"I consider myself to be on the fringe of church and I'm not even sure if I'm the right kind of man you're looking for?"

An interesting response to a question that I’d posed at a recent men's weekend session that I facilitated.  The 'man' in question went on to share his fears/concerns as to why people might choose to remain on the fringe rather than make the commitment that from his perspective at least we (that is the people within the church) want him to make.

"I think of church being like the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang..." he continued to startled onlookers in the group, "...they seduce and tempt you in with exciting events and activities and then when they've got you in, wham! that's it, you're now a part of us.  The metaphorical gate comes crashing down and you have to conform to their way of doing things and the events disappear without trace."

I have never heard of or even considered church being like that, and yet when you think about it, it kind of makes perfect sense doesn't it?  If you've grown up within a 'typical' church background then culturally there probably seems nothing wrong with asking a new believer to conform to the pattern of meetings and worship that you've been used to for years.  After all 'that's the way it's always been done!'

When James wrote about faith and deeds he absolutely didn't mean that when someone becomes a Christian they have to then conform to your cultural way of life.  This is one of the reasons that fresh expressions of church have appeared and evolved.  People don't necessarily want a formal, life as we know it, chapel and the club - style church.  And if being a Christian and having faith is exciting and challenging it needs to be for everyone which is why Baptist churches for example can be diverse and different.

So what about your church? Do you pretend to be something different than you really are when you put on events?  Do you fall into the 'child catcher' category or does your intentional mission activity reflect a little bit of church life in practice?

I'm encouraged that almost 2000 years ago the emerging church had similar challenges with culture.  In Acts chapter 15 Peter affirms that salvation comes when a persons heart has been cleansed by faith.  For Peter the last word does not go to culture but to God and so it should be with us.   The God who sends the Holy Spirit onto His people has already revealed what really matters!