I recently drove past a church that announced on its sign, “This is a Family Church.” No doubt the congregation was keen to reach families with the Gospel. But what about singles or couples without children? Isn’t the local church also for them? Isn’t the church a family itself – God’s family?
Target audience churches such as this cater for specific groups: families, surfers, ethnic groups etc. And this is partly commendable: it’s much easier to evangelise those who are like us. Surfers are the best people to reach surfers; Koreans are the best people to reach Koreans; families are the best people to reach families. As Paul says, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Cor 9:22 NIV).
The Problem
The Problem
But the problem of the target audience church surfaces at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. There the Apostles debated whether Gentiles needed to be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15:2,5). They concluded that faith in Christ saves without circumcision (Acts 15:9-19). But the Apostles also did something unexpected. They sent instructions designed to keep Jews and Gentiles together in those same local churches. From one perspective, it would have been much easier to form separate Jewish and Gentile local churches. So many cultural clashes could have been avoided.
Why did the Apostles want to keep Jew and Gentile together? Because the Gospel demands it. When Peter began only to associate with Jewish believers in Antioch, Paul publicly rebuked him (Gal 2:12-13). Peter, says Paul, was “not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel,” (Gal 2:14). Strong words indeed!
The Reasons
The Reasons
Paul explains it like this. If a believer is justified by faith alone in Christ (Gal 2:15-3:6) then church membership is for those with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 3:7-14). It has nothing to do with being Jewish (or enjoying surfing, or having a family). Indeed as Paul boldly declares:
28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:28-29, NIV).
Churches that include both Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, show something powerful about the Gospel: Jesus Christ alone saves.
Target audience churches, on the other hand, can obscure Christian witness. Christ says that the world will know we are his disciples by our love (John 13:35; 17:21). Yet those in target audience churches risk looking like pagans who “love those who love [them]” and “greet only their own people” (Matt 5:46-47). The world won’t notice this kind of “love” because it’s no different from its own ways. But when Christians love believers who are different from themselves, they show Gospel love.
Our world is wracked by rivalries arising from ethnic, cultural, sporting, and status differences. These enmities often boil over into violence, war, and human oppression. But the Church is the one place on earth where such divisions should not be found. Christ can have no rivals. He must be the only thing that defines our corporate life and identity. The church must be, as the early Christians put it, “catholic,” meaning universal.
For Paul, displays of this “catholic” love provide a great source of joy:
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. (Ephesians 1:15–16, NIV)
4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. (Philemon 4–5, NIV)
The local church isn’t just about reaching the lost (evangelism), it’s also about strengthening Christians to persevere to the end (edification). The local church community is to be a gymnasium for training in Gospel love; for learning to love those who are different from us – yet for whom Christ died (Rom 14:15; 1 Cor 8:11). However target audience churches interfere with all this. They make it harder:
- for individual believers to use the gifts Christ has given them for the whole body (Eph 4:7-16);
- for younger believers to learn from older Christians (Titus 2:2-6);
- for older Christians to be encouraged by their younger brothers and sisters;
- for single believers to remind married Christians that human marriage is impermanent (Mark 12:25);
- for married couples to offer singles a sign of the church’s future marriage to Christ (Eph. 5:22-33).
Objections
Objections
If target audience churches are unhelpful, doesn’t this mean an end to all targeted ministry: youth groups; men’s groups; family ministries etc? Absolutely not. All of these can be very helpful. But let’s not understand them as churches. People in those groups still need others in the local church. Surfers, for example, who are converted through a surfing ministry need to learn to love non-surfing Christians because having Christ in common is more important than having surfing in common.
Another objection is that it’s almost impossible for local churches to avoid having a target audience. For example, a local church on Perth’s Northern beaches can’t but reflect something of that Northern beaches culture. That’s true. But the unavoidable likeness of a congregation is actually a potential weakness which can lead to blind-spots. A local church in an affluent area made up of affluent believers will have certain blind spots. Churches in remote locations will also have certain blinkers; inner city churches will have others. So while we may not be able to avoid some kind of sameness, let’s see it for what it is and seek to overcome it through links with the universal Church all over the world.
One last objection is the language barrier. Surely we need congregations that cater for first generation Australians who can’t understand English? Yes we do. But it would be better if these congregations were part of a local church rather than seen as churches in themselves. No one ethic group should define the church. The goal should always be the integration of next generation.
Christ transcends any nation, tribe, or tongue. The target audience church will stifle our mission. That is one reason why The Gospel Coalition Australia is such a positive development. It brings together Christians from many denominations and contexts and centres them on the Gospel itself.
(Photo: Rupert Ganzer, flickr)
