We're fixin' to plant a church, y'all!
And I'll give you one guess, based solely on that last sentence, which direction it looks like we're headed.
But more about the where and when later... that's all still technically in the "discernment process." (Which sometimes feels more like the "freak-out-and-pray-for-a-sign-from-heaven" process.) For now, I just need a place to dream and write and tweak and think about what God has actually called us to. This won't be so much a formal "Statement of Church Philosophy" as it is me spewing out all the stuff that been bursting at the seams of our hearts. (Sorry, that's kind of gross.)
No matter where we end up, it feels like over the past nine months or so God has been defining and redefining what this church needs to look like. These are things we're passionate about and want to see in the very fabric of the church from Day One, although I guess we don't know the exact details of where these ideas will lead. Some of this will be messy and figure-it-out-as-we-go, and we're okay with that.
Also, most of this stuff didn't come directly from our heads. We're just not that smart. A lot of it has come from several books we've read in recent years that have challenged us, stretched us, made us want to throw something across the room and then in the next breath give the authors a big, fat, wet kiss. Books like Crazy Love by Francis Chan, Radical by David Platt, or Seven by Jen Hatmaker. (If you have not read the latter, make sure you slip on some Depends before you pick that one up because you'll probably pee yourself from laughing so hard, especially if you're of the female variety.) We still wrestle with most of these concepts, how they play out in our day-to-day lives, but we are committed to fighting for this stuff.
So with that said, we want a church that values...
1. Authenticity and Approachability.
We want to be apart of a church where everyone feels welcome - black, white; rich, poor; those who accepted an alter call in the church nursery and those who have lead lives so far removed from God that they expect to be hit by a lightning bolt at any moment. There isn't going to be some secret, unspoken code in our services about standing up, sitting down, or saying something in unison. Jeans are cool with us; Ben preaches in them and flip-flops. (If you look up "fashion-conscious" or "trendsetter" in a dictionary/thesaurus, we'll be listed under the acronymns. We're not exactly the "cool kids on the block.") But if you can't get past wanting to wear a three-piece suit on Sunday, we won't make you feel weird about it (you weirdo). If a transvestite plops down on the front row of our sanctuary someday, I'm going to sit down right beside him (her?) and there better be at least five people waiting to shake his hand and offer a cup of coffee.
We want to foster an atmosphere where people can ask hard questions and share broken lives and know that they are STILL LOVED. A place where things could get messy, but we are committed to growing closer to the Lord together as we live in grace, not legalism.
Ahem... clarification. We want to be authentic and real and transparent and welcoming, BUT, not at the expense of the gospel. We want a church that upholds the truth of God's Word and refuses to water it down in anyway. God is still the Holy One who made Mt. Sinai tremble and smoke, and there is no other response to that holiness than reverance and awe. God hasn't changed, but the cross has changed US and our access to Him, and it is out of that knowledge that we freely live lives of obedience.
There are an awful lot of Christians out there who just seem so angry all the time... angry at the government, angry at foreign countries, angry at all those blasted sinners out there ("Ugg! If only we could get rid of all those sinners! I'd be so much happier." You'd be so much non-existent, that's what you'd be.) Funny, those are all the people Jesus died for, myself included. I'd like to live in that humility and be apart of a community that acts that way.
I guess we just figure that the gospel is offensive enough itself ("Hey you! Yes, you. You're a sinner and Jesus is your only hope.") We don't have to be offensive in how we present it. We'd rather foster a culture of honoring others, no matter where they're coming from, knowing that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18.) God will work that one out Himself.
2. Generosity.
In a nutshell, we believe the "Church" was never meant to just exist for itself. And yet, in most American churches, that's precisely where all the money goes. Our goal is to have a church in which a minimum of 50% of our income goes OUT our doors to reach those around us...in our city, our country, and our world. We want to take seriously Jesus' command to care for the poor and outcast. I'm not talking about generosity in the "give a homeless guy twenty bucks and hope he doesn't spend it on cigarrettes" sense, but we want to provide for projects and organizations that wisely use resources to facilitate real change in people's lives, all the while proclaiming the Gospel boldly. We're not comfortable with marble floors and Big Jesus statues when more than 30,000 kids die EACH DAY from preventable diseases and empty tummies. We want to be generous individuals that make up a generous church so that others may LIVE.
This means it'll probably be a while before we have our own church building... if we EVER choose to have our own church building. (But that's okay because the "church" isn't a building anyway.) Our pastors and staff will probably have to work bi-vocationally for a while to support themselves and their families. No walls consumed by the biggest flat-screen TV you've ever seen or pyrotechnics for us. We truly desire to steward our money well, the way Jesus would have, and since Jesus had this knack for caring about people more than stuff, we'd like to live that way too. We've felt the tension in our hearts that the American Dream is not all it's cracked up to be, and we want to live that out individually and as a community.
And not only do we want to be generous with our finances, but we want to be generous with our time as well. We don't want to just give money to help end homelessness; we want to spend time with the homeless. We don't want to just send a check to drought-and-disease-ravaged places in Africa; we want to take trips to help drill wells and play with kids and feed mouths. We don't want to say with our lips that we care about the orphan; we want to open our homes to foster and adopt. Obviously, not everyone can do everything, but we want to be a part of a church where this is the culture... to give sacrifically and joyfully in every way possible.
3. Community.
At the very heart of the early Church was community, and we want to be part of a church that models this well. Here's what we're thinking: find a big piece of land and all move in together. Women wear demin jumpers and outnumber men 6:1. We all sit around singing "kumbaya" and carving wooden trinkets to sell "in the city" and nursing eachother's babies. Kool-aid, anyone?
Okay, just kidding! That's NOT the kind of community we're going for. We simply want to fight against the cultural tendency to separate ourselves from other people. It's easy to come home from work, stay in our own houses, and try to fill our need for relationships by emotionally connecting with a television character. They conveniently disappear with the click of a button! But choosing to live life alongside other (real) people is... well... harder. But more fulfilling, rewarding, encouraging, edifying, and ultimately, more like Jesus. After all, he had a whole bunch of people that followed him around wherever he went. From those people, he spent extra time hanging out with a certain twelve. And even within those twelve, there were three men (Peter, James, and John) who had an especially close relationship with him. Jesus actually LIKED being with these guys, and he didn't run from them when they got under his skin. Just living life together was how Jesus discipled, and ultimately transformed, those men.
We believe it's the same in the church. No matter how friendly a church body as a whole is, true growth happens when you spend time with a smaller number of believers who you really get to know and who really know you. These are the people who cry with you, pray with you, rejoice with you, laugh-so-hard-you-think-you-might-puke with you, and who teach you how to love others even in their imperfections. "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." (Proverbs 27:17)
One of the best things we've ever done is buy a house divided down the middle. Some of our best friends live on the other side of us. Now, I'm not saying you have to share a property or even be next-door neighbors with someone to experience community, but it sure does kick it up a gear... they can hear me yelling at my kids through the bathroom wall; I know which days their son is extra cranky. My kids have let themselves into their house (unbeknownst to me) while the husband is taking a nap. We've all seen each other's bad days and "heated discussions" between spouses. There's something very "accountable" about having someone know you so well on a daily basis, and there's potential for all sorts of conflict. But. We. Love. It. On Mondays Jen cooks dinner for us; on Wednesdays I return the favor for them. The baby's sleeping but I need to run to the store? No problem; I can give them the baby monitor. There was a stretch when Chris (the husband) was working nights, so I'd text Jen when dinner was ready every evening and she'd come eat with us and play Ticket to Ride instead of sitting all alone on her side of the house. My kids have puked in front of her multiple times. (See, community is great!)
Since we don't have family within two hours of us, these guys (along with other close church friends) have become our family. I don't even pick up the house or change out of pajama pants for these handful of people. What they see if what they get.
And just so you know, Ben and I both lean toward the "introvert" side of the spectrum, so it's not like we just crave interactions with people. Just try calling us on the phone... we'll be sure to shoot a text back. :)
But this "life together" that we've experienced... It feels a little like the early church, as described in Acts chapter 2:
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
So how do you foster this in a church from the ground-up? It's not like we can have everyone line up on Sunday morning and count off by fives. (... or can we? Hmmmm.... )
This might be one of those "messy" things for which we have no perfect formula (seeing as the best relationships generally "click" instead of "get assigned"), but we'd like to be known less as "a church that meets Sunday mornings" and more as "a church that meets in each other's homes during the week... and oh yeah, we also all get together on Sundays." We envision most of our "outreach" happening via the small groups in our church, as groups do stuff they are passionate about. We envision most of the "ministry" happening within these groups as the people who know each other best pray for one another. This is where the practical needs are met; the walls come down, and life becomes richer.
We also believe that as God calls us to love each other by being in "community" that the best place to start is with those who actually live near us... like, our actual, real neighbors. "Love your neighbor as yourself"... seems like I've heard that somewhere. What a concept!
For example, my parents have gone to Florida every winter since they've retired (as much as a farmer ever retires), and they've had friends and cousins follow suit... so now they've got this whole street of little old Mennonites who pop into each other's houses without notice and eat at eachother's dinnertables and buy lawnmowers together to save money and have spur-of-the-moment crazy ideas like "who's up for a game of dominoes?!" They share everything. But the coolest thing is to see how this community doesn't just exist for themselves. They've befriended migrant workers and kids whose home life if less than ideal. A Mexican lady named Maria lives down the street with her kids... when her husband was deported, some of these retired folks on the street spent years helping her go through the legal process to get him back, giving her rides, helping her with paperwork. They dug a well for her and helped her with up-keep around the house. That's "loving your neighbor as yourself"... the power of community.
4. Simplicity
We'd like to be apart of a church where less is more. We'd rather stay focused on the most important things (you know, like "love God, love people") and do those well instead of having a program, committee, or conference for every aspect of Christian living. We'd like to major on the majors and minor on the minors.
In our opinion, keeping it simple is more conducive to going about "kingdom work." It frees up our time and resources to do whatever Jesus wants with them. This is one of the most appealing things about possibly not owning a church building.
Annoying thing: setting and up and tearing down for Sunday morning church services in a rented building. Cool thing: Without the incredible cost of a mortgage and utilities and upkeep and janitors, more of our money could be used on people. Annoying thing: Not having a "no-brainer" place to meet for stuff during the week. Cool thing: Not having "our own" church building during the week forces us to be "out there" instead of "in here", purposefully meeting in parks, community rooms, homes, and places where we can comfortably invite people who might not want to show up in a church building. It gets us back to the roots of hospitality, which is another one of those things the early church was annoyingly good at. The whole "no church building thing" isn't a hill we're willing to die on; God may still call us someplace where the only option is to own a building. But it's a thought that excites us and a goal we'd like to pursue as much as possible.
It's so cool to me to think that in a few years, when most churches are getting to the point of running a "stewardship campaign" to pour money into a building, we'd be ready to pour money into planting another church, or help build a much-needed hospital in Zambia, or assist couples in the cost of adoption. (So many possibilities...)
We'd also like to see this whole "simplicity" play out on Sunday mornings in how we approach worship. We long for our worship time to be free of distraction and "God-centered" instead of feeling a teensy bit like a concert. Not sure what this would look like in details... maybe a worship team that's NOT on a stage? Maybe we could go back to the days of the choir loft in the back of the church? (Ehh, maybe not.) This clearly needs more thought.
We envision simple children's programs, youth programs, and discipleship... where, like our Sunday morning services, there isn't much "flash", but where we stick to the fundamentals. There might not be elaboratelty decorated meeting spots, but there will be loving relationships. We might skip over "performances" that require volunteers to spend hours every week memorizing and practicing skits, but we'll make sure there's solid biblical teaching. Again, not sure what these details look like, but we want to do everything in our power to make sure that we don't forsake the most important stuff for the "fluff." No substituting what is "best" for what is "good."
5. The power of the Holy Spirit.
One of the biggest things that makes the Vineyard "the Vineyard" is the balance between the conservative, fundamental, super traditional Christianity end of the spectrum (think: "raising your hands in worship is a flagrant display of - gasp! - emotion") and the emotionally-charged, raise-the-roof, who-needs-a-sermon-when-you-can-just-yell-Hallelujah! Pentecostal end of the spectrum (think: "you best be getting your rear-end out of that pew and start working up a sweat or you're not hearing from God!")
We want the best of both worlds.... a commitment to the authority of Scripture and the importance of a reverent lifestyle WHILE also inviting the Holy Spirit to work powerfully in our lives and in the world around us. (Insert here: the entire text from the book Empowered Evangelicals: Bringing Together the Best of the Evangelical and Charismatic Worlds by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson.)
We believe that God's kingdom (His rule and reign), according to the teaching of Jesus, is "here", but also "not yet." (It breaks through, but it has not arrived in it's fullness like it will when Jesus returns.) So in other words, Jesus will eventually make everything right in this world - no more injustice, no more sickness, death, or pain. We just want to invite Him to do some of that now, to let His kingdom break in, here and now, through us. Sometimes He miraculously heals, restores, gives wisdom, or transforms. Other times He's got a better plan according to His sovereingty. Our job is just to ask, having open hearts to receive from Him.
So what does this look like practically and in the details? Well for starters, we want to leave time as we gather together on Sunday mornings (and in our homes during the week) to pray for one another and to invite the Holy Spirit to move. Usually, at the end of the service, we'll spend some time worshiping and invite anyone who would like to receive prayer to do so. (Do NOT read this as "they're going to make me come on stage, put their hands on my head, and push me over!") Here's the thing: for the Spirit to do His job, we do NOT have to become "The Church Of The Weird." This should all feel "naturally supernatural." We're not going to start yelling or jumping off of stuff. (Well, my kids might, but trust me, that's not the Holy Spirit.) We just simply ask and wait (and continue to ask and wait, if need be), knowing that God has the power to completely change even the impossible.
This also means that we want to foster a culture in our church where people are encouraged to ask themselves daily, "Lord, what do you want to speak to me today? What do you want to show me?" God still wants to speak to us individually, certainly through His Word, but also through nudgings and images and thoughts and feelings. He's in the business of transforming people and communities, and we want to do whatever we can to align ourselves with what He's up to.
Check out http://www.vineyardusa.org/site/about-vineyard for more of the 411 on the Vineyard movement.
6. The influence of the family and the value of children.
FYI: We've got kids. So far, we're up to three, ages 6 (Micah), 3 (Caleb), and 1 (Abby). The fact that I write this blog sentence-by-interrupted-sentence (or after 9:30 pm) attests to the fact that we have kids. The other couples church planting with us have kids too, and as far as I know, none of us plan to leave them behind when we move. (It may have crossed my mind - say, for instance last night between the hours of 2-5 am when SOMEONE whose name rhymes with Crabby wouldn't go to sleep. She's lucky she's cute.)
One thing about starting a church from scratch with kids: I already know that if there's anyone in the world I want to see deeply loving and passionately serving Jesus, it's these three munchkins. In a large way, this church is for them. We don't want them feeling like Mom and Dad are planting a church, and they're along for the ride. They (and other kids who are apart of our church) will be an integral part of what we do and how we do it. They may be the "church of tomorrow", but they are also a part of the church today, and the same Holy Spirit who works in us adults can work in and through them. So, that means most of our outreaches and trips will have our kids serving along with us. When we pray for someone's healing, we'll ask our kids to pray with us. When we serve spaghetti to the homeless, they'll be by our side passing out the breadsticks. I don't want to spend my life teaching my kids that they need to "act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God" BUT never give them chances to live that out in their deeds.
I have a friend who has fostered and adopted several children, some of whom are severely handicapped, and she told me once that her biological children (whom I believe were young teenagers when their family began to foster and are now AMAZING, godly, compassionate adults) learned more about being selfless, merciful, and patient through those experiences than they could in a lifetime of her talking about it. You want to raise a kid who passionately stands up for the oppressed? Let them share a home and open their hearts to a child who was discarded because of physical limitations - the outcast and overlooked become their brother and sister. It's the difference between telling our kids to sit on the bench and "watch how it's done" and letting them play in the game. It's harder, and no child would initially say, "Yes, I just love sacrificing for others... sign me up for some of those hard life lessons!" But this is what they were made for. I want this in my family and I want this in my church.
We also believe that the best place - and the place God created - for kids to learn about Jesus is in their homes, with their parents. The "church's" job is to support and encourage that role, but not replace it. We reject the mentality we've seen in some circles where there is an unspoken understanding that parents send their kids to church so the "professionals" can handle the Bible teaching. Yes, kids (and especially teenagers) need adults (other than their parents) and peers in their lives who speak truth to them and love them unconditionally, and that is a role that the body of Christ should embrace, especially for those kids who don't have parents who love Jesus. But our deep desire is to see parents taking serious their role as the greatest spiritual influence in their children's lives. I'm hoping this plays out in a million different details, like parents and kids serving in ministries side-by-side, or our youth forming home groups where they are discipled by each other's parents. Not sure on the nitty-gritty of how this all looks, but this is the mindset we want to encourage from the ground up.
7. Discipleship and a missional mindset.
We figure discipleship is pretty important since Jesus's parting instructions were "go and make disciples...". Couple things here: "Go" implies that once again, the church was not meant to exist for itself, in its own walls. Yes, we gather together for encouragement and worship, but we are missional ("we'll come to you" rather than "you come to us") in our approach. Not sure where the hubby found this handy little illustration, but me likey:
I'm a big fan of the "teach a man to fish" thing. To plagiarize the nifty illustration above (doubly so, since I can't even quote it's source), we view "disciple-making" as a means to teach people mainly how to "self-feed"... to regularly read and understand the Word of God and to practice other spiritual disciplines that will draw them into a deeper relationship with the Lord. Coming to church to hear a sermon then becomes the dessert, not the main course for those who are purposeful in seeking God themselves and take responsibility for their own spiritual growth. Christian fellowship is so much sweeter when it's about like-minded, self-feeding individuals coming together to encourage one another with what the Lord is teaching each of them individually rather than gathering to get their sole "spiritual fix" off of someone else for the week.
Of course, in this messy, broken world full of death and injustice, there are sometimes weeks and months when someone may have to say, "I can't stand on my own; someone's got to prop me up", and I hope they find in our church a group of people who will do just that. But overall, I dream of a people who say "Life is not about me. I take responsibility for nurturing my own spiritual growth, as I also gather together in Christian community so that we might spur one another on toward Jesus. As the Holy Spirit fills me, I overflow to those around me, making everywhere I walk my mission field. I don't go to church; I am the Church."
8. Prayer and humility.
Show me a pastor who knows it all, and I'll show you a church I do not wish to attend. (Don't worry; my husband doesn't know it all... I can vouch for that!) :)
As we were going through the multiple interviews and assessments required by Vineyard USA to become official "church planters", one of the questions I was asked was, "What do you think is the most important quality in a church planter?" The first thing that came to mind (and the answer I would still stick with) is "a teachable spirit." So I'll just clarify a thing or two: we have no idea what we're doing. As I look back at this first blog post and see some of the vision we have "verbalized", I realize it may seem like we think we've got it figured out... and I'm betting there would be some seasoned veterans in the church leadership world who would look at this and say, "oh boy, are they in for a wake-up call." Yup. You're probably right. (I told Ben that I have days when looking forward to church-planting feels like looking forward to getting cancer just because I know it will draw me closer to Jesus.) We're fully aware this will be hard, and we know that some of the vision God has given us may not play out the way we envision now, but we're committed to keeping a teachable spirit in all of this.
And that leads to what we feel has to be the very foundation and life-blood of our future church... prayer. We don't know what we're doing, but God does, and I believe He will guide us if we listen. If we try to build a church on our "good ideas", but don't have the leading of the Holy Spirit, it all falls flat. I've heard sermons that were really, really good by all normal standards but didn't make much difference... and I've heard sermons that were just sort of so-so but left deep, lasting heart-change because the Holy Spirit was in it doing His thing. We view building a church in that same light. It doesn't matter what we do or how many people "jump on board", if the Lord isn't moving in it, it's all pointless anyway. He's the one with power to change lives and move mountains, so it makes sense to spend a lot of time asking Him to do it... and simply use us in the process.
