Laying down and picking up gauntlets

I have just got back from the Mainstream Leader's conference, and I'll write about that later, I have some comments from the weekend I wanted to share first.
On Sunday evening I met with a group of people in their twenties to pitch to them some ideas about new ways of doing church.
I was asking for their help. We spoke about the need for our church to find a group that could become very experimental and creative, and about the opportunity and freedom there was to think in novel ways about who we should be, what kind of things we ought to be doing, and the "how to" that we would engage in one we'd figured out values and vision.
Well, they said yes, and inwardly I breathed a deep hallelujah. The group is a creative one, fun to spend time with and ripe for a challenge. I was greatly relieved, as I hadn't identified a plan b if they'd have said no.
So where to from here? Well we agreed that we'd spend the next few months thinking and reflecting on the values that we ought to share, and those that we'd seek to express. To do this we're going to read Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis, a book I can't commend highly enough. It's a challenging, inspiring and encouraging look at the kind of people and communities and values that contemporary Christians might want to aspire to. It doesn't present a model, there's no start up programme, just a challenge to allow God to widen our vision and understanding of his kingdom, his church, his world.
The group also immediately identified others who could be invited to share the journey with us, and decided on a helpful way of approaching them with an invitation.

I'm ridiculously excited. And i'm looking forward to seeing where God will take us.

Comments

Anonymous said…
After last night's Cafe Church - I'm ridiculously excited as well!! Thanks to all involved and we even spotted the biblical references.
Unknown said…
Hey, great thing. I encourage you all to press on.

Have you considered "Reimagining Church" by Doug Pagitt? I found to be a deeper and more meaningful book than Velvet Elvis.

Popular posts from this blog

World Book Night, One million Book Giveaway

An outpouring on outpourings

Should you sign the Coalition for Marriage Petition?