You stand, you sit, you stand, you kneel, you take a shot. What could this possibly describe but church? (Bill has effectively argued the similarities between a Friday Showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I'll leave that one alone.)

There is really very little scriptural framework provided for what a church service should contain. A weekly altar call is never called for. The pastoral prayer is not commanded in scripture. The collection of tithes and offerings is not given as a weekly activity. Communion is highly recommended, we know that the early Christians sang songs together, and we hear numerous sermons given at church meetings. But we aren't told there was a sermon every week. We don't know how many songs people sang. It probably lasted for longer than an hour. (I can see hundreds of Baptists getting up to leave before the meat of my message after that comment.)

My degree is in two fields, primarily. Figuring out cultures and figuring out how Jesus fits into those cultures. Here is a quick overview of what I've learned so far.
* Churches don't need to have a steeple.
* Missionaries shouldn't import hymns.
* Find bridges between the native stories and the Gospel message
* Don't allow American theology to block the absorption of the gospel.
* Don't change the message - change the media.

We as the American church are worshipping a foreign God. We have never taken the gospel message to heart in such a fashion that it became our own. We are worshipping using the same forms as our anscestors even though the forms are meaningless to us.

We take communion using bread and wine/grape juice. In Jesus day these were the staples of life. In Irian Jaya the people only ate sweet potato - so communion was sweet potato and water. Why don't we southreners have cornbread and sweet tea to commemorate the sacrifice of our savior?

Why do our churches look like they do? Why are we using pipe organs or, for the contemporary crowd, tambourines? Why is our worship not indiginous? Christians are always a step behind the mainstream.

So let's consider doing church differently. Why not go intergenerational? Why not try NOT taking up an offering? Small groups anyone? Small groups in place of worship? What about a talk show format - or an Oprah-esque dialogue? Why not ditch the sermon entirely and just worship for an hour one Sunday? Why not ditch the worship music and worship God by praying for one another?

There are so many things we just aren't trying. Anyone else naive enough to want to give them a whirl?