imagining how the church can reorient around mission

A One Word Description of the Church

I started teaching my Missional Church class at Whitworth University again this week.  This is the 4th year that I have taught the course.  If I teach it again it will morph into a course entitled, "A Church for the World." One of my introductory exercises I use is asking them to give a one word description of the church and why.  Here are their responses (some were duplicates – 19 in the class):

Transforming, Alive, Colorful

All-over, Shifting, Diverse

Disappointed, Confused, Helpful

Opportunity, Dislocated, Silent 

Giving, Community, Reactionary

The interesting thing in this for me is that they all were not negative responses In the past, almost all of them would be negative.  Obviously, this is not a scientific survey, but it did catch me off guard a bit (and threw off my intro – partly because I was juxtaposing where the church is and where it should be) that there was a potential attitudinal shift in amongst collegians.

If you were to answer the question – what is one word that describes the church for you and why, how would you answer?

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13 Responses

  1. Surprising – the church is not often filled with the people that we expect it to be filled with and doesn’t always operate in the ways that expect. On the negative side of surprising is the ways we’ve over allied with culture, the ways we misuse the Jesus story and take it in ways that have nothing to do with the way of Jesus.
    But there is also a positive surprising, in which God uses people we’d never expect to do things we wouldn’t think possible, where God uses people with issues and accomplishes things in spite of their stupidity and hard heartedness and surprising in that God chooses church people to use as he inbreaks our world with resurrection.

  3. Maybe the increase in positive perspectives of the church has something to do with the fact that we have less theology majors in class this year… Theo majors may be more critical towards the church because we’ve spent all of undergrad analyzing our forebearers’ mistakes; we’re in college after all and we know better than our parents now.

  4. Thanks Stephen – amazing thoughts. I really appreciate the allegorical use of the Laz passage. I will need to think about that more – a good thing.

  6. The Word….Lazy.
    There are people who work for me who are lazy and need the right motivation. They are lazy because they think if they don’t do their job then someone else will come and do it for them. I believe a high percentage of the church is in the same position. They are waiting for Jesus to come back and do the things He empowered them to do. John 11, and the death of Lazarus can be used as an allegory for this. Lazarus (All of Creation) is sick and dying. The Church (The sisters) petition for His arrival to heal Lazarus. Jesus delays. The Creation dies and the Church is standing around saying “Jesus if you were here this wouldn’t have happened.” Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life,” and He weeps. He weeps for the death of His Creation, and for the failure of the Church to do anything about it. (When the Son of Man comes back will He find faith on the earth?) Then in a moment of divine brilliance resurrects His Creation.
    When the Son of Man returns will He find faith on the Earth? If the Church remains lazy and fails to understand the power and calling it has in Him to restore creation to New Creation….He won’t.
    -Labue

  7. Witness(es). Whether we are aware of it or not, in any capacity, and regardless of how we respond to it, we have been granted, gifted, with the experience of life beyond life with The Father, through Jesus, by the Spirit. We are witnesses, albeit at times deaf and dumb witnesses. And this experience also gives birth to our response, that of being a community of witness. Again, like our initial experience this may be disregarded or responded to inappropriately, but that does not change the essence of who and what we are, a witness and witnesses.

  9. tried because i think that’s the only word that could truly represent every form of the church you see in the world. all tried by culture and sin and tragedy, all ending up looking quite a bit different.
    how’s that? 🙂