Every language has a life of its own – picking up and discarding words as it goes along. Scanning down the list of the latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary I noticed that some new words were political (‘brexit’), some were technological (‘browsability), some were quite personal (‘gobby’), and some were downright daft (‘sensibilization’). Some of the newer phrases were humorous (‘at full belt’), while others seem to have already been around for a long time (‘touchy-feeliness’).
As a church, the challenge is always to be aware of the language we use, what it conveys, and how well it is understood. As we move further and further into a post-Christian age, I have become conscious of the need to rethink some of our church language and culture, and especially to re-discover the language of mission.
Whereas, in the past, ‘church’ was generally thought to mean a building where Christians meet once or twice a week, these days we need to emphasise its original meaning – a community of believers who support each other as they live out their lives in the world. But how much of this is conveyed in the language we use? Here are some changes we could make. We could speak …
- less of ‘membership’, and more of ‘discipleship’
- less of ‘the minister,’ and more of ‘the body of Christ’
- less of ‘being welcoming, and more of ‘being invitational’
- less of ‘maintaining our existence’, and more of ‘building God’s Kingdom’…
Up to now we have focused on developing an ‘attractional’ approach to church – by making our Sunday services more open, welcoming, and attractive as possible. With less and less of the people in our community having any understanding or experience of church at all, however, we now need to focus on living out our faith more visibly beyond the walls of our buildings. We need to balance being ‘attractional’ with another new phrase, which grows in relevance with each passing year – being ‘missional’.
Much love
John
