Students of political history will remember the Clinton campaign phrase from 1992: "It's about the economy, stupid!" Likewise, for the last decade many in the contemporary church world have worked under the stratagem, "It's about the weekend, stupid!" Even though some churches would argue that this is not their philosophy, one only has to look at where the vast majority of their resources are spent to know that whether it's stated or not, it's really all about the weekend.
On Monday, Catablog interviewed Tony Morgan, Director of Ministries at West Ridge Church near Atlanta. Anyone who has followed Tony over the years knows that he is outspoken about the leadership environment of the mega-church environment. Last March Tony wrote Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musings on Leadership. In Cockroaches, Morgan argues that church leaders don't have to do everything, The key, he writes, is to play to your strengths while building a team around you to make up for your weaknesses.
In Monday's interview with Catablog, Tony talked candidly about the very consumer driven culture of the weekend service in many American churches today. He admits that outward focused churches must start with the consumer mindset, but it must not stop there.
If the weekend service experience isn’t intentional, people who are still consumers will not stay engaged. We can present the Gospel, but they won’t be there to hear it. We can challenge people to become fully-devoted followers of Christ, but they won’t be there to hear that challenge.
That said, there’s a danger if we assume the weekend service is the only component of a discipleship strategy. Primarily, that’s an issue because it’s not God’s design for spiritual growth. Corporate worship and teaching is one component, but it’s not the only component.
Morgan goes on to list four strategic "next steps" his church currently offers, including online assessments, daily devotionals, group connections, and life care support.
At Church Requel we are at a very early stage in our development, with only four months under our belt since our first public service. But I think this advice from Tony Morgan is worth remembering. We are never going to fully accomplish our mission of being a community loving God and loving people if our entire focus is on the weekend.
Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle is famous for (among other things) talking about the need for both the air war and the ground war. Strategically the church needs a fantastic weekend experience where a new person can come and hear the gospel of Christ in a most engaging way. Everything that goes into that weekend experience would be considered the air war, similar to "shock and awe" in the Iraqi war. But the war cannot be won without troops on the ground. There needs to be a follow up, a means of engaging people one-on-one in discipleship. Church Requel will succeed in its mission only to the extent that we can do both well.
