Micro-church: a post-congregational expression

I grew up going to church.  My parents became Lutheran members of a congregation in Illinois and found a Lutheran congregation that shared the same name when we migrated to New York State.  I was a member of Our Saviour Lutheran in Rockford, by baptism; and of Our Saviour, Utica, by transfer and by confirmation.  I became a member of Grace Lutheran and of Zion Lutheran by letter of call as ordained pastor. I loved weekly liturgy and started assisting the pastor in the worship service as a teen.  I was weird, compared to my peers.  I was weird, compared to adult members.  My faith life was activated.   I listened and believed.  And I loved potlucks, Lenten services, and singing in the choir.  I never thought I would become critical of the Lutheran Christian culture that formed me.  I do so out of a deep, abiding love for Jesus and his church.  I do so out of a sense of obligation to serve Him and the church I love.  I have loved and benefited from congregational life.  I appreciate a sense of belonging to a people and a place, a holy dwelling place where God's promises are spoken and received.  The familiarity of a particular congregation and its sanctuary/building is emotionally comforting in the face of an ever-changing world.

Micro-Church DNA Continued:Who is Jesus?

"The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God." Gospel of Mark 1:1.  The micro-church is evangelical.  But it is not evangelical in the political, Americanized, televised sense of the word.  It is evangelical because it is formed as a result of the gospel announcement made by Jesus, embodied by Jesus, and concerning the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.  The gospel is the announcement about God's rule and its implications for all creation and especially humankind, a public announcement that occurred in 1st century Palestine/Israel through the ministry of Jesus.  The micro-church consists of people who have been captivated, inspired, changed, and called to act by and in response to Jesus.  The life of the micro-church is found in the story of Jesus.  That story is offered four ways, but four witnesses, four storytellers, four narrators. They tell unique aspects of one story.  Much of what each says overlaps and complements the other narratives.  Some differences give unique character and flavor to the stories.  These gospels are not biographies, so much as personal accounts of Jesus and the people he encounters along the way.  They are also theophanies, revealing or showing the world something of the divine or of God's identity and character.  Jesus and God the father are consistent characters in the narrative of the gospels.  To the gospel writers the God who is present and revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures appears in the work and teachings of Jesus.
For the micro-church, encountering this Jesus in the narrative of the gospels and in the unfolding of life's story, is a core part of who we are and what we are called to be and do as church.  Jesus is not an historical figure or a hero of faith or a martyr.  Jesus is God's son, the lamb of God, the good shepherd, the light of the world, and the resurrection and life.  Jesus is the way, to live and to die. Jesus is what life is about.  The meaning of life is the story of Jesus, who shows us what it means to live a full and complete human life in full and complete union with God.  Why is Jesus so central to a micro-church's dna? There are other things that shape modern churches, including human traditions, building designs, cultures and languages. Jesus is included in these things, too.  But to say that Jesus and the gospels were coopted for the purposes of Constantinian religion is an understatement.   More about that in a bit...

small, apostolic , rooted: the micro-church

The smallest of seeds...

In shaping a vision for the future church, there are some things we identify as core values, essential aspects, part of the DNA.  The future church will not jettison or abandon the ecclesial past, so much as it will reframe and reimagine what the "old, old story" means given the postmodern situation we find ourselves in.
Without deconstructing a whole lot of what church has been about or addressing every attribute of the psotmodern global context we are in,  I hope to begin forming an ecclesial  structure for the future of our life and work as people of faith.  Much work has already been done by Phyllis Tickle, author of "The Great Emergence", Brian McLaren, and many others to identify the reformation of the church that is occurring at this beginning of the next millenium. They have already identified and unpacked this contextual landscape.  They are exegetes of culture, cultural liasons, and ethnographers of this age that give language to what we experience and know as people living here and now.  Something is emerging in Christianity that departs from or reframes what preceded it in light of that new cultural landscape.  Congregations, denominational bodies, and even megachurches are recognizing that former ways of doing church, the paradigmatic systems we've accepted as the only ways to be church, are failing to embody the gospel message in ways that connect, resonate, and give life to God's world. From church scandals to massive oil spills, the world is crying out for a message of hope lived and expressed by an inspired and inspiring people who are willing to devote themselves to living a better way.  No current religious system is free enough from the limits we have imposed on ourselves to fully embrace an alternative way.  We have a way of gauging corporate success.  Drifting away from methods proven effective is tantamount to suicide.  But what if those tried and true formulas for being church no longer work?   What if attracting people to build an institution that requires more people to sustain it and manage it for the next 100 years doesn't work?  Is there another way of being church?

Micro-churches

In the future, the Christian community will return to its apostolic roots. These roots are spiritual, incarnational, missional, and relational.  The church will not build multi-million dollar campuses to serve the religious needs of insatiable consumers.  The church will not consist of a program staff doing ministry for haappy church-goers.  The church will not be held hostage by power players who follow human traditions while abandoning the justice and joy of Jesus. The church will not abandon its mission to serve the poor, the outcast, the sinner, and the refugee. The church will not neglect its responsibility to serve and protect the earth.  The church will bring hope and healing and reconciliation to people whose lives have been diminished and broken by those who claim authority over others for their own selfish benefit.  Perpetuating broken systems of injustice will not be the ministry of religious institutions calling themselves "Christian".    

 After a long captivity, people of faith are beginning to reimagine the hope and promise of Christian community.  The church is an organic reality, like a small plant emerging from the soil.  We are being planted once again.
A church is now emerging that values hospitality, grace, and humility over self-righteousness, exclusion, and tyrannical moralism.  This church is not mega. It is not the fastest growing anything.  It is not seeker-sensitive, though all people are welcome to belong.  It is not relevant or hip.  It is ancient, small, subtle, but powerful.  It is the micro-church.
Cell churches and house church movements have been emerging since the 1970s.  They have even deeper historic roots.  But the future of the church is not based on cultural trends.  The future church belongs to God and is a spiritual movement to restore the most natural expression of ecclesia, as it was imagined and embodied by Jesus and His first followers.   What is a micro-church and how does it operate?  read more after the jump...

a new day in the blog universe

Welcome back. I am renewing this blog and restoring its original name "koinonia 21c." Communities are formed in spaces like this now. Blogs are sites where relationships can happen. I hope that this site can bring together a community of friends who share a desire to live like Jesus, the bearer of God's power, the power of self-emptying service.  Koinonia is a Greek word used in the biblical narrative of the New testament to describe the way the first followers of Jesus lived a common, corporate, way of life. They shared.  They served one another. They helped one another navigate the forces that threaten to overwhelm and devour us.  They fed one another. They breathed together, conspiring to bring healing, reconciliation, and hope to a broken and suffering world.  They became a movement, a collective consciousness, a body of believers with a mission.  This mission was not coercive, militant, or colonialistic. It was a movement for peace, for love, for healing, for joy.  It was a spiritual movement to confront powers and systems of injustice with an alternative way. For more about this relational way of being together, read on...

you will not always have me...

I wonder what it would be like to have a job or career where you weren't being compared to the last guy, the one we liked better than you.  As a pastor in the ELCA, smaller congregations tend to be very pastor-centric or oriented.  The ministry and the faith are largely understood and articulated in relation to the pastors.  A flawed way of thinking about church, given the democratic nature of ecclesial leadership in its earliest forms.  But humans in community need a head of household, a king, a leader-in-charge; one in whom the rest might turn for inspiration and direction.  One whom the others might reject or hold liable when things get ugly. Praise the leader or pin them to the wall.  No leader is going to fulfill everyone's expectations, hopes, and imagination.  Because leaders are people.  But in the church we allow pastors to be emotionally crucified by unloving and ungracious members.  The biblical narrative is full of flawed leadership; Moses, Saul, David, and every king thereafter.  God warns the people in 1 Samuel 7 the appointing a king is not a good idea for them. But they want to be like the nations and tribes around them.  God provides them leaders who misuse power, who make impulsive, self-protecting decisions, and who fail to accomplish the leadership task given to them, largely by failing to remain faithful to God and to their duty as earthly rulers under the rule of a God-King.   Despite the failures of leaders, however, people are inspired to faithfulness.  And God's love and grace are made known.  Leadership is not for the weak. I've learned that the hard way...after the jump!

wilderness journey: the emotional side effects of sin

Biblical places are part of our spiritual journeys.  The narrative breaks into our lives and draws us into the biblical world.  There are times in church life when it is possible and good to identify where we are in the story.  We are in the garden of gethsemane, where Jesus is weeping, where tensions run high, where anger strikes out, where forces of power collide.  It is a place of high emotion.  It is night.  We are walking together in my congregation through a difficult time.  It is a time of brokenness and sin.  It is a time when we acknowledge that some behaviors and attitudes have not been consistent with the law of love and grace.  It is a time when it is hard to be together and yet we need to be together.  And I am grateful for those faithful people who remain partners in ministry here, so that we can walk together with courage and hope.  So what are we learning as we walk in this garden?

the ground has shaken and we are not the same

How do Christian people, living in God’s Word, understand and respond to disasters and human tragedies?  In our time, not a day goes by that we are not bombarded by stories of violence, bloodshed, and tragedy.  Children abducted and murdered.  Violence erupting on the streets of Jerusalem last week, when praying Muslims emerged to throw rocks at praying Jews, in retaliation to the news that Israel was claiming additional rights to land in the west bank, land Palestinians hoped would become there’s.  When you see what you see and hear what you hear, what do you think?  We are so desensitized to the disasters and the violence.  We simply move on, because tomorrow will bring another round of the same.  Empty platitudes and wishful hopes of brighter days ahead are insufficient at best and at worse diminish their suffering.  Haiti’s earthquake is overshadowed by Chile’s, which will be overshadowed by the next thing.  Katrina was overshadowed by Tsunami’s  On and on it goes.  We barely have time to consider the meaning of these things.  I guess we don’t.  What does the earthquake mean?  What is God’s role in human tragedy, natural disasters, or accidents, or violence?  How do we interpret events in relation to God, who speaks to us about the world and about our lives in scripture? As a proclaimer of the Word I am called to reflect on its bearing, its meaning for us as God’s people.  What does this mean?  What does this text, this word mean to us as a word of God?  And what do the events of the week mean.  What do various encounters mean?  Because the incarnate God is revealed not only in extraordinary happenings but in ordinary experiences and relationships.  What does this visit, this phone call, this email mean? I interpret all things in relation to the biblical narrative. I listen for the biblical narrative to emerge in all things.  Where do I hear God’s word come alive?  I ask this question every week. 

The Prodigal Son of God and His lost church

The prodigal son.  Luke 15. It’s a story about broken family.  It’s a story about the difference between elders and youth.  It’s a story about resentments and bitterness and anger.  And it is an open-ended story because we’re meant to complete it in our own stories.  The end begs questions.  Does the elder son come home?  Does he ever embrace the younger brother?  Does he come to appreciate his father’s faithfulness, vigilance, and indiscriminate love?  Does the younger son find a new place in the household? Does he repeat his offense?  Does he really change his ways or is he flawed? Is it in the DNA, or in family birth position, that predetermines one’s family behavior? Does the Father, insanely gracious to both of his sons, ever get the family relationships he has tried to forge? Will the sons be his sons, so that he can be their father?  And will they be brothers?  Will they actually love each other or go their separate ways?  And what would be better?  Can this family come together or are the differences too great?    What a human story. We don’t need to stretch our imaginations very far to connect to this one. But this is also a story about God.  It is Jesus’ final answer in Luke’s gospel to the question, Who is GOD? What is God like?  And that is where some people get off the bus.   Hard to swallow a God like this God, this Father.  Unconditionally gracious.  Welcoming and loving cast offs.  Reclaiming the dispossessed, disowned, discarded.  We imagine a different God.  One who blesses the deserving and curses the undeserving.  One whose favor is conditioned upon one’s behavior.  We look around and we see the difference between those who have been blessed and those who have not.  And we begin to imagine why, too.  This God respects duty, loyalty, religion, good, law-abiding citizenship.  This God chooses some and rejects others outright and what they get is what they deserve.  This is a wrathful god.  

This parable in many ways calls to mind the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 27-33.  Jacob is the younger twin who steals his brother’s birthright and blessing. Basically he gets the attention from his mother and father, claiming a relationship reserved for the elder son. Esau hates Jacob and seeks to kill him. So begins Jacob’s exile.   Eventually, Jacob and Esau reconcile, but it is Jacob who is chosen by God to renew and live out the family covenant promises.  Jacob becomes Israel and the head of the 12 tribes.   Jacob is the favored one.  But Esau is able to reconcile that in his heart and mind, accept his own relationship with God, and embrace his brother.  In so doing, Esau and Jacob experience God by facing each other.  

Wednesday of the week of Lent 2

So, beginning on the first Sunday in Lent the readings from the gospel of Luke we hear in Sunday worship remind us that there is a power at work in the world threatening to dismantle and destroy the goodness, truth, and beauty God has made.  This power distorts the truth and conceals what is real.
Beginning with Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, where he fasts and prays, we see an oppositional force at work.  Jesus is confronted by Satan in a story that seems more mythical than historical.  Satan compels Jesus to use his spiritual powers as God's Son to turn a stone into bread.  Satan promises the world to Jesus, as if it is his to give away, if only Jesus would worship Satan.  Satan invites Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, trusting God's divine promise to send angelic protection to save God's beloved, chosen one.
Jesus refuses to use his power for selfish purposes, depending on God's creation as it comes to Him, for sustenance and life.  A stone is a stone.  A stone is not bread.  Palestine is a stony ground.  And a stone was a weapon of judgment upon those who broke the law.  Turning a stone into bread could be seen as a swords into plough shares type expression.  Was the devil inviting Jesus to transform punishment into nourishment?  Jesus will not avoid punishment to feed his own stomach.
Jesus refuses to devote himself to any other master.  He serves and loves only one GOD.  And Jesus knows who rules the world, whose world this is.  This is God's world and no one else's.  Jesus is not threatened by someone who claims to have power he does not have.
Finally, Jesus refuses to twist God's Word to justify foolish behavior that threatens his fragile mortal body.  Jumping off a skyscraper because someone promises you that you won't die is a test that denies what is real.Truth is, even Jesus cannot fly.  Jesus is restricted, confined to the limited powers of the human body.  Despite the truth of his identity, he is not invulnerable.
The powers at work in this world that threaten to distort the truth about who we are, what we're capable of, what we can and ought to do for ourselves, how far we ought to go and how high...these powers are busy and active.  We don't call the power satan or the devil so much, mainly because of the weak mythology attached to the figure.
I've seen these powers at work in and outside the church.  As a result, I am learning to pray in ways I never knew before.  Prayer can be a shield of protection.  And I am learning to hide in the shadow of God's wings.  

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

I read from a prayer book almost everyday. I like to use "For all the saints", a publication that includes daily prayers, three daily texts, a meditation from a coworker, all the psalms,and three daily offices.  I am a liturgist in this way, enjoying and appreciating the rhythm of a spiritual life that comes to  me from a source beyond myself and my own yearnings.  I take what I get everyday from these readings. Somedays I am connected to the words I am reading and praying, other days not so much.     Johannes Willebrands, Lutheran theologian and ecumenist, wrote, "The creative and redemptive work of God cannot be swallowed up by all that sin kindles in the human heart, nor be definitely blocked.  But that leads us to a keen perception of our own responsibility as Christians facing the future of humanity and also to awareness of the gravity of our divisions.  To the extent that they obscure our witness in a world tempted by suicide they are an obstacle to the proclamation of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ."  God will accomplish God's purposes for us, with us, in spite of us.  But its more fun to be part of what God is doing than to oppose it.

friday after ash wednesday

I began reading Lauren Winner's book, Mudhouse Sabbath, today.  Lauren was an orthodox Jew who converted to Episopalian Christianity.  What she does in the book is give gentiles a taste of Jewish spiritual disciplines, and then reorients them for the Christian life.  The first chapter on Sabbath-keeping left me longing.  Friday is supposed to be the "pastor's sabbath".  So it says on the monthly church calendar.  But it isn't. Rarely are we intentional enough to let Godly rest break into our time.  Not even on Sundays.  She writes, "But there is something, in the Jewish sabbath, that is absent from most Christian Sundays; a true cessation from the rhythms of work and world, a time wholly set apart, and, perhaps above all, a sense that the point of Shabbat, the orientation of Shabbat, is toward GOD."  She wrote about buying and making all the food for Saturday on Friday before Sundown.  She talked about Sabbath rest transcending the Torah.  There are thirty nne prohbitions associated with Sabbath.  But keeping it is about embracing God's rhythm of life. God rested from creating.  And it is about resurrection, renewal, rebirth.  It is about the in-breaking of the new creation.  Jesus interprets sabbath prohibitions from the perspective of living according to God's redemptive and restorative mission.  It is better to heal and give life on Sabbath than to abide by legal prescriptions.  The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.

thursday after ash wednesday

So what can I say to a group of Mennonite Middle Schoolers gathering for chapel at 8:15 am, before school starts? I was invited to speak about Lent.  When I was in middle school I thought the only thing that mattered was my pimply skin, my braces, my oily hair, and food.  I liked sports too.  As for Lent?  My family went to Lenten midweek services, but I went for the potluck dinner!   So what do these middle schoolers need to hear from me?
I talked about the forty days; Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, holy week, baptismal catechesis and mystogogy. I talked about spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting, and giving alms.  I suggested that people give up certain indulgences during the season.  These are the logistics.

But Lent is not these rituals. Lent is a story, a homecoming story.  I told them the story of the prodigal son, or the overly gracious father, from Luke 15. It's my favorite parable.  And I think it strikes home for middle schoolers at a private Christian school.  There are people who are far from God, who do not live in obedience to God.  They are as welcome in the Kingdom as those who are obedient.  Living the safe and comfortable Christian life is not the only way to the Father's heart.  No matter how far away we go from God, God is not far from us. And we are welcomed home.
Pray for: broken families.  

ash wednesday

"remember that you are dust...and to dust you shall return."

On Ash Wednesday, Christians intentionally remind themselves that we are mortal. And that our bodies are organic material.  The dust that collects under your bed?  Some of it is you! Your skin and hair and toe nails and stuff.  Why do we need to know this or remember this fact?  Because our other faculties can transcend this basic truth about bodily weakness and vulnerability.  So far as to reduce the vulnerability in many ways.  From protective clothing to HVAC, we create an environment that is more comfortable for our bodies. We can become too comfortable.  Not to mention, our minds and spirits take us places our bodies cannot go.  We dream dreams and have visions.  And so we exercise powers, not so much from our physical capacities but from our mental/spiritual/emotional ones. We have, of course, physical strength, which is why athletes are popular. (And so are steroids).  But it is often the athlete's mental determination and motivations that excel some beyond others. But for every athletle, there comes a time when their bodies fail.

Jesus welcomes outsiders, warns insiders

“God welcomes outsiders, warns insiders”

Luke 4:21-34

I love the ending of this story.  He passes through the midst of them.  He manages to avoid the murderous mob.  What confidence this word must have given Luke’s congregation, who may have been a suffering gentile church, tossed out of synagogue for their faith in Jesus.  God protects faithful Christians who are in danger.   

Ina surprising turn of events, Jesus escapes an angry mob of congregants in his hometown.  Why are they so angry?  Why do Jesus’ neighbors and friends, those who would have known him the best, turn on him so quickly in this scene in Luke 4? 

Brian McLaren

Brian McLaren