By Joe Conway

Have you ever been to an R-rated church service? Have you ever worshiped on the back of a Harley at 55 miles per hour?

For some churches across North America, experiences like these are the norm. Many churches are taking the initiative and using creative services to reach the unchurchedeven if it means shattering the mold and diving headlong into the unexpected.

Colorados Vanguard Church and Church in the Wind are just two of the innovative churches finding new ways to share Christ in the real world. Their members have found answers for church growth that emphasize meeting peoples needs.

VANGUARD
Taking in an R-rated church service might seem risqu but this is all about reality.

Every Sunday afternoon across North America the faithful rate their experi-ences at worship. Preacher Smith was in rare form. The choir was slightly off-key. The organ could use some grinding. In Colorado Springs they take care of the rating up front. Vanguard Church rates its services, R and PG.

Taking in an R-rated church service might seem risqu but this is all about reality. The R stands for Real. PG is for Progressively Growing. The rating for each service refers to breaking down barriers.

The R-rated service raised some eyebrows at first. But R came to mean real. Our focus was to create  a service where people could be themselves, said Kelly Williams pastor of the Gen Xer, seeker-sensitive, cappuccino-bar-equipped church. Williams realized he would lose some of the more traditional folks who passed through his door, but if youre going to reach people who wont step foot into a traditional church, you have to break some barriers of your own, Williams says.

Colorado Springs Vanguard Church goes beyond seeker-sensitive to become intimately involved in the lives of people who are drawn to their marquee services.

Our motto at Vanguard is a place where you can be real with others and God. We take a different approach. Confrontational evangelism doesnt work for us, but if God tells me to do it, Im going to do it. The Damascus Road experience is real, Williams said.

Walking up to Gen Xers and unloading on them drives them away, according to Williams. If you come up and share with them, they say, You dont know me.

How do you have the right to talk to me and tell me what Im suppose to do? Our goal is to create a  relationship with no intimidation. We invite Xers and everyone else at the R and PG services to X groups. The informal X groups pro-vide a setting for the unchurched to get to know Christians in their homes. Williams says the mission is to love people into a real relationship with Jesus. In an X group people are free to say anything they want. The Christian members listen and build relationships.

I tell our people to never answer the question, What do you think of my lifestyle? We tell them to say, It doesnt matter what I think. Then we tell them to pray that the seeker will ask, What does God think? When someone asks that question, then you can answer with the love of Christ, Williams said.

Williams has practical experiences with countless answers to this very prayer. He has personally led lesbians, witches and goddess worshipers to faith in Christ. Waiting for them to ask the question rather than dumping on them brought them to that change, Williams said.

Rating your services and serving coffee in the sanctuary obviously arent the norm. Williams got the ratings idea from Bill and Lynne Hybels Rediscovering Church, The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church, a book that helped Williams embrace unusual outreach.

Reaching new people for Vanguard means radio and word of mouth. Williams says the best approach for bringing first-time visitors is secular radio advertising. People listen, hear the spots and come check it out for themselves. Who could pass up an R-rated church? But its what happens after they show up that brings them back.

People ask me all the time, Whats the secret of your church? I tell them were in peoples lives. Weve decided people are worth it. Too many people have forgotten that Satan is the enemy, not the world.

We have to find ways to communicate the love of God to an unholy, unlovable people. Its really nothing new. More than anything else, its what Jesus did. Meeting people where they were and loving them to God, Williams said.

CHURCH IN THE WIND
Finding people where they are my mean reaching them on the back of a hog...

Finding people where they are may mean reaching them on the back of a hog with the breeze blasting through long locks. Just up I-25 in Denver, thats where Church in the Wind finds people. Seeing scores of Harleys outside a church may be an unusual sight, but Gary Davis is working to make it a regularity.

Church in the Wind Pastor Gary Davis (center) leads his congregation in some unusual directions. Davis carries the gospel on two wheels across the Rockies.

Davis began a ministry to bikers as an independent evangelist in 1982. He started with bikers because he was one.

The majority of people in this country do something other than go to church on Sunday morning. For bikers around Denver, they can choose anywhere from six to 10 different rides to do on any Sunday morning.

We go where the people are. We have to contextualize the gospel without compromising the message. Once we gain their confidence, we can share Jesus with them and invite them to our services, Davis said.

As he pastors Church in the Wind, Davis deals with barriers similar to those of Williams. Relationships are important, because bikers often have no real biblical background.

Davis said, One of the biggest problems is their fear of what the Bible really says. Theyve had so many people tell them things, but theyve never checked it out for themselves.

Just finding a place to meet for Friday night worship was tough enough for Davis and his church on wheels. Their first stop was an abandoned ministry center. Although the building was adequate, the location never worked right for the bikers. Davis finally connected with a church that would allow his unorthodox flock a spot to hold services.

Davis helps many Christian bikers gain confidence with Bible study and discipleship. He found his help in Duane Arledge and Riverside Baptist Church.

We met with Duane, and he asked us if there was any one thing he could do to help us. I said we needed a building. He helped us find one. I found a kindred spirit in Duane.

Physical needs extend to the individual for Davis, too. We help people overcome drug addiction and their fear of being accepted into the real world, Davis said.

The real goal, of course, is to introduce bikers to Jesus and bring them along for the ride.

Theres a difference between a believer and a knower. We want people to know Jesus and then help others come to know Him, too, Davis said.