This past weekend we had a few pagan bloggers come to my church (oh the horror!!!). They are the two writers that make up the new blog out of Portland titled Year of Sundays. Essentially they’re going to different churches around Portland every Sunday for the entire year. And they don’t hold back on any of their opinions.
Honestly, I love the whole concept. I love their raw honest look at church, I love their writing, and I love their ability to pick up on BS.
I was a little scared about what they might say about my church, because you never really know if what you desire to be about as a church translates to people who have little to no church background. To really get to know a church, a time and energy investment must be made. No one can fully see all that a church is or isn’t in an hour or two on a Sunday morning.
So even though I was a little scared, I was mostly looking forward to hearing their perspective. Most of church becomes about what appeals to “insiders” and very little thought goes into what it takes for the Christian faith as presented on a Sunday morning to translate to “outsiders” (I use quotes there because I hate the idea of inside and outside, like I am God and determine those things, they’re merely meant as gross generalizations to help you in understanding).
Here are some of the highlights for me of what Joel shared:
“Consider yourself forewarned. Sunset Presbyterian isn’t for bench warmers. Also, its sermons aren’t quite ready for prime time. Like any good megachurch, however, it is home to a well-rehearsed rock band and karaoke system.”
“Sure, the service was dry and Tex couldn’t give a straight, non-preachy answer my questions if I’d held a .44 magnum to his head. But these folks are trying to be better people, and they’ve found a like-minded to community in which to pursue that ideal.”
And here were my favorites of what Amanda wrote:
On the offering…I guess we use similar baskets (bags) as other churches they’ve visited: “I had to laugh again when the velvet bags went around the room. Is there a Jesus Supply Warehouse or something?”
Finally, the pastor summed up the day’s message by saying, “Maybe God’s tapping you on the shoulder and telling you to go to Uganda?” I turned to Joel and whispered, “What if God’s NOT tapping me at all, but I still want to go to Uganda.” “Check your meds.”
“Would I go back to Sunset? No. We just didn’t click. But I’ll tell you this: I am glad this church exists. Their members reek of kindness and generosity and I believe they do good work in the community and in the world. That’s pretty much all you can ask for.”
Take a look at their posts about my church home (Sunset) and then subscribe to their blog (Joel’s post // Amanda’s post).
One of the things worth thinking about is whether churches should plan their gatherings with non-Christians in mind or not.
I fully believe most churches have people who would not call themselves Christians in their midst every weekend.
But should churches change their focus on weekend gatherings for non-Christians or not? Why?
(Maybe a better way to think of this is…if you knew Joel and Amanda were coming to your church on Sunday, would you do something different? If so, why not change that right now?)
