When we came to Brighton in 2004 we started with 5 core families of whom 4 are still here, but that is soon to become 3.

P & J are two great friends and have been a fantastic support to Danelle and I over the last 2 and a 1/2 years. We fully support them in their decision, but will miss them heaps. They also have two great ‘kids’ (if that’s what you call 19 & 21!) who live here, who were part of our youth ministry at LBC and who we will miss as well. One of the weaknesses of our current scenario is that it has been hard for them to connect in. Perhaps a move will enable them to re-locate to a church community where they have a few more peers.

Healthy teams need a variety of people and P & J were the rock solid, stable, unfaltering, faithful ones who don’t get fazed by change and who are able to bring calm to troubled seas. I think God knew what he was doing signing them up with this assignment, because we have had our fair share of ups and downs. They have also been wonderful in the way they have related to all of our kids and I know they will be missed by the little people as much as the big.

As we reflected on ‘what it all means’, and what the significance of the time here was, it was really encouraging to hear that for them this has been a life changing 3 1/2 years (from the first sense of call to this current moment) – a time of viewing life, church and mission from a completely different perspective, such that they do not want to return to the place they were in previously as loyal ‘church workers’.

If part of our mission at Upstream is that of helping Christians reframe their understanding of discipleship such that it is holistic and not compartmentalised then I am sure that is a great thing in itself.

As much as we are sad and will miss them deeply, I am concious that this is God’s show and he knows what he is doing.

I should add that over the last year we have also had two other fantastic families join the community, so we are not ‘left in the lurch’ by any stretch.

Its just sad to know we won’t see as much of them or have them hanging out with us.

We’ve been doing some reviewing, reflecting and clarifying who we are as Upstream and this is a list of our ‘distinctives’. By that I mean some characteristics that may shape our own unique identity as distinct from ‘the church down the road’. It isn’t an exhaustive list, but it does indicate our slant in how we are approaching church and mission.

Feel free to offer your thoughts.

1. Discipleship is our primary task

We see our core task as simply that of being disciples and making disciples. We define this as ‘loving God, loving one another and loving the world we live in’. If we do these things as the Bible describes then we will live counter-culturally and be ‘swimming upstream’. To help us grow in our discipleship we meet in 2’s or 3’s for encouragement in and accountability to several specific core practices. Ultimately we want to see the people we live amongst captivated by the life of Jesus and drawn into following him with their whole lives. We believe this process of discipleship begins from the time we meet a person and develop a relationship with them. As such there is less emphasis on the moment of ‘conversion’ and more on leading people towards a life of Christ-likeness.

2. Mission takes priority over Meeting

We see our primary focus as being what happens during the week in the community and the workplace and this is where we seek to invest our best energies. For this reason we place less emphasis on the Sunday meeting which for many has become the centre of church life.

3. Mission shapes Church

We are seeking to let our understanding of the local Brighton community determine the shape and rhythms of our church gatherings rather than coming with a pre-determined model or liturgical preference. We understand this is what classical missionaries do – allowing their ecclesiology to flow out of their missiology. British theologian Martin Robinson has said that most of what passes for church planting in the West is usually ‘Sunday service planting’. We are hopeful that in this process we will develop truly indigenous expressions of Christian community that resonate deeply with the people we live amongst.

4. Community Transformation as the Primary Measure of Success mad the divx

We are seeking to gauge our impact and effectiveness by the degree to which we are involved in community transformation and the extent to which we see evidence of the kingdom of God in our local area. While we would love to have people join with us we do not see increased attendance at any meeting as a primary goal. If new Christians identify better with the functioning of a more traditional church then we would encourage them to join them. As such we are committed to working in genuine partnership with other local churches & community organisations to see God’s kingdom in Brighton become a reality.

5. Relationships are Primary

We are seeking to foster mission & community primarily through personal relationships and by flowing into the natural rhythms of life here in Brighton. Where appropriate we will use programs to serve us and the community, but they are not the primary means by which we develop relationships.

6. Simple Multiplying Communities

Our longer term dream is to see a great number of new communities springing up and multiplying in the developing northern coastal suburbs where Aussies who would have little interest in church as we know it, may be able to connect in Christian community and grow in discipleship. To that end we intentionally seek to keep our meetings simple and small. Smaller gatherings requires minimal time and resource to accomplish, enable a greater opportunity for participation and reduce the possibility of passive consumerism. They are also much easier to reproduce.

7. Learning & experimenting

We are seeking to try and discover what kind of church expression works in this community. We will be bold, take risks and adapt and adjust as we learn.

While it isn’t difficult to articulate the distinctives of our team life, the reality is that we are continually coming to grips with this different way of living our life and faith. We are consciously walking the mostly untrodden path of being missionaries here in the West and discovering along the way what that means.

Some of it is refreshing and exciting, while other parts of it are difficult and disturbing. In many ways we are an experimental group, learning and making mistakes but hopefully also making discoveries and providing hope to those both inside and outside our churches who want to follow Jesus but struggle to connect in the current structures.

While we are committed to the path we are on, we do not advocate it as ‘the way’ for the future. We don’t have a model to work from or a strategy to emulate. That is intentional. We strongly believe there is a need for many fresh expressions of church to emerge in the West if we are to fulfil the missionary task God has given us, but they will need to reflect the context they are birthed within and the people who are their lifeblood.

As I was writing yesterday I thought it might be helpful for us to remember what we are not seeking to do and become. While I agree its always more helpful to describe something in the positive, I thought it might be worthwhile to also describe who we are not and why we have made those choices.

So, at the risk of offending some of you here are our ‘un-distinctives’, the people we hope we don’t become…

As upstream communities we are not:

• Concerned with developing a large and attractive Sunday meeting. For many churches this is a significant priority as a means of attracting people (often existing Christians) into attendance. There are plenty of these kinds of churches around suburbia and we don’t feel we need more of them. We believe discipleship tends to happen more effectively in up close relational settings and that larger gatherings, while inspiring at times, do lend themselves to a passive consumerist mentality.

• Aiming to employ full time pastoral staff. We will intentionally travel light with any role that requires financial support, as history has shown a tendency for church members to shrink back and allow ‘experts’ to do ministry once trained and paid clergy are involved. We believe everyone is capable of serving and we don’t want the community to be dominated by one paid person.

• Looking to invest our financial resources in buildings. We will use homes and local facilities as required, but we will not seek to develop a dedicated worship centre. We believe the enormous dollars required for such a venture could be better spent elsewhere.

• Seeking to depend on programs for our community connections and gospel presentations. leatherheads divx download We place a high priority on a personal commitment to genuine relationships and see these as the primary way to connect with people and to communicate the gospel message.

• Wanting to complicate things. The biblical images of church are simple and organic – family, flock, body, but over the years we seem to have come to view church as a corporation with complex organisational structures and CEOs as leaders. We are not seeking to deny the reality that church is both organism and organisation. But to avoid getting caught up with elaborate organisational structures, we will seek to ensure that we are a network of smaller self sustaining, multiplying communities who can operate with minimal structural support.

• Seeing church as a product to be marketed but as a community to be encountered. Generally speaking we will not seek to promote ourselves in the community as a way of attracting new ‘customers’.

• Seeking to establish a parallel universe. For some time now churches have sought to offer Christian versions of secular activity. We would choose to get involved in local activity rather than creating our own sub-culture.

• Suggesting we have found the perfect way to do church. We are an experimental group who do want to provide an alternative to the current dominant expression of church. Because of that we want to be free to change and adapt as needed rather than developing a larger, less fluid structure.

So… none of this is a dig at anyone out there ‘having a go’ in a more typical church expression. But it does give a description of who we see ourselves as not aspiring towards.

One thing I am increasingly conscious of is the power of the current form of church in our imagination. We have been so dominated by one expression of church that it is hard for anyone, including those of us experimenting, to actually think any different.

So, feel free to make comments and ask questions.

Much of what I write is a ‘work in progress’ and open to critique and reforming if necessary.