Being the Church with a Little Help from James Smith

Who is the church to be? To whom are we to focus our attention, those within our borders, or those whom the Gospel has not yet reached? While the answer is clearly both, many North American churches (with the best of intentions) tend to sympathize with the latter. They focus on drawing bodies into the church in order that souls may be saved. Yet, often the cost of this emphasis is an appeal to popular culture. The Gospel is diluted in an effort to try and present it in an easy and coherent manner, with the hope of a quick conversion for the newcomers.

The more I study, the more I disagree with this approach. Duke theologian Stanley Hauerwas has said that when we translate the Gospel, we end up losing it entirely. We either accept the entirety of the Gospel, or none. The Gospel is not something that one can pick and choose.

The direct effect of such thoughts is that the church must look radically different from the popular culture. When one enters a church, they should be confronted with the reality that this is a community dedicated to the worship and service of the living God. 

In his book Who's Afraid of Postmodernism, James Smith lays out a brilliant example as to why he believes why such an approach should be normative for the church:

Worship, then, needs to be characterized by hospitality; it needs to be inviting. But at the same time, it should be inviting seekers into the church and its unique story and language. Worship should be an occasion of cross-cultural hospitality. Consider an analogy: When I travel to France, I hope to be made to feel welcome. However, I don't expect my French hosts to become Americans in order to make me feel at home. I don't expect them to start speaking English, ordering pizza, talking about the New York Yankees, and so on. Indeed, if I wanted that, I would have just stayed home! Instead, what I'm hoping for is to be welcomed into their unique French culture; that's why I've come to France in the first place. And I know that this will take some work on my part. I'm expecting things to be different; indeed. I'm looking for just this difference. So also, I think, with hospitable worship: seekers are looking for something our culture can't provide. Many don't want a religious version of what they can already get at the mall. And this is especially true of postmodern or Gen X seekers: they are looking for elements of transcendence and challenge that MTV could never give them. Rather than an MTVized version of the gospel, they are searching for the mysterious practices of the ancient gospel. - James K.A. Smith, Who's Afraid of Postmodernism, 78.

The church's task is not to make the Gospel intelligent to a newcomer upon a first reading. Rather, the Gospel is a story that is lived into. Smith continues:

The church is the stage where God's drama is played out; as such, we Christians have a responsibility to "act well," we might say, to faithfully play out the love of God in the church as a community of love and justice. Our storytelling should be supported by our story living. - Ibid., 79.

As the Church, we are to live into the story we have been given. In dying with Christ we are raised to new life in which we can dine at the feast of the lamb. In living into this narrative, we will be drawn deeper into the life of Christ. In being drawn deeper into the life of Christ, we will begin to affect change on the world in ways a seeker-sensitive approach simply is not capable of.
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If you're interested in more of my thoughts on the subject, click here.