This is a post about how we are definitely not starting a community church. We are definitely not. More below…
Tracy & I have been away from church for a long time. We have a beautiful little group of friends, a cohort, that meets every week and goes a long way toward keeping us sane. This group is as close to a real church community as Tracy and I have gotten, and we’re grateful. But something’s been nagging at us. We’re finding ourselves pulled toward creating a space — what Anthony Smith has called “kingdom space” — where followers of Christ can…
… encourage each other
… share food with each other
… celebrate the kingdom together, share joy, peace & gratitude
… listen to each other with love
… support each other & share sorrows as well
In other words, to dwell in the kingdom together.
If you've been itching for something similar, please take a look at the description (here) and give us some feedback.
<3 Angela
Posts
2 comments:
First of all Angela and Tracy I want to say I love the idea of you wanting to hold a space for a once a week gathering. It seems this is something that you've been thinking about for a while and I can sense for you both it feels very much the right next step. So it makes me really happy that you are pursuing this direction.
The thing is I really love the way our cohort currently thrives as a community with all kinds of different places and all different types of meetings and open to those who come once in a while and those who come all the time and open to new people and everyone in between.
I came across an article today called "Spiritual Direction, The Kingdom and the Emerging Church" by Bruce Warwick.
An excerpt from the article described living as a community...
"For the emergents, the church is primarily a people, not simply a place to meet...the focus is not a service but a way of life together...not a once or twice a week association but rather a community of continuous interaction that includes a range of activities related to every aspect of life...not a place to visit but a dynamic that occurs when people who are journeying come together."
So that really fits me (I don't know about everyone else) and I don't know what that means for the future, but I am celebrating your need for a once a week place and celebrating who we are as well.
Is the idea not to necessarily replace what we are doing but add to it?
Here is the article reference below...(please forgive my way of referencing it!)
http://www.sgm.org.nz/Research%20Papers/Spiritual%20Direction,%20the%20Kingdom%20and%20the%20Emerging%20Church.pdf
It's definitely not to replace cohort. This is an amazing community... I'm really grateful to be in it.
And I hope you know that you and everyone else is much more than welcome to come, or to help figure things out with us. We had a long talk with Zach & Eve about it tonight, and it's coming together kinda beautifully. :)
I know you have said you want stuff to be comfortable for new people, and people who come once in awhile. That's one of the big reasons we're doing this--we want a place to invite people, where we can say come & experience the kingdom of God, & be loved & accepted for who you are.
I guess I'll save more until we see each other, or maybe add another comment on the original post at http://bit.ly/notchurch
If nothing else, stop by there if you want to weigh in on days & times. Zach & Eve said Wednesday is better than Saturday, so I think that's where we're leaning.
Love,
Angela
Post a Comment