Authentic Church

I've been trying to piece together where and what 'Authentic' church is and see it as part of this amazingly postmodern buzzword ridden culture to be 'real' in its worship and life. and is part of the 'emerging' church' (EC).

For those of you who are as confused as I am at times,  I think that simply EC is basically:

"A 're-imagining' of church in ways that respond to the culture in which it finds itself."

I have to admit that I love 're-imagining' and also have to say that EC is not the new term that some bill it as as I remember EC being bandied about as a term back in the late eighties. We're trying to make church a reality in places and at times that have not traditionally (Sunday 10:30 & 6:30) been church times. This is of course not just about times but more about places and people and from it we get homogenous groups (birds of a feather pray together), people striving to be twee, cliched and avant garde (I know I'm cruel but some just engage in this because they just 'have to'). It's more than just trying to put 'Bums on Pews' (BOPs) but I still encounter people who try to live the field of dreams cliché of 'If you build it, they will come' because they build it and they obvious don't come! If there is a need (which might be identified by calling or by common sense - although I have done things that looked stupid because we felt the call and defying common sense, it flourished. (Perhaps God knows more than us?).

We 're-imagine' church (that is the living stones') in times and places that meet the needs of those who would be church. Out of this comes 'Fresh Expressions', (FE) which is, I think:

 "Church for a changing culture, established first and foremost for the benefit of those who don't do church in any shape size or form."

FE means that, having realised that Sunday is not a good day for many, other days and other ways of being 'Church' need to exist. This means that for some, our Wednesday 'thing' where we have people perhaps sitting on the floor and playing with their kids as we discuss life, the Bible passage we've read and share bread, wine and soup, is the only chance they might have all week to 'be church'.

Authentic church is merely yet another label, like 'emergent church', which has to exist because people like names for what they do. (Wait until we hit 'messy church') Mind you, I understand that EC is now coming to an end and that we will soon have a new name for it. So while we all sit and wait for this latest and greatest name here's a weird thought to ponder. . . .

Some geezers drop by and meet people who are interested in what they have to say about God and more specifically, God as revealed in His Son - Jesus. They get so interested that they have a bath and put on a new lifestyle and meet and share more about this Jesus stuff. They see weird things happening, like people's lives changing, healings and the like, and before you know it - they're in that place every evening discussing, sharing, praying for each other and seeing more people come. This just keeps on happening and soon they have to expand, or perhaps add more outlets, this is what emerging church is all about. And not only that, it's authentic too - especially as the bloke leading it up is an ex-religious type named Paul or perhaps an ex-fisherman by the name of Simon Peter.

Yep - emerging church, fresh expressions and doing church where the people are at times and places that enable them to come and 'be' church - obviously a postmodern thing ain't it? There is indeed nothing new under the sun and although we like to think we're being authentic, postmodern, freshly expressing, whatever - the reality is that wherever we can assist people to meet together, listen to the stories about Jesus and His mates, discover the love of a Creator (who is concerned and involved with His creation), break bread and be people who were once without a name but now bear the name above all names - that's about as authentic as you get!

Want to see a great example of this? Go find a copy of the book which tells of Arthur Blessitt's church on Sunset Strip (next door to a strip joint) and read of his work with the Hippies and the druggies and see that there and then, back in the 60's what authentic, emerging, relevant, accessible church was like.

Now, how do we do that for our culture in the place God has called us to be? (when you find out, please come and tell me).