head at exactly what their name means (especially when they chose Latin names, tre chic). People have been in emerging churches for months before realizing that they are actually in a Assemblies of God or Baptist church!
To continue our series on the Emerging Church, we must look BEHIND all the names to see what the movement is expressing, so that we don’t miss something key for church development. A common complaint about the Seeker and mega church model is that is more about form than it is about the function of the church. Change was needed, but these models only changed musical styles, preaching strategies, and the look of the church. Coffee bars and trendy bookstores can’t be what Jesus had in mind for His reformation. The names these new churches have chosen represent their desire to address the functional changes needed, putting the focus on the gift instead of the gift wrapping. At first glance, you would assume that these hip names are continuing the marketing strategies of the church, but in reality, they are distancing themselves from that.
Most people use Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well to talk about how Jesus brought reform to worship. While it is true that worship is mentioned, the core of the issue is more in line with the function over form argument. The woman wants to know if the Jews in Jerusalem have the correct form of worship, or if she can continue in her Samaritan’s traditions and location. The Jews had the Second Temple, Levitical priests, and their worship was located on Mount Zion. The Samaritans had their own temple on Mount Gerizim, had created their own priesthood, and carried out sacrifices in their own way. Jesus as always gives much more than a simple answer to her question in John 4:21-24.
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The place and form of worship was not what was important here, it was how they worshiped. Led by the Holy Spirit and grounded in the truth was the key for worship, not just in the New Covenant, but the Old as well. Both the Jews and the Samaritans had lost sight of this.
What does this have to do with function over form? My conclusion is that if we as the church are worshiping in Spirit and truth, then you will see that evidenced in how we live our lives both inside and outside of our church meetings. The church functions as a body of encouragement and fellowship if we are living in the Spirit and applying the truth of God’s Word (1 Corinthians 12 – 14). Empowered and guided by the Spirit, we can not help but to share the witness of Jesus as the early church did after Pentecost (Acts 1 -2). You can change from Gerizim to Jerusalem, use Jewish or Samaritan music, or even create a new position of leadership, and still not address WHAT the church is supposed to actually do when they gather and go out into the world.
I realize that the context of this discussion is deeper when you consider how the Samaritans were disobeying many Old Testament laws in their worship (building another temple, creating own priesthood, syncretism with idolatry), which makes it even more impactful how Jesus steers His reformation. He wasn’t interested in making worship more “Jewish” or “Samaritan”, He was wanting a “race-less” church that was more well known for their adherence to the truth and fruit of the Spirit. The Emerging church is trying for the most part to cut through to that question, and not just respond to the latest poll findings. A cool church name looks great on a coffee mug and t-shirt, but if it doesn’t represent a body of believers actively building each other up and reaching out to the lost, it is just another form gimmick. I am still working on my own idea for a church name, but can’t get beyond “Bunch of Jesus People”. Pretty cool, huh?
The Bible Nerd 