Packaging the Church: “New and Improved” or “All-Natural and Organic”?

I sank into our Adirondack chair in a daze, looking for a quiet place to think. I needed to sort through what we experienced that morning. I felt as disoriented as when I arrived in Bolivia, trying to understand without knowing any Spanish. But we hadn’t left our country, we’d just visited a new church.

I didn’t think I could be so out of my element among fellow Christians. But this church was unlike anything I’ve experienced since high school summer camp in Malibu.

The past eight years my husband and I have served in very small churches. They’ve lacked the resources to get very flashy, so they’ve focused on the basics. I don’t mind keeping things simple. In fact, even what these smaller churches built grew more complicated than I thought was wise or fruitful. Some of this is just me. I like everything simple – unscented, organic, no high-fructose corn syrup or bleached flour or preservatives, maybe with just a dash of hippie for good measure.