Photo by Potters Bar Games Club.
Tuesday night is Board Games Club: we meet in the Harvester in Potters Bar, we eat, talk, and play games. Why was this the prompt for my sabbatical study? What could it possibly have to do with church?
Something the same?
There are some similarities between a church congregation and the club that I attend. Some of them are clear, others might not seem so obvious - at least from the outside:
- We meet each week, at an agreed time, in an agreed location. That might seem too obvious to state, but it is part of how it all works.
- We eat and drink. Again, that might seem something that doesn’t need to be said, but it is what we do.
- We welcome everyone.
- We are made of people with a broad range of experience. Some know what they want, and why they are there. Some visit to see what we are like, before committing. Others are not too sure what it’s about, and want to explore what board games/church are.
- We talk, and build relationships, and those move outside of the times and places we meet.
There are probably more, and I hope to explore them over the coming months.
Something different?
Is there something different about a church community? Should there be something different? If there isn’t, then the church becomes another social club. The church should offer all of these, but also more. The church is called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus. The Church of England’s Articles of Religion define a church in this way:
THE visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
Without that, a church is not a church. How do we have the positives of the community aspect and also maintain the distinctives of a church?