I was part of a conversation with another believer and a stranger. The stranger opened up to this friend and me about their difficulty with the church. It wasn’t so much the people or the teaching, but primarily the institution. It was the business of church that they couldn’t grasp. They saw lights and an expensive building and wondered if the money being spent wasn’t for entertainment or for the things Jesus seemed to represent. After a long and wonderful conversation where this stranger seemed moved closer to Christ than before we met, my friend and I were left with a call to action: what do we invite this stranger to next for further interaction?

The natural invite is to the Sunday gathering. As much as I want people to come to church, this stranger, like so many others, expressed discomfort with the Sunday gathering. Sunday service does not seem like the best option for them.

Sunday cannot be the end-all-be-all Christian invitation. After all, we are not inviting people to church but to Christ.

Our communities need to offer other places of gathering outside the church campus. Places of hospitality in the community. This can be in gyms, coffee shops, parks, and especially homes. In fact, this is likely to become the future of church in an age of decentralization and authenticity. When a gathering happens in one of these other spaces, relational discipleship takes primacy over stage performance. We must redefine what a church gathering is for the modern Christian. That “church” happens when the people gather, not when the doors to an over-built and expensive building are opened for its obligatory hour on Sunday.

Christians need to be a people of Velcro. Velcro works because one patch has a bunch of hoops and the other has hooks. When you press the two patches together, the hooks grab the hoops and they become unified. Christians need hooks and hoops in their lives. Things that you can do in the community that may grab someone you meet. Or, have hoops that you can invite someone else into. I think about my wife and me hosting a bonfire at our house on Fridays. It may not look like it at first, but spend some time there and it begins to feel like church. And all it costs is the price of s’mores. It is a hoop that invites others to hook into.

But the hope is not that we become a “church” per se. Those who believe just are the Church! The hope is that in our gathering, those who believe are equipped, encouraged, and strengthened. And for those who do not believe, that they may experience Christ and accept the invitation to a real relationship with God.

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