Ordinary Life: Sharing Life

With the summer holiday and Christmas season here in Cape Town, this little series of blog posts has gotten a bit interrupted.  I was writing about what it could look like to “plant a church without planting a church”.  The first post was on “Gathered around the Word” – you may want to go have a quick look to refresh your memory.

2. Sharing Life:

Community is something of a buzz word in Christian circles, everybody is in favour of it and every church claims to be about it.  And fair enough – being a “community church” is pretty hard to argue against.  I have never come across any pastor or church leader, no matter how dodgy they may be on other issues, who claims to be against community.  It is one of those “no-brainers” of church life.

But strangely enough for an organisation that is so fond of community we have an amazing ability to short-wire our own desires.  Despite the stirring rhetoric community is most often than not reduced to a Sunday meeting and perhaps (for the really keen) a mid-week small group (call it what you will).  Our community is event and programme shaped rather than relationally shaped.

Our intention is not in one sense to do anything new or particularly innovative but rather to simply ask ourselves what could it look like if we decided to truly “share life” together.  As Francis Chan suggested in this video clip, I am not sure it would look much like what can often pass for church community.

Programmes are not the enemy, nor are they intrinsically evil as may be believed from listening to some organic church thinkers.  Although I confess I am weary of programmes,, probably for similar reasons that as an adult I cannot stomach tomato sauce… over-consumption.  Our problem is not programmes, it is an over-reliance on them to do what ordinary Christians ought to be doing in ordinary life.  Why do we need programmes for hospitality, evangelism, missions, welcoming, discipleship, helping the sick, providing meals etc.?  Special events I get.  But it feels like we have shaped the ordinary in church using the criteria of the special event (unfair?).

So what does community look like when we try to wean ourselves off programmatic community?  It looks like family, like shared life. Like ordinary people living ordinary life with gospel intentionality?

1. I think geography is crucial in this (some will disagree with this but this is my blog ). Living close to one another (I would define that as in reasonable walking distance?) allows us to share life in the ordinary. We can pop into one another’s homes, walk the dog together, go to the same coffee shops and pubs, borrow stuff from each other, pop round for coffee or lunch or to pray or share news.  We can get to know the same neighbours, friends, shopkeepers.  We can send our kids (often) to the same schools.  They (& us) could play for the same sports teams and frequent the same parks.  Geography allows us to do this in a way that I am not sure we can replicate when we have to drive.

2. Time is the other key.  Those of us who have been brought up with a Western mindset or who work in a Western context have fallen prey to the need to over-schedule our lives.  If there is a free block in the calendar we should put something into it, the unwritten rule seems to go.  Key to being a gospel community and sharing life together is to intentionally keep gaps in the diary.  Gaps that allow us to respond to needs, pop in on a friend, go for a walk, invite people over for meals, go to the pub, visit a neighbour, pray with those in need. If we are too busy, no matter how good our rhetoric and our intentions our vision for gospel community will always be something we do tomorrow.  What you say “no” to may be as important as what you say “yes” to if you want to share life with those in your gospel community.

3. Lastly, there must be an intentionality about being family, and sharing life together.  You can live just around the corner from me and have buckets of free time but if we are not intentional about being a gospel community (on mission together) then we will find things to do that fill up our time.  That intention may translate into moments like this: “I feel like watching TV but let me go visit Nathan” or perhaps “let me invite Nathan to come watch  the football with me.”  For many of us today, living in community has become counterintuitive, a going against what seems natural or normal to us for the sake of living as God’s new people.  A people on display as a demonstration of the goodness of God’s new kingdom.

9 Reasons not to plant a church in 2012

Andrew Jones is probably one of the best bloggers out there.  I love reading his blog purely for it’s ascetic value as a fine example of post second millenium blogging style.  But aside from his near perfection of the art of blogging he also has some rather fine content.  While I suspect that Andrew and I, if we sat down over a cup of coffee (or tea in his case), might not dot all the same theological “i’s”, I must confess I love his questions and his gentle (or not so gentle) pokes in the ribs of our church cultures. I love his meditations on what it means to live in the Kingdom.  I love the way he gets me thinking and challenging so many of my preconceptions and inherited assumptions on what it means to follow Jesus.

If you don’t follow his blog you should – you will be richer for it.  By all means, don’t feel you have to agree with everything he says – but let him ask the questions, let him make you feel uncomfortable, let him point you on the journey of discovering what it could mean to follow Jesus in 2012.

With no more ado and ramblings of a brevity-challenged blogger.  Here are Andrew Jones’ 9 Reasons not to plant a church in 2012.  Much of this content resonates with our own vision for ministry and is a helpful discussion starter to understanding some of what we are on about.  My comments are in brackets and non-italics below.

1. The typical church planting model, in which the solo-church planter starts a gathering that he/she invites potential members to join and commit to lacks satisfying precedent in the Scriptures where Jesus sent out people in teams (2, 12, 70) to find people of peace (them, not us) to allow Kingdom ministry in their venue (not the planter’s venue). Add to that the lack of biblical support for a paid professional pastor and the awkward extension of the Temple tithing system into the present day and the whole package seems a little suspect or at least in need of some recalibrating with the New Testament. (not sure either way is right or wrong, more a case of wise or unwise)

2. The measurement criteria of the church planting project, focusing on numbers of attenders and momentum of new church launch, is too narrow, too shallow, unholistic and ignores more vital measurable signs of a transformed society in its various spheres (economic, environmental, social, impact outside the church environment, etc). (I would probably prefer to use a more focussed category – discipleship.  But when people are being discipled then these other areas of impact should be seen)

3. The people most likely to join a new church plant are usually those with some kind of church background – the de-churched, pre-churched, ex-churched – which means ignoring really lost people and duplicating the ministries of existing churches. (exactly – this is the heartbeat of what we are trying to do!)

4. The focus on people pre-disposed or pre-favored towards church culture can lead to competition among churches to gather people from a diminishing pool of potentials and, worse, to “sheep stealing” which, although a shortcut to acheiving the goal of planting a church in the short term, fails to extend the reach of the gospel into a new culture as well as creating disunity and distrust within the existing church. (Another spot on comment!)

5. The challenge for new members to commit to a church meeting rather than be involved in Kingdom mission activities in the world can often lead to a consumer mindset among new members. By not hosting an event for members but rather inviting participants into mission, a different calibre of people is attracted to the ministry. (People who are born in the context of mission grow up on mission and live on mission)

6. The new church plant creates a higher institutional visibility in sensitive countries which places it in danger of either stifling regulations or physical threat to its members.

7. The lack of traditional funding sources that used to fund church planter’s salary and the first year of operation (often US$100,000) has dried up in the midst of the global financial crisis and changing funding priorities, which has mademore sustainable mission practices like micro-businesses and social enterprises become more important as initial building blocks of new ministry environments than trying to start a regular worship service, in which the only sustainable piece is the generosity of the initiates. (We simply have to begin considering other sources of income for mission.  Particularly as we engage in pioneering new ministries and new ways of doing mission)

8. Church planting normally thrives in wealthier areas or suburban areas but ignores the urban poor. Stuart Murray Williams addresses this weakness here. It also focuses on the functional people rather than the high-need people and so we end up with church that prioritizes the rich, something we are warned about in the Scriptures (see James). (The predominant models of church planting require resources and expertise that make it extremely difficult to do effective church planting or ministry in poorer areas.  New models with greater sustainability, mobility and flexibility could really see something radical and beautiful happening here in Africa)

9. In a country where the church already has a bruised reputation for greed, immorality and unethical practices, basing a strategy around starting another church and having people join it, and actually give money to support it, is a hard sell and a troubled solution.

You can read the whole article here.

Related: Church Planting without planting a church

The Honest Bible

My friend, Stephen Murray has started The Honest Bible – a Bible reading plan with comment.

Here is how he describes it: “Starting on Jan 1st 2012 I’m going to start reading the Bible and hopefully finish the whole thing by Dec 31st 2012. Each day I’ll reflect on what I’ve read. The reflections will be honest, raw and unscripted – this is not a devotional, it’s a struggle. Maybe my struggle might resonate with you and your own struggles with daily Bible reading, well then read with me and struggle along. I speak to enough people day-to-day to know that so many Christians struggle with this – let’s not struggle alone.”

I will definitely be keeping an eye on the blog.  Not sure if I will do follow the reading plan though.  Although I like the idea of reading along with a bunch of others.

I have used this reading plan from Tim Chester for the last two years and it has worked pretty well for me.  So might just continue in the same vein this year.

Of course there is also the much more ambitious 3650 Challenge that Tim Challies is signing people up for.  Looks really good…

I still a few days to make a decision…

Would we ever come up with our church just from reading the Bible?

Francis Chan – “if I look at the way I have done church, I have to ask myself would I ever have come up with this just from reading Scripture?”

Ordinary Life: Gathered around the Word

Yesterday I wrote that “planting a church without planting a church” would require a “missionary band” of ordinary people living ordinary life with gospel intentionality.  I also said that may or may not look like something we would commonly call church today.  So what could that look like?

1. Gathered Around the Word:  God rules his people through his Word.  It is in his word that we hear, are challenged and encouraged by the gospel.  We must be a people of the Word if we are to be God’s new community in the world.  Without the Word we will lose our gospel intentionality.  And without a gospel intentionality we simply become ordinary people living ordinary lives… and everybody does that.

Most of the talk that goes around being a Bible-centred church normally means being a pulpit-centred church.  Now, once again I have nothing against pulpits (except perhaps those hideous glass ones!) or preaching but to equate this with being Bible-centred is too narrow an understanding.  Deuteronomy 6:7-9, which comes right after the Shema, (6:4-5) a text central to the Hebrew self-understanding, instructs Israel that “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.”

This is the language of all of life, the Word of God is to be something that “dwells among us richly” (Colossians 3:16) not simply when we gather on Sundays or for Bible study on Wednesday.  But when we walk the dog, do the shopping, watch the rugby, eat dinner, play football… We are to speak the gospel Word to each other daily in the ordinary events of ordinary life.  We are to do that when we gather as Christians and when unbelievers are among us too.  Of course we do this in a manner that is gentle and respectful (1 Peter 3:15).  If we are theologically convinced that the Bible is a Word that speaks to all of life then we must bring it out of the special and into the ordinary, everyday, on the road life of the people of God.

It would be naive though to simply expect this to happen in some spontaneous, natural, organic movement.  It would also betray an inadequate doctrine of man and sin.  We are sinners, easily swayed from “what we know we ought to do”, easily distracted from the mission of the gospel, easily consumed with chasing careers, relationships, comfort or family as our satisfaction.  We are easily seduced by the lure of comfort, entertainment and pleasure to serve our “needs” rather than giving ourselves away in service to others.

It is therefore crucial that we gather regularly, at least weekly, to eat together, share stories, study the Word, pray and share life.  This is not church, it is a gathering of the church.  This meeting must always be seen as both an outflow of our identity as God’s people and in the context of our wider life together as God’s people.  Our regular, structured meeting together must never replace the Word dwelling among us in our day-to-day life together as God’s people.  The meeting must lead to the Word dwelling among us in all of life more richly, deeply and consistently.  Our life together on mission, must compel the need to meet together, pray together and be together to encourage and challenge one  another in the gospel.  Gathering leads to scattering as scattering leads to gathering.

Seem like the blog post took on a life of its own.  I will continue this post with a few more thoughts tomorrow.

Porterbrook Cape Town: 2012 Launch

Ordinary people wanted

In this post I spoke about us trying to plant a church without planting a church.  In that post (and probably others) I spoke about us wanted to recruit “a missionary band” to come join us in Woodstock.

For most Christians reading the word “missionaries” is to immediately disqualify themselves from this kind of ministry.  Most of us do not see ourselves as missionaries.  Missionaries are the elite squad, the hard-core, the probably just a little bit odd.  Me, I just fix cars, teach school children, do audits, sweep floors, write computer programmes, edit articles… how could I ever be a missionary.  While we desperately do need people to go to foreign lands, closed countries, post-Christian secular Europe, unreached people group etc.  We also need people to live under the reign of King Jesus in our streets, our pubs, our coffee shops, barber shops, football teams, schools, music venues.  If you feel called to go to a far off place then go, definitely go.  But those of us who stay are as much on mission as those who go.

When we are talking about a “missionary band” we are not talking about the extra-ordinary.  We are looking for the ordinary – the accountants, teachers, shop workers, students, mechanics, unemployed, waiters, barmen, stay-at-home moms, website designers.  We are looking for ordinary people who will live as ordinary people in community with other ordinary people, as a witness to the gospel in that place.  Christians who will live as  a community, in their community and for their community.   Ordinary people living ordinary life together with gospel intentionality.

As Christians we are not called to and nor are we able to save anyone.  What we are called to do is to demonstrate, in words and deed, that it is good to live under the reign of King Jesus.  We are looking for ordinary, messed up, broken, grace-saved people who are prepared to share life together with other ordinary broken, messed-up grace-saved people, gathered around God’s Word, as his people – living on mission to be a blessing to our communities.  Both through sharing the gospel with our words and demonstrating the gospel through our shared lives together.

We are not looking for professionals or those in full-time ministry.  Although professional, ordinary messed-up, broken, saved by grace Christians are welcome too.  We are looking for ordinary people, with ordinary jobs and ordinary lives who are prepared to live those ordinary lives in community with other ordinary Christians and on mission together in the ordinary, day-to-day stuff of everyday life.

More about what this could actually look like tomorrow.

But if you suspect this may be something you could give yourself to then contact me.