Living as the church (or in the church?)

[caption id="attachment_112" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Could this be our new home?"][/caption]

So this is just kind of funny. For months we've known we would probably be moving up more to the Boulder/Longmont area and for most of those months I've pseudo-jested about finding an old empty church to rent to live in. The thinking on our part centered on how wonderful it would be (and ironic in this case) to find somewhere that has enough space that we could offer for other former church staff members whose journey following Father is leading them out of a church vocation, to come and stay with us at no cost until they got back on their feet working some other job/career.

So, we'll likely be moving in the next month or so and have ramped up the looking process. Today while Julie and her best friend Amy were out and about looking at areas and availability of rentals in those areas they found this! Unbelievable. Could that pseudo-jesting have been based on the prompting of Father instead of me thinking I was being funny.

It would be something to be able to respond when asked where we go to church, "GO? What do you mean, we live at the church!" and really mean it!

Leaving vs Pursuing

Reading the reminder article posted by Jeff McQ at Losing My Religion: Re-Thinking Church today prompted me to understand something more clearly. Many folks want to know (whether it's the few how actually ask or the apparent many who ask others) what led the Kendall's to leave the church or more commonly "what happened"?

There IS a lot of discussion and exploration about alternative forms of gathering as the body of Christ these days. I'm afraid to say that in many instances some of what's driving folks to explore alternatives is the same thing that has fueled church hopping for decades. Someone get's their feelings hurt and shazaam, it's time to look for another church. It's often couched in all kinds of other surface reasons... we're just not being fed, or folks just never really reached out to us, or something similar. So there appears to be one group who are exploring alternative "church" types due to dissatisfaction with the "church" they were part of before.

Our experience has been very different. We love the friends and "stuff" that was going on at our "church". It was a great place with tons of amazing people and lots of cool events and programs. For us, following Jesus required us to leave the walls of what we had always known as "church" because we could no longer follow Him and stay there. Stuff He showed us about walking with Him and His Way made what we saw going on there in His name a stench to our nose. No one mistreated us. No one was ugly to us. No one chose the wrong color of carpet. We just could no longer stomach what was being done there as really about the Kingdom as much as about a kingdom. Not as much about persons as people. Reversals of parables and stories were showing up all over. The one was left for the 99. The mite was no longer mightier than the millions. The treasure was left covered up in the field so the previous pursuits of so much potential could be pursued. We could no longer stay where we were and pursue Christ because following Him was taking us outside the traditions and established ways of doing "church". Some would say we became disgruntled on some level, but having been in church work for decades this was no disgruntled church member leaving because his or her feelings were hurt. This was, "I'm not so sure 'church' is supposed to be what we've made it" and in order to follow Christ into exploring what He meant we had to remove ourselves from the addicting influence of the show.

The interesting thing is He has not allowed us to pursue another way of doing "church" but instead only Him. Because we are in Colorado, there is every a-typical opportunity for church around us. While we treasure every opportunity we have to gather with other Christ Followers, He has not taken us to a house church, a missional gathering, or any other form of a programmed event where people get together to be a "church". Don't get me wrong. We do purposefully seek out opportunities to be together with other Christ Followers. Dinners at the house seem to be the most common type, but any occasion to hang out with other Christ Followers is at the top of our list of stuff to do.

So, how about you? What led you to that new "church"... Christ or frustration?

Being Church 24/7

One of the feeds I get weekly contained five articles. This was part of the first and wow!

Everywhere I go I see people seeking to get the form of church right (even house church) rather than really seeking to re-capture the lifestyle of being the church. I trust that the latter will be the movement we are ultimately part of:

• Daily adventure of listening to and following Jesus


• Becoming the expression of Christ everyday, everywhere


• Filling the earth with His glory

Here's a link to the whole article in PDF. Being Church 24/7

TIME Magazine - Why Home Churches Are Filling Up

This article from Time magazine was published in Feb 2006.

Or so thinks Jeanine, who two years ago abandoned a large congregation for the burgeoning movement known in evangelical circles as "house churching," "home churching" or "simple church." The week she left, she says, "I cried every day." But the home service flourished, grew to 40 people and then divided into five smaller groups.