Something I Wrote For My Church

What Kind of Church is This?
By Pastor Matt Miller
It is a loaded question. What kind of Church is this? It is unfair really. But it’s one that many are asking. I ask the same question every Wednesday during our wonderful weekly staff meetings. This question in particular is impossible to answer. The least of the reasons is that it is really difficult to actually box any entity in. It’s an inherently subjective query. What kind of store is Wal-Mart? What kind of coffee shop is Starbucks? What kind of house is Dennis’ house? Different people would see different legitimate ways to classify these different things. I think you could easily do the same thing with Steamtown Church. You might try to bring all the different perspectives together to form a coherent holistic definition. It’s possible and it’s a waste of time. The important question when it comes to Steamtown Church is not, “What kind of Church is this?” but, “Is Steamtown Church a church?” Here are just a few of the ways I have heard Steamtown characterized.
“Steamtown is the best thing that ever happened to Scranton”
“Steamtown is a college church”
“Steamtown is friendly”
“Steamtown is Dennis”
“Steamtown is a cult”
“Steamtown is a bible-believing fundamental church”
“Steamtown is an emergent Church”
“Steamtown is protestant”
“Steamtown is non-denominational”
“Steamtown is Baptist”
“Steamtown is baptist, but with a little “b”.
“Steamtown Church cares about the community”
“Steamtown Church cares about the poor”
“Steamtown Church is furthering the oil crisis”
“Steamtown is hip”
These are only a few of the comments I have heard over the years. It’s easy to see how some of these descriptions contradict each other. Steamtown cannot be emergent and fundamental. It cannot be non-denominational and Baptist. It is questionable whether or not Steamtown can further the oil crisis (this was said as a response to us giving away free gas downtown) and at the same time care about the community and its poor. There are many inconsistent and sometimes contradictory assessments in only these few comments. But if you talk to the individuals who make these assessments they all have a basis for thinking what they think. I point this out to drive my earlier point home. We will never be able to answer the question, “What kind of church is Steamtown Church?” An even trickier and potentially more frustrating question is, “What is Steamtown Church”. Again, the question that is important is, “Is Steamtown a church?”
The Greek word for church is transliterated as “ekklesia” which means “assembly”. The 1st century followers of Jesus chose not to make up a term for what they were. They decided to confuse the world forever and just call themselves an assembly. If someone were to ask the early followers of Jesus,
“Hey what are you guys?”
“Oh, we’re an assembly”
“Yea, but what kind of assembly?”
“We’re an assembly that has committed ourselves to praying together, spending quality time together, not depending on the possessions of this world to give us security, and spreading the news around this world about Jesus and the hope that He brings through His death and Resurrection.”
Is this what a church is today? No. It seems that a church today is a place you go on Sundays. Steamtown Church is not a place you go on Sunday. The Red Carpet Inn is a place you go on Sunday. Steamtown Church is supposed to be, if it is to really call itself a church, an assembly that is committed to praying together, spending quality time together, not depending on the possessions of this world to give them their security, and spreading the news about Jesus. Maybe to avoid confusion we should just call ourselves “an assembly” or maybe we shouldn’t call ourselves anything, and just call what we do something cheesy like, “The Scranton Movement”. One church in Texas brilliantly decided to just call itself Ekklesia.
There is a difference between what we are and what are mission is. Our mission is to bring God closer to every individual within our sphere of influence no matter where that individual is at. One of the avenues that we use to do this is to invite people to a service that we call Steamtown Church. Why? If we’re trying to communicate to people that Steamtown Church is not a place why do we invite them to a place and call it Steamtown Church? For one, one of the things that breaks down the misconception that a church is a place is that we don’t actually meet in a traditional church building, but we meet in a hotel. Obviously Steamtown Church is not The Red Carpet Inn but it is not the Sunday morning service either. I find myself sometimes, even as lead teacher, telling people that I am “going to church” on Sunday and then telling the people from up front that we are not at church but that we are the church.
Hopefully it has become apparent that “Steamtown Church” has a double meaning. On one hand it is the specific Jesus followers living in the Scranton area who have committed themselves…you know the drill. On the other hand it is the organization that has been all over the news, and on a billboard. It is a really hip service on Sunday Morning with cool songs, and sweet messages. But all the coolness, all the sweetness, all the hype is not who we are, but it is what we do in order to be who we want to be. It is our way of spreading the news about Jesus. It is our way of getting people’s attention. If you want to spend your time pondering over what kind of church Steamtown is, I will not stop you; only suggest that your time could be better spent. As for me I am willing to accept that Steamtown is what it is; a hyped up, fun, friendly, and unpredictable organization that meets together weekly in the Red Carpet Inn.(Though to be theologically correct that is not what the church itself is, that does however perfectly describe the organization that is “Steamtown Church”) At the same time it is an assembly of Jesus followers living in Scranton who have committed themselves to praying together, spending quality time together, considering the possessions of this world of no consequence to their security, and spreading the good news of Jesus around Scranton; a wonderfully interesting city with an impressive heritage, that has needed some good news for some time. This is what kind of church this is.