Church: Why Bother?

What comes to mind when you hear the word church? Maybe be a building with a cross; or a thought that it represents a select group of people as an institution - the clergy; or perhaps a feeling - exciting, boring or indifference. Is the church necessary? And to that most will generally reply "yes", but why is it necessary? Philip Yancey in this slim book Church: Why Bother? explores that very question as he draws from his own experience, or "pilgrimage" of the Church. In the foreword by Eugene H. Peterson states that this book is a part of the Growing Deeper series. Peterson comments that these books are not so much books "about spirituality: they are simply accounts of what we do to stay awake" (12) to remain sensitive to the outworking of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life.

Yancey begins the book reflecting of his own "pilgrimage" in relation to the church - of being deeply rooted in the church in his childhood to moving away from the church and then returning to it. As suggested by the title of the book, Yancey goes to unpack the answer to the question - is the church really necessary? He acknowledges that no earthly church is perfect; the church that he was raised in was not free from racial prejudice. But why is the church necessary, and what motivated him to return to the church? The reason was that there was "something else at work: church has filled in me a need that could not be met in any other way" (23). To this statement Yancey insightfully adds "Christianity is not a purely intellectual, internal faith. It can only be lived in community" (23). Therefore to move away from the church is to eventually injure oneself spiritually rather than hurt the church. 

The three chapters through which Yancey shares his experience with the church can be summed up in the three following words - perspective, portrait and pathos.

Perspective (the way we see things, the attitude by which we may approach a subject): Yancey reveals that his change of heart towards the church, from someone who had gone away and now returned as one an active participant, had to do with his way to seeing things in the church. Yancey suggests that it is not so much what we are looking for in a church but rather how and where we are looking that matters and offers four areas that we need to gaze into: 

• Looking Upward: Acknowledging God as the one we are there to meet through the worship not just be mere spectators to watch the worship unfold. Yancey writes, "what matters most takes place within the hearts of the congregation, not among the actors onstage. We should leave a worship service asking ourselves not 'What did I get out of it?' but rather 'Was God pleased with what happened?' Now I try to look up in  worship service, to direct my gaze beyond the platform, toward God" (24-25). What then matters is not so much the degree of talents on display on the Sunday morning worship, but the spot where the focus is on, the only place it should be - God. To sum up Yancey's thought on this point, to worship is to meet God, to encounter God. Period! Everything else should lead to that end. 
• Looking Around: Acknowledging our commonality in the love of God before all other distinctions-gender, race, status, age, class, nationality. Yancey points to a basic disposition that we all have-we want to be with those like us. We might reflect and relate that we are not good at breaking down social barriers and our differences crop us first before we can identify commonalties with others. Reflecting from his own experience of being part of church that was socially diverse but yet held on to their commonality in their faith first, Yancey concludes "a family of God emerges, one in which unity does not mean uniformity and diversity does not mean division" (30). 
• Looking Outward: Acknowledging our responsibility to the community at large. Yancey in this writes of the church taking cognizance of the needs that exists within the community and engaging to help as part of its mission. Yancey rightly notes that it is in serving others that we are able to think less of ourselves; in other words we become more neighbourly rather than becoming narcissistic.
• Looking Inward: Acknowledging our need for the grace of God to be purged "from the poisons of rivalry and criticism" (34). To be filled with grace is to exude grace towards others, to not just make space for others but to be able to stand by them and not give up. In this thought, Yancey narrates the story of a young, troubled man who did not exactly go by the decorum of a worship service, but towards whom the members extended grace by being there for him.  

Portrait (a pictorial representation; an image): Yancey grapples with presenting portraits of the church and offers six portraits of what  the church can (is) be like through his observation of the world around him and his association with churches:   

• God's twelve-step group (based on Alcoholic Anonymous)-a church that offers dependency to one another to help one another with their problem of sin.
• God's Driver License Bureau-a church where people from all walks of life assemble and interacts with each other.
• God's Emergi-Center (based on emergency medical centers): a church that is open to help those in need, is easy to locate and is actively responsive to the needs of those who come.  
• God's CTA Train (based on Chicago Transit Authority train): a church where the is enough breadth for different people to come and experience the gospel; to be challenged and influenced by the gospel.
• God's Family: a church where differences are celebrated and distinctions do not come in the way; a place where people build each other up rather than tear each other down.
• God's Locker Room: a church where it is not about competition but about celebration - celebrating the goodness of God and His grace; not being bound by legalism.

Even as Yancey offers these portraits, he returns to Paul's presentation of the church as the body as the most appropriate, even as the body best represents diversity in terms of parts and functions and yet contributing to and making up one body. It is true that no earthly church can ever become the ideal church with total perfection. Yet God chooses to engage and use imperfect churches for His purposes, and for Yancey that is reason enough for us to be actively engaged in the church. In other words, if church matters to God though it is composed of imperfect humanity, should church not matter to us as people who are loved by God and are part of His community? 

Pathos (empathy-the quality to feel the pain of others): In the final section Yancey shares of the need of being both sensitive and callus towards others in the ministry. This being sensitive towards others is expressed in the phrase "eating tears" of others, where we give ourselves to feel their pains. This also enriches the helper as he or she begins to look at life from a enriched perspective through their experience of sharing and ministering to those in pain.

However, as noble as it is, Yancey notes that there is a risk of getting burnout if we engage in giving to others emotionally without having certain guidelines. So how do we avoid such an end? It is essential to care for the person rather than the pain they go through, for in caring for the person we also understand that there are limits. To get obsessed about the pain is to develop  "syndrome of unhealthy self-sacrifice for the sake of others, of bearing more of a person's pain than the person herself" (88). It is also essential to have a support group that values the particular work that is being done. Value for work and support provide "inner nourishment" which is vital for a person to continue doing what they are with strength and a sense of dignity. Another crucial essential is not understand the difference between life and God; as we use normally say "life happens" and it is not necessary that God is behind all events of life though He can use all those events to accomplish good things. Finally, it is very essential that we know who we are working for even as we engage in ministries - God, the one who called us. 

The book, for its short length (83 pages), provides very good thoughts and insights into why the church matters especially when in contemporary times we are discussing about the drop in church attendance especially among the younger generation. It is not a "how-to-regain-church-attendance" book but rather an account of a "personal pilgrimage" (as used in the long title of the book) and therefore does not provide strategies or methods. Rather it invites us to reflect as we read through Yancey's thoughts and understanding of the church and revisit our own understanding of the church and its ministry. One observation that I have really liked through the book is the thought of seeing the church as one  that is trying, giving its efforts rather than one that is perfected. By that token, the people who make up the church are those who are trying to live out the design of God as the church. This calls for grace on our parts towards each others, that we sit and fellowship with others within the church not as spiritual snobs, but with compassion and identification. 

So why does the church matter? The church matters because it is in the church that our perspectives are restored in the right directions. Seeing that we are recipients of God's grace, we can now move to offer it to others. The church matters because it the church that helps us to understand the unity that it holds. Despite our socio-cultural and economic differences, we are united into a single body each complementing the other and building up each other. The church matters because it is in the church that we are able to be compassionate to others in a way that both helps the one in pain and nourishes the one who helps.

Thank you for your time,

kk