Neil Cole writes, "Today, people are looking to experience what is important, not just hear about it. This is becoming an experiential culture."(Church 3.0, p. 33) As Reformed Christians and churches, this might be a bitter reality to swallow.
Cole continues: "The pattern of the modern church used to be: believe, behave, and belong. Today we must see a new pattern where people first belong, then behave, and finally believe. Intellectual assent to a set of propositions is no longer what people want or expect from the collective. They want to associate, belong, and experience the church before any set of propositions is agreed on." (Church 3.0, p. 33)
This is the reality in our postmodern culture, and for some of us this might be a challenge to adjust to. We have been used to right doctrine which is clearly articulated in propositional truths. Sunday worship does not major on the experiential. People are not in the habit of sharing their feelings or testimonies. Reformed pulpits, for the most part, expound sermons which address more the mind than the heart. But is going to cut it in our changing culture? In the past two decades of serving churches I have witnessed the shift Cole describes. Our approach in working with the lost has required first of all to build relationships -- to allow people first to have a sense of belonging. And then slowly over time people begin to change their life and eventually believe the truth of the Bible. The coming to faith is more of a journey than a single event.
Today, in my work encouraging healthy churches I have been using the Natural Church Development(NCD) survey as a diagnostic tool. Once we know where the church requires growth, we develop strategies and implement new initiatives. The diagnostic work is relatively easy. Developing a plan is also not that difficult. But where the process often hits a wall is in the experiential. How do we experience what the Spirit of God is doing in the church? As churches explore this, often by sharing stories(testimonies) of what they see God doing among them as a result of these new initiatives, it is then we begin to see change happening. People begin to experience that God is real and that faith, hope, and love really work!
Cole adds: "We need to take the Christian life out of the library and back into the streets, where the Spirit of God can demonstrate His fruitfulness and allow people to encounter real spiritual life. Jesus didn't die so that we can win philosophical arguments and remain stuck in the pastor's study or the Sunday pulpit. Our lives should be experienced in the crucible of the real world. If our spiritual life is not real, then it is not worth keeping; if it is real it should shine brightly for the world in darkness to see." (p. 34)
What are you doing to get the Gospel out of the pulpit and into the real world of experience?