For nearly a year and a half now, there has been a kind of churning or knot-tying going on in my gut. Down to my core, I feel like is something missing, a piece of the puzzle that has been lost, perhaps even a word missing from the definition.
Before I go much further, I need to thank Rob Bell, Don Golden, David Fitch, Shaine Claibourne as well as many others for their work as it has informed my thoughts a great deal over the past year and a half or so.
So, what’s missing? What’s the square peg? Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve even got the question fully laid out, but I’ve got a few thoughts. On what?! The church. And not just a church or another church, but the church.
Let me expand a bit more. David Fitch’s blog, back in February has began to give me a language to speak, to articulate some of the feelings, hopes and desires I’ve had and yet have. In short, in this post-Christendom nation, we’ve got to begin to rethink what it means to church plant. David would suggest that the ways of doing things in the past (ie- highering one main guy to set up a franchise, considering ministry as a priviledged full time position, sending out announcements and advertising for particular events), must be reconsidered. He suggests that we must become more of a missional people who tend to resemble gardeners over entrepreneurs. They must begin living lives that are more simple and sustainable in all parts of life; financially, relationally, spiritually and personally. David continues to say that we must find ways to share the load of starting this new kind of church. I’ll let you read is posts, he’s noticeably better at articulating himself.
All that said, I want to follow the tunnel a bit deeper than even David has gone. As I said at the beginning of this post, I feel like, even still, as we begin to rethink what it means to be the church, there is something missing. Now please understand these next few verses are just my thoughts, feelings and hunches, but I am convinced that they come from a heart that is in the middle of a pretty major overhaul by the Creator himself. Now, the challenge that lies ahead of me; will I follow through, or bow out…
For as long as I can remember, church has been a place, an institution, a franchise. It is some object, building or tangible entity that I can pretty easily grab hold of and define. One would argue then, the next logical step in my journey would be church planting in some form or fashion. This seems a noble task, one that I began to think was “it.” As God has continued to mold and shape me in new and amazing ways, this is the branch I seem to poised to land on.
Please bear with me, this may take a while… even longer than it already has. Shocking, I know! I think that even in our current understanding of church planting, there is something missing. I’ve been known to be wrong, but something deep in the center of my being says that church is not something to be planted. That’s not to negate planting seeds of hope or the gospel. I’m not so sure the early church suddenly realized there was standing room only and multiplication is what happens next. My gut tells me was something, I don’t know what, about the early church, simply was.
Even now, I’m having trouble describing what I’m feeling. Here is where my programming finds a disconnect. We desire to plant a church, we do some market research, we find a “nice” place to set up shop and we begin sharing God’s love in hopes that folks will “join us” and we will by virtue of the law of multiplication, keep on rolling. Please know, there is not any part of me that feels any of these practices are wrong. This may sound crazy, but what if we completely altered our current views of, and begin dismantling, westerinized/Americanized church? Quick definition.
Westernized/Americanized church: Sunday morning and/or evening, wednesday evening, 1 Bible study per week, 1 small group per week, 1 accountability group, 1 miscelaneous activity with another family from church and we’re good to go until next week.
Catch my drift? I think I’ve been beating around the bush for a while. Here’s the deal. I think we’ve got the figure out a way to instead of plant a new institution, we have to plant a totally new way of life. We say all the time that “church isn’t a place, it’s the people.” Honestly, I don’t think we buy it. Jesus himself said, “I have come to give you life, that you may have it more abundantly.” How many people get stressed out from church activities? How many ministers get burned out because it’s just too much?
You know, there’s an interesting story told in scripture near the end of Jesus’ life here on earth. He has just risen from the dead, but not many people had seen him yet. And so, what does Jesus do? He goes on a walk. As he makes his way back to town, he joins two other men who are obviously sulking and blue. And Jesus, sparking some small talk asks, “what’s wrong?” To which they reply, “where have you been?” (For more on this, check out Jesus wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell and Don Golden) After a discourse on kingdom life and Jesus finally being revealed to the two men, we move on to the next story. But, the interesting point Rob Bell and Don Golden make, is that many times, especially living in the lap of luxury that we do, Jesus is walking with us and we totally miss him. Too often we read scripture and totally miss the point.
All that to say, I think there is more. I don’t think extravegant or even modest buildings, ministers with triple digit salaries, surplus in church bank accounts, children’s ministries, small groups, accountability groups, or whatever else we can rattle off, is the point. I feel like we are to easily distracted. I feel like we’ve been engrained with the thought that we need to be entertained. We have to break the routine for a couple hours for it to be church. NO! Church is life! Church is freedom in Christ! Church is jubilee! Church is deeply spiritual. And as Rob Bell so cleanly states: “Everything is spiritual.” We, the church, Christ’s body, live every single moment of our lives with an awareness of God’s control. We live, we exist to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.” Micah 6:8b
Please forgive me for the length as well as referring to the writings of man moreso than the words of God himself. Upon that confession, I end with a familiar passage from a letter Paul wrote to the Philippians.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus; Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This Jesus lived. He didn’t start an institution, he brought redemption, freedom, life and good news. As does his Father, he hears the cries of the oppressed. He searched for those on the fringes. He warned us against complaceny. He wants all of us, everything that we call life. As Paul says, “the old has gone and the new has come.” The old is gone! We leave Jesus’ presence glad and released from our burdens because we are people who are willing to sell all our possessions and give them to the poor. We are people who do whatever it takes to live with our God NOW, in his kingdom. We walk with Him, inviting others to join us on our journey out of darkness and into Light.
