A couple of things this past week got me thinking about what church life is supposed to be about.  I had some email correspondence with two friends on the subject of what the ratio of church staff to active members should be.  My friend in Nashville said he and his wife had been talking about how their church seemed staff-heavy.  My friend in San Antonio responded by saying that many churches spend far too much time building a "come and see" program schedule at the expense of fostering the use of spiritual gifts out there among the people (both members and unbelievers).

A day or so later, I ran across a video on YouTube by a church in New Orleans that I had visited and had provided some financial support.  The video was well-done and gave a glimpse into the incarnational ministry the church members sought to practice in one of the city's poorest neighborhood.  They believed that Christ offered new life that affected the whole person: spiritually and physically.  This was something that would spill over into the community so as to bring about transformation.  Programs did not figure into this philosophy.  Instead, eating together, playing to together, and mentoring each other in small groups gathered in homes formed the backbone of their church.  The pastor summed up the life of their church by stating, "Relationships work better than programs."

So where should we put our focus? Programs or relationships?  Some evangelical bodies seem increasingly divided into two groups, one moving in the direction of a less formal, more organic type of faith community and another expanding their slate of programs into new, uncharted areas.  Which is more faithful to the New Testament picture of the body of Christ?  Both groups often start with the same twin goals of reaching people with the Gospel and building them up into maturity in Christ.  However, their methodologies are markedly different.  Does the strategy matter?  Does Scripture  give us the leeway to employ which ever technique we choose? 

I'm sure most of those supporting a programmatic model would say that the church's programs are designed to help people form meaningful relationships.  And many churches emphasizing relational community often employ some schedule of activities that give people a chance to gather and fellowship. Still, our culture's busyness syndrome seems to drive us to "plug" our congregations into activities at the expense of allowing time for mentoring relationships that spring naturally from members living life together.  Other churches seem to devolve into fellowships that appear to resemble hanging-out rather than a body of Christ that is propelled by a specific purpose.  What should the church look like? Which way do we go?  Do we try to blend the two philosophies?  Or is there a third way that we are missing altogether?