"A Church Planter's Response"

Yesterday, I read Gailyn Van Rheenen's "Equipping Kingdom Communities On Mission with God" blog post. It is holistic, robust, descriptive, and challenging, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as it also helped put flesh on the bones of some of what I've experienced this year. Consequently, I have comprised "A Church Planter's Response." This response is fairly raw, and originally, I recorded it as a "voice recording" on my iPhone with the "QuickVoice" app.

Regardless, I've been encouraged to share it here. Again, originally, this was done orally, so I apologize if it seems disoriented or flows poorly; however, it adequately presents my response to Gailyn's post, and I appreciate your willingness to share in it.

"A Church Planter's Response" to GVR's "Equipping Kingdom Communities On Mission with God"

"If equipping is basically about spiritual formation and skill, then what does that mean for me as a part of the Mission Alive fellowship or the Mission Alive network? One of the things that I think it means is that I am to be a person of prayer. Prayer becomes a necessity in the midst of my own spiritual formation, and also as a way of discerning and asking the Lord to reveal potential disciples. Part of my role is to be discipled by Jesus, and if I am to be like him, I am to be with him. One of the ways I am with him is in prayer. So then, prayer is transformational for myself and others as I listen to the Lord in discernment for myself and others. I'm reminded of John 17 where Jesus prays to the Father, but he also prays for his disciples for their own formation and he prays that they might be sent out.

Also, I need to be a person of the text. In the text, the living God reveals his Word...reveals his words, and I come to know him as I take the narrative journey in Him through the Spirit in the text. If I am to be discipled by Him, then I am in the text not just to prepare lessons, seminars, sermons, or even to engage in conversation with others; although all of those are extremely important and formative as I spend time in the text, but I'm in the text to know the text, to chew the text, to digest the text, to become the text as I spend time with Jesus getting to know Jesus...hearing, reading, and telling His stories...connecting to the overall narrative of God throughout the Scriptures...revealing deeper and deeper insights and a deeper and deeper relationship with God in the Spirit through the text. I'm a person of prayer, and I'm a person of the text if I am to be equipped in my own character. I am discipled by the Discipler.

There is a skill development piece in this as if spiritual formation and skill development can even be separated. What I find in my own journey is as I am attuned to the frequency of God and as the Holy Spirit transforms and awakens me to his ways, skill comes along with it. As I grow to listen to God, I am growing as a listener to other people for I am in search of God for and around other people. As I grow in prayer with the Lord, I am growing in an attunement to the needs and desires and brokenness and joy found in others. And so, as I am tuned to God's frequency, I can't help but be tuned to the frequency of those around me...especially those who are not following him. As I find peace and identity in my relationship with God, peace and identity flows in my relationship with others. And so, as my character...as the Lord forms my characters...as a son and as an embracer and proclaimer of King Jesus, I'm more comfortable (not in an apathetic, lackadaisical, or lazy way), but I'm more at peace in my relationships with others and in the opportunities God brings my way to initiate relationships with new people...I'm more confident, bold, and at-ease in those relationships, because I'm living out of and into the identity of a son of the King and as that relationship grows with the King, I can't help but proclaim his Kingdom. As the Psalms say, he is slow to anger. He is abounding in love. He is not willing that any would be lost, and would not be a part of his kingdom. So, there is definitely...not just this synergy, but perhaps this interwoven tapestry formed through Christlike character development. As Hirsch says, we are growing into "Little Jesuses", and as that happens, I can't help but grow in skill. To include some Breen, It is the imitation piece that innovation flows out of...perhaps. That as I imitate more and more, I'm now innovating in step with the Spirit, and I can't help but be more and more skillful in my equipping...or in the equipping the Lord leads me into. There is some John 10 here...some John 13 here...John 14, John 15, John 17...texts I can't seem to get away from! In that equipping piece, the Christlikeness and the growing into the image of the King...looking and living more and more like the King...under his reign and rule...I can't help but be like the King, and his skills are love, faithfulness, commitment, steadfastness, relationships, tenderness, forgiveness, leaving the 99 for the 1, peace, Fruits of the Spirit...ultimately laying down his life for his friends willing that none would perish but all would join his Kingdom and accept his sovereignty...resurrection!

And so, perhaps, as a Mission Alive network participant, that is my response to the "equipping/kingdom" piece. However, what are we equipping? We're equipping "kingdom communities...communities...communities..." You know, unfortunately in some ways but not in others, this would be the piece that I have probably struggled with the most. We come into this with notions of ecclesiology that primarily have been...we've either experienced up to this point...mostly in our childhood, and even, some of the ecclesiology we've been taught but haven't necessarily experienced...yet. It's kind of a tough thing to navigate, and it's really easy for me (and still is sometimes) to get lost in the structure of things or the non-structure of things, and to become an advocate, one way or another, and that's fine. Structure is unavoidable. Even not having structure is a form of structure. However, I think we have a lot to learn from the text and folks like Hirsch, Breen, Frost, Cole, and others who have pointed us in the direction of this metaphor of the "family" and of the Greek, oikos, maybe even what we would call the "household."

For the longest, I tried to develop a community that...I guess...primarily was strong on attendance. Buildings could fluctuate, because I felt like we could meet anywhere, and cash...well...we never really had a lot of it, so it was always a struggle, but attendance really seemed to be my main area of focus in the "ABCs." And so, if we had 40 people, that was okay, but I was really upset with myself, because we didn't have 60. And if we had 60 people, that was better than 40, but it wasn't 80. And if we had 100...wow...that's 3 digits, but what about 125. What about my buddy's church who's pushing 200? What about the Sunday when we had 116, and the very next week had 35. And so, attendance (and specifically Sunday worship attendance) really became an identifying marker for me as to whether or not I was doing a good job...whether or not I was being successful and it took its toll. It took its toll on my personality. It took its toll on my mood. It took its toll on my work ethic. It took its toll on my identity.

So then, we transitioned that structure into house churches. It was fine. We were focusing on smaller groupings of people, so there was some more intimacy...more relational development...more confession...eating together...sharing together...communing together...meaningful and good times together. But we were still structurally focused, and what we found was even though we met in a home, the meeting was still the primary ecclesiological definition. In other words, even though it was in a house, the meeting was still our working definition of "church." And along with that, "attendance" still held too much sway for me.

I remember times when we were struggling to pay the rent, and we would meet at my in-laws house (in particular)...large enough living room to accommodate everybody, and we would eat lunch and we would make a morning/early afternoon of it, and those times, as I look back on them, are very special to me, and I am very thankful for those times. I kick myself, because I wish I wasn't so focused on attendance that I felt like those times weren't "good enough." Now, I look back on those times with deep fondness, because the oikos was together. Even though I still struggled with "attendance" during those times, more often than not, I lived into some joy. I wasn't so worried about whether the sermon came off like I'd planned, the songs sounded good, and the service flowed. I'm not sure, in and of themselves, that those things are bad or wrong, but we were enjoying ourselves as a family...kids participating...meal involved...talking and praying around Communion. The family was really learning to live together under the rule of the King.

I think back to our baptism time in July of '05...just in a home singing, praying, talking, laughing, crying, worshipping, barbecuing, swimming, baptizing. It was the oikos living together, serving together, caring for one another, praying for neighbors, inviting neighbors. Man, it was rich...rich times, and I'm wondering if when we talk about "equipping kingdom communities..." that's what it looks like.

It starts with a few. It really does. As we are being equipped by the Lord and by mentors...by people who are discipling us...as we are pushing deeper into prayer and as God is revealing who those folks are in our lives who might be discipled by us, it just starts with a few. It starts with 3...maybe 12 (biblical numbers...lol!), but from those few, an oikos of Jesus develops by the Spirit...by the Spirit, because an oikos going after Christ for the sake of the world can't help but be attractive. It can't help but be attractive and draw folks into it and into the One who resides as King over it...who participates as King in it. And so, I long for the oikos. I pray that the Lord would use us as he grows an oikos...a family...a household of brothers and sisters in Christ in which all colors, situations, and life stages of the rainbow come together under the lordship and kingship of Jesus and live for Him, for each other, and for the world. Equipping. Kingdom. Communities...who are on Mission.

These kingdom communities are on mission, because the kingdom is ever-expanding, ever-breaking in, ever-moving forward, because this is an offensive kingdom...a "the gates of Hell CANNOT prevail against us" kingdom...because the King is on the offensive...because the King while we were yet sinners died for us...because the King has shown us what it looks like to be human...because the King is redeeming all of humanity back into how he intended from the very beginning...because the King and his love for all of creation CANNOT be contained, held back, or controlled, because the King reigns...because the King rules...because the King has and continues to overwhelm us...lavish us (and by us, I mean the world) in his love!

I'm also a person of mission. I'm a person of mission, because the Lord is discipling me to then disciple others...the Lord is forming me to then form others through me...with me. This is not a personal, solo endeavor or transaction, but this is always for the sake of others; and so, as I am equipped in character...growing in Christlikeness, I am equipped so that I may be sent out as an equipper to join God in his work of connecting with, growing, and bringing the 'Tiffanys' into his Kingdom reign and sovereign rule...into life with and for the King. So, I am a representative...not just a representative...I'm a son of the King in search of and proclaiming this Kingdom so that others might embrace his lordship, his kingship, and kingdom.

And so, we are on mission for the sake of our neighborhoods...for the sake of our neighbors...for the sake of our schools...for the sake of our cities...for the sake of the world. So, we willingly venture into dark places. We love unlovables. We touch lepers. We cure sick. We heal broken-hearted. We open blind eyes. We live that Luke 4 life. We live that Matthew 11 life. You tell me: The blind see. The deaf hear. The mute speak. The dead are raised. What do you think? We are on mission: out and deep...out and deep!

So, as a participant in this network of equippers...kingdom community on-mission starters or maybe...discover-ers. This would be my response. Peace."

Making Missional Trax

Below are my reflections concerning the current story we find ourselves in.

We find ourselves involved in an unfolding narrative. First and foremost, this story tells of a journey centered in Christ. In Christ, we discover God: incarnational, missional, and relational. In Christ, we discover the full intentions for humanity. In Christ, we discover the true Israel leading a new, full Exodus of liberation, freedom, and sacrifice. In Christ, the way, the truth, and the life, we discover the One to imitate, participate, and inundate for the sake of others.

Second, we find ourselves acting upon and searching for the Imago Dei. To be like Christ is to join him in his work of revealing the image of God in others. For the Galilean fishermen, Mary Magalene's, Nicodemuses, and Gerasene demoniacs this was Jesus: Lord, Savior, and image of God unleasher. We too, as disciples of Jesus, share, by the grace, mercy, and Spirit–empowerment of God, in this revelation ministry.

Finally, our Spirit–initiated and sustained quest after Christ for the sake of others continues because we are sent. Father sends himself. Father sends Christ. Christ sends Spirit. Spirit sends us, his church. God sends. God, first and ultimate missionary, sends.

Therefore, this story makes four primary demands upon us. First, follow Jesus. In order to be with the One we love and become like him, we must follow him. If we are to invite or expect anyone else to follow us as we follow Christ, we must be good followers.

Second, with joyful urgency and perseverance, anticipate and propagate the image of God in our neighbors. Who are our neighbors? All in whom the image of God resides. Christ the King reigns, and we've been given the privilege of joining him in awakening others into his kingdom as we follow the spirit.

Third, pray. We cannot assume or underestimate this demand. If God is the ultimate missionary and loving sender of himself, the Messiah, the Spirit, and the church, then we must constantly be with him seeking that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Never forget: this is his project.

Finally, go...into the fringes. The image of God is present within the poor, fragile suburban widow. The image of God is present within the inconsolable and uncontrollable raging child. The image of God is present in the young married couple denying their neighborhood, kids, and each other for the American Dream. The image of God is present in the wayfaring, begging old woman looking for a place to sleep. However, these friends (and many others) live in the fringes. Suburban landscaping, concrete jungles, and country-acre lots all perpetuate relational and proximal distance that drive potential friends into the fringes. And so, like light piercing a dark room, we follow the Spirit running into the fringes seeking to illuminate every forgotten cob-webbed corner. No longer will we remain content for others to have faces without names. Because God in Christ by the power and leading of the Spirit moved into the neighborhood tabernacling among them, we do too. We are temples rooted within and built upon the Chief-Cornerstone, and it's time to get the roadshow moving.

Without Love

I finished re-reading ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church this afternoon, and this will be my last post from the book. ReJesus is a phenomenal contribution seeking to "explore the connection between the way of Jesus and the religion of Christianity...assess the Christian movement in the light of the biblical revelation of Jesus...and propose ways in which the church might reconfigure itself, indeed recalibrate its mission, around the example and teaching of the radical rabbi from Nazareth." (p. 6) The paragraph below is taken from the top of page 187.

"In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul commends the harmonious expression of the gifts with each member playing his or her part in the building up of the church in the same way that different body parts operate as a united whole. It is no mistake that he then launches into his well-known description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, because without genuine love between the members of a church the differing expressions of giftedness would tear them apart. He is in effect commending a unity-in-diversity approach. We are better together, stronger for the ministries of each other in our lives, built up by all the gifts."

Amen.

Tweet

Gathered & Scattered (for the city)

I reside in a suburban, metropolitan context 15 minutes from the nearest "big city." Over the previous 15 years or so, our suburban sprawl has doubled in size, and is poised to double again by 2030. For a while, our "town" struggled with whether or not to embrace "city life;" and consequently, walk into an identity as a "big boy" suburb. However, population growth alone solved that brief dilemma. Subsequently, residential, economic, educational, and recreational growth litter the landscape across the 23-mile radius of our city.

While the decision as to what kind of "town" will we be has been made, we've yet to gain a handle on the implications of such "progress." In other words, we're very much within the vortex of a windy cultural landscape grasping for the relationships, tools, resources, and forethought necessary in order to effectively navigate "suburban city life." Moreover, the winds of civic cultural changes are also intensely blowing through the church(es) in our city. Previously, we've adequately focused on our own localities primarily expressed through activities held within our church buildings. We might chaplain city initiatives, events, and organizations; however, our spheres of influence or cooperative efforts rarely overlapped.

Perhaps, these cultural winds are shifting us (Christians) into ways of action more consistent with a "city-wide" viewpoint. More specifically, I'm currently questioning, wondering, and imagining how a "city-wide" approach might couple with the "gathered AND scattered" ecclesiological perspective. In 2010, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay released AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church in response to an unfolding missional and attractional
ecclesial polarization. Rightly so, they proposed that the church must participate in her sentness as well as share times of coming together. I appreciate the offering Smay and Halter have shared here, and was taken (again) as I (re)cracked the book tonight for a re-reading of the Chapter 2 sections on "engaging culture" and "forming community."

On the other hand, unless I am missing something (which is completely possible), the "gathered/scattered" conversation seems limited to the local church. In other words, what I am hearing when we talk "gathered/scattered" is primarily local church centric in thought and expression. I realize I'm being overly-simplistic and categorical; however, for the sake of space and time, I am attempting a fair summary of conversations I have had with pastors, church planters, and friends.

Here's where I'm wrestling: What if the gathered and scattered church conversation occurred from a "city-wide" perspective instead of a "local church" perspective? The truth is our local churches gather and scatter; however, what does that look like with a macro lens?

I reflect upon our suburban city of nearly 40,000 people littered with churches. Could it be that there are people scattered throughout our city's "local churches" with hearts that long to dance to the rhythms of missional church? Could it be that there are already people scattered throughout our city's "local churches" living missionally with and without any descriptive framework or knowledge of such a moniker? Could people group together, gather together to spur one another on in seeking Jesus and living for the sake of the city? Could saints gather, not to plant a church, start (another) "alternative" worship service, or plot an exit strategy from their current local church, but to swap stories, prayers, questions, and praises...to search the Scriptures and the heart of God for each other and the city? Could people gather not with the intention of leaving or being taken from their local church, but with the heart-felt and risky willingness to be sent back to form grassroots relationships, groups, and networks within their local churches propogating the Jesus virus of faith, hope, and love throughout their neighborhoods, relational spheres, and the city?

"Gathered and scattered" from a "city-wide" lens: wishful thinking or insanity? I'm not sure, but as I consider our vibrant city, I am hopeful that such a gathering and scattering is already underway.

Tweet

the Christ journey

Who would've thought we could have the disturbing privilege of naming a church? We seem so far removed from monikers like "the church in Corinth" or "the church that meets in the house of Priscilla and Aquila," and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Either way, when the time presented itself, with naive conviction, the choice was made and "Christ Journey" became the metaphorical descriptor for a group of folks seeking to faithfully share such a quest in Burleson, Texas. However, naming the group was the easy part. Experiencing the implications of the name continues to prove challenging.

Throughout the past 7 years, many of you have prayed, fasted, traveled great distances, stayed up late, awakened before the sun, met in strange locations, embraced creative (and sometimes weird) ideas, asked good questions, sacrificed money, offered resources and equipment, opened your homes, cried, laughed, despaired, rejoiced, went way outside your comfort zones, gave to people you had never met, opened your backyard for baptisms and your front yard for barbecues, and served and loved in all kinds of other ways as participants in the Christ journey. To all of you, we offer deep, heart-felt, and humble "thank yous" many, many, many times over. "Thank you" for remembering us, the least of these among churches. You truly have served Christ by sharing this journey with us.

And what a beautiful mess of a journey it has been. We've been blessed to share meals with strangers, comfort folks in the agonizing valleys of life's most despairing moments, and celebrate with them from atop magnificent mountain peaks. We've made tons of mistakes, learned from them, and made tons more. We've baptized friends in truck beds, rebuilt homes in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, and gathered for communal times of worship all over town. We've handed out water bottles among homeless friends in downtown Fort Worth, participated in Burleson's Christmas

Parade of Lights with a lightless float, and helped friends sent overseas in Argentina, Africa, and Ecuador. We praise God for the leading of his Holy Spirit along the Christ journey. "Thank you" for caring about us enough to walk alongside us.

On Sunday, May 29, Christ Journey, as it has been known up to this point, came together for the final time. During that gathering, with words and prayers from Philippians 2 and John 17, Bret and Rachel Wells and three additional families were commissioned, blessed, and sent to start a church in a northwest Burleson neighborhood. We are thankful for the Wells family, the many sacrifices and risks they embraced in order to join Christ Journey in the fall of 2008, and the ways in which they modeled and nurtured the Christ Journey community with a passion for the Scriptures, intentionally pursuing and inviting non-Christians into CJ community life, and selfless attention toward disciple-making responsibilities and opportunities among children. We rejoice at the initial friendships beginning to form through their new work, and long for transformational stories in these four families and those the Lord adds to their number that Christ might be lifted high and poured out in northwest Burleson through them. For more information about their new ministries, click here.

So, what does this mean for Chris and Heidi? If you are asking that question, please keep reading.

First, we're pregnant!!! If you didn't know, I'm sorry we haven't told you yet, and if you did know, feel free to push back from the screen and "happy dance" for us again! Earlier this week, we had our first doctor's visit, complete with a sonogram and heartbeat! Additionally, Heidi's been quite sick this go around, and we would appreciate your prayers for a healthy momma and baby. As a result of not feeling well, Heidi hasn't updated her blog with the news just yet; however, for now, you can catch up on our summer happenings with a click here.

Second, I have received and accepted an opportunity to teach 5th grade math at our neighborhood's elementary school. Ask me about the wild ride sometime, but over the last year and a half, I've gone from substitute teacher, to instructional paraprofessional, to special education teacher, to classroom teacher. We have witnessed the hand of our gracious and faithful God all over this process. For the longest, we prayed and longed for the discovery of "people of peace" in our neighborhood. We're just now realizing that we might be those people! As a result of this opportunity, I get to walk with 80 students and their families all of which live within a 3-mile radius of our house.

Furthermore, the Lord has allowed our house to serve as a hangout for kids on our street. During last school year, it was not uncommon for me to come home to a backyard full of kids (a few of which I had never met)! We're thankful for the ways the Lord leads us into ministry to and with our neighbors.

Third, Heidi and I are prayerfully seeking to initiate, develop, and nurture disciple-making relationships across our social spheres. For us, this is somewhat uncharted territory, but we continue encountering Christians asking if weekly worship services is all there is to Christianity, non-Christians wondering about the hope we have, and pastors seeking friends with whom they can share transparent, vulnerable, and encouraging relationships. Perhaps, we are at a place in our lives where we can serve and walk with these friends for the glory of God. We will not hesitate in following Christ and inviting others into that journey with seeds of hope and good news. So expect to see us serving on Lancaster Avenue in Fort Worth, building fences for widows in our neighborhood, sending money through the "Christ Journey Fund" to friends in need all over the world, and helping others listen to the Holy Spirit discovering ways they might participate in God's mission by joining the conspiracy of little Jesuses wherever they are. Ecclesiologically speaking, if God brings a church out of that...a living, breathing oikos that hears the voice of the Shepherd, seeks connection to the Vine, and continually washes the feet of the neighborhood and each other...we long for such a day. And if not, we remain prayerful, humble, obedient, and for the sake of others.

Finally, I (Chris) will continue developing relationships, mentoring, and walking with other men through a bi-weekly gathering we've dubbed: "Scripture, Salsa, and Shiner." Basically, it's a gathering of guys with thoughts and questions about the Bible and life as we experience it daily. Some sit back and soak in the discussions, others mainly ask questions, and still others pour out their hearts in pursuit of Christ. Furthermore, I have joined with two friends (who are also S3 participants) in the "Missio Project," a website of stories, book excerpts, photographs, reflections, and conversations focused on life in the Kingdom, recalibrating our lives and the church around Jesus, and prayer for a movement of God in our city. We're just getting started, and have made some initial posts that you can check out here.

In actuality, who knows what lies ahead? For now, one Christ journey has concluded, and another is underway. In the chorus of "All To Us," singer/songwriter Chris Tomlin sings, "Let the saving love of Christ be the measure of our lives." We feel he's on to something...join us as we find out.

Tweet