Ok stick with me on this one.

As anyone who has read here for a while would know I have a somewhat tenuous relationship with the term ’emerging church’. It seems to be a catch all term for those who aren’t doing church in rows with 3 fast 3 slow an offering and sermon. I think it is way too vague to really define anything effectively and yet it seems that what we are doing belongs somewhere in that basket. I have often said that we prefer to see ourselves simply as missionaries, but somehow I continue to find myself aligned with emerging church ‘conversations’ (there’s that word again)

Today I was talking with my friend Stuart Wesley who is currently at a meeting of the national board of the Vineyard Churches in Australia. I value Stuart a heap as he is a great mate, similarly gifted and passionate, but also sees the world differently to me at times.

We were discussing the stuff we are doing here in the West Oz Forge network seeking to inspire and equip people to get back into their communities and be missionaries there rather than simply running better church services and hoping punters come. As I have preached around the place and engaged with a fair few pastors and church leaders over the last couple of years I have become aware that this mindset is actually growing in the established church.

While there is still a high priority placed on a decent Sunday event there is a growing recognition that it is not the answer we once thought it was. There is an increasing awareness that we are called to be salt and light in the world – not in the church. I must say that for those of us who have chosen to run with no large Sunday event I would think it is somewhat easier to make the shifts and practice new modes of mission as we are not constantly drawn back to an existing imagination of the church.

However what happens if this idea of being salt and light in the world really catches on? What happens if the Church (big ‘C’) gets it?!… if they really get it and people become less focused on music practices and more on meeting their neighbours?

If missional engagement is the primary distinctive of the ‘Emerging Missional Church’, and everyone ‘gets it’ and does it then we will no longer be ‘distinctive’.

In fact I believe this ought to be our aim – to lose download blazing saddles divx our distinctiveness.

In the late 80’s (I think) the Vineyard was being birthed as John Wimber led a movement that called the church back to real connection with God in worship, the gifts of healing/knowledge etc and also to the kingdom of God as a primary undergirding framework.

It was their distinctive for a number of years. But now… what the Vineyard are on about has become mainstream stuff. Its no longer ‘out there’ and different or confronting. Conservative evangelicals are ok with ‘intimacy with God’, with healing, with kingdom of God stuff.

I would say that part of the reason the Vineyard movement (at least here in Oz) has lost some of its initial impetus is that it is no longer distinctive – and in many ways that is actually a good thing. People got it! People heard the message and embraced it.

I have a sense that we who are calling the church back to missional engagement that goes beyond event management and Sunday services, may be distinctive for a short while, but as people ‘get it’ (as seems to be happening) we will no longer be neccessary. Our job will be done.

And maybe we will be asking the same questions the Vineyard are asking at the moment. ‘What now?’

But is that a bad thing?…

I am very hopeful that one day we will lose our distinctives and in that time God will raise up a new voice/s to call us back to something else we have lost our way with. It seems to be the way of things…

The life of discipleship to Jesus is one of great paradox.

1. No matter what we have done or where we have been he accepts us, loves us and forgives us. There is no limit to the grace of God. We can never make him stop loving us. This is a fact and never changes. Lousy Christians are as loved by God as superheroes.

2. We are called to absolute self sacrificing devotion where our lives are laid down and we follow his will for our lives. We ‘deny ourselves take up our cross and follow him’. This is also a fact and never changes. He doesn’t have a soft option for those who only want a little ‘god in their lives’

Somewhere in those two truths is the life of discipleship.

Nothing we can do…

Everything we must do…

I spend a bit of time travelling around and speaking at different churches.

Its a funny deal, because in giving the same talk over and over you often look like a much more impressive speaker than maybe you really are. Its easy to be clever and funny and insightful and wise when you aren’t developing a new talk every week. Its much harder to come up with whiz bang stories and hard hitting lines when you gotta do it week after week. Been there done that.

One of the talks I like to do is in relation to this whole thing of communicating faith to others in ways that will help them hear and also respect where they are at. I like the picture of Jesus in chapter 19 of Luke where he meets with Zacchaeus. This morning at Beaumaris Baptist I was using this story to point out 6 things we can all do that don’t require any kind of theological degree. They are all drawn from Jesus actions in this story. Here they are:

1. He was available. Jesus had time for Zacchaeus. No doubt Jesus had stuff to do that day, but he created space in his world for this man. I sense one of the biggest issues for us when it comes to helping people meet God is that we are too busy to actually hang with people and develop friendships. Being ‘time poor’ will cripple our ability to develop relationships. I believe we have a challenge to live in such a way that we creat space to be with others.

2. He was in

the world Jesus met Zacchaeus out in the street – not in the synagogue. Chances are Zacchaeus would never have made it to a synagogue! Chances are most Aussies will never venture into a church. If we really value the stuff we are on about then we need to come to grips with what it means to live the gospel in the world and to meet people on their terms.

3. He was aware – Jesus noticed Zacchaues up the tree. I reckon he saw him because his ‘spiritual attenae’ were tuned that way. He was always on the outlook for people who were in need. I don’t think I am always all that good at being tuned into where people are at and what their needs are, be they spiritual, physical or practical.

4. He welcomed everyone – Zacchaues is just one example, but it seems everyone felt valued in Jesus presence. He didn’t have an ‘A’ list and a list of ‘losers’. Some people make us feel less comfortable because they aren’t like us. Jesus doesn’t live out of this anxiety.

5. He took a risk – he invited himself back to Zacchaues’ place for lunch. He actually risked being rejected by this bloke. Most of us get stuck here. Any chance of being rejected, or made to look foolish has us turning tail and walking the other way. There is always a risk if we initiate friendship and if we are honest about who we are in that friendship, as followers of Jesus then chances are some people will feel uncomfortable with that and won’t want to hang out with us.

6. He was prepared to break with tradition – Just going to Zacchaeus’ house was offensive to he crowd who muttered ‘he’s gone to be with a notorious sinner’. He broke religious laws, because this man needed a friend and needed to know how he could see change come about in his life that looked rosy but really wasn’t. We have some traditions that really need to be given the toss if they stand in the way of the gospel.

Pretty simple really.

The only thing I don’t like about the story is that there is an instant response from Zacchaeus, where he gives his stuff away and repays people who he cheated. In my experience people rarely make those shifts quite as quickly as that!

So there you have it… some simple thoughts on how we live and share our faith in our own communities. This has been a bit of a synopsis of my own learning and experience over the last few years.

What do you see in the story?