Tourist Churches
Last night I got to hear Brian McLaren speak to the local Episcopal seminary. His talk, obviously addressed to the structures of the Episcopal church, mentioned the need to alter our perspective on the purpose of church. Churches shouldn’t be like museums where the masses come to us like tourists to experience natives in their natural habitat (and then eventually – hopefully- assimilate into becoming one of us). Instead of having a come to us attitude, we should be active evangelists in inviting others to join us in a community that serves the Kingdom of God.
Hearing this perspective on church, I couldn’t help but recall our experiences visiting churches in Europe on our honeymoon. Mike and I took ten weeks backpacking through Europe for our honeymoon – needless to say, we visited a a lot of churches. Most of these churches were simply museums – places for tourists to admire art and architecture. Any staff present at the churches treated the tourists with disdain. Either they completely ignored us or were the watchdogs insisting that the rules of the church be abided by (silence, no photography, women’s heads and shoulders covered…). I remember the incredulity of some who tried to bar our path during service times that we had shown up in truth for the service. So by the end of our trip, we were weary of visiting churches, sick of gilded church art, and had little expectation of encountering anything spiritual at any church we visited. But then we went to Holy Isle.
Holy Isle as it is called today is the historic site of Lindisfarne. In the 7th century St. Aidan came from Iona to establish a monastery there. He was the replacement for the previous missionary, Corman, who had written off the Northumbrians as too stubborn to be converted. Needless to say Aidan’s predecessor had failed to learn the native language (English) and expected the people to simply come in droves to join the Christian church. Aidan on the other hand chose to be out amongst the people, serving them and meeting their needs. He is credited with Christianizing England, but did so as a servant leader inviting others to join him on God’s mission. Given his story, I’m not surprised that the church on Holy Isle was unique among all the churches we visited that summer. After wandering in the drizzling rain through the ruins of the older monastery, we entered the current church and immediately encountered the priest. He welcomed us into the church, offered to tell us about the church and its history, and asked if we needed prayer or spiritual guidance. Like Aidan before him, he saw his job as serving the people (even us tourists). Lindisfarne has always been more than just the church building.
But I am amazed at how churches today continue to buy into this tourist mentality of church. A local megachurch here in Austin just completed a huge building project and now have a state of the art stadium/sanctuary. Their motto during the project – “if we build it they will come.” Same thing with the baptist church I worked at. We had recently painted the entire inside of church and at a church council meeting the group started planning the celebration service to commemorate this major accomplishment. I asked what sort of outreach we would be doing to bring people into the renovated (painted) church. The response I got was – “we painted the church, that’s our outreach.” It’s about attracting tourists who we assume want what we have and want to be just like us. But like the churches in Europe, just because a lot of people might actually walk through the doors doesn’t mean they are having a spiritual experience or serving God’s Kingdom.
On our honeymoon I got sick of visiting amazing structures that were hollow and unwelcoming. I understand why the world is sick of church. But I’m not ready to give up on the church – just the come and see mentality. I prefer to follow in the footsteps of St. Aidan – serving others and inviting them to be a part of God’s missional community.
julieclawson(at)gmail(dot)com 
A speaker at the recent AMiA (Anglican Mission in America) conference made a similar point. Loosely paraphrased, he said evangelical churches tend to either be the tourist-type of church that you describe here (some version of attractional), or else if they do any sort of outreach it’s with the mindset of a kidnapper or raider – we’re gonna go out from behind our walls, grab a few and bring ‘em back.
He contrasted those approaches with what you describe: an approach that goes out among the people – many of whom would never darken the doors of a church – loves them and serves them, gets to know them, meets them where they are and in time as opportunity arrives invites them into transforming relationship with God – after having first modeled the same in love. Encouragingly, he and other plenary speakers spoke of the good in postmodernism. Here’s a description from another website of one of the other talks:
“Todd Hunter had a fantastic presentation on reaching people in a postmodern culture and he postulated ways that the church might adapt to a postmodern culture. Interestingly enough, postmodernity, which the church tends to fear, might actually help lead Christians back to a truly biblical model of church (community, discipleship, interdependency, intimacy, mission, incarnational living, etc.).”
I like your story about Holy Isle. I was at Brian McLaren’s talk, too. His observation that we are elitist and welcome anyone – as long as they are educated and white – hit the mark (ouch!). But, for me personally, what was most profound was his exhortation for us (and I assume he was speaking to more than just Episcopalians at this point) to grow something new inside the old-for us to start new churches or new communities inside and alongside the old ones. It seemed to embody the third way of Jesus. It is overwhelming to think of the obstacles (egos, etc), but it is also one of the most hopeful things I have thought about in a while…
Excellent reflection on the direction some/many/most churches are heading.
I have been the Teaching Minister in a church like you describe for over 12 years. The church is an historical landmark and the town is a tourist town. Two strikes already! But what we are doing, I believe, is like “R” says in that we are trying to grow something new inside the old. Our separate service that meets at the same time as the “traditional” (re: tourist) service is seeking to be presence-based, community-oriented, and missionally minded. It is tough sledding for sure but the post-modern world we live in undoubtedly offers us the same opportunities you reference to do real kingdom stuff instead of more institutional remodeling. Thanks Julie and others!
That “come and see” mentality was exhibited by Philip when he spoke to Nathanael.
The problem is not the “come and see” attitude, but, in the tourist churches, the “look but don’t see” attitude.
A lot depends on what you go to see, and what you are allowed to see. There’s a huge difference between tourists and pilgrims, and in some cases a difference in how they are welcomed.
Jesus asked the question about John the Baptist — what did you go out into the wilderness to see?
And what you see depends very much on what you are looking for. Sometimes you may catch a glimpse of a Christian community worshipping God.
Steve – You make a very good distinction between the tourist and the pilgrim. My point basically focused on the church’s attitude more than the people’s attitudes. when churches become all about the building or the program (be that concert or liturgy) then they have failed to be evangelistic and have become tourist sites.