Experimental in Practice Part 2

We what we are really taking about here is the balance of content & context. By content, I mean striving to be Biblically accurate. By context, I mean the the ways in which we communicate the Bible. When churches loose their missional function, it's usually because they have focused too much on context.

Churches that try too hard at being cool and hip, will make relevancy their end as opposed to using it for a means to the end. The mission of Jesus takes a back seat to being accepted and liked by the masses.

Other churches that were once relevant, perhaps in the 1950's or even 1800's have not changed with the culture around them, mistakenly believing they are staying true to content, when in reality they are simply protecting an old and archaic context that has nothing to do with the Biblical structure.

Although the New Testament gives a fairly strong foundation for how the church should be structured and the reason for its existence, it gives no prescribed outline for how the church should hold gatherings. For as much as Paul wrote about the functions of the church, he wrote very little about the form it should take.

This is because what a church looked like in the New Testament completely depended on where the city or people group was located. Some Jews held some days to be important, other Greeks did not. Some felt free to drink and eat whatever they wanted, others did not. A group that met in Jerusalem looked, thought and acted very differently than a group in Athens and yet all strove to keep the content right.

This matters because many that go to church as opposed to being the church come to believe that their church tradition and forms are THE way to do church. Our world's paradigms are changing with great speed and what was the context even five years ago is probably not now.

RCC will be experimental in practice in an effort to share the person and mission of Jesus most effectively with who are called to reach. We hold loosely to our form while staying true to our function. We seek to understand the context of our environment in order to communicate the unchangeable truth of God's content.