CHURCH AT THE STRIP CLUB

It is perhaps, short of a prison cell, the most emphatic demonstration of the truth that church happens anywhere. A gentlemen's club is an urbane title for what is commonly known as a strip club and bar, and that's the way the New York Daily News alluded to the venue of the church begun by my friends, Jack and Sharon Ninaber. But this is not an American story. This church meets at the Manor in Guelph Ontario. The Manor was once the home to Guelph's beer baron George Sleeman and it is now a tough stripper bar. One does not customarily associate finding Jesus in such a location, but that would underestimate what God can do. The Manor is now owned by Roger Cohen, who also has a side project next door, called Sue's Inn, a transitional housing unit for homeless folks who are struggling with additions or recently out of jail and want to be clean and free. Sharon and Jack shared their vision with Roger and he bought and caught and champions it. He himself attends every Sunday service at the Manor and urges others to attend. Roger says, "you can get busy dying or get busy living. I think God can bring hope to people and enrich their living. But it starts with relationship."

Jack and Sharon have pastored conventional churches and could not imagine they would be doing this but I know they are transfused with huge doses of faith, joy, courage and adventure and God is using them. For the past eight months Church at the Manor has ben operating. Jack says, "Jesus was called a drunk and a friend of sinners in his time because he hung out with these people. For us, it's not telling people to go to church. It's telling people they can have a relationship with Jesus. Even in a bar." Doors open around 12:30 and there is grand array of foods. Some attendees have come just for the food. Some come so hungry because they haven't eaten for days. Some come angry at God, and finding that no one reams them out for their attitude but an offer of another sandwich, they begin to talk and they return the next Sunday.  They hear stories by people whose lives have been changed and they hear live music – uplifting, Christian rock, singable with lyrics anyone can sing in an atmosphere which has been transformed from Last call Saturday night. Topless girlie posters and $4 beer signs are covered and appropriate signage to draw attention to hope and healing and God. On their opening Sunday, they had none other than Bobby Clark, hockey great, shared his own story of recovery and the place God had in that.

I'll tell you more about the Manor tomorrow.

CHURCH CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE

In principle we all know that church is people rather than place. Christine and I stopped for an ice cream cone. The proprietor of the Bluebird Cafe & Ice Cream Kiosk, a handsome young man said he was closing up but he agreed to serve us.  We asked why he was closing up at 5PM. He told us that on Tuesday nights he and a group of people held a Bible study there. We asked whether anyone was welcome and he said of course. We told him we would like to stay. That night we met and spoke with a group of people seeking to grow spiritually and also seeking ways in everyday life to make Christ known to the community.

Church is more than a place to go. In practice the edifice where Christian worship and ceremony takes place cannot easily be dismissed from one's understanding of church. Chapels, temples, cathedrals, sanctuaries and churches possess familial, historic, artistic significance and it's difficult to consider respectful, sacred ceremony anywhere else. Yet some have rethought church. Building costs today are excessive where I live because of programming needs, building codes, parking requirements, audio-visual technical preferences, food services, and special needs. For many years, new churches have been forced to lease space in schools and commercial buildings. If we truly believe that church can happen anywhere, then meeting in the mall, in a theatre, in a storefront is fine because church is more than a place.

We have friends who are key influencers in a new church that meets in a strip club and bar with an adjoining hotel called Sue's Inn.  The motel houses people that are trying to kick addictions, stay clean and sober. The owner heard our friends' vision and said, “So let me get this right, you want to bring light into a very dark place,” and then he granted permission to rent the bar in order to create church. It's called, Church at the Manor. They are eight months into this venture. I'll tell you more about it later.  That's an excellent illustration that church can happen anywhere, don't you agree? 

IT'S BLACK. IT'S WHITE, OR GREY IS OKAY

I'll clear the air immediately. This post is not a reference to E. L. James erotic romance trilogy titled, Fifty Shades of Grey. Nor am I thinking about Michael Jackson's hit song, 'Black or White' in which the refrain repeats, "but, if you're thinkin' about my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white." James and Jackson do not own basic colours. I will however, talk about blacks and whites and greys. I do this because opinions about ethics and morality and actions and attitudes emerge from one's colour commitment. That's a metaphorical allusion to the sin vs. righteousness, black vs. white association often made by principled people with a background in scripture. It's understandable. In the Bible, black is primarily associated with the negative aspects of human experience, including death, disease, famine, and sorrow, all of which are bi-results of sin. On the other hand, white is a color of purity and righteousness, refinement and health, even victory.

With that contrast from a trusted source, some people may as a default, view almost everything as either black or white.

EMBARRASSED ENOUGH TO LOOK INTENTIONALLY INTO THE MIRROR

Postmodern, secular society is not impressed by people of faith. We have not made a good impression. No matter what faith or what branch, we have blown a good reputation. That has to change.

HE FEELS LIKE AN ODD MAN OUT

Attending the same event with other Christians will not guarantee that fellowship occurs. Being a fellow member of a church is not an assurance that fellowship will be found there. I know a man in his forties who is single, a professional, handsome, intelligent, gregarious and longs to be part of a believing community that worships with sincerity and reverence. He has looked everywhere. He has come to the conclusion that he does not fit.

CHURCH, WHAT IT IS & WHERE IT CAME FROM

Our challenges to understand the church are reduced when we realize that there are at least seven different meanings or uses of the term 'church' in our North American context. Church can refer to a building, an event, a policy body, a relational group, and institutionalized denomination, an organizational style, and the practice of affirming correct confessional criteria. [i] Yet church is always more than any one of these.  The true definition for church or its foundational definition begins with God himself, living among humans. God by his Spirit lives in his people, creating unique spiritual community.

Wherever these Spirit lived-in people gather to worship God and to study what He has said, they naturally develop an identity, typically give themselves a name, implement activities and structures and in that process produce distinct and varied local churches. This is church in a elementary shape. It could be enough. It might have been enough even without a name and a distinctive delivery.

The Bible does not require that churches gather into denominations or associations but it has happened. That has been an expediency and convenience for immigrant congregations and like-minded congregations to share life and support and mission. Such associations at their best have been purposeful and missional, servicing member churches. However, when member churches are not permitted to remain autonomous cooperative congregations, denominations have become questionably bureaucratic and legislative requiring compliance of member churches.

Over time it has been recognized that local congregations and even denominations have limited capacities and occasionally organizations have arisen to conduct specialized ministries to students, youth, men, women, families, marginalized people, ethnic groups. All of these will also be staffed by Spirit indwelt persons. It is the church at work.

2015 is a complex time for the church. In spite of all that is positive about these forms, the church now must learn or redefine its raison d’être (reason to be) in this evolving postmodern culture. So much of the reshaping of church in recent decades has focused upon management and organizational practices and effectiveness but the profounder realities of church may have been missed. So we have witnessed a re-emphasis on evangelism with seeker sensitive churches; underscored discipleship with the purpose driven church; demonstrated community in cell or small group life; attracted people through user-friendly approaches; filled the week with weekday ministries offering scores of entry points and even tried a strong mother ship church with niche markets to various people groups.

So much about churches today is about what they do and how they do it. The primary interest must be how we think about church, what the church is, namely, an exceptional socio-spiritual community of God's people, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, to display and to explain God's redemptive presence to the world around it.

---

[i] Seven meanings of 'church' and ideas for the article suggested by Craig Van Gelder, Rediscovering the Church n the Twenty-First Century;

INDEPENDENT CHRISTIANS CAN'T BE FOUND IN SCRIPTURE

People have umpteen reasons for stopping church attendance and giving up on church. Some reasons are rational and logical and others are plainly juvenile. At the moment I speak to and about persons who have become disenchanted with church. For some it's a kind of phase that happens when one is a teen, or young adult or middle-aged, anytime I suppose. Disenchantment is not necessarily associated with anger, reprisal, malice or spite. It is sometimes draped in sadness, disappointment, confusion. It is birthed from observations and discussions and readings and reflections. It is pollinated with unfulfilled expectations, unrealized hopes, frustrated faith. For these people, God is authentic. They want to know him. His word is scripture. They believe it. God's Spirit is animated. They want to experience him. Love among believing friends is enduring. They are loved and they return love. Desire to witness God at work is a compelling incentive. The search begins. Where can it lead?

If personal study is not on the agenda of the now disassociated disenchanted person, the trip will go theologically south. That study must prioritize concentration on scripture. Christianity however is not merely an intellectual pursuit, but rather, it is relevant to all of life. Much of life is engaged with other people. The Bible itself makes the case that 'Christian community' is as valid a demonstration of the reasonableness and truthfulness of Christian beliefs as is the intellectual apologetic.Wagner Hills Ministries in Langley, BC is an example of a healing community for men and women who wish to make an assault on personal addictions. The community consists of residency, work, study and devotions, journaling. 

L'Abri was and is a different kind of community founded by Francis and Edith Schaeffer in Huémoz-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, on June 5, 1955. They opened their alpine home as a ministry to curious travellers and as a forum to discuss philosophical and religious beliefs. People who came are called students and a student's day is divided into "study time" and "work time. Then we come to today's churches that aspire to be communities something like that, and it is reasonable to expect that believers will learn as well as work/serve. Often, however, because of the size of churches or a failure to adequately assimilate all attendees, we turn the church into a spectator event. There are not enough service opportunities available for everyone, or people do not volunteer and are never asked to help. People may sit for years only to be learners of theory without the more practical shoulder rubbing in the community where Christian faith is demonstrated.

The disassociated disenchanted person must think seriously about finding a group of others where Christianity can be fully demonstrated in the context of personal relationships. Complete independence is not something any student will read in scripture and long term, it will inhibit development.