Ben Fernström's latest post, "What's wrong with the Sunday service?" discusses George Barna and Frank Viola's latest book, Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices. The book's basic premise is that most of what we understand about the Church today is rooted not in New Testament practices, but in pagan rituals. Ben's analysis of the book begins with his stating that it has been over a year and a half since he has been to a service, and that his faith and relationship with Christ has only strengthened during this time because he has been able to get at the heart of what Christianity is all about.

In summary, Ben dislikes the following things about the traditional service:

1. It lacks true fellowship. He feels that most of the congregation fades back as a bunch of "lame ducks" while a couple of people lead them on in meaningless singing and sacramental practices, merely sitting and waiting for it to be over.
2. It lacks proper training. Says Ben, "The service teaches worthless traditions and anesthetizes the listeners." He finds little value in the traditional liturgical methods and preaching, and instead wants to allow much more room for the Holy Spirit to work. While there is some important stuff in theology, the most important thing is relationship with Jesus.
3. It lacks a proper understanding of worship. Routine practices throughout the service do not encompass the totality of worship. Ben sums up his understanding of worship by a confession of God as God and that our lives are to back up this confession.

For Ben, then, a reorganized church would look something like this:

The model I would choose...would be a big, collective service maybe once a month. There would be great music, video and various effects could be used, great teaching that incorporated talking about where the whole church was going as a body. It would be all about celebrating together as a big family. And it could very well be done in cooperation with several other churches (that sing the same tune, so to speak). But the Sunday service would no longer hold the dominant position it now has.

He goes on to describe a practice of meeting together in something akin to small groups more frequently and nurturing a deep sense of community and fellowship in that setting, where it can be properly done. His conclusion is that things are not working as they are right now, and that a paradigm shift is needed to restore the health of the church.

This post actually hit me in a sensitive spot. I can appreciate some of the things that Ben (and Barna) are saying, but growing up in a tradition that held to a high view of the Church, and now holding to a strong ecclesiology myself, this is difficult for me to swallow as a whole. Perhaps I have not had the negative experiences with the traditional Sunday service that Ben has--in fact, I look forward every week to be able to gather for worship. But this idea is not uncommon anymore; books like Dan Kimball's They Like Jesus but Not the Church have popped up all over the place, and the assumption for leaders attempting to make the faith relevant for the younger generations is that there is no longer a place for the Church as it has been conceived throughout history.

I'm still processing thoughts about this, and it's been over a week since Ben posted about this issue. I'm curious as to what you think of it all. Be sure to read Ben's post in its entirety, as I've only hit on the key points here. Once you've done so, I'd be very interested to know how you'd respond to him and the issue in general.