I'm driving into work this morning and a huge billboard catches my eye. It reads, "RelaxedChurch.com: Relax, it's just church!!" Now I don't know about you, but I find this a bit disturbing. So I go to their Website and I find that the url relaxedchurch.com directs me to New Venture Christian Church in Richmond, VA.
Like so many churches today, NVCC wants to lower the bar of entrance into the church. In some ways this is good: why should a silly dress code prevent people from coming to church? But what is lost when we live in a phrase like, "Relax, it's just church"? At minimum it depreciates our understanding of what church is.
Here's a thought: try putting the phrase "Relax, it's just church" alongside Isaiah 6:3. It just doesn't work.