A Tale of Two Churches

This is just a little personal rant into one of my pet peeves.

On Friday in our Group Communications class we had a guest speaker who I believe was from Quail Springs church of Christ. He was there to talk about small group communication and what creates the communication gaps. These gaps, he said are caused by cultural differences.

He illustrated his point with an excerpt about two "churches" from The Shaping of Things to Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. The stories both took place in countries of "Western culture" but there are still cultural differences between that of the U.S. and the rest of the "West." Here are the excerpts:

Recently it was reported that a congregation in a small ural town in Australia had taken an innovative step towards approaching its community. A Melbourne newspaper announce, 'Patrons of the Hamilton Hotel will soon be offered a spirit of a different kind. In an unusual conversion, the town's Baptist congregation--who are teetotalers--have taken over one of the six pubs.' The Hamilton community watched in amazement as the pub, located on the main street opposite the post office, was bought by the Baptists and renovated into a church and conference center. Its front bar was turned into a recreation area for young people and its dance area was rebuilt into a chapel and meeting room. The bar was transformed into a coffee bar, the old pub now becoming and alcohol-free building.

On the other side of the planet, in the English town of Bradford, another pub has been transformed by Christians. The Cock & Bottle is a yellow, two-story English pub at the the bottom of the street on the corner of Bradford's inner ring road. Two years ago it was rented by the Bradford Christian Pub Consortium. Bradford is a hardscrabble working-class town. It has been noted in recent times for its racial conflict and street violence. But the Cock & Bottle represents a place of sanctuary and solace. Malcolm Willis has been employed by the consortium to manage the pub and he and his wife live upstairs above the bar... The Willises and their staff (all Christians) have set about creating a loving, welcoming environment, where locals are cared for, listened to, and ministered to, says Willis. "Initially, many won't accept talking about Jesus. Maybe after you've listened to them ten or twenty times--which can be exhausting--they might say, 'Can you pray for me?' And then see things happen."

The speaker went on to ask us which approach we were more comfortable with, to which most of the class answered the first one. Then he asked us which one we thought would be more successful. It was unanimous, the second one would be.

We need to be more willing to get outside of our comfort zones and "go into all the world" (Matt. 28:19) to reach people. Recreation centers and "Christian hangouts" are great, but they don't reach people. We have to go to where the people are and bring them to Christ. Very rarely is someone saved because they wonder into a church building during a Sunday morning service.

Jesus lived this principle and we should follow his example. He walked with sinners. He ate with sinners. He died with sinners.