Calgary Church – Join a movement….

It snowed yesterday in Calgary which was a bit weird. Not the face it snowed, but because I was out until mid-evening and the weather was calm. Shutting the blinds around 9PM to bare streets, then peaking through at 10:30, I was shocked to see 5 cms of snow blowing on my deck. In the morning I took a pic.

Being Sunday I got to thinking, "I wonder how many people skipped church on the account of a bit of snow?" I thought about it some more and then I decided to put down some ideas on how snow describes how most people 'do' church today.

Firstly, skipping church because of snow is a safety concern. No point wrecking your car in order to drive 20 minutes to church. But right here is an issue, why is your church 20 minutes away? I'm not digging commuters since we are a commuter city, but the fact is we're drawn to our communities of people and not geography (which is partly a good thing).

Unfortunately, gone are the days when church meant something for ITS community. Now it's all about what can be done for the people IN and not the people literally across the street (many big churches don't even exist in communities, they sit on the edge of a major highway and next to industrial or commercial buildings).

Secondly, combating snow days can be done by getting adherents more 'involved'. The more volunteers doing something the more committed they are, the more reason hey have to come to church (by choice or necessity). There was a time I'd drive through a blizzard to get to church, but then again that was more because I had something to do.

The good was being involved meant I had added incentive (or guilt) to show up. The bad was my volunteer job was the only thing drawing me in.

What about people who have no contribution on any given Sunday. 80% or more just show up to consume and don't contribute other than a bit of money in the plate. Personally I won't pick on these folks since I think they have known something for years that I'm just beginning to observe. Church is consumable product that is leveraged by church leaders as such.

I purposely used business terminology to describe church as 'product' which is 'consumed' by the 'consumer', because that's where most exist. This may be a harsh observation but it does bring me to my third idea.

The fact attendance drops by at least 30% on snow days suggests that the product isn't good enough to entice people to face the elements. Why is this an issue?

To me it's because most people who go to church do so based on what they get, not what they can give. The music, the sermon, the childcare, those things have to be good enough for repeat business. If they are only marginally good then impediments such as snow are big enough to prevent attendance.

Since every church invariably experiences drops on bad weather Sunday's we can conclude that the product is only average at best--the church offers only average spiritual highs.

Consumer church isn't inherently wrong, but I think it's wholly ineffective of accomplishing what churches are supposed to do--be a redemptive community for the community. Not a redemptive community for whoever shows up on Sunday, not a redemptive community for whoever wears particular denominational stripes, but a redemptive community for EVERYONE in the geographic community.

That community, when it gathers together, takes the chance to participate in worship not watch. They prayer together, eat together, maybe to sing together, and share together. Instead what we experience is a sit, watch, listen, go home routine.

(Church leaders in this predicament want people to do otherwise but they have to realise if we treat Sunday morning like a trip to the store we can't expect anybody to do anything other than consume.)

No wonder it's so easy for a bit of snow to get in the way, it's more fun to have brunch at home with your wife and kids then go and watch and average show with average people you might have a connection with.

Maybe I'm just cranky because of all the snow. What do you think? Is church too much like a store, or do you have a story about the strength of your community? Do share.