Mutual education. None of this is any excuse for us to go out and preach to them. Modern people do not respond to that. They’re allergic to people who talk down to them. They go a bit overboard with that, but those are the conditions under which we work. And anyway, it’s a matter of simple respect for others.

Modern educators know that teaching is a matter of drawing out learning on the part of the student. And learning always starts with where the learner is now, in his or her journey so far. So any effective teacher starts with the ideas of the student, and builds on them in search of common ground between the teacher and the learner. That, not a lecture, is what sticks in the long run. So our mission is to go out in the world to learn from them, as the only way for them to learn from us.

Studies from the Church of England have given us many practical ideas about how to do that. That got it rolling with studies in the 90s, chief amongst them one called Mission Shaped Church in 1994. It doesn’t suggest that we abandon our church buildings to be missionaries out there in the wilds of the secular world. No, keep our churches and our liturgies intact and alive to nourish our own souls, and to provide a harbour for those who want to follow our rituals. But go out there and find for them new ways of worshipping that extend from their own unique experience — for those who are seeking God in their own unique ways and don’t even know it.

Meeting them half way. We can begin with our churches, actually. Many churches are beginning to experiment with odd times and formats in their own buildings. Some who wouldn’t attend Sunday mornings may come on a Tuesday evening because it’s a convenient free place to explore and search out their own peculiar ideas. But they’re accepting our invitation. They may stay, and they may be open to ways our practices may line up with theirs. Or they may not. 

But we must be careful not to look down on them as a lower level service allowed into our building. That would blow any chances of them growing into an alternative expression of the same beliefs we hold. They may always be too alternative for the conservatives in our midst, but they must be treated as legitimately as we treat ourselves — or they’ll go do their seeking somewhere else. 

These alternative groups have been known to become as stable a part of their overall parish as the Sunday morning worshippers. So go out there and find people who need a place to search their souls. Offer your friendship and your facilities. Perhaps, in these days of quarantine and online services, give them a place from which to stream before inviting them to yours.

Fresh Expressions of Church. Mission Shaped Church proposed several alternative ways of being church — without being “church” — often out in society rather than being holed up in our stained-glass boxes. 

The focal point of these proposals is called Fresh Expressions of Church. According to the Fresh Expressions website, it’s an umbrella for forming faith communities for those who have never been to church (The Nones) or who have left the church (The Dones). It’s not a flight from established churches — but rather a partnering with pioneering leaders, dynamic pastors, existing churches, denominations and agencies who are committed to creating disciples. Their goal is to raise up leaders with a passion to join with God on the margins where new forms of church can flourish. They’re grounded in the ideas that ordinary people bring to the conversation, and in their aspirations to do things in their own ways.

We have the example of Café Church. In the Diocese of Rupert’s Land, Archdeacon Mawejje conducts coffee sessions with ordinary people in Selkirk, Manitoba. He calls it Saint MacDonalds. He doesn’t wear his collar, but they know where he’s from. They don’t always discuss things spiritual or reverential. They chat and they have fun. But the work of God in their neighbourhood is often in the background as they chat. It’s part of the mission of his church. He’s building church outside the church, where it may stay, but that’s the point. God is everywhere.

Then there are Cell Churches. That just means groups of people who meet to worship — people who feel they have a special rapport and a special understanding which would be diluted in an ordinary congregation. But they are often fully Christian, intensely liturgical and largely compatible with your own mission. Give them room, and maybe even part of your space. Dialogue with them respectfully, but don’t tug on them to come on Sunday morning. They’ve been found to be fertile ground for church growth, on their own terms.

There’s another we call Messy Church. This is an intriguing one. Messy Church Canada says it’s for reaching families who are unchurched or unavailable on Sundays. Perhaps Thursday, 5-7pm. It might include a discussion of our stories, craft activities related to the stories, a short service of some sort, dinner and some take-home activities. Adults and kids do everything together. Those who practice it say it’s fully church but more fun. It may or may not lead people into the established church, and that’s ok.

Other examples include House Churches and Dinner Churches, Youth Churches (not just Sunday School on the side), Diversity Churches, Seeker Churches (for uncertain folks), Virtual Churches (even before the pandemic), Topical Churches (coping with members’ issues) and whatever else you can imagine for people who want to approach some aspect of life from a spiritual perspective. They can meet any time, anywhere, even in a church.

Go out and join — go out and serve. Sometimes church is found even farther from the sanctuary, out in the wilds of secular space. I speak of issue groups — people campaigning to respect the environment, people standing in defiance of some egregious injustice, people advocating for a universal basic income — the list goes on. God is conducting His church there too, and beckoning us to venture outside of our buildings and come join him.

We include here activities of compassion — homeless people, hungry people, abused people. Some of them are served by various organizations like food banks, shelters, etc. — and we need only go out and assist or join them. Some individuals are left out in the cold and need someone just to offer help spontaneously. Survey the field, and consult, to see where you can be most useful. Discuss with your colleagues the safety issues, then go and do.

Here again we may never draw them into our church services. Don’t even try — the church is out in the street. Those few who might find value in our liturgy will ask us why we’re there. There are those who say that evangelism is not primarily declaring the gospel to people — it is being well prepared to answer questions.

That’s church. Either build it where we are, or build it where they are.