According to Relevant Magazine many churches across the country are taking a Sunday off. This is a terrific idea, and one well past due. Many Christians are in the habit of setting Sunday mornings aside for worship, and the rest of their weeks are quite busy. Skipping church to BE the Church is most appropriate. Some churches have reported 90% participation in these events.
I have an idea: Why not tithe Sundays? Of 50 odd weeks in a year that would entail 5 Sundays a year of community service. If 100 million or so Americans attend church regularly, and they all gave 3 hours 5 times a year that would produce 1.5 billion hours of community service per year.
I have long advocated the tithing of Sundays, previously for visiting other churches, which might predictably happen if the above plan became regular, in order to keep from getting to set in our ways, and to foster co-operation among churches and good will. This is taking it a step further.
While the importance of a close community of believers is very real, it is important to be flexible, and to stretch the way we think about these things.
Comment (1)
Wouldn’t be great if churches weren’t institutions, but simply the meeting places they once were across Europe?
When I travel from town to town, I prefer to visit Masonic Lodges. Why? Because they’re friendly, open to fellowship, and place everyone on an equal station.
Having church leaders is fine, and quite important. But what if the Church were a less stationary idea, and visiting other churches not actually tithing, but a past time! What a Christian utopia that would be. The growth of the body on the earth.