Fitch, David E. | What is the Church

What is the Church and Why Does it Exist?
David E. Fitch 

Paperback: Herald Press, 2021, 91pp.

Introduction 

This is a simple and direct book that addresses the questions in its title. In short, David Fitch argues that the church is a practicing community – that is, it is defined by the practices that it shares in common, and not by creeds or other common beliefs. Fitch is careful to remind us that practices and beliefs are necessarily intertwined and that we suffer greatly when we try to extricate one from the other. He writes: “We must, however, choose which of the two to emphasize when shaping a church. … Whether we put the emphasis on belief statements or practices makes all the difference in how we shape a congregation into being what we call the church” (30). Fitch identifies seven key practices that are shared by congregations across the Christian tradition:

1. The Lord’s Table

2. Reconciliation

3. Proclaiming the Gospel

4. Being with the Least of these 

5. The fivefold gifting

6. Being with children

7. Kingdom prayer

These seven practices “encompass a whole way of life … [They] are practices we do on Sunday but also as a part of everyday life, so they shape the way we live the rest of the week as well” (36).

Participatory Worship

“The fundamental answer to the ‘Why church’ question,” Fitch writes, “is: Presence is the way God works” (38). God desires to be present with us, and not just with us as individuals, but with us in the social network that is the church. Our worship, therefore, is centered around God’s presence with us, and our desire to be attentive to that presence. This sort of worship is something in which all members of the church participate, not only in times of gathering but also as we disperse throughout the week. As we are attentive to God’s presence with us, God guides us, and through our relationships, God transforms the world. “Presence,” Fitch writes, “works through social relationships between people and God, people and people, and people and systems. God disrupts, heals, and renews people and systems not through coercion over people, but by his very presence among and with people. And for God to work this way, God requires a people to be present to and to make space for presence in the world. God requires the church” (42-43). This work of being present to God-with-us in the Holy Spirit and of making space for God’s presence in the world is our primary act of worship in which all members of the church, in their local congregations, participate. 

Table Worship-Fellowship

The table is not only one of the most important common practices of the church, it is a vital way in which God’s presence is made known to us. Fitch tells the story of his weekly Saturday morning breakfast with his son Max. For a long time, they both struggled to pay attention to one another and to God. Then, David began to pray, asking that God’s presence be made known to them. He describes what would happen as he prayed this sort of prayer: “A calm would come over my body and I would feel the sense of Jesus’ very presence inhabiting our space together. I found myself freed from distractions and able to give myself fully to Max and to Jesus at work here in this space” (43-44). 

The  presence of God that we learn at the table, Fitch argues, models for us how being attentive to God’s presence can transform any social space in which we find ourselves: “the local village zoning committee, the union hall, the protest marches in the midst of racial violence, the shelter for homeless folk where we are sharing meals and stories of the way god works”(44), and many more.

Active Disciple-making

David Fitch describes the way in which our attentiveness to God’s presence flows outward from the gathering of the church into our neighborhoods and the world, capturing people’s attention and making disciples as it goes. This work isn’t just that of clergy or religious professionals, but is work that the entire church is invited into. Fitch articulates this movement of the Holy Spirit in terms of three circles. The close circle is the gathering of the church, “the kind of close authentic fellowship where God works. Jesus is at the center of this place. He is the host. … We submit to Jesus and he comes to be present and work among us” (65). The second circle is the dotted circle, the smaller gathering of God’s disciples in the neighborhood, where neighbors can join in and experience God’s presence and see what God is doing. The third and final circle is the half circle, as the congregation disperses out into the world and begins to recognize God’s presence in the various social settings in which they find themselves. As new disciples commit themselves to follow Jesus, they join in the work of being attentive to God’s presence in these three circles. Fitch describes how the central practices of the church can be undertaken (albeit in slightly different ways, and for slightly different purposes) in each of these three circles. 

An Introductory Book

It should be noted that What is the Church And Why Does it Exist? is a brief and introductory work. Those whose imaginations are captured by it would do well to read Fitch’s more in-depth book along these lines: Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines that Shape the Church for Mission.