Chris Brogan, a social media blogger, recently posted on the difference between an audience and a community. He writes:
The difference between an audience and a community is which direction the chairs are pointing. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. When we say community and we mean our selling demographic, that’s not the same thing. When we say community and we mean audience to absorb our message, that’s not the same thing. It’s important to understand this.
It’s okay to want an audience. When we’re trying to build awareness, we want an audience. We create things to get people’s attention. For some, the creation is advertising. For others, it’s face to face events. For others, it’s content (like this blog post). If you’re clever, you create in a variety of formats.
This builds audience. Audiences are those folks who gather to hear what you have to say. But that’s not a community.
Jesus often attracted large audiences. But He attracted most of them outside of synagogues, and He attracted nonbelievers. He met with believers, primarily His disciples, in more intimate settings. The church today seems to have this backwards. We make believers our audiences, and hang out in homes and more intimate settings with our non-believing friends. There is definitely room for having audiences of believers, but this is certainly not the primary gathering method, nor should it be the central financial focus.
Are churches today doing more to build communities or audiences? What do architecture, format, and seating arrangements have to do with it? How can these be changed to create a community instead of an audience?
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Great post. I listened to a podcast last night by Mark Driscoll in church planting and he was talking about how hospitality isn’t for believers- it’s for nonbelievers who might be “strange” in that we don’t know them. When we invite them in, it speaks volumes and is what true hospitality is.
As far as community goes, I think churches are doing a good job of building their small group ministry so that real biblical community can take place. If the leadership stresses the importance of community, even if a congregation does meet in very traditional church (that seems more “audience-like”) then it can happen. It has everything to do with the leadership at the top’s focus on community.
Hey Samantha, I totally agree that many churches have been doing a great job in their small group ministries. I simply wonder if the Sunday morning gathering “as is” is really effective, or if it’s something that should be rethought. Only a relatively small percentage of those who attend Sunday morning gatherings actually get involved in small groups, when the opposite trend should be more of the reality. In other words, maybe we should invite people to small groups, not to the gathering. Then those who are already in small groups will gather each week for worship and prayer. The small groups is the real place where discipleship occurs, thus the real energy and money should be focused on it. Multiple local churches could come together and share one building for common worship, worshiping as the one true Church. The small groups is where it’s at.
Your idea “Multiple local churches could come together and share one building for common worship” could very soon become a very real reality. With the state of the economy and the alarming number of ministers leaving the ministry it could become a reality by default instead of intentionality.
The early church, as we discussed last week, had its large gatherings (temple courts e.g.) and its small groups (houses). The large gatherings were for worship and proclamation of the Gospel; whereas, the homes were for teaching and fellowship. I believe the Biblical model is the best model. It seems now that the American church is trying to recapture that model.
An interesting stat from a mega-church, because I know how you love mega-churches. Saddleback averages just over 19000 in weekend worship attendance and nearly 21000 in small group attendance. They are doing something right.
That’s very good that Saddleback has more folks in small groups than in the large gathering. Now if he would stop asking people to be re-baptized so he can boast about how many he gets dunked in one day that’d be another issue….
P.S. you mentioned they preached the Gospel in the large gatherings, another reason I think the full Gospel should be preached EVERY Sunday. Preach the Law showing our need for the Savior and the Gospel showing Him to us EVERY week. Take me to the cross every week, and then show me how to live in the power of His resurrection.