Organic Church

In the last week I've been reading the book Organic Church by Neil Cole. It's been out for a while, but I never read it largely because of the cheesy cover and the cheesy picture of Neil in the back (I know I'm so fickle). I started reading it because I got a copy for free, but had I known what was in it I would have gladly shelled out some cash. This is one of the best books I've read in a long time.

Cole provides a powerfully prophetic message for all Christians. It is true that he promotes a very non-traditional approach to church (which I resonate with), but what he writes is not focused on the form of church so much as it is focued on calling us back to Christ. Here is a tasty sample from the book.

All of us invested in the Kingdom of God long deeply to be a part of a spontaneously growing and multiplying movement where God is doing the work. We read the book of Acts, and our spirits scream to be a part of something like that. When we hear reports of the Kingdom expanding and lives changing overseas in China or India, our souls are touched in a deep place that we seldom feel, and it reminds us that our own experience is so empty. It is unfortunate that we sacrifice our heart’s desire for lesser things. The reality is that as long as we invest in human-driven efforts, we will never see what we all really want to see…There is a risk involved in seeking a spontaneous movement. We must trust God to do His part. We must be willing to place ourselves in a position where, if he does not show up, we will be seen as complete fools. Most have not been willing to take that risk. We are often afraid that God’s reputation will be tarnished. This fear is not from heaven but hell. We will never see the dramatic power of God if we are too afraid to be placed in a position that requires His deliverance.

Do we even know what it would look like to put ourselves in such a place? Are we so comfortable that we wouldn't know how to be risky if we wanted to?

You're a what?

Usually thinking about missionaries leads a person's mind to wander down a path that leads to a place located across at least one large body of water. Somewhere just outside Chicago, Illinois isn't exactly a traditional missionary destination. But it is a place in need of missionaries, and that's why we're here.

It seems that almost every week there is a new statistic released that trumpets massive changes in the way Americans view and practice Christianity. Whether you've seen these statistics or not, you may sense that things aren't quite the same as they used to be. You hear grim reports about youth leaving church once they go off to college. You can't put your finger on why, but it doesn't seem that Christianity has quite as much of an influence on our culture as it used to. You hang out with people who are as interested in showing up at church as they are in dusting. Your experiences and statistics indicate that we are increasingly a nation in need of missionaries.

There are many good churches in the United States making a great impact on the people and communities they serve, but there are also an increasingly large number of people who won't ever step through the door of one of these churches. To reach these people, there have to be those who will approach our culture as missionaries--going to people where they are and being the presence of Christ with them.

This kind of missionary takes time and patience, which is a bit of stretch for me because I tend to have a solid impatient streak.
You can ask anyone in the group I pastored in Denver--if something didn't work in three months (or sometimes one) I wanted to change it. This constant change made it difficult for people to discern what that group was about and didn't give any of our strategies time to succeed.

Now God has taken us from that ministry to one that requires even more patience (do you think he's trying to tell me something?). When a missionary goes into another country, they don't expect to see converts and have a thriving church in a few months. They know that their work, if it is done right, will take a long time. It takes them years to develop relationships, see people put faith in Christ, and teach them what it means to be missionaries as well. Though the context is different, our work is really no different. If we want to reach people who have no interest in going to church, we need to take a long time to listen, be with them, and understand how the gospel is best communicated to them.

When we came here I hoped to see massive impact in the first few months, but I'm learning that's not a missionary pace. The work is intense, and being missionaries has required a huge adjustment in how we live, but if we really want to reach people we have to have a wider lens. I am training myself to think in terms of three years rather than three months. And Michelle gives me a gentle reminder of that every time I talk about changing something.

Go Read Some Other Blogs

A couple of the board members have posted about some aspect of the board meeting on their blogs.

For a nice, long (but worth it) video of a talk by Michael Frost see Cory's blog.

For a more laid back, picture tour of the time with the board go to Mariam's blog.

The First of the Board Meetings

On Monday and Tuesday of this week we had our first annual meeting of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors plays an important part in setting the direction of Infuse and provides accountability for our direction. It's amazing the cross-section of people God has blessed us with in this group.

Mark is a youth pastor at South Suburban Church in Littleton, Colorado.
Mariam is a doctoral student at St. Andrews in Scotland.
James works with Kingdom Advisors in Atlanta, a Christian financial organization.
Cory works at Christianity Today and is a part of Infuse here in Aurora.

I am really excited about what the next year holds for us and the vision God has given. These people all played an important role and we're thankful for their commitment!

Michelle's Thoughts on the First Three Months in Aurora

Moving to Aurora was one of the hardest steps of faith I have taken in my life. We are in a place where we hardly know anyone and we do not have the community of faith we have had virtually our whole lives. It has been a hard move for our family both relationally and financially. It is hard to meet people when you are a stay at home mom with two small children and you are not attending a traditional church. This has been a struggle in a lot of ways, but also a blessing as we are realizing what it takes to be misssional. If we had stayed in Denver our established friendships might have hindered us since we wouldn't feel the same urgency to meet people. I am desperate to meet other moms so I have created two moms groups in order to develop some life-long friendships as well as minister to people.

My first group is a playgroup on Wednesday mornings, we have around 5 moms that attend and we let our children play and we talk. Isaiah and Ayla love it because they have friends to come over again, and I love to be able to be with other moms. The women are each unique and a gift. This past meeting I felt so encouraged as there were some beginning discussions about church and life. I am already learning tons about the women and look forward to serving them. I also recently started a moms' night out group that is purely to really converse with other moms. Our first meeting is this week and I am very excited to see how God uses this as well! Thinking about my groups, it is a real eye opener how people are yearning for
relationships. People truly need people, that is how God has created us. These two groups are not "it" in terms of being missional. We are missionaries. We are trying to meet people wherever we go (Starbucks, scrapbooking, grocery stores, etc.) and changing our mindset to be open to how God might use us. It is a challenge in many ways to be here, especially being away from the deep relationships we had in Denver, but also good since it forces us to be our in our world, loving people as He does.

Blog Migration

As the birds of the ponds in Indiana migrate south for winter, so this blog is preparing to migrate. The Infuse website is now up at http://www.infusechurch.com and that is where this blog is moving. The focus will change just slightly with this change. I hope that numerous people from Infuse will be contributing, talking about whatever is on their minds. We will continue to write the kinds of things we're writing here, and we'll probably even post things in both places for a while, but the days of this blog are limited.

If you have time check out the website and let us know what you think. It's a starting point and I'm sure it will change quite a bit in the next year, so input is welcome!

Evangelizing the Churched?

The first day of the class I had the opportunity to teach this summer we went around the room and talked about our backgrounds. One of the guys in the class shared something like this.

"I have some background with Christianity. I went to church with my mom until the end of high school. But in the last couple years I haven't really gone to church or anything. I wouldn't consider myself as a believer now."

I thought it was brave of him to be so honest, especially at a Christian university and in a Bible class.

The class was on Colossians, and we got to talk quite a bit about what Christianity is supposed to be and how that can differ from what it has become. We also had a good class where people felt comfortable asking difficult questions. Those led to some good discussions. At the end of the three weeks of class that same guy came up to the front, shook my hand, and said, "Thanks for a good class. If I were living in Chicago I'd want to come to your church."

What changed? I don't know that answer for sure, but based on the questions he asked and comments he made in class I have a guess. I don't think he had ever really heard the gospel. This man, who had grown up in church, had never heard the full good news of Jesus Christ. He heard that he was supposed to behave in certain ways, but not that Christianity was supposed to be about following the way of Christ and letting that impact every part of how we live, think, and interact with others.

This was a good reminder to me that just because someone grew up in church doesn't mean they know the gospel. We have to be ready for spiritual discussions with people we might think should alrady know about following Christ.