|
As I rubbed shoulders
with people at footy clubs, on trains, driving trucks, on farms, on camps, at
checkouts – all over the place, I noticed the following: q
MOST people ARE interested in their spiritual life, God, even in
Jesus, but just don’t want a bar of the church! I’ve got friends who’d
like to know more, but wont ever darken the doorway of a normal church. |
Further, while I was
pastoring a church for 8 years, I watched the faces of the people during
Sunday services, and I’d notice a look in many of their eyes, a yearning on
their faces: for something more, a more authentic ways to express their
hearts… the longings, the laments, the real joy of being God’s people. And I
felt that frustration too. The trouble was, none of us knew any other ways of
doing it. We’d try to imagine other ways, but would draw a blank. So in fact… q
Even many church people can’t get “into” church, either… And I know it’s not because
of a lack of faith in God, or a problem of deep sin, or any thing like that.
But rather it just seemed to be ‘not our native language’. A culturally stiff
and foreign way of expression. We felt like David in Saul’s armour. Not
knocking it, but it just doesn’t seem to fit us. |
Plus I knew that: q
Jesus instituted the church for our encouragement & effectiveness We’re supposed to be in
communities of faith, for our health & that of our outward mission. I
don’t think it was supposed to be static or repulsive. But what did it look
like? What did Jesus have essentially in mind? Did it have to look like what
we’re doing in our buildings each week? |
So I began to wonder:
q
Is it possible to
do church in a way that actually IS what Jesus instituted, but doesn’t look
like the kind of church that culturally repels those people?
So I went to see if there were other ways of doing church.
In mid 97 I had coffee with a mate of mine, Andrew Jones, who was visiting
back in Perth. He had been a fellow pastor in Perth for a few years, but was
now doing things in San Francisco – things I was getting interested in at the
same time…
Ø
Worship in
culturally indigenous forms
Ø
Planting
reproducible faith communities (The Church on Brady had visited Perth a
year earlier)
Ø
Sharing peace in the
neighbourhood,
Ø
prayer walking,
mapping, & Spiritual warfare
Ø
Deleting the works
of the devil & Downloading the Kingdom of God
So I studied Acts 2 to see what constituted a basic
church, so that when I visited a group I’d be able to evaluate whether
this was an actually church, or just a bit of what church does.
Basically I decided that there were 6 “bones” to the church
skeleton:
|
God |
1. Hear FROM
God (“Godspace”) 2. Express
yourself TO God (worship/prayer) |
|
Each other |
3. Learning
(Bible, leaders, each other) 4. Godly
Friends (eat, play, cry) |
|
Rest of the
world |
5. Serving
people 6.
Explaining the great news (What do I know?) |
Then in 98 I
scraped together my fundage, and went to see what AJ was doing, up close.
One thing led to another
and, before you know it, I had met over 30 alternative faith community starters, all different
from the next. But most with a common missiological core. . (You can read
about that on the US churches & UK churches pages.)
Tuesday church:
On my return, there were
some developments on the home front that dovetailed with some of what I’d seen.
My wife had made friends who wanted to know more about their spiritual life,
but were not interested in church. So we started a meeting in their home, based
loosely on principles of The Baton (see Baton page).
I taught them my
“Landmarks of the Christian faith” basics, and we were off.
They came to faith in
Christ. The group blossomed for a few years to a steady dozen, or 20. People
were healing at core levels. (They were great bunch, although most had deep
psychological/sexual/physical wounds.) It was extraordinary to see what Christ
did each week, growing us all in faith.
It was nourishing for
Sally & me, too.
Mt Hawthorn Community
Church kept a supportive on eye on us.
We met on Tuesday nights,
and
maintained a balance between
activities for the Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength.
We worked on the 6 bones.
It was indeed a small church, and we wanted to multiply this eventually. But as
it turns out we didn’t have enough people, and we learned some lessons… (see
below)
“Godspace”:
During my trip to
Amsterdam 2000, I revisited some of these overseas groups.
On my return I related to
the group a late night burger chat with Doug Murren in Seattle.
As a result, we started a
monthly Sunday night open meeting, called “Godspace” or the “Second-Sunday
Session” (see Godspace page).
This was in order to:
Ø
be known by a bigger
group of people than we could know intimately, & to
Ø
have a place to
invite people who would be intimidated by the intimate size of “Tuesday
church.”
It has been a fairly
successful experiment. We don’t have congregational singing nor heavily
cerebral monologues, as that looks too much like church, and is part of the
negative baggage for many people. We don’t try to replace those things, rather,
we add to where they happen at other times & places.
We add the heart-level /
contemplative exercises instead. (see Godspace page)
“Godspace” continues
under the umbrella of Mt Hawthorn Community Church.
In 2002, Tuesday church folded.
A high number of people
moved away geographically, others wanted to change tack in ways we weren’t able
to find consensus in the group.
It was a hard time for
us.
v
But it was also a
litmus test for the group process: “Does bending the cultural rules mean we’d
ever bend core Gospel basics?” Answer: no. We know that because, sadly, some
people left because we wouldn’t bend on those essential Landmarks of the faith.
That’s a test we feel we passed.
v
However, we also
learnt that next time we must form a fuller team (a team with the gifts of Apostle,
Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher). A team that works well together, not
relying so heavily on one person.
v
We’d be more
intentional about leading people through a process of growth (see Universal Disciple page).
v
We’d pray more, and
lean on God more overtly at every opportunity.
v
We’d get hands-on
involved in community service sooner.
The people who help put
Second Sunday Session together became something of a community. We meet and
laugh and pray and talk & eat & share our lives under the guise of
preparing the next SSS. Together with SSS itself, this Saturday group does meet
almost all the 6 criteria of a church. Maybe not the serving community one. But
it is striking how effectively this group continues to grow.
In 2002 Mt Hawthorn had
Dave Andrews come over from the Waiters Union in Brisbane. He shared with us
what they do, and coached us through what we’d like to do – very similar stuff.
Community Development
principles… a great journey.
Some great perspectives
MtH has:
·
They really ‘get’ Church
as a Body: they celebrate and need each other doing their things – out and
about. Recognised as fully fledged ministries of the church, are the things we’re
each doing out beyond: TEAR; Lockridge; Banksia Grove; OAC; music band; Scouts;
Office block pastoral care; chaplaining; refugee care; social action lobbying;
·
They really empower
/ encourage you to hear do what God is nudging you specifically to do in your
journey. (“If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you?
You follow Me.” John 21:22)
·
As a result, Sally
& I don’t feel like we’re saying goodbye, but rather we feel like we’re
adolescents leaving home – the family will always be there for us. Lots of
people all over the world feel that way.
·
They understand that
context is as important as content: the content we receive doesn’t make much
difference until we see work in our context. Then we can see how it really matters.
Through this and other
means, God was preparing Sally & me for a move, to a little-known
subdivision called Banksia Grove, as it happened.
Some of the things we’ve
been learning to put in to practice are:
·
Learning to see
where God is already working in BG & it’s people
·
Recognising
legitimate moments to get to know our neighbours, & listening to them
·
Getting involved in
neighbourhood activities
·
Finding people with
a burden to PRAY for BG, & listening to God’s voice
·
…people who are also
ready to CELEBRATE anything anyone does that’s a step in the right direction
(Jesus’ Way.)
·
Collectively working
with our neighbours towards the kind of community we want (which is uncannily
similar Jesus’ idea of God’s Kingdom)
We moved to Banksia Grove
in early 2003.
For progress report, see BG Project
We are still working on
“Godspace” at Mt Hawthorn.
We want to reach those friends,
and others, who want to come alive spiritually, but can’t culturally get into
“normal” church. We want to incarnate a faith community into their culture.
Ø
So we’re enabling
others to learn from our experiences… (see Reframe WA)
Ø
And we’re looking
for who shares our vision in BG – maybe an APEPT team…?