I used to go to a huge church, in fact I grew up there. I used to think that my church was the best because we had a very large building and lots of people. I think they're still paying off the loan for the expansion which was almost 20 years ago.
Anyway, the church seemed to be all about tradition and comfort. Their approach was "Come to church! Find Jesus!" which is the complete opposite of The Great Commission "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." which you can find in Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19
the church I'm at now is very different. we believe that the church is the people, and our meetings on Sunday morning aren't the purpose of the church, but that it's simply a place of encouragement before we go out to our homes and jobs and make a difference in the community.
Jesus didn't keep to his little group of friends. He didn't settle, but went across the cities and towns in Israel telling and showing people that the old ways were about to become useless. The traditions and laws passed to Moses, and subsequently perverted by the Jewish religious leaders are useless now. Jesus did many of his healings on the Sabbath which infuriated the Pharisees and Sadducees, because you weren't supposed to do work on the Sabbath. What began as a portrait of Jesus' coming sacrifice had turned into a convoluted religion which benefited the religious leaders. They made serious money by selling sacrificial animals to people who didn't have their own livestock, and they made rules so that money offerings had to be made in a special currency which they exchanged at horrendous rates. They made outrageous rules about what you could and could not do on the Sabbath etc.
Jesus came and taught that the Old Law would be obsolete, and that you only need to believe in Him and you'd be given eternal life.
Jesus didn't keep to himself or hang out with just the religious leaders. He hung out with hookers, con-men, and society's rejects.
In John 8 the religious leaders brought a woman to Jesus who had been caught in adultery. The law was to stone people to death who had committed adultery, and the leaders wanted to catch Jesus contradicting their precious rules. Jesus was a threat to them. He taught that He was the only way to salvation. To the religious leaders this was absolute heresy. They only new him as a man, and he claimed to be God himself. HERESY!
Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dirt, not really paying attention to the bigwigs, and he said 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone' and he stooped down again to write in the dirt. All the religious leaders began to leave, until only Jesus and the woman were left. He said to her 'Where is your accuser? Didn't anyone pass judgement on you?' Obviously no one did, so Jesus said 'Neither do I. Go and sin no more.'
there's a common misconception that you have to change your life before you come to Christ . . . that's just simply not right. All you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for the sins of mankind.
I've heard people say 'but I don't want to give up this or that to be a christian.' you don't have to. when you believe in Christ, you become a new creation
went off on a tangent there . . .
so church is people, not a building. my church meets in the aerobics room at a community center, and we've had several people leave the church because they want the comfort of a building, not the people in it
church shouldn't be about bringing people in, but sending people out to care for those in need, supporting the sick, caring for the elderly, and giving help where it's needed.
I know, wall of text so I'll sum it up here:
it's all about meeting people where they are, instead of dragging them away to some tradition rich environment to tell them how wrong they are
