We hear that increasingly, Christians do not go to church. What I mean by this is that many people who would see themselves as having a real and vital faith are seeking to find ways to live out this experience outside organised religious institutions.

A study by George Barna, looking at 20 million American Christian ‘Revolutionaries’ (Oh how Barna loves a label!) had this to say-

“A common misconception about revolutionaries,” he continued, “is that they are disengaging from God when they leave a local church. We found that while some people leave the local church and fall away from God altogether, there is a much larger segment of Americans who are currently leaving churches precisely because they want more of God in their life but cannot get what they need from a local church. They have decided to get serious about their faith by piecing together a more robust faith experience. Instead of going to church, they have chosen to be the Church, in a way that harkens back to the Church detailed in the Book of Acts.”

I liked this description, not because I see myself as a ‘revolutionary’, but because Michaela and I (along with a number of our friends) find ourselves trying to do just this. For me, the issue is not Church as a noun, but Church as an adjective. And at present, where I am, I find that the noun often gets in the way of the adjective. If you see what I mean.

There has been some discussion about ‘Churchless faith’, and whether this will increasingly be the future of faith in the West. Alan Jamiesons book of the same title is well worth checking out on this issue. There is a good summary of the issues from a New Zealand point of view here. Some of the stories told sound very familiar from a UK perspective, and I suspect that we have far more in common with those down under than with the USA faith community in terms of the Post Christian nature of our society.

This seems a good time to give a plug to Spirited Exchanges UK.

I came across Spirited Exchanges at Greenbelt, and later met up with Jenny McIntosh (the New Zealander who came to the UK with a vision to get things going here) at a Tautoko Network weekend. I really liked Jenny, and on this basis alone, I wish them well!

This from their website about what they are-

Spirited Exchanges UK Network is an umbrella name for a variety of initiatives. It is based on the recognition that many people of all ages and backgrounds are struggling with issues related to faith, church and institutional religions:

• some want freedom to explore the questions without being told the answers
• some have been abused in a controlling church culture
• some have had life experiences that cause them to doubt God
• some are hurting, some are angry, some are bored
• some are hungry for more spiritual reality
• some are simply curious

Spirited Exchanges UK :

• does not try to convert people
• does not try to lure them back into a church fellowship
• does not try to “fix” problems
• does not assume problems are there when they are not

In summary, Spirited Exchanges UK lets God defend God.

I have been thinking about my own journey outside church- the process of having to separate my relationship with God with my relationship with an institution. Having to learn (and then relearn) what spiritual practices allow me to contine to pray and worship and live out a life of faith- and having to take responsibility for this myself, not relying on the developed, even if sometimes uninspiring, programmes that church lays on for me.

Of failing to do this at times.

And having to turn, and turn again.

This journey has been special for me, but I still recognise that CHURCH, in its bricks and mortar form, with all its baggage and stipends and organ funds- this church too is beloved of God.

Our awareness of the false boundaries we made between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular’ may have been replaced by a deeper awareness of the present Kingdom of God, but this Kingdom still needs its ambassadorial residences. It still needs places where it’s agents can collectivise and practice the disciplines of love.

Many of us who adventure outside Church may yet return. And if we do not, we are still learning how to become- Church.