Three years ago, almost to the day, I launched Church with UTB. The idea was to give people a resource so they could feel confident in starting up a house church. For most of that time, I have recorded a weekly sermon and published a service including songs and Bible readings. However, as I mentioned recently, I have stopped doing a weekly sermon and publishing a weekly service.
A few months ago, I wrote a series called ‘Rethinking Church,’ which aimed to go back to the Bible to see how and why God wanted us to meet as Christians. As a result of that study, I have come to believe that the way many Christians tend to think about church today is flawed.
For one, the church according to the New Testament is not a building or a meeting at a specific place and time. The church is … the people! But there are many other aspects of church which we don’t get quite right, please do go and read the whole series.
What that means for Church with UTB here is that I’ve decided rather than publishing a weekly ‘service’ – including a sermon and songs – I’ve decided to replace that with a tool which will allow you to add your own songs and Bible readings etc. The idea is to fulfil more of the New Testament’s vision for church as a place where everyone comes to participate, rather than passively consume. This is what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 14:26:
When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
This is my vision for Church with UTB: rather than me providing a set structure for you to follow, instead you can simply add songs, Bible readings, videos etc according to your own needs and preferences. The way we’ve been using this in our church gatherings over the last couple of weeks is that I’ve asked everyone to suggest a song. We’ve also had a Psalm, and we’ve been using a Bible teaching series from Sinclair Ferguson. The idea is that it makes it easier for church to be something that people participate in and share, rather than something to sit and listen to.
Over the coming weeks I will be talking more about this, however in the meantime you can explore the Church with UTB tool for yourself and let me know if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions.
