Boxes Don't Move

"Thinking out of the box about the church building is not a new concept. The first Christians did pretty well without the use of church buildings. They gathered in homes, tombs, catacombs, and anyplace else they could gather safely in the midst of persecution. A body is the image God uses for his church..., but some churches today, based on how they spend their time and money, prefer to focus on the box instead of the body.

"This is problematic for several reasons.

"First, boxes don't move. Boxes are not alive, so - unlike a healthy human body - they are completely immobile. The church was never meant to be viewed as an immobile box sitting on the corner of Eighth and Main; God intended for us to view the church as a healthy, mobile body of believers moving - walking - through this world....

"The church is commanded to search out and get next to lost people - to make life, help, hope, peace, joy, truth, and love more accessible."

- from Eats With Sinners, by Arron Chambers

Instead of a Show

Thanks to Jon Foreman for this great song, "Instead of a Show," from his album Limbs and Branches. The lyrics are based on a passage from Isaiah, chapter 1.

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I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when you're singing 'em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There's blood on your hands

You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Let's argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let's argue this out
You'll be one of the clouds
Let's argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can't love at all
Give hope to the ones who've got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can't stand at all

I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

It is better to be...

"One goes more quickly to heaven from a hut than from a palace."

My favourite quote, attributed to St Francis of Assisi. I love the simplicity, and the upside-down perspective. It's so unlike what the rest of the world screams at us. But it's so true. THIS is real life. Not palaces, Porsches and playstations (although there's nothing wrong with those) - that's what we're told it's all about. But it's not.

I'm convinced the good life has more to do with great friendships, simplicity, enjoying your work, love, faith, hope and grace.

It is better to be godly and have little
      than to be evil and rich.
For the strength of the wicked will be shattered,
      but the Lord takes care of the godly.
Day by day the Lord takes care of the innocent,
      and they will receive an inheritance that lasts forever.
They will not be disgraced in hard times;
      even in famine they will have more than enough....

The Lord directs the steps of the godly.
      He delights in every detail of their lives.
Though they stumble, they will never fall,
      for the Lord holds them by the hand.

- Psalm 37:16-19, 23-24

First BBQ

Would anyone like some sausages? Last Sunday was our first BBQ, and we have quite a few left over! (There's a limit to how many nights in the week you can give sausages to your children for dinner.)

It was a great morning though. We put on a barbie breakfast in the park, for anyone in the local community. This is one of the things we're doing to centre our new church around mission - so we can connect with people in the community, and so they can get to know other locals.

We weren't sure how many people would come. We ended up printing about 90 little flyers to put in letterboxes, in our townhouse complex and in the next street over. We wanted to start with this, to see what would happen. 90 houses is potentially more than 50 families, and seeing as the flyers said "FREE BBQ" on them, we realised there could be anywhere from 5 to 50 people show up!

As it turned out, there was only one person from those houses who came, and she's already a friend of ours. This shouldn't really have been a surprise, because we've said over and over that it's all about relationships. You have to have a friendship with people first. It seems that really is true.

She wasn't the only person we connected with, though. There were a few other people in the park that morning - going for a walk, doing a dog obedience class, bringing their kids to the playground - and it was nice to have a cup of tea and a chat with some of these.

As Tam and I were saying on the way home (about a one-minute drive, around the corner), I love that this is what church is for us now. It's so much fun! We get to do this every month - chatting with nice people, making new friends, having a BBQ, having a morning tea...

I'm really looking forward to the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that... We're going to be meeting some amazing people, being church with some amazing people, and doing what we love! It's such a great way to grow a church. Who doesn't like a relaxing BBQ breakfast in the park on a Sunday morning?

Why start a church? Pt IV

Ideas started popping into my head about what we could do in our local community, in Slacks Creek.

I don't even think I'd really accepted the whole thing myself, but the ideas kept coming. It was a bizarre time. I kept telling myself "No, you're just being naive. You're really not capable enough. You're too young for a start." And it was like God was saying, "Sure sure, I hear you. But if you were to give it a crack, what would you do?" and I was sucked in that easily.

As soon as it became more of a possibility in my head (as tiny as it was), I shared it with Tam. She's a wise woman, with great spiritual instincts, so I knew she'd be able to tell if it was a good idea or not. If she said "No, I don't think that's right for us at the moment," it'd be a good sign I was off track. Personally, I didn't think it was a good idea, but I was certainly being compelled to bring it up, so I was very keen to see what Tam would think.

She didn't say no straight away, and I think that may have been the point when it first clicked in my head, "Maybe this isn't crazy - maybe this is it for us." But there were still a lot of obvious questions to discuss, to which I had basically no answers....

"Do you know how to plant a church?"
"No. But if it's the right thing then I guess God would do a lot of it. We're good at making friends and building relationships at least."
"How would it look?"
"I don't know. We'd have to see I guess. Something simple though."
"You need to put a lot of time into planting a church, and there'd probably be no money in it, so you'd have to have a full-time job as well. And then what about our family?"
"Yeah, you're right. I can't see how that would work."
"We don't even know anyone else who would want to help."
"Yeah I know."

Probably the worst sales pitch ever made. But strangely enough, even though there were no answers to any of these questions, the more we discussed church planting seriously, the more I realised this is just the kind of thing God likes to do with people.

("Ben, I'd like you to jump in here if you could."
"Isn't that the deep end?"
"Yep, but you'll be right. Trust me.")

I went to bed that night praying, "God, if this is a bad idea, just let it die. I'm ok with that. I don't really think I could do it anyway. But if you think it's a good idea, then you're going to have to convince Tam, and me."

Success & Growth

One of the parts I found particularly insightful in Tim Chester's and Steve Timmis' book was the chapter on success. What does success in a church look like? Here are some of their thoughts....

"Living plants are growing plants. The plants in my garden are either growing or dying. In the same way living churches are growing churches. Members grow in their love for God and for one another. Unbelievers will encounter the aroma of Christ. Such growth is rarely straightforward. Often it is three steps forward and two steps backward. But growth is normal. God's word will achieve what he purposes for it. And so, as people are saved, the church will grow numerically.

"But numerical growth need not equate to larger congregations. There is another model for church growth: growing churches by planting churches. As we have argued, planting churches offers the most biblical and most effective way to reach our towns and cities for Christ. But it requires a different vision for church growth. If we measure ourselves by the size of our congregations, there will always be a strong deterrent to plant."

Pigeon: Impossible

The Story of Stuff

David Crowder*Band - Oh Happiness Live - Summer 2010

I love this song!

What if...?

Inspiring words by Neil Cole, from his book, Organic Church...

"Instead of bringing people to church so that we can then bring them to Christ, let's bring Christ to people where they live. We may find that a new church will grow out of such an enterprise, a church that is more centered in life and the workplace, where the Gospel is supposed to make a difference. What will happen if we plant the seed of the Kingdom of God in the places were life happens and where society is formed? Is this not what Jesus intended for His Church?

"What would it be like if churches emerged organically, like small spiritual families born out of the soil of lostness, because the seed of God's kingdom was planted there? These churches could reproduce just as all living and organic things do.

"We have seen such churches meeting in restaurants, offices, homes, university campuses, high school facilities, and beaches. We've had churches meeting in bars, coffeehouses, parks, and locker rooms. One of our church networks has as its purpose statement "To have a church within walking distance of every person living in Las Vegas." Another claims, "Every Christian is a church planter, every home is a church, and every church building is a training centre." This is a whole new way of seeing Christ's church, and it is happening today all across the Western world.... We must take Christ into people's lives, and it must be in the context of relationships."

Our Little Church

We had a lovely breakfast today with some good friends of ours, who want to make this church their home. Such an encouraging time. They are wonderful people, and we're so blessed that they want to be a part of this project.

This is only one of many ways we have seen God working in the past couple of months, beyond what we're doing ourselves.

It's Jesus' job to grow his church, and it's exciting to see him do that.

So now we have us, them, and our two girls - a church of six! It's great to be working together with some wonderful people too. The first community BBQ is in a couple of weeks. And I'm looking forward to it more now, now that we're doing it together with friends. And now we have our first life group too!

Jesus, this is your church. Please keep it growing, especially as we connect with people in our community.

Gospel & Community

I've just finished a brilliantly insightful book, Total Church, by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. Tim and Steve are cofounders of The Crowded House, a church planting initiative in the UK, and codirectors of the Porterbrook Network, which trains and mentors church planters.

Total Church is filled with amazing practical insights about church that would be helpful for any pastor or church leader. But it is especially helpful for church planters and small churches.

The foundational message is a call to radically reshape church around the two key principles of gospel and community. As they explain in the introduction....

"Christians are called to a dual fidelity: fidelity to the core content of the gospel and fidelity to the primary context of a believing community. Whether we are thinking about evangelism, social involvement, pastoral care, apologetics, discipleship, or teaching, the content is consistently the Christian gospel, and the context is consistently the Christian community. What we do is always defined by the gospel, and the context is always our belonging in the church. Our identity as Christians is defined by the gospel and the community.

"Being gospel-centred actually involves two things. First, it means being word-centered because the gospel is a word - the gospel is news, a message. Second, it means being mission-centered because the gospel is a word to be proclaimed - the gospel is good news, a missionary message."

The first part of the book is a discussion on why we would do well to shape church around these two elements, and then the second part of the book provides many many practical tips and insights on how this works in church life. Part two is pure gold. What does this mean for evangelism? Church planting? World mission? Discipleship and training, pastoral care, spirituality? What does success look like? And one of the most practical: what do we do in small churches and church plants when it comes to young people and children (something I've wondered about for the future)?

I'm so grateful to these guys for all of their insights. This book, and especially the chapter on church planting, was one of the things that first encouraged and inspired me to think seriously about planting a church. I love the humility and wisdom of the authors, and I'm so blessed to benefit from their priceless experience planting churches and working with church planters.