These Christians Radically Rethink What a Church Is

The 1-year-old church in Orange County has no name, no building and no set time to meet.

For its members, church can be spending an afternoon at a Costa Mesa park, where they share lunch and conversation with the down and out.

Sometimes, church for them entails an excursion to Los Angeles, where the mostly white group worships at an African American church. And, sometimes, they visit a Buddhist gathering in Fountain Valley and talk and write about the experience afterward.

Shepherded by Spencer Burke, a former pastor at the 10,000-member Mariners Church in Irvine, a small band of men and women belong to this highly movable congregation.

They're part of a new phenomenon -- "emerging churches" -- growing out of evangelical Christianity.

The movement was started over the last six years or so by Christian leaders disillusioned with churches that they complained were run like big corporations, stressing celebrity preachers, glitzy services and huge budgets. The movement aims to bring churches closer to people, with small communities of prayer and learning -- mostly fewer than 50 people.

Although varying widely in membership and practices, emerging churches shun hierarchy, emphasize outreach to the poor and worship creatively.

"Our goal is to be there for each other and try to find activities [through which] we can service our community," said Matt Palmer, a Newport Beach graphic designer who belongs to the no-name church.

"Our tithe is to buy a bucket of chicken for people at the park instead of [contributing to] some pot of money where I don't know where it's going," he said.

On a recent Sunday, the group spread out chicken, salad and fruit on picnic tables at Lions Park in Costa Mesa and invited everyone there to join them. More than 30 did. They also gave out small cardboard cameras, with self-addressed envelopes, and invited people to take "pictures in celebration of life," then mail them to Burke's 700-square-foot Huntington Beach "shack," his garage that serves as the church's office.

At its next meeting in the park, church will be an "art gallery" with easels and exhibited photos, said Burke, author of 2003's "Making Sense of Church: Eavesdropping on Emerging Conversations About God, Community and Culture."

Six years after leaving his well-paid job at a mega-church, disillusioned at "contemporary Christianity as an institution," Burke said he now finds church "an adventure every week."