On the way to a gathering this morning, Kim pointed out to me that it has now been two years since we made the move out of living as Institutional Christians and began a journey focused more on trying to be the church in action instead of defining our lives by church affiliation and attendence. I thought I would write some random thoughts I am thinking two years into this 'thing'.
1. Without doubt more fellow believers are starting to live in a more unstructured way (faith wise) around N.Z than when we started out 2 years ago.
2. The internet has become a powerful tool in connecting invisable organic believers. Where several years ago people would not have known others who were thinking as they do, or were unable to share their stories and experiences, now they have a voice and an ability to establish a matrix of organic connections around the country and around the world.
3. Nearly every person I have been in relationship with who has held to and practiced that the organic church and the Institutionalised church could work hand in hand has either left the organic church and rejoined the institutionalised church, or after much struggle has seperated from the institutionalised church.
4. I personally have not met any denominations / institutionalised churches who have successfully established organic groups alongside their traditional structures, though I have been told of them second hand.
5. Organic believers in N.Z are still very suspicous and segmented off from one another. Organic groups and followers often seem to define themselves by how long they have been on the journey and their personal convictions. This has tended to create a flavour of exclusivisim. There is no unified voice or conviction flowing through the country of what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do.
6. There is a clear tension between those whose organic faith stems from a sense of conviction regarding what they see as the corruption and unbiblical basis of the institutionalised church, and those who are being organic in the hope that it will be more evenagelisticly effective than the former model.
7. I believe that we are in a period of stillness, the calm before the storm. There is not alot of activity but the air is pregnent with expectation. Something is about to happen but we are unsure what it will be.
8. I personally have not been inside a church building for 2 years. During these 2 years I have read my Bible and prayed more than in any other year in which I was a pastor. I have sensed the presence of God in my daily life more than any other period in my life. I have experianced the most miracles during this time. I have met more believers from other parts of the Christian landscape than I did as a Pastor and I have spent more time living with those who would not consider themselves followers of Jesus Christ. I have been in more gatherings / meetings where I have heard God clearly speak to the group than in my years in ministry. The reality is that I have been more fruitful and more Biblical in these last two years though many of clergy peers would now consider me either a heritic or a backslider.
9. 2 years on I am asking more questions and seeking more answers than I was when I started out. I certainly have not arrived at the end of this journey.
10. 85 percent of churches in the United States have plateaued or declining attendance. That's approximately 340,000 churches in need of a change. The same percentages would hold true for N.Z. A better sound system, flasher music and a better youth group will not change these facts. It's time for a change.
