Its time to begin 'winding up' the project - this part of it anyway, and remind myself in essence this is an excerise, an experiment. Like others, who have written similarly in their blogs, I am left with lots of questions, not least the one - has it worked?
It is difficult to say because without definate strategies and goals at the beginning how do you know if you have succeeded. What quantifies success, or failure for that matter.
Have I managed to get a little group together with a common interest? Yes
Have they had fun together? Yes
Have they begun to get in touch with a spiritual side? Yes
Have they connected with God? I really do not know.
When so much of how we define missional church is to do with discipleship can we say we have success if we do not know if people have met with the reality of the living God in the process of our efforts?
Here we encounter one of the critical questions of emerging church. How do you know that what you are doing is church? If you do not intentionally meet with the purpose of worshipping God, however fluid a way that may be can you be said to be doing church? If you meet as an interest group and God is somehow tagged on to that, is that not side-lining God in a less than reverent way.
However it did occur to me that we may do that with traditional forms of church anyway. If we are brutally honest, how many people on a Sunday morning consciously go to church for an authentic encounter with God as their primary focus? Or do we go to be part of a group, to engage in an activity we all like, to drink coffee and catch up with friends. Yes we (hopefully) meet with God and sometimes he surprises us but it is often sufficient to take it for granted he is central because of where we meet rather than a concious mindset that places him in the centre. Maybe on a Sunday but what about other church activities during the week. I think of our toddler group who play, do arts and crafts, sing Christian choruses, and celebrate the major Christian festivals with prayer stations. Is that not 'church'? Or the brass band practice which I love. The fellowship is great we play great music and we spend time sharing and praying. We don't call it church because the primary focus is to practice music, but through the music we are 'blessed' and prepared to mission. The band has a good reputation and where ever they go they pull crowds, church goers and non church goers. The bandmaster knows this and being an extremely mission focused guy capitalises on this. Much of the preparation for people being connected with God which happens regularly is born out of the attitude instilled in us and the prayers at practices. Is this not church?
So yes I have broadened my horizons of church or recognise the dangers of a narrow view of church - whichever way you want to look at it.
But as I think about the 12 or so ladies and a couple of men that regularly come on a Wednesday lunchtime to be part of the Hub, plus the many others that get sucked in by an extra bargain, or a leaflet in their hand, do they see the Hub as church? Does it matter if they don't, so long as I do. There is a spirituality to it, a connection with inner self and outer community issues but I am not sure if it is able to go further than that. The definition of what we were asked to do was to create a group that had the potential to become church. In my mind that has to mean a corporate intention to meet with God - in the sort of way we do in toddlers or band practice. And I know that is not happening.
So where do we go from here? What the Hub has achieved is a kind of chaplaincy to customers and staff. People know they can come and be part of a group where they can share conversation. They are not just consumers but participants. They know there will be someone to talk to privately if they wish. They know that our little team of 3 are Christians from the Salvation Army Church (the management staff are not directly connected to the church). My aim was to create a group that supported each other and that has happened. New friends have been made who go out for coffee etc. outside of the Hub which is both exciting and humbling. I have to believe that God can and is working through these relationships but what the result will look like I have no idea. But to force a more Christian agenda in the conversation would be counterproductive. Any form of 'worship' needs to emerge from the group.
Will the Hub continue? Undoubtedly - with or without me!
Is it mission? Kind of.
Is it producing people who desire authenticity and are working to better their local community? Yes I think so.
Is it producing disciples - is the big question. For all I have learned about emerging churches having no distinction between the sacred and the secular the reality is I still see a boundary for people to cross that would make the Hub more like the band practice than the toddler group. Recognising Jesus within their group rather than just being told he is there.
.....what Ibiza will be like...
12 years ago
Love it, Andrea. It's clear that "church" for you is no longer "business as usual". There HAS to be more. And your very last line ("Recognizing Jesus within your group...") is really key.
ReplyDeleteHere's some thoughts that may be relevant.
You asked, "How do you know that what you are doing is church? "
Actually, this question assumes a definition for "church" that's not biblical; that is, most people assume "church" is a "gathering" w/ some sort of "activities". But that's not what the Bible says!
Most people define "church" like this: 1. A building used for public, Christian worship; 2. A particular religious organization having its own clergy, buildings, doctrines, etc.; 3. A hierarchy of clergy in such an organization such as the RCC; etc.
Nowhere in the Bible is the word "church" used this way. In the orig Greek, "church" = ekklesia and referred to "a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place." (Strong's)
But in NT use, " ekklesia" are ALL those who make up the group of people who are one with Jesus Christ — the entire body of Christians scattered throughout the earth. Another biblical word for "church" is "Family" (Family of God) referring to all those who have been born of water and the Spirit. [Jn 3.5ff]
Back to the original question: When people get together, how do they know what they're doing is "church"? Let's rephrase this now as "family". I grew up in the Swift family. Swift's live all over the world. When we have a Swift Family Reunion, we pick a central location — usually our grandparents' house.
When everyone gathers at Grandma's house, crowding into the house and into every single room as well as the property outside, what do we have to do in order to be a gathering of the Swifts?
Nothing! "Swift" doesn't refer to what we DO but who we ARE.
And when any part of the Family of God gathers together — from two or three people to even more — what do they have to do before they can be considered the "Family of God"? Nothing! They ARE the Family of God. And what do they have to do to make that gathering a gathering of the Church? Nothing! They ARE the Church. Church is not what you DO but who you ARE. Instead of evaluating what we're doing and how well we're doing it, we can instead gather together, celebrate that we ARE the Church, and then BE the Church.
Oh! That's the question! Once several people have gathered together and they ARE the Church, how do they know they're BEING the Church?
Jesus says that unbelievers will know His Reality when they see our Love. [John 13.35] When the members of the Body of Christ (the Church) gather together in His Name, they LOVE one another; they look intently at one another in order to provoke one another to Love and good works; they take the Spiritual talents they've been given and build one another up until — together — we reveal to the world the very Presence of the Person of Jesus Christ. [cf. Heb 10.24f, Eph 4.11ff, Rom 12, 1Cor 12-14, et al.]
So let's say I meet with Syd at Starbucks for coffee. We sit quietly (we do not sing nor do we share Communion wafers.) Knowing each other to be IN Christ, together we draw on the Presence of Jesus in His Spirit, and spend some time building each up — encouraging each other, provoking each other to continue pressing in to doing the Good Works that bring glory to the Father, etc. [Mt. 5.16]
THUS MEETS THE CHURCH — the Church of Jesus Christ at Starbucks!
Emil Swift
You said ..."what the result will look like I have no idea"...isn't that the exciting part of it all. Maybe we have an idea in our minds what we think all these projects should look like or what we would like them to look like. But actually the things that are emerging from your project go beyond our thinking and I believe that is just so exciting because in many ways we're not in control!! I know as a "project" there has to be an end, but the work doesn't actually end and we will continue to watch it blossom and reflect on it (we just don't have to write about it!)
ReplyDeleteI think the work will continue to emerge and who knows what impact it has and will continue to have?