Sometime ago we had dinner in the hometown of my wife. Thatti Vilas a local chain of restaurant in Theni. The name is funny but has a valid reason. Few years back the small hotel used to function under a thatched roof and the walls were just fencing made of bamboo bark woven with wooden rectangular reapers. These bamboo product thin sheets are called thatti in Tamil. The customers who came walking or riding a bicycle or motor bikes did not mind sitting and enjoying sumptuous meals in humble settings and called it thatti shop as there was no name for the shop.
However, the town has changed, the neighbourhood and the market. The owners wisely adapted and started three restaurants in Theni with great success. They still serve on banana leaf, the taste, attitude towards customers all are same. No wonder people flock this place, though they now come in motor bikes and cars. The container is different, but the content is the same.
A local church has to adapt and change the container without changing the essentials. The Five Cs are the essentials
1) Call for repentance: The Global church must call the world to repent. (Matthew 4:17) That basic and essential message does not change, which could be termed as evangelism and mission.
2) Content: There is only Name, Way for Salvation of humanity. Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
3) Cost: There is a cost for being a disciple of Lord Jesus Christ. Churches demands that the disciples take up the cross and follow Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:24)
4) Character: Disciples are New Creature and they grow in spiritual maturity to become like Lord Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 5:17; I John 3:2)
5) Cause: Disciples live as witnesses for the Glory of God by being salt of the earth and light of the world. (Matthew 5: 13-16).
In my local church how are the contents and the container today?