Hello again. I seem to have gotten a little behind in my blogging. Well, (sniff) it happens. Ok, down to business: two weeks ago I visited Rob Bell's church Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, Michigan with new friends of mine Chad, Mel, and their two little girls. Chad, who pastors simple churches like the one(s) I am working to start, is familiar with this (gynormous) congregation and her ministers. After the service I met with the house church coordinator and spoke with her to see what they were doing at Mars Hill. I expected to hear about elaborate teams and a well-thought-out plan. Well, they are very organized at Mars Hill and they are indeed very organized with their house churches. The interesting thing that I discovered however, was that they appeared to be finding their house churches a little too artificial (if I heard correctly) and they were looking at new ways of creating authentic community--kinda like what I am trying to here in the Tri-Cities. Wow. I was very surprised to hear this, and pleased. I quess I felt like I was on the right path and truly some days I need to be reassured of this.
So, over the past few weeks I have become aware of a few things that I needed to clarify for myself:
1. I am indeed a church planter--I didn't see myself as such, but its high time I recognized this as the job I've been called to. I remember thinking how I could never see myself doing anything like this and now...
2. That I am not interested in bringing people to Christ. A friend of mine helped me to clarify this point which was very helpful, because while I could say this, I didn't know what to follow it with. I remember talking to another friend of mine who was saying that this is what we as ministers were called to and I remember being uncomfortable with it. Probably some of this unease comes with my evangelical background, but more of it comes from my desire to go beyond bringing people to Christ. It seems that Churches are very keen on getting people "saved," but what comes after that ? Trying to stay saved? No, coming to Christ is a process of following in his footsteps and identifying with him--it is a process of becoming Christ to others. Really, getting saved as a one time thing is easy; being saved as a long-time process is hard. It is this becoming that I want to explore in my communities--I want to know what it looks like to live as a Jesus follower in a very real and practical sense and do it in a way that brings people into a conversation so that they feel comfortable walking with us in which ever way they are comfortable.
3. I'm a sucker for cool liturgy. Actually, I just really like art and want to see it used in church more.
4. I'm still learning how to do this!!!!
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