What does it Mean to Reimagine the Church?

By Lance Finley, CGGC Executive Director

What comes to mind when you hear the words “reimagine” and “church” used together? What images are formed? What emotions are stirred? Do you see possibilities and potentials, or dangers and threats?

R eimagining can be exhilarating, and it can be exhausting. Rethinking something as important and central as the church can be a daunting task. In one sense, when we speak of rethinking or reimagining the church, we’re really talking about rediscovering our true calling or core mission. Jesus commissioned us to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). Our core mission as the body of Christ is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Are people moving from unbelief to belief in Jesus because of the ministry of your local church? Are disciples of Jesus being made who naturally make disciples in response to their devotion to Christ? Is there evidence that your local congregation is being effective in making disciples? If we’re not meeting our core objective, what needs to be done differently?

Why do we need to rethink the church?

The church used to have a privileged place in North American society. Anyone remember blue laws on Sunday? Remember when the larger community scheduled life around the importance of the activities of the church? Our context today is very different. We don’t enjoy those advantages as we once did and that requires some rethinking as to how we carry out our mission.

How do you reach people who don’t necessarily want what you’re offering and may not trust or respect you? How do you engage a culture when the people of the culture may strongly suspect that you’re a big part of the problem rather than the solution to the problem? How do you build bridges to others when they may prefer you stay away? Jazzing up your worship service or redoubling your current efforts probably won’t be sufficient to overcome those kinds of obstacles.

If we’re serious about seeing men, women, boys and girls become disciples of Jesus Christ, we’re going to have to rethink some of our approaches and efforts. “People don’t come to our church events,” is a common refrain I hear fairly often today. In a world where people are less likely to come to us, how do we reimagine our connection to our neighbors and communities? How can we deploy the people of God? How do we send the church into the community? What would it look like for your local congregation to send “the church” to the neighborhood or to the local community?

“We don’t know anyone who isn’t already a Christian,” is another common concern I hear often when working with congregations. There’s a genuine desire to reach people for Christ, but there’s not much opportunity due to a lack of relationships with folks who don’t follow Christ. How can we reimagine our ministry efforts in order to begin building connections to people who aren’t like us? Rather than draw people to our church, how do we send our church to the people of our neighborhoods and communities?

Take a moment and envision what your town, community or neighborhood might look like in five years if the kingdom of God were to become more visible through the ministry of your local congregation. How would people’s lives be different? What would be transformed? What relationships would be reconciled? What wrongs would be set right? If your town looked more like the kingdom of God in five years, how would you know? What would look different? What would be different then from what you see today? How does your church need to think differently about its ministry to the community in order to help see the kingdom of God become more visible?

Does your congregation have a building? Does it sit empty or unused for a large portion of the week? How could you reimagine the use of your building? Who could be blessed through your building? What kind of ways could you utilize your present space to build connections to the people of your neighborhood or community? The opportunities are endless: meeting space for community groups, a coffee shop or gathering place, after school tutoring center, or a community art center. How could you rethink the use of your building in a way that would bless others and reflect the values of the kingdom of God?

Does your congregation have people? Do those people have talents, abilities and passions? How could you reimagine the gifts and talents of your people? How might you leverage the talents, abilities and passions of your people to carry Good News to the people of your community or neighborhood? Do you have some mothers and grandmothers in your congregation? What are some creative ways in which you leverage their talents and gifts in the lives of single moms across your community? Do you have some fathers or grandfathers in your congregation? How could you put their skills to work in the lives of young men in your local area? How could you rethink how you leverage the talents and abilities of your people for the sake of the Gospel?

This coming year is going to give us lots of opportunities to reimagine and rethink a lot of our practices and approaches to effective, Gospel-centered ministry. What do you need to reimagine or rethink? How can you take what the Lord has given you and leverage it for Kingdompurposes in a new or different way?

We’re standing at a very important crossroads in the life of the church. While some will be prone to pine for the “way things used to be” and hold out hope that those times will return, to do so misses the opportunity that the Lord has placed before us. Rather than yearning for a return to yesteryear, I believe the Lord Jesus is calling His people to embrace the opportunity that is before us right now! This will require different thinking and different behavior. How is God inviting you to reimagine your church right now? How is the Lord calling you to rethink some of your practices of ministry so that you can bear fruit for His kingdom? What does your congregation need to reimagine and rethink in order to become more effective at making disciples for Jesus Christ?