What sort of church are we?

This week I am feeling that church is made up of more than one view of where we are going  or indeed whether we want to change at all. Some have been going to the same place for yonks; church is what you do on Sundays, meet your friends do your bit in a group , committee or serving coffees and where we don't get too involved with each other personally. Mostly we get on with 'real' life.

Others are searching for God or at least for the love of God in the church. They believe what they are told in sermons and sing praises in worship yet this love is elusive, somehow 'not done'. The more they try to belong to this loving family the more frustrated and disappointed they become. Chat over coffee doesn't move on to hospitality, no-one wants to talk about what the sermon might mean. if it is big church you are probably referred to someone appointed to do Pastoral care, prayer ministry but just as possibly not.

Some boast of their church's culture as against- 'they're Evangelical but we are Liberal'. or 'our choral tradition' 'our building' 'our scriptural teaching of the Word' or 'modern worsip', when what is missing is the love for one another which is one  of Jesu' commands to his followers.
Many turn away and pursue spirituality and meaning for life elsewhere.

I think there are two models at work where I am and we move between them in a rather confused way.
A The traditional way we do things Church building and an institution which mirrors many secular organisations or clubs with it hierarchical organisation, professions; leadership and officers leaders or Elders, tasks and rules and concerns with money and property and paying staff. There is a tendency to secrecy about decisions and problems as well as the usual conflicts about power and authority, who does what and how.

B The church as family or community. Increasingly people are looking to where God is moving in His Spirit an studying the Early church while trying to loose much of the customs and rituals which have grown up over the centuries but now are more of hindrance than help to Faith. I read recently of a Film Star who has moved back into the Catholic tradition but described himself as a 'radica Catholic' who was studying the church of the New Testament. There is a movement of the Holy Spirit through the Church, often outwith traditional denominations as well as within. The 'Fresh Expressions' movement among Anglican and Methodists in England may be an example of this.

The major decline in Church Attendance in England seems to have a bit of a blip where church attendance is actually growing as they seek renewal in the power of the Holy Spirit
But for those stuck in a place where they lack spiritual food there is a dilemma- stay or go?