I Dream of a church where...

After getting home yesterday from Kansas (more on the Prelude and Everything must change conference later) I began getting ready for our Worship gathering which was centered around the topic.. "I Dream of a church where...". I gave everyone an index card and had them write their dreams of church. It was an amazing time of discussion and dreaming together (ever so crucial as we look to the future of Veritas). I put the list together and here is what our people at Veritas dream church could be like....

1. People are the most important thing.
2. Expressive Freedom is allowed.
3. God is looked for through quiet meditation
4. Prayer is seen as powerful and used that way.
5. Individual revelation is more important than dogma.
6. the church goes to the people and would be missed if it disappeared.
7. Buying curtains NEVER takes precedence over helping people.
8. the church and surrounding community interact frequently and on many levels.
9. that can be identified as a church because its motives, actions, mission is Christ-like.
10. people don’t apologize for being themselves (where people feel safe)
11. Everyone is able to use the gifts/talents/passions that God has given them.
12. Social class doesn’t play a role
13. People really push/encourage one another through accountability, through comparing their lives to that of Jesus.
14. Everyone feels welcome from the first second the first time they walk through the door until they leave.
15. The only acceptable adjective to describe each other is “family”.
16. if Paul were to write a letter to it, it would only be filled with positive remarks.
17. Missions and outreach is believed in fully.
18. The pastors are not afraid to preach what the Bible says and are not being held back by fear of the congregation.
19. Dressing up is not a necessity
20. Everyone feels welcome
21. if Christ were to be there, he would say, “finally. It took you guys 2000 years to get what I was saying. But you guys got it. Good job. Don’t Stop.
22. There wouldn’t be 2,000 different committees running the church
23. the people are on fire to serve God and further His Kingdom.
24. the people aren’t just once-a-week-Sunday Christians.
25. the people would not refer to themselves as Christians, but rather disciples of Christ.
26. Love for one another is overflowing the doors and into the community.
27. they look after the little ones and bring them up and instruct them in the way of the Lord.
28. they care more about their neighbors than what kind of windows or carpet that should get.
29. the people who are part of it are nurtured spiritually and challenged to grow in relationship with Jesus, both on a personal and community/corporate level. As a result, this spills over into love and service to others. The church identifies needs in the surrounding community and strives to meet them in Jesus’ name. There is a strong sense of mission to people in the community and beyond through authentic relationships.
30. Incarnational approach to ministry based on following Jesus’ example of love and humility is taken seriously.
31. there is holiness without self-righteousness.
32. “members” are lined up waiting for opportunities to help and bless.
33. people are all intimately involved in at least the lives of a few other “members”
34. outreach happens consistently and naturally, and is based from a local church.
35. everyone’s heart is simply to see God glorified.
36. everyone is open, humble, and patient with one another regarding conflicts.
37. people give money sacrificially, and take radical steps towards simplicity and Kingdom-of-God-living.
38. rebukes are carried out in wisdom and love.
39. “members” actively reject the traditionalization of group practices and encourage new ideas.
40. “members” are continually encouraged to step up into leaders roles, making paid staff as unnecessary as possible.
41. Jesus is the focus
42. all people feel welcome
43. the terms brother and sister in Christ are characteristic of the relationships in the church
44. outward focused rather than inward.
45. you don’t have to agree with all of the politics of denominations.
46. it is accessible and not a far off destination both physically and emotionally.
47. I’m challenged and not receiving watered down messages to prevent conviction.
48. relationships extend outside of the “Sunday morning gathering”
49. fellow believers hold you accountable with grace and love.
50. the Spirit of God is present, active and felt.
51. it is more than just one hour on Sunday morning- people are actively involved in each other’s lives.
52. (that) redeems things of culture (art, music, movies, etc..)
53. Love of God and Love of others is lived out and not just talked about.
54. There is a concern for Poverty, Peace, Purpose and Planet.
55. all people are involved in ministry.
56. the community is blessed that the church exists. The church would be missed by the community if it left.
57. Social justice and evangelism go hand in hand.
58. the things that break the heart of God break the heart of the people of the church.
59. Jesus is followed.

I'd be interested in hearing comments or your own dreams of what church could be.

Ryan

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

Earlier today I was getting ready to come to Kansas for a conference called Prelude and part of this conference will be attending the "Everything Must Change" event with Brian McLaren. I stopped by the church building and ended up "borrowing" NT Wright's newest book from my Pastor (who ended up just giving me the book) Surprised by Hope is a great read. I have already read at least 100 pages, spent most of the time on the planes reading. I came across this long quote that really struck me about resurrection and hope that Christ followers have for today.

"Who, after all, was it who didn't want the dead to be raised? Not simply the intellectually timid or the rationalist. It was, and is, those in power, the social and intellectual tryants and bullies: the Caesars who would be threatened by a Lord of teh world who had defeated the tyrant's last weapon, eath itself; the Herods who would be horrified at the postmortem validation of the true King of the Jews. And this is the point where believing in the resurrection of Jesus suddenly ceases to be a matter of inquiring about an odd event in the first century and becomes a matter of rediscovering hope in the twenty-first century. Hope is what you get when you suddenly realize that a different worldview is possible, a worldview in which the rich, the powerful, and the unscrupulous do not after all have the last word. The same worldview shift that is demanded by the resurrection of Jesus is the shift that will enable us to transform the world."

NT Wright lays out an amazing book all about the reality that heaven isn't the end for the believer. That it is about bodily resurrection at the end of time. That there is life after life after death. That there are two steps about the belief in the future. First death and whatever lies immediately beyond; second, a new bodily existence in a newly remade world.

A great read and a great book......
I will post more later about Prelude and the Everything must change conferences.

Apologetics

I've been having some recent conversations with people regarding Apologetics (defined as a defense or explanation of the faith). Do we need Apologetics anymore in our postmodern world. A world so bent towards experience. Does just talking with people about archeology, facts, scientific stuff allow for transformation to happen?

The other day as we talked about this at "Coffee and Culture" we talked that Apologetics are important but unlike before, we need more. So I started talking about the difference between an embodied apologetic and an unembodied apologetic. An unemboded apologetic is one in which a person just talks about facts, etc.. and tries to convince or sometimes "argue" the person into belief. An embodied apologetic is where a person or a community lives out the gospel of love, compassion, mercy and grace in front of people. I think in our culture people have heard "the gospel" but haven't always seen it. I believe the best defense of the faith right now in our postmodern culture is a community of Christ followers who live it out on a daily basis. I pray that Veritas would live a embodied apologetic.