Rediscovering the Neighborhood Church, part 1
Ken Myers of Mars Hill had interviewed Ms. Barger regarding a book she had written for women. However, he included a second part of the interview on the CD's bonus track, entitled, "Why the Foodcourt at the Local Megachurch Isn't What Our Neighborhoods Need." That phrase actually never came up in the discussion, and must therefore be something that Myers thought of when he labeled the tracks. A number of people whom I've let listen to this interview get caught up on the megachurch issue, especially if they want to defend the idea of a megachurch. That's not my point in posting this here. I'm primarily interested in what Barger says about the place of the church in the local (literally local) neighborhood/community.
I have transcribed the portions of the interview that I thought were of value for my purposes here. If you would like to hear the interview in its entirety, it is available for listening online. Here is the transcribed excerpt that I think is most significant:
When I say community and we talk about community--local church community--I mean local. Local is not getting in the car once a week to drive fifteen miles across town to a megachurch that’s got five or six thousand people where you spend two hours there and go home.
That is not a community. That is an association. When I say community and I’m talking about local community, I’m talking within a very small geographic space. Because we are people who live in a small geographic space ... And I think it’s sad that we have gotten away from the neighborhood church, that people are driving miles all over to go to a huge church for two hours. The only way the church is going to be a redeeming community, active in the lives of people is when we get back to a very local model--smaller churches closer to where people live and work. That way we can integrate all of life.
I think it’s that medieval idea of the parish. I think that’s what we have to go to. I don’t think the megachurch is going to get us what we need. I think we need smaller and closer communities. I don’t think it’s [the megachurch] a good thing at all. I think it’s about performance and entertainment. And it’s not about pastoring and relationships and being close to where people live, where they sleep. I think the megachurch will never be able to do that. Because even if they say, "Well we’re going to have small groups," well, if you still have to drive ten miles to go to your Tuesday night small group meeting for another hour...
We need it [local church community] to be close enough that you have these kinds of random unplanned, unstructured encounters with each other.
We’ve got everything working against us. We’ve got sprawling suburbs. We’ve got automobiles that let us go anywhere we want to go. We’ve got communication--email and telephone--that gives us the illusion that we are still connected to each other. And we have forgotten the real need for physical presence.
In part 2, I want to look at the issue rediscovering the value of the local neighborhood church. I will interact with some of what Barger says, but primarily I want to focus on my personal journey and in then in part 3, offer some suggestions that just might help believers get connected with one another again.