While I’m thinking out loud here’s another one…

Church – how important is it that we have everyone in one place at one time?

Why do I ask?

Well, looking around my neighbourhood it seems like to make that happen is going to be tricky. The core issues are:

shift work – some people cannot meet at the same times as others to start with
small kids – there is a limit to when / where you can meet with kids
extremely long and erratic working hours – some people see their one ‘day off’ as untouchable – is that bad?

Could church be as simple as 3 blokes meeting together in a lounge room/pub/café? Could it be as simple as two families having a meal together?

Is that church?

Perhaps the question is what happens when they get together because two families who are not Christians can hang together and that obviously would not be church and three blokes can have a beer any day.

But if we meet the criteria for a ‘Christian gathering’ then could we call it church, if there is no minister present, no offering taken etc?

I think the answer theologically is ‘yes’. It is church if we come together in Jesus name to worship, share life, learn from the scriptures, pray etc – not that we need to do all of them every time… true?…

So why might we be apprehensive about calling that our church?

Does it seem a bit ‘illegitimate’?

Do we need a bigger gathering? Do we need to do it as a family? Are we just so conditioned to bigger is better that it feels wrong?

Might it be the way to go?…