Reclaiming the Story

As a child, one of my favourite Sunday school games was the Bible sword drill.  Everyone in the

class would stand around a table with Bibles raised up in the air.  Our teacher would call out a Scripture passage and we would all make a mad dash for the verse.  The first student to find the verse would read it out loud for everyone to hear.  Once the verse had been read everyone closed their Bibles and prepared for the next verse to be called out.  Reflecting on these Sunday school “games” and other activities such as Bible memory work or attempting to retell a Bible story through simple skits, I have grown in appreciation for what my teachers, working in concert with my parents and indeed the entire church, were trying to accomplish through those noisy, fun filled activities.  The church was engaged in the work of building the foundations of a story – God’s story – in the lives of the children of the church.

While this is perhaps a familiar anecdote for many who have been nurtured in the church, changes within our dominant culture offer new challenges as well as opportunities in reclaiming what it means to be the church.  One of the hallmarks of change in our culture has been the removal (or perhaps slow dissolving?) of any sort of guiding meta-narrative – a story that gives order and meaning to life. As a result, the central meta-story of Christian faith is often missing from the faith experience of those who call themselves regular worship attenders – even if “regular” means only once or twice in a month. The Gospel (good news) has itself been pushed to the fringes as the church has struggled for a response to a changing worldview. At the same time, this shift in our culture presents a God ordained opportunity to radically proclaim our foundation in Jesus Christ. 

As Rick Barger suggests, “the treasure of the church is its story.”[1]  I believe it is critical that the church develop a renewed emphasis on training and equipping the saints (discipleship) to reclaim the story of God.  We have been invited to live, speak and work from the fringes of society. It is an opportunity as much as it is a challenge if we allow this shift to be directed by the Holy Spirit.

Sociologists such as Émile Durkheim have long argued that this decline of the church was inevitable.[2]  As Durkheim suggests, religion is necessary to encapsulate the moral values and collective beliefs of the community.[3]  As a result, in an era of ardent individualism and a denial of any sort of meta-narrative some argue that the community of the church is becoming irrelevant.  Yet, at the same time the 2011 National HouseholdSurvey reported that 67% of Canadians identified themselves as Christian in some form or fashion, suggesting that Christianity still has a significant following. If you couple this finding with the incredible popularity of all sorts of social media sites, it becomes apparent that authentic community – and even Christian community – is still very much desired and sought after.

Of course we cannot allow census findings and surveys to alleviate our concern over the present condition of the church.  Even with a majority claiming a Christian identity we can no longer assume that even those in the church have a basic understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Private interpretation of scripture has led to the formation of privatized religion in which individuals interpret the Biblical text in light of “my experience,” divorced from any historical context or communal story.

Unfortunately, all too often discussions around the identity, purpose, direction or response of the church to the challenges of culture turn to the question of style. We ask whether a change to more contemporary music, a change in venue, or even a change in worship service times might be the answer.  When we face financial challenges we ask people to dig deeper in hopes that we might just need to weather a short storm. These may have been the solutions that worked during the height of Christendom when the place of the church in society was unquestioned. But this is clearly no longer the case.

Marva Dawn suggests that the question the church must ask is, “what kind of people are our worship services forming?”[5]  From the earliest family stories of Genesis in the remembrance of the faithfulness of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and continuing on in Deuteronomy 26 where Moses calls upon the people of Israel to remember where they have come from, the answer to the question of formation has been the story.  It is this story of the ongoing faithfulness of God in guiding the church which must be reclaimed and taught to the generations of Christians coming to terms with the effects post-Christendom is having upon the experience of the church.

In the Great Commission of Matthew 28, Christ invites the church to be focussed on the task of making disciples.  The Apostle Paul takes this a step further in Ephesians 4 when he suggests that the primary task of church leadership is to equip the saints for ministry in the world. Now, worship is not goal oriented in and of itself. However, for the church to reclaim its story, worship must at least for a time be a part of the equipping process, educating worshippers in the practice of worshipping God.  Worship directed toward God, with the story of God at its centre, will play a significant role in equipping the saints for ministry in the world.

The primary educative vehicle in worship is the sermon, but the task of equipping is not limited to the sermon alone, but rather involves all aspects of worship. As Marva Dawn writes, “worshipping is indeed a trained skill, especially in a culture that is consumer oriented.  To move people away from the worship of themselves and various idolatries pervading our society requires a deliberate educative practice.”[6]  Isolated individuals cannot be the body of Christ in the world; it requires a community rooted in the story.

To be the church is to understand that we are called out from the world and into a radically new way of life that is shaped by the ongoing story of community. This being called out is a deliberate move away from the individualism of our post-modern societal context. The goal and necessary function of the church in this context is to engage in the transformation of individuals and cultures inviting them into the story of Jesus Christ. Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19, NIV), points the church in the direction of its equipping task.  As Christians gathered in a community shaped by the story of God, we are the visible signs of the new covenant that God has made with the world through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. For example, when we break bread in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper we are reminded of our calling to care for the poor, to eliminate class distinctions, and love our neighbour as we remember the suffering of Jesus.

Acknowledging that the ongoing life of the church is rooted in the story reminds us that we have a history.  This history is still unfolding and developing with each new generation through the passing on of the story of Scripture. In turn, the story itself provides us with the tools and the symbols that shape our identity and inform how we engage our world. Within this dynamic history we are shaped by the grammar and language of the story.  Words such as love, service, and forgiveness speak to us of the way in which we relate to the world, how we respond to the needs of others, and the way in which we mediate conflict.

All of this and more is accomplished when the body of Christ worships together. Liturgy or worship is the primary responsibility of the church because it is through worship that people are capable of entering into relationship with God. Hearing the story preached, prayed, sung, and taught we learn and relearn what it means to be a Christian. We get to know and understand more of God through a living, dynamic relationship in worship with other Christians. We come face to face with the inherited symbols of Christianity, such as the cross or the bread and cup, whose meaning is no longer self-evident in our cultural context. Through engagement in worship we are educated into understanding and responding to the significance of these symbols.

By its very nature worship is radically life encompassing. Worship enables Christians to see the world as it really is and equips us to live in it and respond to it. Unfortunately, a legacy of Christendom that remains to this day is that the church has been relegated to the role of chaplain, invited to respond to spiritual needs only when called upon, which has in effect placed limits upon the church in the way it responds to the initiative and activity of God. Breaking out of this mould requires considerable courage because it often carries with it the label of fringe radicalism or dismissal as an irrelevant relic of Christendom. We should not deny that this tension exists, but rather welcome it, cultivating the tension as a way of opening ourselves up to the possibilities of what God in Christ through the Holy Spirit is doing today.

The question remains however, in a societal context in which knowledge of God, Scripture, and the life encompassing practice of worship is decreasing to a point relative to illiteracy, how will the church continue to invite future generations to participate in the ongoing story of the people of God?

First of all we must acknowledge that there is no “once-for-all” formula to follow. Discernment is an ongoing task as we seek to faithfully live out our calling as the church. Alan Roxburgh goes so far as to suggest that the language of exile and diaspora may serve us most effectively in this time of transition as we reclaim the story of who we are as the people of God.[7]  Secondly, we must acknowledge that to a large degree the leadership of the church has not been trained for this task.  Loren B. Mead has noted that when he left seminary he was trained to be “the minister” but he very quickly realized that what the church needed was a leader who would equip the saints to be “ministers” in the world.[8]  In essence the present leadership of the church needs to find a way to shift its focus from ministering to the needs of those who find their way into the church, to a primary task of equipping those same persons for the ministry challenges they will experience once they exit the building in which the church has gathered to worship.  This task of relearning the ministering assignment can be achieved, but it will require a significant measure of humility among both the congregation and its leadership as we become novices once again, relearning the practices of the church at worship.

The pedagogical task of worship renewal is not intended to reinvent the church.  Rather, as Thomas Troeger has suggested, the most faithful way to live in and respond to a pluralistic age such as post-modernity, is not to deny our tradition, but to re-examine and learn how our tradition can inform our engagement with the world.[9]
 

I suggest that this pedagogical reclamation of the story should begin in three main areas:

1)      The first is a ritualistic return to the four-fold practice of congregational worship.  Anthropologists, albeit from a purely technical perspective, understand religious ritual as performing the significant function of reinforcing group or community solidarity.[10]  The four-fold practice of worship invites worshippers to: (1) enter the presence of God, (2) hear God speak, (3) celebrate God’s faithfulness either at the communion table or in the sharing of community, and finally it (4) sends the worshippers out into the world as ministers and servants of the gospel.[11]  Within this ancient practice we have the basis of content and structure which can faithfully inform all else that we wish to accomplish in the worship life of the church.  This requires the leadership of the church to engage the task of explaining and teaching the importance of each step in this practice, which will also serve the purpose of educating the faithful in the form, practice and theological significance of the worship life of the church.  All manner of style and artistic expression can be incorporated into this basic form which in itself tells the story of God’s faithfulness in guiding the people of God.

2)      The second step in a pedagogical approach to worship renewal is reclaiming the language of faith – or the language of the story.  This is about inviting the church to explore and learn again the themes of sin, judgement, salvation, atonement and discipleship – among others – with the goal of communicating these crucial themes as a part of the good news of the gospel. It might even be helpful for the church to reclaim the use of the creed in the worship life of the church. Whether it is the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed (or another creed perhaps even one written by the local congregation) – these affirmations of faith have served the church for centuries in helping to sustain identity and unity in the obedience of the church to God and its service to the world. As Nicholas Lash suggests, “What the Scriptures say at length, the Creed says briefly.”[12]

There are those, particularly in Mennonite Church circles, who may offer the argument that we should highlight our strengths in hymnology and the making of music as ways in which we can introduce these same creedal themes into the worship life of the church.  While I agree that this can be accomplished through appropriate musical selection, I am cautious in turning to music as a primary pedagogical tool because of the already too divisive history of the worship wars fought over contemporary or traditional music style.  While the intent may be to introduce strong theological themes, discussions of music – in my experience at least – quickly become struggles over style.  Secondly, I believe the church already has a wealth of musical resources and rather than add to this base, a pedagogical approach would seek to limit the repertoire – for a time – in order for the church to learn again what it means to “sing to the Lord in a strange land” (Psalm 137).

3)      The third step in a pedagogical approach to worship renewal is a move toward intentional mentorship or catechumenal training of those entering into the worshipping community, but also for those who have worshipped all their lives and may have lost sight of the story.  It has been proven time and again that most people come to faith in Christ as a result of their friendship with a Christian. If this is indeed the case, gospel proclamation needs to be incarnated in the individuals who make up the worshipping community. In essence, every Christian needs a Paul (someone I can learn from), Barnabas (someone to keep me accountable), and Timothy (someone who I am discipling/mentoring/”teaching the story”).

There is already a wealth of ecumenical resources available to the church to achieve this end.  A significant example of this is the Roman Catholic Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). The RCIA program models itself after the catechumenal mentorship of the early church in which the individual, together with a sponsor, enters an extended period of intense instruction on the worship practices and doctrines of the church. Building upon the RCIA model, this intense instruction could be modified to incorporate the educational and doctrinal specifications of any denomination and in the process foster a sense of understanding and respect across denominational lines (Yet another initiative the church needs to spend more time encouraging – the dialogue and education across denominational lines).

A pedagogical approach to worship renewal is both possible and necessary in the ongoing worship and ministry of the church in our current cultural context.  I have suggested beginning with the ancient four-fold practice of worship, reclaiming the language of the story, and focussing on catechumenal instruction.  This is by no means exhaustive.  Whether it is through simple Bible sword drills in Sunday school or through elaborate instructional programs such as RCIA, as the church seeks to reclaim its meta-story we need to be on the constant lookout for ways to educate the saints in order to equip all of us for the central task of declaring the gospel good news of Jesus Christ.  This is not a narrow focus on ensuring that doctrines and beliefs are passed on in the most orthodox manner possible.  Rather this is a process wrapped up in enlightening and expanding the capacity of every child of God to experience as well as extend the grace and mercy of God. Ignoring this teaching opportunity may well result in the church continuing to expend too much energy on those who already attend – meeting their needs, but failing to equip disciples to move beyond themselves and the “sanctuary” that the church has become in the vestiges of Christendom. Our dominant culture has already and will continue to bring significant challenges to the worship life of the people of God, but I firmly believe that this is also a glorious opportunity to reclaim the true nature of the church as rooted in the story. 

May God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, lead, guide and equip His church to this end.

(Adapted and revised from a paper I wrote, March 24, 2008)

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                [1] Rick Barger, A New and Right Spirit: Creating an Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture, with a forward by Mark Allan Powell (Herndon, Virginia: The Alban Institute, 2005), 21.

            [2] Reginald W. Bibby, Restless Gods: The Renaissance of Religion in Canada (Toronto: Stoddart Publishing Co. Limited, 2002), 228.

                [3] Daniel G. Bates and Elliot M. Fratkin, Cultural Anthropology, 3d ed (Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003), 404.

                [5] Marva J. Dawn, A Royal “Waste” of Time: The Splendor of Worshipping God and Being Church for the World (Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 69.

                [6] Ibid, 133.

                [7] Alan Roxburgh, “Missional Leadership: Equipping God’s People for Mission,” Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, Darrell L. Guder, ed. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 199.

                [8] The Once and Future Church, The Alban Institute, 2001, videocassette.

                [9] Thomas H. Troeger, Preaching While the Church is Under Reconstruction: The Visionary Role of Preachers in a Fragmented World (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999), 58.

                [10] Daniel G. Bates and Elliot M. Fratkin, Cultural Anthropology, 3d ed (Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2003), 409.

                [11] Robert E. Webber, Blended Worship: Achieving Substance and Relevance in Worship (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1996), 36.

[12] Nicholas Lash, Believing Three Ways in One God: A Reading of the Apostles’ Creed (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993), 8.