A friend of mine, Daniel, has been emailing me about the struggle he is having in his own mind (aided by some traditional-minded friends) as he attempts to walk out a more organic, Jesus-following lifestyle.
He writes of the “voice of the traditionalist” (my own term):
With the handful of families we are developing a relationship with, we are being told that we should put a name to what we are doing and call it something and that we need to think about leadership structure etc, etc. We are told that our church should look like this or that.
It feels like there are two paths to go down. One path is called church and it makes you want to have a meeting, set up structures and a church name and define who is in and who is out…
A friend who has planted a church phoned me the other day and basically told me that unless I make what we are doing like every other form of Church (get a name, write a big vision document and see who is in and out) then what we are doing will fritter out and accomplish nothing…
Everyone around us is looking to what kind of meeting we are having and how many people come to it. We are sick of meetings and longing to share our lives with people......So it is hard not to slip into the meeting=success idea and get discouraged.
Daniel also writes of the voice that is leading him believing this is the Spirit’s voice.
So where we are at is looking to share and love people. We open our home at every opportunity and it is all about sharing our lives with people… We are planting the gospel and believing that Jesus will grow the church…
All we want to do is follow the Spirit's direction, live by the word of God, and love people. We are always asked about how many people come to our meeting on a Sunday! It kind of doesn't register because we are asking ourselves the question, "Lord who do you want us to share our lives with?” Discipleship means sharing your life with people - not an hour here or there while we sit and sing songs with our eyes closed.
Yes we believe in the church, leadership, and the fivefold ministry but how we get there is not as simple as just appointing, planning and programming. I told one friend, during a conversation, that I wasn't really too bothered about seeing who is a leader as we just want to help people be obedient to Jesus. I told him I believed that my heart (and more importantly God's heart) to see leaders raised up will be realized as people grow in their obedience to Jesus not as a result of our plans or programs.
It feels like I want to totally let go of trying to build something and just do what we love - build up people. But everyone is saying that we need to have meetings and structures… The Spirit is saying build people, pour yourself out into people, and love people…
Today I feel encouraged again because I genuinely think that Jesus would be doing what we are doing. And that is all we seek - not a big church - just to be doing what we see the Father is doing every day...
Use Your Imagination With Me
As I listened to Daniel express these two competing voices in his mind, I could not help but imagine what the Church-of-the-future might look like as it follows one or the other of these voices.
Imagine a world in which the “voice of the traditionalists” is the primary or only voice. Oh, wait a moment. That is the church-world that we already live in for the most part. So that does not require much imagination to see.
Now, imagine a church-world in which every believer gets their focus and energy off of the meeting/structure/program treadmill and begins to hear the voice that Daniel is listening to: looking to share with and love people; opening their home at every opportunity; following the Spirit’s direction daily; wanting to help people be obedient to Jesus; discovering and following his/her unique calling to live as salt in a flavorless world; seeking to see and do daily what the Father is doing.
Some might say that it is possible to do both: traditional church gatherings and a lifestyle of people-loving with real-life sharing/caring. Perhaps, but my experience is that the demands of sustaining the traditional church programs often make this difficult. Therefore, please allow me to dream of what could happen if every believer began to step out, as Daniel is attempting to do, and live the 24/7 lifestyle as the primary focus of their Christian walk and life.
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