Churchless Christian

Kim and Sam are back from parachute Music festival. They had a blast and said it was the best yet.

I feel gutted. One of the guys I look after on Saturdays was killed by being run over by one of the other guys I look after (read article here). He was only 22 with two young kids. He was telling me last Saturday how excited he was, as he was having his kids this last week.

It re-reminds me about the debate over whether God has a destiny for your life. David Allis wrote in our discussion group

There is no biblical basis for 'god having a specific plan for your life' - all that is in the bible is indications god wants you to do well, be blessed (so you can bless others), live a holy life, serve his kingdom etc

to read the rest of what he wrote you need to join the discussion group I'm afraid.

A new survey of U.S. adults who don't go to church, even on holidays, finds 72% say "God, a higher or supreme being, actually exists." But just as many (72%) also say the church is "full of hypocrites." Indeed, 44% agree with the statement "Christians get on my nerves." LifeWay Research, the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, based in Nashville, conducted the survey of 1,402 "unchurched" adults last spring and summer. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.... Read the article here

I have just finished an awesome book by first time Author Charles Montgomery called The Shark God, Encounters with Ghosts and Ancestors in the South Pacific. Its a travel book based around the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu (Melanesia) close to where my parents were missionaries when I was a child.

Montgomery quickly discovers that the greatest driving force of Melanesia is Christianity. He is staggered by the number of Missionaries, Churches and church attendance. Montgomery explores the bond between faith and magic. What he discovers would shock most Evangelical Missionaries. He finds that the line between Christian and Pagan rituals are as blurred as the frontiers of fact, fantasy and faith. Nothing is at it seems.

I think this story should be a must read for all those Christians who go overseas and come back telling wonderful stories about all the miracles and conversions they have seen and done (I was one of these once). This book is a great reality check.

We have been enjoying going for swims at the beach each evening. At the same time we have felt a tad nervous with all the shark sightings including the lifeguards boat being deflated by a shark biting it.

During the last week I seem to have touched on what some readers would feel is a no go area in regards to "The great Commission". Viewing numbers have sky rocketed (the blog has been number 1 for a week on www.blog.co.uk since I started discussing it) and emails and comments have heated up.

Over a year ago I touched on what turned out to be another sacred subject when I queried where the line was drawn between thinking the Bible was inspired by God and taking everything totally literally. It got to the place that I was warned to stop moderating the discussion group I was running that was exploring the topic (which I did so as not to cause conflict and dissension at the time).

So sex, drugs and rock and roll appear no longer so taboo, but wondering about Biblical certainty, the role of the church, or how we assume certain interpretations of scripture (such as the Great Commission) is taboo. I think this is one of the great dangers of Fundamentalism, whether Muslim, Hindu or Christian, is the intolerance of questioning and doubt. The writer I have read and studied the most is Eric Blair (better known as George Orwell)and I have become more convinced that as Evangelical Christians our faith system is more closely aligned with Orwell's Doublethink then we care to admit.

I do struggle with doubt and am wrestling a lot with the assumptions I have carried for most of my Christian life. I think like many believers I committed my life to Christ in an emotional way at a very low time in my life. After that I went to church and took as fact everything I was told and saw. On top of that I read lots of recommended books by more mature Christians and took what I read as gospel as well. Until this season in my life I never thought, wrestled or questioned I just did.

Well now I am thinking through, reading more widely, and starting perhaps to see some large flaws and contradictions in my faith that I was to blinkered to see before. I don't want to be a Double-thinker.

One of the most interesting and challenging angles on Jesus's last words that I have heard since doing Organic church is the one which focuses on the Apostles.

The emphasis is that Jesus did not tell all his followers to go into all the world just his Apostles and it was they who he equiped to do so. We are not called to go into all the world unless we have an Apostolic gift.

Any thoughts on these varients? Do you know of others? I am really looking into the Great Commission at the momment as you can see

All my life I have always been in Churches that follow a basic Arminian world view in regards to the Bible and free will. It was interesting to come across a more Predestination view point in regards to what we call the "Great Commission". Its amazing how such simple words can be read so differently and argued so effectively from either point.

Below is from a Predestination Website which you can check out here (I don't agree with it, though i am happy to admit I am less convinced of my previous understanding either.)

Many today believe that this command of our Lord's still awaits fulfillment. It is widely taught that this command was given to all believers, and that all Christians are responsible to carry the gospel to every man, woman, and child in the world.

"… the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven."

read the rest here

During the past month I’ve listened to a lot of preaching of people who know God’s plan for the future. They are sure of what’s to come. They have it all together. They have the answers. Some of them are my friends. That’s why I listen to them. I struggle with the certainty of a plan. I struggle when friends come to me, proclaiming to have all the answers. The Plan involves a lot of doing. It involves movement. “This is God’s movement”, they proclaim. Look at the fruits! We will win this town/city/country for God. It sounds a lot like me a long time ago. What happened to me? Is my faith wavering on the eve of what God is doing? Why is there no appeal for me in the plan….in certainty?

Probably because uncertainty is no longer the enemy. Doubt is no longer this “thing” I have to fight with. Nothing can separate us from God, doubt included. We’ve gotten glimpses of Jesus that we’ve never seen before. If we had to change the world, how would we do it? Well He did it and He never seemed in a hurry. He stopped to talk to widows. He let a prostitute wash his feet. He allowed tree climbing people to interrupt His life. He ate with the wrong people. People came to Him at night with all sorts of questions. He was kind and gentle. He did not even have a home! How could a homeless Man change the world forever? What authority did He had? He had friends, but they fell asleep when He needed them. He washed feet. He did not throw stones. He forgave again and again and again. He told stories. Sometimes He left listeners with more questions. What kind of a God is this?

Is He the God we want? Or is He an offence to “how things should be done”?

In 2008, many of us will speculate what plan God has in store for us. This plan we envision, will have specifics. Stuff like where, what, when and how. Take those 4 words away and what do we have left? WHOM. Our Whom is a Person called Jesus. The Hope of our lives as well as the Hope of the world.

My prayer for everybody that reads this blog is that you will not find God’s plan in 2008. Instead, I pray that you will find Jesus in His completeness.

read the rest here at windblownhope

You may think rain is a pain, but it is actually a precious commodity. I had two tanks of rain water which I have managed to lose completly in one day having discovered my water pipes had come away from the tank. It cost me $130.00 just to get 1 tank filled up half way which means I lost over $500.00 in rain. The only thing to be thankful for is that i don't live in Australia where rain has become extinct!

Back from Holidays and not rearing to go

Thanks for the comments and emails on my hastily written End of the House Church? They have been very interesting! I thought I would write some more just to clarify and enlarge on what I previously wrote.

1. When I wrote the reflection I was writing from a New Zealand Church and to some degree a Western Church paradigm when I said that I wondered if House Church in the traditional sense was not expanding as had been trumpeted for the last three or four years. I agree that House Church as a concept has been increasing significantly (as has every other form of church)in other areas of the non Western World.

2. I still believe firmly that a migration out of traditional church culture and mindsets is beginning to gather steam in the Western Church and that this migration is spreading into a rainbow of expressions many of which are polar opposites to other parts of the rainbow.

3. Subversive Influence got a tad annoyed here when I mentioned not noticing numbers change and made some good points about how we view growth. I totally agree with what he wrote. I was basically given the boot out of my denomination because I came to believe that counting is a load of nonsense and ego game playing. The only reason I said it originally is because a fair number of visible House Church Commentators keep trumpeting the meteoric rise of the House Church and in my innocence I thought I would of noticed it by now.

4. In the end I am still really glad that I am no longer in the Ghetto of a mindset that I lived in when I did Normal Church. At the same time 'House Church' is no longer a destination I am heading for though I sure loved it while we did it.

I am beginning to wonder if the 'reemergence' of the House Church Movement that has happened in the last three or four years has stopped before it really got going?
The reason I wonder this is because in the four years of being in organic Church nothing much seems to be different in regards to numbers and the vibe I am getting around the place from way back in 2004.

Three points I do want to make here are

1. I do not see any significant 'mission / evangelism' growth through the House Church Movement that can in any way be considered significant or better than the Institutional Church Models after four years.

2. I am still seeing and hearing lots of disillusioned Christians at least asking the hard questions about Church and many making the jump out of Church as they have known it. I would also say that I feel (hard to prove) that it is increasing. However this does not mean people are doing House Church instead, it just means they are leaving Church as they have known it.

3. I have come to believe that House Church is not the destination in regards to church Community but is and has been a very helpful halfway house for people transitioning out of Structured Church, to more fluid forms of community. Because of it's transitory nature most of the people who have come into House Church all fired up thinking they have arrived at their biblical destination soon discover that the journey has not finished and the questions continue and the answers are not what they expect. Its like House Church is a Port. Many people from Christendom arrive at the port (House Church), after a while even though some settle their, most find ships which take them to all kinds of exotic (difficult) destinations to start a new life.