Many churchgoers today attend old-fashioned church
services at traditional church buildings. These attendees usually enter historic-style
buildings decorated with colorful stained-glass windows, sit in long wooden
pews while organists or pianists play old-time classics. They join in the liturgy,
reciting Elizabethan English chants, sitting down and standing up when they
are told, as robed ministers solemnly perform religious ceremonies and rituals
in their midst. These churchgoers enjoy these centuries-old traditions because
it helps give them a sense of security; it gives them a grounding in the deep
and rich history of the Church (in an age of uncertainty and constant change),
while reminding them that the Church has been around for a very long time.
While there's nothing wrong with appreciating your history and the traditions
that have been passed down for generations, that doesn't mean that these traditional
churches and service styles are the best thing for the Church today. The plain
truth is that studies have shown that the vast majority of people don't like
traditional church services. Most people find them boring, and just can't appreciate
them or feel right participating in them. More importantly, these traditional
practices remove us from present-day reality, and create a false sense of spirituality.
We must engage our culture - not escape from it. True spirituality embraces
normal, mundane, everyday life and makes God a part of it.
Essentials of Style
Let's face it. A lot of what you see in a traditional church is not biblical.
Where in the Bible does it say that we should build church buildings? Where
does it say we should have stained-glass windows? Pews? Organs?
These traditional "externals" are
non-biblical, and therefore not essential to Christianity. If we don't
want traditional non-essentials to become a hindrance to the Good News, then
we must replace them with contemporary externals that are appropriate for our
local culture (for example, modern architecture instead of gothic; chairs instead
of pews; electric guitars instead of organs). We have a Good News message to
relay - not some traditionalist fashion statement. Let's not allow allegiances
to old traditional ways to get in the way of what we're really trying to say.
The McChurch Mentality (Western Imperialism)
McDonald's restaurants are well known all over the world for making a consistent
product. Whether you go to a McDonald's in New York, or in Saudi Arabia, the
cheeseburger will taste exactly the same. The Church seems to have taken a similar
mentality into church planting. For example, let's say a church based in Texas
makes an exact duplicate of its home building - all the way over in Africa -
complete with stained-glass, pipe organ and traditional hymns. Is this right??
No way! A typical white chapel in the middle of a mudhut village? Come on! The
Church needs to realize that these traditional externals are distinctively Western,
and Christianity and Western culture are not a package deal. Once a tribal native
becomes a Christian, he doesn't have to start wearing a suit, and start speaking
English, right? Of course not. The Church should allow and encourage the local
culture to dictate what the externals and practices should be.
The King James Version
The original King James Version (KJV)
may have been a great translation based on excellent sources. But today, it
presents an unnecssary obstacle for these reasons:
Why present this unnecessary hindrance to Christians and non-Christians alike? Those who only trust the KJV should switch to the New King James Version or some other modernized King James version.