There's something weird about the wording of the title, but it's the question that gets overshadowed by "why the church matters?" But we know the why. The reasons for why church is important are always talked about: God's bride, God's people united, light of the world, to receive and share the gospel, missions, etc.
But the underground, behind the scenes of the church, the mechanics of the church, or just "how" the church works is sometimes brought up among us busy church goers who make up the bulk of congregations, however, the topic is usually left to church leaders and academics who want to study ecclesiology. And that's a problem, the majority of the church body isn't having the conversation about the beauty of how the church matters. About what it does to fulfill its mission, how it goes about showing that it does matter.
I don't think I'll ever forget a message I heard from Rick Warren, it was a long time ago, he said most people want to grow something overnight and not be patient with the slow process that real growth comes from. He goes on and says "mushrooms grow overnight, but an oak tree takes decades;" I'm the type that is not faithful and want the end product now, so it's a thought that completely rewired my thinking, since then that line has been a mantra of mine. I'm also a big believer that God uses his design in the natural world as a blueprint for us to use in a) how we should operate in our own society or b) to show us what perspective about life we should have..since he is the Creator. So, now I always share that line about "mushrooms vs oak trees," "the now vs patience" when I see an opportunity; and not too long I had coffee with one of the pastors in my neighborhood, Jody Mask, where I brought up that Rick Warren message, when I finished the story he smirks, "I wonder if Rick Warren will still say that if he saw the fantastic fungi documentary." My eyes froze on him and I nodded for a little bit while I processed his quick reply, all I could help think was how he was right that those disgusting mushrooms could be a blueprint for the church.
If you watched the documentary, then you know; you see, mushrooms are just a tiny product of what's actually happening below. Where a tree is the main part of itself and the roots are to help, fungus works the other way. The "root" system of a mushroom is the heart, not just an assistant. Unlike a tree, fungus is the whole connection of strings, not just the mushroom we see grow from it.
The fungus spreads across large portions of land, sending messages through itself from one end to the other, sending nutrients through each cell and node. It feels and communicates like the hive mind in Stranger Things, where all the individual monsters and creatures were able to feel and sense what the rest of the hive mind was experiencing allowing them to make the move needed to complete its mission.
The Fungus Amongus
Organized religions in the modern world make for a unique societal organism; interconnected by a set of beliefs so strong they determine how we live (for this life and the next), able to quickly disseminate new ideas about that faith or information that can cause us to instantly herd in a different direction.
Between today's communication capabilities and our loyalty to the faith, if communicated properly, an entire denomination can effectively become a tidal wave towards whatever goal the church sees appropriate. Similar to the underground system fungi uses to transfer signals from one end of itself to the other, we the church, being of one body and one mind, can use technology to do the same.
We do use it to some degree, but not to the fullest. The church doesn't go viral enough (at least not in good ways.) It hasn't learned how to yet.
If you've spent time on social media following other Christians then you know the christian related concepts that have real depth or substance are usually interesting to only church leaders or academics that nerd out on the different -ologies (soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology, theology, etc) and the stuff that 95% of us Christians do care to interact with are typically inspirational quotes or something to make you feel good. Very rarely do we come across information shared across social media that engages with a majority of the church in a way that encourages a sincere movement.
We're behind on what social media can offer. By giving into it, the church can be mobilized from the local level to the national; societal change for the name of God can happen with consistent actions over time. Imagine a gospel version of Game Stop, what happened there was huge and it all started with some people talking on Reddit.
Flashmob Church
A hindrance to this ability to go viral is our emphasis on the the individual churches and its leaders; by churches I mean the nonprofits ran like a business, not the biblical communities. Now, there should be an emphasis given to these organizations and the leaders, but we've surrendered a high amount to them and it's led to us losing sight of the value each individual christian has.
In the fungus system, each cell plays a vital role in growing and directing the whole thing. Same with us, each individual christian matters. The Spirit is in each believer and can use everyone in unique ways, both subtly and loudly. The Spirit empowers all of us with different skills and gifts or even just momentary influence, the Spirit is not limited to a seminary degree or position in the church. We've become dependent on the positional leader instead of just being guided by them, I'm not trying to lessen pastors and the building, just wanting to adjust the view we have of the everyday "layman." (And laywoman)
There are intelligent and discerning christians in the everyday world who don't preach on Sundays or haven't written a book, but they can share insight into products and businesses that should be boycotted, candidates and policies that should be paid attention to, particular actions that should be orchestrated into a trend to make an impact, etc. They might already be available on social media, but we aren't looking for them. We aren't programmed to. But the blueprint and foundation are there, we do it all the time when we scroll through posts about literally everything else and try to mimic what we see.
Some ideas and trends will naturally fall flat, just like any attempt at a trend or trying to spread information, but viral moments still happen and some ideas do make it to us.
Taking the commitment we have for Jesus and fellow believers, and combining it with our everyday habit of using social media and keeping up with trends then we truly can be a connected one-body-one-mind system that moves in sync and has an unmeasurable impact on the places we're rooted in.
The three things we'd want to see is:
A united church that chooses the gospel essentials over denominational preferences and willingly communicates, which can lead to..
Using our numbers to influence politics through selecting candidates and influencing policies, so it can help..
Create societal change, locally and nationally, that helps reflect a city on the hill so the goodness of God is seen.
A Green Light
These three can already be comfortably achieved at a hyper-local level, but you need social media to envision, not just the churches or leaders being connected virtually, but the millions of us individual Christians being plugged in, contributing with our own posts or keeping up with the trends.
But how can this sort of culture get started? Ironically enough, it'll just take church leaders encouraging the body to think in this way.
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