If your primary definition of church is something that happens on a Sunday morning, then it makes sense that the resources and programming and personnel would be event-oriented, and what is presented during the services—from countdown to smoke machines and laser lights, from presentation technology to message, from songs to worship leaders—would cater to attracting certain people and creating memorable experiences in those services. Creating your brand becomes an important part of an event-oriented ecclesiology, and it only makes sense to use a demographically homogenous worship team (e.g., young hipsters or modern rockers) to further inculcate your brand.

But if your primary definition of church is a community of people who love and follow Jesus, then it is less about the programming and more about creating a community of disciples.

Not that the service doesn’t matter—because it certainly does—but the focus of the service would be very different. Your service would be more a reflection of the community that is already there. And your worship team may be more a reflection of your church family, with senior citizens playing alongside teens and thirty-somethings. It certainly isn’t as sexy looking. But perhaps it would look more like the Church.

Stone Table Church mission: To express in everyday life God’s heart for transforming lives, renewing his church and engaging our culture.