I have mentioned before that one of our most FAQ is understanably, "How's the church going?" We have many friends and family members investing their resources of time and funds in supporting us as we plant this new church in Madison. We appreciate it more than you know. It has been slow going, frustrating at times. We know from experience that if we are patient we will begin to understand what God is doing. We also know that God is almost never on the same time line as we are - or perhaps I should say that the other way around. Anyway...we are in a process of "drawing the dots" that we are hopeful to one day see connecting to form a more complete picture.
Below is an article containing some of the thoughts that are shaping the way we are doing things here in Madison. As we seek to discern what this community, this church, is to "look like", we are drawn to a more simple way. We know and love many who order their lives around churches that are highly organized, defined, programmed and strive for growth in numbers in an effort to impact their community for Jesus. We don't doubt that God uses these churches, these leaders, to change lives. We have lived in that world for the first 15 years of our "vocational ministry". We, for some time now, have experienced God giving us a different view of our world and how the church lives in the midst of it all - dot. We see a very real shift in our culture and the relationship between those who go to church and those who don't. As we interact with mostly those who do not -dot- we sense that it is not God that they cannot accept or trust, it is the institution of church that they don't trust. (That's what they tell us.) We have lived in Madison long enough to meet many wonderful, amazing people who love their community, love their children, care for their environment...but have given up on the church being worth their time. We think that God, who loves this city more than we do, wants to introduce them to life in the Kingdom - outside of "organized religion". We don't have all the answers. We do know that this weekend -dot- we had a great time with our friends and neighbors, and it felt that we were "on track" with our focus on moving toward a growing network of "neighborhood" or "house" churches. Dot to dot.
LEADING THE MISSIONAL CHURCH: The Shape Of The Church
by INAGRACE T. DIETTERICH
We live in times of great social and ecclesial change. Our world is marked...with a radical plurality and ambiguity. These are turbulent times that affect us all as we witness the old breaking down and the new breaking through. This is not a time to foreclose experimentation, risk, alternative possibilities. Rather, we need to allow community to evoke a wide range of ecclesial expressions. I have a hope that the commitment, skill, and art required for people to create new beginnings and new communal bonds will release significant social energy and imagination.[1]
Being faithful to a living and dynamic God who is actively present in the midst of changing historical situations—“Behold, I am doing a new thing” (Isa. 43:19)—requires that the church itself must be adventurous and open to change. Just as new wine bursts old wineskins (Lk. 5:37-38), so the ever new gospel of Jesus Christ will continually disrupt the established shape—traditions, structures, patterns—of church life and ministry. Thus within different historical and cultural contexts, the unchanging truth of God’s grace and mercy will be expressed through different and provisional organizational arrangements.
While there is no one right or final way to shape the church, this does not mean that shape is incidental or irrelevant. Form and content are intimately bound together—the medium is the message. The structure of the church is a visible and tangible expression of its faith and witness. As God’s redeeming love is “enfleshed” or incarnated in Jesus Christ, so the proclamation of the gospel is incarnated (faithfully or unfaithfully) within the organizational life and practice of the church—the body of Christ within the world.
The church is an intentionally formed social entity engaged in particular practices to accomplish certain goals. As such, the shape of the church will always be influenced by the assumptions, commitments, and demands of the culture within which it engages in ministry. Yet as a people empowered by the Holy Spirit to witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, the church must always seek the organizational form that is “worthy of its calling” (Eph. 4:1). As the missional church organizes its common life and shared ministry within a context of radical plurality and ambiguity, it must say “goodbye” to old and outdated structures and say “hello” to the social energy and imagination that will enable it to take the risk to experiment with alternative ways to shape the church.
To read full article:
LEADING THE MISSIONAL CHURCH: The Shape Of The Church
by INAGRACE T. DIETTERICH
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