From Attractional to Incarnational

 From Attractional to Incarnational

QUESTION: “Is the Great Commission understood merely as a mandate to get more people to come to a church service or activity?”

Traditionally, most churches have identified themselves as places where things happen and where congregants receive religious goods and services. As such, they produce worship services and events that attract people. It is like a club that provides club activities for club members who in turn rate the services they have received either by their return visits or by their financial support.

The scorecard for this kind of attractional church is attendance and participation. This is reflected in the income it derives from satisfied customers/club members. Since the typical church member has spent their entire life in this kind of model it feels perfectly normal. Leadership for this kind of model revolves around training people to operate the business of church effectively. In many cases the effectiveness of leaders relates to their ability to “grow” the church, meaning of course, to improve its appeal and capacity to attract more people.

The Incarnational understanding of who the church is declares that we are the body of Christ in the world today. Incarnational approaches focus on the church “BEING THERE” – at home, in the street, in the marketplace, at school, in the neighborhood – in the places where people live their lives. Incarnational believers search for ways to connect not just to each other but to the world beyond the church. They look for ways to help people discover and live out their faith in the spaces they already occupy.

Back to the opening question. One thing is certain; it is more difficult to add incarnational DNA to an attractional culture than it is to incorporate attractional components into an incarnational approach. There is a natural tension that this discussion creates. Saint Thomas Crookes of Sheffield, England suggests; UP-IN-OUT! UP signals relationship with God, as in worship. IN refers to relationship with each other, fellowship. OUT points to the relationship with outside the church, mission to the world.