What Does Your 'Dream Church' Look Like?

by Matt Reffie

What does your dream church look like? Surely no church is fully perfect, but whether you’re reflecting on what church was like for you growing up or what your current church is like, there are likely some aspects which you wish were a little different. Sometimes it’s the style of sermon or worship music, the comfortability or arrangement of the seating, or the timing of services and events. Sometimes it’s something more fundamental, like there is a piece missing for the spiritual well-being of yourself or of particular members of your family. It is hard for any church to be all things to all people, no matter how hard we may strive to make it that way. This is why I think it’s important to take a moment from time to time to reflect on and name what your “dream church” might look like.

In seminary, at Gordon-Conwell in Massachusetts, I had the opportunity to do just that in the form of a Church History assignment. We had looked at some of the forms of church over the ages, from what we could glean about the earliest gatherings to St. Augustine’s “open-to-nonbelievers” services to differences in modern Evangelical churches and the experimentations of the early 2000s Emergent movement. The following are some elements and ideas I’ve had while reflecting on my own dreams and desires for Christian community. While I don’t expect these would be for everyone, I do think it is important to identify and share these ideas among us. What missing element has God put on your heart? Which formats and practices might unlock a new vibrance in your spirituality or that of your family’s? Come, dream with me. (And please share your own thoughts with us via email or social media!)

What missing Element has god put on your heart?

The Building

There has been much written on the need for Church to be so much more than an architecturally pleasing structure in which to hold services. God’s people are the Church, surely, but in my dream church the building is a community center first and a place of worship second. The structure would function as a full-fledged community center, using the church’s resources primarily for direct service to the community. What better way to meet the direct needs of the friends, neighbors, and strangers around us than to dedicate our central hub to interacting with and serving them?

If the local church is the local community center (with no strings attached!) then we’ve already extended a permanent invitation without having to hold only occasional special community events and services, send out flyers, pass out inconsequential freebies, or coax people to come to an unfamiliar church building for a free class or outreach program. I think most cities, towns, and villages could use another community center or boys & girls club way more than they need another church building.

Many churches are already doing this in practice, hosting AA meetings, Boy Scout troops, food pantries and shelters, but most of these outreaches would be better served if our buildings were designed with them in mind. As a grown man who has sat on too many children’s Sunday school chairs, I can attest!

In my dream church, we provide the space for the community without overly controlling or dictating its use. The building, paid for by the church, belongs to the community. Everyone should feel deeply included in the life of the community center, and we as members and congregants have a ready field of neighbors young and old to minister to, right on our doorstep. Our open generosity and support of the local community in most aspects, while also simultaneously holding our own usual fellowship and church services, may just produce a natural curiosity and genuine interest in the faith for all who enter.

Is your church already doing this in some form? We’d love to hear about what you’re doing and be able to share it to inspire others to do likewise. 

Is there a particular challenge you find with your church building? Or maybe some missing piece you’d love to see take hold in your church setting?

We’d love to hear some of your dreams and experiences! (hello@projectarctos.com)

The Sermon

I’ve heard a lot of good sermons over the years. Some I can even point back to and identify how God used it to make some drastic, perspective-altering changes in my life. But in my dream church, sermons are very short and followed by interaction and discussion as a congregation. A brief inspired message of maybe 10 or 15 minutes can be the perfect set-up to get some edifying conversations started among the gathering. This is a much more active way to learn compared to the historical lecture-style sermons we’ve become accustomed to, and I think it could benefit the life of the church in several ways. For starters, it encourages us to engage the pastor and the Scriptures more deeply by asking us to develop some sort of response to the content. It also opens up dialogues between congregants of all ages and backgrounds, where each may have some insight from God that may otherwise have been missed. And it would have the side-effect of freeing the pastor from many hours of prepping a 30-45 minute sermon that, honestly, may be well forgotten by many within a few hours.

On one occasion while I was serving as a college minister, I was able to explore some of what this could look like with our small 60-person congregation. We had access to large round cafeteria tables which we used instead of the usual auditorium pew-style seating. The sermon I prepared was still for a 45-minute block of time, but had breaks for questions and conversations built in. As I walked through a particular passage we would stop at points and allow time for each table to discuss it amongst themselves, and then open it up for anyone who wanted to share a thought or question that had come up with the whole congregation. It was a bit of a clumsy and uncomfortable experience at first, but the benefit was that we got to hear thoughts and insights from individuals in the congregation that we wouldn’t have otherwise. As the preacher that morning, it meant I didn’t have as much control over the overall message we received that day, but instead had a better sense of where people were in their thinking on the passage and how God might be moving through us as a congregation. It was an enlightening experience, and one I would continue to cultivate in an amenable setting.

How are sermons landing for you lately? What would you add? What would you take away? 

Is there a sermon that has really impacted you or inspired your faith lately? If so, consider sharing a link to the audio/video recording, or send us a brief reflection on it in your own words. We’d love to share it and see others blessed by it!

The Tithe

There are a lot of good (and bad) ideas and practices around how, when, and why we give money to our churches. What is really missing for me, though, is a more engaged experience around whatever form it is. I want my tithe or offering to be a thoughtful interactive experience with God, every time. One way I would like to see this in practice is to have a dedicated, experiential offering space within the church building. Ideally it would be located someplace central (yet semi-private), between the front door and the entrance to the sanctuary. It would be a free space for anyone to prayerfully enter, spend some time with God, and deposit whatever donation or tithe they feel led to give (whether physically or digitally).

Some kind of short guided devotions could be a part of the experience for those who maybe aren’t as familiar or comfortable with such a practice at first. It could have space for nonprofits and missionaries to post about their needs, or for the church to post about special funds and projects on their radar. It could also be a space for relevant updates and celebrations for previously funded works. Most importantly, it would be a dedicated time and space to be intentional and engaged with our giving. (Ideally, there would be an online version of this as well, a guided experience beyond typing in an amount and clicking send.) This could all be in addition to the traditional passing of the basket. (Though, perhaps that could use some updating as well?)

What is your giving experience like? Is it part of your relationship with God? Is it consistent? Is it vibrant? Are you able to see or feel its impact on you or others sometimes? 

Does your church have an engaging offering experience in place you could share with us? Or do you have some ideas or inspiration around what engaged giving could look like?

The Leadership Structure

Church leadership can look pretty different from church to church, but there is one troubling feature I find tends to be the same. The typical church has either just a lead pastor who guides things or a pastor and elder/deacon board that helps make important directional and theological decisions for the congregation. There are a lot of good reasons for these types of set-ups and some good historical precedents to support it. But these structures can often be a little too top-heavy, in that they can easily leave out input from the general congregation, who are usually more “on-the-ground” and in tune with the effects of those decisions. My dream church has a servant-leadership structure, where the pastor and elders’ primary role is to empower the laity and foster God’s leading through those involved, young and old.

There are definitely structural and practical ways to equip the congregation and mitigate top-heavy decision making, such as including ministry-specific committees or congregational surveys, etc. However, even these tend to leave out a key strategic segment of the congregation, children and youth. While it may seem natural to view these members as mere recipients of the ministry, if we don’t expect and encourage them to contribute also, then it is no wonder they are less likely to stick around and serve into young adult and adulthood. There should be young people, whether student-leaders or something more formal, who are involved in the wider decision-making processes. This may be messy at times, but without feeling both included and heard, they may find it harder and harder to feel like fully welcomed members of the wider ministry.

In general, the upcoming generations of young people may seem to have more reasons to keep church institutions at a distance than they do to come into their shelter. Through the many public fall-outs of various church leaderships (i.e., Catholic abuse scandals, mega-pastor infidelities and failures to protect youth, etc.) They have learned to be suspicious of authoritative approaches, yet want people to say plainly what they mean. They’re interested in community, but not conformity. They would rather have an interactive conversation about faith over coffee than sit through a one-sided sermon. As it is, the membership-central, shepherd and sheep, age-divided church experience may not be best suited to raising up the next generation of Christ followers. My dream is that future church leadership structures will reflect these realities and fully integrate young believers into the life and decision-making of the Church.

How does your church include youth and young adults in decision-making processes? 

Younger Christians, do you feel involved and empowered in your church?

Is your church engaging and involving youth is a way that is leading to vibrant Kingdom ministry? If so, please consider sharing with us and the wider Project Arctos community via email or social media (@projectarctos).

The music

Full confession, music isn’t one of my primary spiritual outlets. There are large swaths of Christian music that simply do not connect with or move me in the least. However, I do appreciate having music as a central piece of the corporate worship experience. And in fact, in my dream church, music is even more central to the life of the church than it is for many of us presently. Presently, most churches have worship teams who select either from a standard hymnal or from a list of popular contemporary worship songs. While there definitely is a lot of variation (and innovation) in music for some churches, it doesn’t seem to be the norm. What I would add to the ministry of music leading and performance is a ministry of music creation. Why not have congregants write and perform some of their own original songs? Admittedly, this could take some time and effort to establish, as music writing isn’t the simplest skill to pick up. However, much like we have classes and workshops for other specialized skills in the church, music writing could become a staple ministry. (Side note, if you would be interested in joining an online music writing workshop, you can sign up at https://www.projectarctos.com/workshops-list/2022/11/14/co-creatingworkshops to get notified as soon as we have one scheduled.)

I’m sure there are many, but I know of at least one church that has made music writing a part of their worship culture. Circle of Hope Church in Philadelphia has cultivated and featured original pieces from their congregation. You can enjoy a sample of one, Light from Light by Andrew Yang, and even download the music lead sheets for your next service here. You can also explore their larger catalog of worship music to be shared and enjoyed online here.2 I think having at least some “home-grown” worship music, poetry, etc. is likely much closer to what the early churches experienced. It doesn’t have to be “professional” or highly refined to be deeply impactful. There is a binding sort of intimacy that comes with sharing in worship together, and that can be multiplied when the content is close to home and building deeper connections within your own faith community.

What “does it for you” when it comes to worship? Are there aspects missing from your regular music ministry? Does your worship team feel free and supported, or is there pressure to “perform” each Sunday? 

Have you written any worship songs or poetry that you might like to share? We’d love to help share it for others to engage, enjoy, and be blessed by. Please connect with us (hello@projectarctos.com) to explore whether your piece(s) might be a good fit for our upcoming Resources section on projectarctos.com.

As mentioned in each of these sections, we want to hear from you. What does your dream church look like? What are some things your church is doing well that others might benefit from? If you feel moved to share your own thoughts or experiences in this area, consider submitting an article with us. You can reach out to discuss possibilities with us at hello@projectarctos.com or you can submit your article(s) directly at: https://www.projectarctos.com/writingsubmissions. 

Whether you’re happily engaged in a vibrant local church or longing for something more within your own locale, there is much we can do to advance and support one another through ministries like Project Arctos. Join us in building a bigger, better, and more vibrant Kingdom, to the benefit of all.

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Resources

1 Light from Light by Andrew Yang - https://music.circleofhope.net/songs/detail/1150

2 Circle of Hope Church Music Index - https://music.circleofhope.net/songs/index

Matt Reffie is KRC’s Project Arctos Community Coordinator and In-Kind Donations lead. He has a Master’s in Church History from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts and enjoys bringing historical perspectives to contemporary issues in Christianity. He currently lives in MetroWest Boston with his wife and no dogs.