Beyond the Wineskin

by Tom Johnston

I don’t know about you, but I don’t go to Starbucks for the paper cup. I go for the coffee. For me, it’s all about the contents of that cup, not the 10% recycled cup or the 30% recycled sleeve. I will not buy more Starbucks if they make the cup more cool looking. In fact, by taking a minimalistic approach to the packaging of their product, Starbucks actually is making a bold marking statement: our product is so good you will pay way too much for our really good coffee in this simple paper cup. And they are right. In a society that focuses on the externals of life, the appearance of things, they have masterfully highlighted the quality of the content by the use of a simple package.

So, what’s with the Church in the West? Why are we so focused on the form-factor of our churches – how cool and relevant our services are, how hot the worship is, how high the production values are? Are we trying to “sell” people something based on package? And what is it that we are trying to sell anyway? Jesus? An experience with Him? Salvation? The Kingdom of God? Membership in our local church? Our spiritual goods and services? And why are we trying to “sell” or market anyway? Christianity is not a vendible commodity – it’s a relationship with the Living God. So, what’s with that?

In Matthew 9 Jesus uses the metaphor of the wine and the wineskin to discuss the form and content of the Kingdom. The focus is on the wine – the content – not the wineskin. What Jesus was doing was new, and he needed a new form-factor, the Church, to hold what He was going to do through the New Covenant. He didn’t want it lost.

Isn’t it ironic that the main focus on the wineskin today quite possibly emerges from the fact that we have lost the strong, potent, high quality, life-transforming content (read: vibrant life of Christ) originally given to us? We are trying to “market” heavily, focusing on the externals because the substance of Christ in our lives, our families and our churches is so watered down.

At Praxis, we feel it is time for the Church in the West to move beyond the “wineskin” and focus on the “wine” – seeing Christ formed in people (Galatians 4:19). We don’t think the New Testament validates any particular way of “doing church,” simply because the focus is on the wine – the Spirit-empowered abundant life of Christ flowing in every disciple. If we have such content in our people, families and churches, I doubt people would care about the cup we held it all in. How we do our services is totally secondary to who we are in Him. Big churches aren’t better. Small churches aren't better. Mega or Micro doesn’t matter. Postmodern or ancient tradition doesn’t matter. What matters is that better is better, and by better we mean churches which are aflame with the Holy Spirit, filled with the life of Jesus Christ. We think that this kind of content will draw people regardless of the packaging. Starbucks has this figured out; we hope the Church can get it too.

All this writing has made me thirsty. Time for a venti skinny White Chocolate Mocha with whip.