Deep Church

Let me just start by saying that I recognize that the readers of this blog are few. I want to thank the few of you who are following along. You are an important means of accountability as I wrestle with new ideas. I suppose I'm wrestling with the old ones too. This blog may not go on forever. For now, it is a means of letting people look over my shoulder, to challenge me, and to encourage me during a period of discernment.

And now, in that vein, I'll share with you another blog that was brought to my attention by Angie Ward of the Chapel Hilll Bible Church and The Leadership Lab. It is by Roger Olson, and you can read it here. In the entry I'm pointing you to, he talks about models for "deep church" in the anabaptist tradition. And he specifically mentions Church of the Savior, which has been a large part of the inspiration for my yearnings and dreaming. There is also a book by this title. I may write about that later.

Thanks for traveling with me.

Jim

What do we over-require?

Paul and Barnabas returned to Jerusalem with a message from the Gentile churches they had visited (Acts 15). The Gentiles (males, no doubt) were dedicated followers of Jesus, but they were not keen on the idea of circumcision. God had commanded the Jews to be circumcised; must the Gentiles do the same if they are to follow Jesus, who was a Jew? The big dogs in Jerusalem (James, Peter, etc.) gathered to consider the question. Had I been one of them (I am sooo far from that), I would have said, "Absolutely, it's required." Consider, for example, the story of Moses and his wife and son in Genesis 4:24-26. God was fixin' to kill Moses, but his wife circumcised their son and God was appeased. That makes circumcision seem pretty essential.


But the church fathers in Jerusalem said, "No, they don't have to be circumcised." What a shocking change! How did they have the insight and courage to step off a path that had been set for centuries? They had every reason to believe that the rite of circumcision was central to the faith. And they weren't throwing out all the traditions in the name of grace. They told the Gentiles they still couldn't eat meat sacrificed to idols, for example. But let's stick with what they threw out. Let's consider what it meant to not require circumcision. The question for us today, then, is whether there is anything that we consider central to the faith that isn't. Or, since this blog about Christian community, what is there about Christian gatherings that we consider to be essential but isn't? I'll list a few things to consider. But I'll start with a few assumptions. I'll assume that Christians gather regularly to encourage one another and to praise God together; they pray to God; and they share a meal together, called communion or the Eucharist. But now let's raise some questions. Don't be too quick to answer them. I encourage you to wrestle with whether the Bible *prescribes* these things or merely *describes* them.


* must meetings be weekly? Could they be monthly, for example? Or every other week?
* must they be led by people with 20+ years of education (college + 4 years of seminary)?
* must the leader be paid so he/she can lead full-time?
* must the gatherings include music and singing?
* must the teaching be a monologue? Could it be more conversational?
* must people sit passively through the gathering? Could they, for example, worship by eating and talking together? Or working and singing? 
* could communion be a full meal, not just tiny samples?
* how few people can gather and still call it "church"? 

I invite you to raise more questions. I say this not in disrespect of today's churches, but to explore whether we are maintaining unnecessary hurdles to some forms of gathering, and thus preventing some people from becoming part of Christian community.

More options, please

Walking down Franklin Street I spotted a flier for a new church. In big letters it said "Church? Me? Well, maybe.." The target audience was people who couldn't imagine themselves attending a church. The quote was what the church imagined or hoped a flier reader was thinking. But a person who has a negative image of church probably has in mind a church experience very much like the one he/she would find in the church that posted this flier. That is, it wouldn't be much different from what they don't like.

In the more than 20 years I've lived in Chapel Hill, I've seen several new churches start up. Each claiming it is different, each saying *we* are going to reach the younger, college demographic. Yet the ways they differ from the existing churches is often superficial. The new ones will boast about being casual and approachable. That may mean they wear their shirt tails out and turn their amplifiers up to 11.  But they still stick to what has become a standard white Protestant service template: 3 songs, announcements, a special element (e.g., skit or song), sermon, and 2 songs. Black churches and non-Protestant churches do it differently, but they too seldom stray much from their own well trodden path.

Is this all there is? Is this array the limit of the ways that followers of Jesus can come together to honor him? I can't believe that it is. I can't believe we have exhausted the creative possibilities; and that if people don't like to stand up and sing, then sit down and listen to a sermon, their only alternatives are to grin and bear it or sleep in on Sundays. The value of traditions notwithstanding, I believe the church has gotten stuck in a rut and has failed to exercise its creativity. Let's dare to try something new. Or, if it isn't entirely new (many people have tried many things over the ages) let's at least brush off something that has gathered dust but shows promise for this new era. We don't need to throw out the standard models - they still appeal to many. We just need to create more options for people who want to follow Jesus but who can't imagine themselves in the stereotypical church service. In the photo, below, we don't need another blue door in the same building. We need another building and perhaps new ways to enter it.

Jumping off the train

I imagine myself on a moving train but knowing I need to get off before the next stop. I fear jumping because I know it will hurt. But I fear even more staying on the train because the place we are passing is where I am supposed to be. Because I know I need to get off, and because I know I may be too afraid to jump, I make jumping a must by throwing my suitcase off. As I see it bounce and tumble into the bushes next to the track, I grab the edges of the door and ready myself to follow. 

That is where I am at this moment. I believe I need to get off the train - whatever it is: comfort, predictability, or even a certain status earned over decades of leadership in my church. I need to tumble in the dirt and weeds and start anew. Or start something new. I *am* afraid. The unknown is just so.....unknown. There are too few answers and too many questions needing them. Still, I sense that this is where I am to be, this is where I am to jump. 

I have thrown my suitcase off the train by publicly announcing that I am about to jump. By talking this last Sunday with the young adults group at the church, describing what I am about to do. And on Sunday, May 1, my plans will be made known to the whole congregation. If for no other reason than to save face, I must then jump. But it is more than saving face. It is seeking God's face and following his call. Here come the bumps and bruises. I pray I also find a path among the bushes and weeds. 

And so it begins

On March 22, 2011, I sent the following letter to the Bible Church elders. This letter will serve as the first entry in this blog and as the introduction to what it is about. I received the blessing I requested in this letter. It is to be given publicly during the church service on Sunday, May 1.

Dear Bible Church elders:

I am captivated by a vision of what could be. It is a vision about Christians and how they gather to worship and grow. I have been thinking about this for many years, but in my current chapter of life, with a new job and both boys soon to be away at college, I now feel free to give it a try.

The idea is inspired in part by the Church of the Savior, in Washington, DC. Started in the 1970s, The Church of the Savior is formed around small missional communities of 5-15. Each community is formed, in turn, around an activity that is an act of worship and expression of God’s love. When I visited them some years ago, one of the communities would purchase an inexpensive and run down house. They would renovate the house themselves, sell it to someone with a low income, then take the payment and buy another house to renovate. In this way, they demonstrated God’s love for the poor. Other missional communities engaged in other activities. Each would gather for worship three weeks out of the month. On the fourth week, all of them would gather together as a large group.

Most churches are centered in a large gathering every Sunday. From there they encourage people to also join a smaller group for greater intimacy and accountability. Some churches, in turn, encourage the small groups to engage in a shared purpose, often an activity in the community. The Church of the Savior model turns this upside down. Its foundation is small groups that are formed around a shared activity as an act of worship. The small, missional groups then gather monthly as a community of communities.

I would like to replicate this decentralized, missional church model in the Triangle. It might not be exactly the same as the Church of the Savior. A few changes may be needed to adapt the model to this area. And several questions need to be addressed up front. For example, what would the missional communities do on the fourth Sunday, and what standards would they have for community leaders? But I believe I got a glimpse of what could be in the early days of Africa Rising. Before we had an executive director, volunteers gathered monthly to share a meal, talk about what had transpired in the previous month, make plans for the next month’s activities, and pray. Apart from meeting weekly, I would add to this teaching and discussion of God’s Word.

Participation in one of these communities would require a higher level of commitment than for a traditional church. In the Church of the Savior model, members sign a one-year covenant, committing to dedicate a certain amount of time each week to work on the shared activity and to gather weekly. I also see a need for training of community leaders, and rising community leaders.

I do not see this model as a rejection of the traditional church. Rather, it is another means of corporately worshiping God. Underscoring this posture, I believe the missional communities need to stay in relationship with the traditional model, perhaps joining a traditional church for worship on the fourth Sunday. In this light, perhaps a number of churches could form missional communities that they are in relationship with. If so, then what I am describing is not a church plant, but a church movement.

There are many details that need to be worked out. After Easter Sunday I plan to enter into a 6-12 month period of discernment in which I will take retreats, pray, have conversations, and do research. I will be doing this based out of Emmaus Way, one of the Bible Church’s daughter churches, because they are several steps ahead of the Bible Church in developing and sustaining missional communities. Their experiences will be invaluable in giving me guidance. But that does not mean I will disappear from the Bible Church. Following the Nairobi Chapel model in which the pastors from their family of churches are a resource to all of their churches, I would like to be a resource to the Bible Church and its spin-offs. For example, I plan to teach occasionally in the young adults group, and to help maintain relations with our partner churches.

I have shared this vision with a number of people I often refer to for advice: Gayle, Ian, Jordan, Keith Newell, Jim Dobbins, Christopher Kigongo, Dave and Angie Ward, Tim Conder, and Randy Russell. I also shared it with Jessica Dykstra, one of the leaders of the young adults group, to ask her advice about how I should talk with the young adults about my move. (I have been one of their main teachers for the last couple of years.) Each of these advisers has been supportive, even excited about my vision.

I am hoping now that the elders, as a group, would be able to bless me as I launch into this venture. I say this because I have been a part of the Bible Church leadership for more than two decades, in several different roles, and I have many significant relationships in this church. Those people will need some help understanding my move. And they will look to the elders, wondering whether I am leaving on good terms. An elders’ blessing would make that clear.

Another reason I seek a blessing is because what I am doing is consistent with one of God’s fingerprints on the Bible Church – creating kingdom ventures. To bless what I am doing would be to claim this as a Bible Church venture, though as with all ventures, we are not assured of the outcome.

I do not seek any financial support, but I would hope for a public declaration of some kind. That could range from an announcement in the bulletin or an article in the Fold, to a prayer on the stage one Sunday morning.

Thank you for prayerfully considering my request. And please pray for what I hope to begin.

Your brother in Christ,

Jim Thomas