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.