Lifeboats and Cruiseboats
There are different churches and they operate in different ways. It may be that you have visited a church and you may have expected it to operate one way and it didn’t. It may be that you are a part of a church that is operating one way and expecting it to operate another way. It’s not that there are good ways and bad ways of operating, they are just…different.
Imagine you have gone down to a dock and there are different boats down there, some of them might look like this:
Cruise-boats
The first boat you see is large and noisy, advertising it is a great place to be. They invite you to come on board. In fact this is how people get on board, they see what the boat is doing and decide if they want to join them. Cruise-boats are usually run by a captain and he makes a lot of the calls. On the other hand he also is able to answer a lot of questions “Where is this boat going?” “Here is our schedule and vision”, “Who will it be good for?” “We have activities for young adults, kids and families”, “What do I need to do when I get on board?” “We have a great crew so you can cruise or get involved”.
A lot of people become Christians through cruise-boats. They look like there is something in their lives that is missing and this could it. If you have visited a church like this then welcoming will be “come and join this”. Some cruise-boat churches I have been to there has been very little in terms of welcoming, the assumption being that if I want to be here, I will find my way on.
Lifeboats
But imagine you have walked a little further down the dock and you see a smaller boat. This is a lifeboat. It’s job is to go and get people. It is not like a cruise-boat in that its main way of getting people on board is going to go and get them. It means that a lifeboat captain can’t answer the same questions as a cruise-boat captain. “Where are you going?” “Depends on where the people are”, “Who will it be good for?” “Depends who we come across, we need to be adaptable”, “What do I need to do when I get on board?” “Help get people on board”, “What activities do you have?” “Not many, we go to the activities that exist”.
A lot of people don’t become Christians through cruise-boats, we need to go and get them. It is hard work and sometimes people in the water don’t want to be rescued. But this is what we see people do in the New Testament. Some people come to Jesus, others he goes to and eats with.
Don’t be confused
Both types of churches are good, but you can’t be both at the same time. Both types of churches are good, but they are very different. Both types of churches have strengths and problems. But knowing which boat you are is important. You can’t really be on cruise-boat operating as a lifeboat. Knowing which boat you are will determine how structure of the church works, how staff is worked out, how much time you get to spend with them, how people are welcomed and included into the community?
At Soma we are hoping to grow to be a flotilla of lifeboats. We are still working out how that works, but we think there are people out in the world, drowning and need to hear about Jesus.
What church are you on? What church do you want to be on?
Pete Hughes
Pete is the pastor of SOMA church, a community of Jesus-loving-people who've been transformed by understanding him, that meets in the Macquarie Centre, North Ryde in NSW. Click here to visit Pete Hughe's blog