Obstacles to Experiencing Community in the Local Church: Designed Passivity

Last week, I wrote about the obstacles to experiencing authentic community in the local church. I highlighted four:

·      Passivity by Design

·      Time Constraints

·      Attempting Ineffective Shortcuts to Promote Community

·      Fear of Vulnerability

I want to focus on one each per article to explain my thinking of how we can overcome the obstacle. There will be some overlap, and certain threads of thought will run through each one, but I think addressing them individually is the best approach.

So, let’s begin with discussing how to overcome the passivity of our worship services. As I pointed out last week, there is little interaction during the worship service with those around us or with those on stage. For the most part, we are passive observers. This happens because worship services are planned this way, and because pastors are trained through both education (i.e., Christian college or seminary) and experience to plan them this way. How many churches are approaching their worship services differently? It’s the way things are done and have been done for a long, long time. To change the approach will take visionary thinking, with the intention of making it happen. It won’t be easy to paddle against the Christian culture currents, but I believe it is necessary to overcome this prominent obstacle to develop deeper community among believers.

Here is what I would suggest, and I would love to hear your thoughts on these. And one caution, don’t think about the other obstacles yet. Let’s just dream a little. We’ll get to those soon enough.

To start, let’s design for engagement rather than passivity. Let’s make interaction with the Word and with one another our primary objectives. And how can we do that. How about changing the seating arrangements? If your church still has pews, is it feasible and esthetically possible to remove them? If so, then sell them to trendy restaurants or collectors of antiques or donate them to an organization that could use them or repurpose them. Replace the pews with movable chairs, creating the freedom of rearranging them based on the need of each service. If your church does have moveable chairs, most likely they are locked together and serve as more comfortable pews, still facing the stage.

Having movable chairs that are actually moved provides great possibilities for interaction. They can be formed into circles of six to eight seats, allowing for the congregation to discuss sermon points or to discuss questions offered up by the pastor involving the morning’s sermon focus. One could even take it a step further and place those moveable chairs around tables. People can grab their coffee from the church coffee bar or whatever they brought with them and sit with others at a table to fellowship before the service begins and then be in the perfect position to have discussions revolving around the sermon.

If it is impossible to remove the pews, then figure out ways to get people to face each other at times during the worship service. Perhaps by having one row turning around to face the people sitting behind them and then discussing together points of the sermon or questions from the pastor. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it would encourage more interaction and less passivity.

How about bringing back testimonies of what the Lord is doing in people’s lives? Not exclusively conversion stories, but also more mature Christians sharing about how they are experiencing their walk with the Lord. This can be done from the front or in smaller groups. At the heart of fellowship is discussing the Lord’s work in our lives and what we are learning and experiencing. And how about reintroducing prayer needs? This is especially appropriate and doable in small groups. A church could even do Communion with the same seating arrangement.

What do these proposed changes accomplish? They put people in positions of interaction with one another and with the leaders of the church. They make it possible to interact with the teaching of the Word and the faith of others, thereby helping to solidify our common unity in the Lord, and to learn more from each other on how to apply God’s Word to our lives.

Except for the possibility of tearing out the pews, these changes are fairly simple to make at little or no expense. What they can create is of great value—deeper community within the body of Christ, and, thus, more impact on the wider community in which our churches are located.

Until next time. . .

© Jim Musser 2026