i'll take "community" for $500, alex

I’ve tossed out a few blogs dealing with different aspects of community. Each time, after the blog, I’ve wanted to get a discussion started, but for various reasons, that hasn’t really happened. A couple times, DP has expressed desire but lack of time, could we come back to it? So I’ve been wanting to toss out some bait, but haven’t had just the right way to get started. There are endless discussion threads in the community topic. Where does one start on an intentional discussion like this? Define Community? Well I can’t do it. But when the question gets tossed out as part of another discussion, somehow it seems to be natural and less affected. Easier for me to imagine a discussion starting because finally, the context is tossed out there in a specific scenario. “Community of worshippers.”

“community of worshippers”. Each time we try to define something, we find that we must define its parts. In the modern church manifestation, does this often mean simply, “community of church attenders” because we haven’t defined worship? This designation keeps us from having to think about why we attend church. And it causes people who do think about it, to question whether this is where they should attend. But when they look around, they find very little difference anywhere else.

My question then is this, have we veered off just a little bit from the purpose of the community of worshippers in the context of Church? If the ultimate is to worship God, then the body of believers come together to do this. (yes, it’s manifest in many ways) And then go out and gather more worshippers. In the Acts 2 church, it seems that the community of worshippers produced missionaries and evangelists, who produced more worshippers for the “community”. The modern church seems to strive more toward a community of evangelists, or at least a body of listeners who come to hear an evangelist. We are encouraged to do our part by bringing our unchurched friends to hear as well. Our services have become increasingly geared to luring the unchurched seeker and less toward believers’ worship. It seems that this is what the reaction is to. There is serious missing stuff in the modern church experience. Many are looking for the missing stuff.
On many blogs, I keep reading new feeling of guilt among emergers. “Are we simply running off because it doesn’t suit our style?” But I think there is something bigger here.
Have we lost sight of the bottom line purpose of the church? Can we get it back?
Was the church, the “community” gathering, instituted as a tool for evangelism or for worship, discipleship and the equipping of the saints for evangelism?
I’ve got about 25 more pages in my head, but I’ll stop and wait to see if this is bait enough. I’d really like to have this discussion. I’m sure my other 25 pages will crop up if the discussion gets started.