A New Way of "Doing Church"

A New Way of “Going to Church” 

( A “Mashup” Discussion) 

. Mashup: “A distinct way of spreading ideas. “ A “marriage” or 

“mashup” of ideas from two different realms to convey a new 

message. 

Conventionally .going to church. conveys the image of individuals or families 

going to a .church building. or stucture of some sort. For .large. churches of 

200, 2000, or 20,000 this usually involves a substantial investment in a .building.. 

This common meeting place provides a forum for an accomplished .pulpit 

minister. to share his thoughts with a large audience. In our U.S. culture for 

Protestant .church. the .formal. worship service is accompanied by .Sunday 

School. or .Bible Classes. for both children and adults. Furhermore, .going to 

church. communicates a given .order of worship. for both Protestant and 

Catholic members The meeting together has functioned historically to provide 

the social interaction and relationship needs of the members—both youth and 

adults. 

In our technological age, it is now possible to .connect. large groups together 

seamlessly without their being colocated in a common structure. It is also true 

that .social networks. provide opportunities for relationship encounters not 

previously possible. 

This discussion is about the .mashup. of the conventional ideas about .going to 

church. when .mashed. with current technology and social networking. What 

can .going to church. look like when these ideas are married? In order to set the 

basis for this discussion some background is in order on the forms that have 

developed for .going to church., what is possible technologically, and the 

massive change social networking is having on our society. Moreover, what 

does the bible have to say about these ideas? 

The focus of this discussion initially is on how the present forms of church have 

evolved to set the stage for a discussion of how other forms may be developed. 

If we start with the necessary function and accept that form should follow function 

not precede it, then an entirely new form and definition of .going to church. may 

result. Additionally, the very term of .going to chuch. comes from a confusion of 

.the church. with a meeting in a building. But, the function of .church. and 

.worship. should start with theological concepts 

There were four stages of in the development of .where. early Christians met 

. Houses without modification 

. The domus ecclesiae or "house of the church," with its adaptation and 

renovation of the house church, from the mid-third century 

. The aura ecclesiae, or "church hall," "larger, more regular halls of 

assembly" which had "a direct community with the domus ecclesiae; 

public buildings 

. The monumental basilica, which came into being after Constantine's 

accession and the "peace of the Church" early in the fourth century. 

(White, Michael. 1996. Social Origins of Christian Architecture. Volume I: Building 

God's House in the Roman World: Trinity Press ) 

The first known instance of a modification of a structure specifically for .church‘ is 

found in the Reconstructed Interior of Dura-Europos, 256 C.E. in Syria where a 

baptistry was added to a house. (Synder, Graydon F. 2003. "Ante Pacem: 

Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine. " Macon, Ga: 

Mercer University Press). Shortly after becoming emperor of the Roman empire 

in 324 C.E,Constantine built St. Peters, St. Paul‘s ,The Church of the Holy 

Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the Church of the Nativity In Bethlehem, and 9 churches 

in Rome. The .church building. has evolved from the Roman bascilica to the 

form used today for .going to church. The evolution was as follows: 

. Use of an altar (Roman) –adapted from pagan temples 

. Use of bishops chair behind altar for sermon and chair for elders 

(Roman) 

. Use of pulpits or stage (Cyprian 200-252 .pulpitum. or stage) 

. Introduction of .pews. in fourteen century 

. Concert style church building ( auditorium) with Communion table, 

stage, and pulpit –19th Century. 

. Cancel Style church building: rail separates choir and clergy from laity 

(Viola, George, 2008. "Pagan Christianity-Exploring the Roots of our Christian 

Practices", Tyndale Press.) 

There are two other historical forms used in .church. that have also evolved: 1) 

the emphasis on a particular .order of worship. and .preaching. in that order and 

2) the emphasis on a separate .bible class. or Sunday school. 

The protestant .order of worship. is descended from the medieval Catholic Mass 

as shaped by Gregory the Great (540-604 C.E.) The medieval Mass was .based 

partly on the Judaic Temple service, partly on Greek mystery rituals of 

purification, vicarious sacrifice, and participation” (Durant, Will. 1944. .The Story 

of Civilization: Caesar and Christ. NY: Simon and Schuster p. 599). Martin 

Luther solidified .preaching. as the center of the worship service because he 

believed .preaching and teaching is the most important part... The .order of 

worship. has become variations on that in Luther‘s time. The order of worship 

for Luther was: (Viola, Ibid): 

• Singing 

• Prayer 

• Sermon 

• Admonition to the people 

• Lord‘s Supper 

• Singing 

• Post-Communion Prayer 

• Benediction 

Zwingli (1484-1581) abolished the alter and replaced it with the communion table 

(Hardman. .History of Christian Worship., 161; Sean. .Christian Liturgy, 162). 

John Calvin continued the emphasis on the sermon and led it from behind the 

pulpit. A .somber, reverent attitude. was adopted and emphasized by Martin 

Burcer (1491-1551). The order of worship was as follows: 

• Prayer 

• Confession 

• Singing 

• Prayer for enlightenment of Spirit in preaching Sermon 

• Collection of Alms 

• General prayer 

• Communion 

• Benediction: 

Formal preaching became even more prominent during Puritan times. They 

adhered to the principle “The Word of God as the Supreme liturgical criterion”. 

A Puritan might hear15000 hours of sermons in his lifetime . Their order of 

worship was: 

. Call to worship 

. Opening prayer 

. Scripture 

. Singing 

. Prayer 

. Sermon 

. Prayer 

During the Methodist and Frontier revivals of the 18th and 19th centuries 

preaching became entirely for convesion. Their .order of worship. was as follows: 

Order of Public Worship (1905) 

. Hymn 

. Apostles Creed 

. Prayer 

. Lord‘s Prayer 

. Anthem 

. Old Testament Lesson Gloria Patri 

. New Testament Lesson 

. Notices 

. Offering 

. Hymn 

. Sermon 

. Invitation .to come to Christ…‘ 

. with singing of hymn. 

George Finney (1792-1878) believed the assembly was for evangelism and 

popularized .coming forward.. D.L. Moody (1837-1899) emphasized .salvation., 

an invitation song, and use of .gospel. songs. Penecostals emphasized 

emotions with clappling, the type of music, lifting of hands, and dancing. 

(White, James F. 1989. .Protestant Worship. Louisville: Westminster Press) 

The form developed during the Restoration Movement in the churches of Christ 

was that below (or minor modifications of this form): 

. Announcements 

. Three songs 

. Prayer 

. Song Before Lord‘s Supper 

. Lord‘s Supper 

. Giving 

. Sermon 

. Invitation Song 

. Closing Song 

. Closing Prayer 

What may we conclude about .going to church. from the above brief history of 

the use of buildings and the .order of worship.? First, the building form 

influenced what happened when members gathered for worship. Second, the 

form and emphasis of .formal worship. services has changed significantly over 

the years. Preaching became prominent. The Lord‘s Supper was eliminated in 

most Protestant services except on special occasions. 

Turning to another aspect of .going to church., how did we develop the current 

form of .making disciples.. The invention of the printing press occurred in 1450 

C.E. With the Protestant Reformation the bible also began to be translated into 

common languages ( the handwritten EnglishWycliff translation in 1380; the 

German translation of Martin Luther in 1523; the first printed English edition by 

Tyndale in 1525) That said, since the average person did not have the bible until 

after 1450 C.E. , how did they become disciples? In biblical times it is apparent 

that .preaching and teaching. for the unchurched occurred where those that did 

not know Christ gathered. Paul preached the gospel in the Jewish synagoge and 

where Gentiles gathered in the marketplace as well as the AREOPAGUS. (Acts 

17). There are two distinct processes in discipleship. The first is accepting Christ 

as as Lord and Savior. The second is what in current times has been called 

Spiritual Formation. .In Christian Spiritual Formation the focus is on Jesus. It is a 

life-long process as a believer desires to become a disciple of Jesus and become 

more like him.. (Wikipedia). In the first and seond centuries .Every church was 

then a seminary, in which provision and preparation was made. .In the New 

Testament no other equipping and nurturing is offered other than the local 

church. ( Ibid, Viola). 

After the first and second centuries, who did this .equipping and nurthing.? In the 

Episcopal period of the 3rd to the 5th centuries the training of bishops and priests 

began to conduct the rituals of the church under other bishops. Formal academic 

training began in the 6th century. 

Greek philosophy had a large influence on the early church fathers. Justin 

Martyr (100-165) dressed like philosopher and believed Greek philosophy was 

God‘s revelation to Greeks like Moses to Gentiles. Origen (184-254) was 

influenced by Neo-platonic thought. He thought you need to pass through stages 

of purification to obtain oneness with God. .Within a century and half after 

Christianity and philosophy first came into contact, the ideas and methods of 

philosophy had flowed in such a mass into Christianity, and filled such a large 

place in it, as to have made no less a philosophy than a religion. 

(Hatch. .Influence of Greek Ideas and Usage). 

The training of those who were to teach others continued in the monastic and 

scholastic periods. In the monastic period of the 4th century missionaries were 

sent all over the world. The only formal training available before the 12th century 

were the monastic and cathedral schools. The scholastic schools were 

prominent from 1200-1500 C.E. The first Protestent college in the U.S., Harvard, 

was established in 1638 C.E. Both catholic and Protestant were established in 

the 1500-1800‘s with .Bible Colleges. becoming prevalent after 1800 C.E. 

Franklin College was the first church of Christ College and was established in 

Tenn. In 1845 C.E. 

.Sunday School. as an additional to .church. began in Gloucester England in 

1780 for the poor. The .Sunday School Society. in Philidelphia operated in 1785 

as education for the poor to get them .off the streets.. There was a shift to 

evangelism in 1810-1880 with Arthur Fluke. The 1900-1950‘s began the 

emphasis on the .youth culture.. In 1945 .Youth for Christ‘ was formed and the 

1950‘s saw the formation of professional .youth ministers.. The first church of 

Christ Youth minister was hired in 1948 by the Oak Cliff Church of Christ in 

Dallas, TX. The 1800‘s+- also saw an emphais on adult .bible knowledge. in the 

churches of Christ. 

What may we conclude from the above discussion of the forms of .making 

disciples.? Discipleship has evolved from the teaching of the unchurched ( those 

that do no know Christ as Savior) where they gathered to in many cases 

attracting them to the Christian worship service. The spiritual formation of 

converts has evolved from being the obligation of existing members in a 

congregation to that provided by those professionally trained in seminies, 

colleges or universities or is seemingly limited to the rational acquistion of bible 

knowledge in bible classes. 

Let us turn now to our present day and examine what forms might be available in 

our society. What for example, is availble if a professionally trained speaker, 

executive, or manager wishes to speak to a large assembly? Technology has 

eliminated the requirement that the speaker be in colocated in the same large 

facility in order to speak to the group. The Internet has made available 

seamless interconnection of large groups of individuals. Individuals can be 

connected via voice, video, text, documentation, and .white board. where what is 

written or displayed by a speaker is available to all. 

There is both synchronous and asynchronous connectivity available. In 

synchronous connectivity individuals are connected in real time. In 

asynchronous connectivity individuals may .post. information ( video, speech, or 

text) for all to access at the time of their choosing. 

Some of the current Internet providers of the above capability are as follows (only 

a partial listing to illustrate capability): 

Individual to individual Video, voice, or text: 

. Skype 

. Windows Live Messenger 

. Google Chat 

. Yahoo Chat 

E-Learning/Learning Management System/CorporatePrograms: 

. Blackboard (Learn, Transact, Connect, Mobile) www.blackboard.com 

. Moodle (free open source e-learning platform) www.moodle.org 

. Distance2Learn www.desire2learn.com 

Social Networking (In the U.S): 

. Facebook 

. Twitter 

In 2009 SKYPE had 270 million monthly users according to its CEO. IN 2009 

Window live messenger had over 330 million active users (with 500 million 

Hotmail and Messenger users) Moodle had 45,721 registered sites in Jan 2010 

serving 32 million users in 3 million courses. The number of registered sites for 

Blackboard is hard to determine. Most souces credit Moodle with more sites and 

Blackboard close behind. In 2012 Facebook passed the 1 billion mark. 

Twitter had 500 million users in June 2012. 

The above listings serve to show that .being connected. nor .having a class. or 

=listening to a presentation. does not require the individuals to be co-located at the 

same physical location. With this in mind, are there different forms of .going to 

church., .attending bible class., or .listening to a sermon. possible without the 

member physical presence in a .building.. 

Before beginning the .mashup. of this new technological age ( as well as the 

postmodern cultural attributes compared to modern worldviews) it is appropriate 

to discuss the theological imperative of what we conventionally think of as 

.church. and .worship. in a formal setting. What functions are defined in the New 

Testament and what .forms. were used then? 

Of the 44 times the term .worship. is used in the New Testament none specify 

particular orders or elements of worship. The Old Testaments had very specific 

elements and requirements as specified by Heb 9:1: .Now the first covenant had 

regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary…. 16 .This is the covenant 

I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their 

hearts, and I will write them on their minds.. 17 Then he adds: .Their sins and 

lawless acts I will remember no more.. Jesus says of the .place. of worship in 

John 21:23 .Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers 

will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the 

Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in 

truth.. These scriptures indicate the change from an emphasis on place to that of 

the individual heart. 

Fundamentally, the driving thelogical principle is to .make disciples.. What then 

are the practical theological imperatives when Christians meet together for 

.worship.? They can be summarized as follows: 

. Central Importance of Edification: Paul e.g. I Cor. 14 

. Exhortation, comfort, admonition of one another: I Thess. 4:18;5:11, 14; 

Eph 4:15 

. Thanksgiving, prayer and praise 

. Meeting as God‘s Holy Temple (I Cor 6:19-20) to recall 

God‘s promises and to encourage one another to live their lives 

accordingly. (II Cor. 7:1) 

. Building the church: Eph. 4:14-16 

. Preparing to meet the Lord: Col. 1:28-29 

. Partaking of the Lord‘s Supper –not a private affair I Cor. 11 

If the above are the theological imperative when Christians meet together what 

are the functional examples we have to implement these theological principles. 

Since we do not have a specific order of worship defined in the New Testament 

we can examine what New Testament Christian actually did; 

Examples from I Cor. 8-14 

. Observance of the Lord‘s Supper: I Cor. 11:23-26 

. Prayer, Singing, Saying .Amen.: I Cor. 14:13-17 

. .Everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or 

an interpretation.: I Cor. 14:26 

. Prophecy: I Cor. 14:29 

Other examples: 

. Prayers: Acts 1:14; 2:42; 4:3-31 

. Probably Doxologies e.g Rom. 11:36 

. Singing: Col 3:16; Eph 5:19 

. Prophecy and teaching: Acts 2:1-21;8:14-17; Eph 2:20;3:5 

. Public reading of scripture and preaching: I Tim. 4:13; I Thess. 5:27 

. Eucharist (eucharistia—thanksgiving)or Lord‘s Supper: Acts 20:7 

. Meals: Jude 12 

The above are examples of what was typically done when the members came 

together, where did these meetings occur? Here is a partial listing: 

. Temple courts and homes Acts 20:7 

. Solomon‘s Colonnade Acts 5:12 

. .Upper room. Acts 1:12-15 

. House of Mary Acts 12:12 

. House of Priscilla and Aquila (Rome)I Cor 16:19 

. House of Archippas (Colossae)Philemon 1-2 

. House of Nympha (Laodicea) Col 4:15 

. House of Lydia (Acts 16:14-15 

. Jason‘s House (Philippi) Acts 17:1-9 

. House of Titus Justus( Corinth) Acts 18:1-8 

. House in Troas (Acts 20:7-12) 

When did the Christians meet together? 

. Acts 2:46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. 

. Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. 

Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, 

kept on talking until midnight. 

. Acts 20:7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. 

Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, 

kept on talking until midnight. 

. Heb. 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit 

of doing, 

. Rev. 1:10 On the Lord‘s Day 

Some observations are in order. 

1) There is no clear set .pattern. or order of worship of what is done when 

the members gathered together. 

2) They met consistently on the first day of the week but certainly meet at 

other times. 

3) The primary meeting place of Christians were the homes of members 

4) Though preaching, teaching, prayers, and singing occurred, the two 

primary activities were partaking of the Lord's Supper and "encouraging 

and building one another up" ( also see all of the "one another" passages) 

5) It is apparent meals were a fundamental part of their gatherings. 

So..... with the observations on: a) how "going to church" has developed over 

the centuries b) the theological reasons for "the assembly" and c) the technology 

that is available today, what does this mashup of today's culture and technology 

say about rethinking "going to church"? 

First, it is apparent that small groups of Christians could easily meet in homes for 

a meal, the Lord's Supper, prayers for the members, singing, and 

encouragement. This would "mirror" first century practices much closer than our 

building forms allow today. Second, if it is desired that a "trained" minister 

provide a significant lesson, this can be done over the Internet. It could be done 

"live" with the minister ( who provides this service to all the groups) at the same 

time (i.e. synchronously) or "on demand ( asynchronously) as each member of 

the small groups have time. This minister could also function to give leadership 

training to all small group leaders. He could also provide direction for spiritual 

formation and discipleship. Interactive " Bible Classes" could be provided either 

synchronously or asynchronously. All of this could be linked to Facebook and 

Twitter if desired. 

What is also apparent is each small group could: a) more easily choose other additional meeting times b)  a discipling relationship among small group members is more easily established c) more interaction as well as Spiritual accountability is more easily done and d) the "pulpit minister" needs more teaching, group dynamics and relationship skills, and disciplining skills than polished "public speaking" skills" 

This reordering of priorities allows Christians in the small groups to be more truly 

"missional" and incarnational than a building focused ministry. 

What about the American cultural need for "church" to be at a building? This 

could be accommodated by leasing a space for all groups to attend on say a 

monthly basis. This eliminates one of the major expenses and limitations for 

evangelism. 

It is my belief that the focus of "going to church" that is centered around a 

building has severely distorted what "the assembly" is all about. It has also 

encouraged members to think that "going to church" is the primary function of 

Christianity about. It has lead to divisions and disputes ---cite the "worship wars' 

that are still occurring. It has let "form" dictate the functions that are used in the 

assembly. It has lead to "passive members" with just a few members really 

participating actively in the assembly. With our technology, we can still retain 

the functions of the trained minister or bible teacher without the expense and 

constraints imposed by our buildings. 

What do you think?