What would the church look like if it didn’t use a stage? What if there were no places set up for believers to face forward each week? During Jesus’ three-year ministry he traveled around for many different reasons. Though he may have been upfront where all could see, did things ever even appear staged? Did the apostles or the earlier church ever build a stage where they came back week after week to wow the masses?
What’s wrong with watching a great concert, or listening to a motivational sermon? Nothing! But does a church need to regularly meet as an audience? No! Did the church leave its house church participative gatherings to return to a Synagogue style service? I don’t know. If so, when? I do know that the church can leave the stage behind. I’m not sure if it would even miss it!
I would like to give a salute to churches with a stage. Prior to starting this discussion I want to put it out clearly that I don’t see church services as a bad thing. I’m not trying to convince those having a stage that what they do is wrong or even inferior to the direction my own practice has taken. If any bitterness comes out in this discussion it is my own personal problem, and is also probably unrelated to the topic.
I’ve always loved going to church and could not understand why others didn’t. Whether it was listening to preaching , singing hymns, or listening to special music; Here, though, are a few things I’ve encountered that have swayed me off that path and onto a journey away from spectator Christianity.
House Churches – When I was born my family was having church in our basement. Though I remember the last remaining pew and the old piano downstairs, the services are not in my memory. I do remember after-church meals and get-togethers in our home and basement. My parents understood home ministry. I also remember a few private weddings and even a Halloween party. This is all to say that churches functioning in homes is nothing new. World wide there are hundreds of thousands of them. In Western culture, though, the church and sitting toward the stage are still inseparable ideas. Many home churches functions as churches with stages, not being very different or at all different from a traditional church.Primitivism – Many groups state that modeling after the church in the New Testament is their goal. For some groups that means having apostles as their leaders, for others it means everyone drinks from the same cup at communion time. There is a seemingly infinite number of questions and topics that get addressed by primitivist Christians. Can you have church buildings at all, etc.? While some of this can seem silly or even divisive, where else do we look to establish our practices? Whether you choose to use a stage or not is not an ethical issue. Sitting in a circle, though, can affect communication,Religiosity – I cannot seem to separate my own struggle with religiosity and spectator Christianity. Religiosity is that self-focused view of things that looks for God’s approval by performance. Or even worse yet it may just be looking for praise from men.Free Churches - These churches choose to value separation from secular government. Europe was dominated by government established or controlled churches that spawned resistance among many Christians that desired a freer polity. Whole denominations of Free churches arose in Great Britain because of this tension. For others free just means being able to function without govt. intervention. China’s free church movement is another intentional form that avoids the harmful doctrines in govt. In the US , this was greatly reversed by the invention of non-profit status. Some see it as a gift/blessing for church while others see it as a bait/curse to take away freedom to follow Christ teachings. A free church would be unincorporated.Other points to examine – materialistic waste of resources that could be used as missionary or relief funds, an enslaved clergy, staged healing, lies about discipleship, and the doctrine of numbers.
This is Tom Powell´s discussion. (I like it to post).
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