This is a bit of mantra for me as I talk about church with people.

When it comes to ‘what works?’ I agree that your meat and three veg (sing and listen) Sunday service does ‘work’ for some people. The stats would show maybe 10% of our population.

That is a sizable chunk.

But 90% is a signficantly more sizable chunk… And within that 90 there are probably 50 who think what we do on Sundays is anything from slightly lame to totally ridiculous (no matter how we funk it up.)

Some days I really feel at all at sea with what we are doing and I seriously question whether it will make a difference at all. Are we just kidding ourselves? in making it up as we go are we going to make a mess? The fact is that the path we have chosen may actually prove less fruitful than the path chosen by 99% of our ‘meat and potatoes’ churches.

But what keeps me going in my moments of doubt (can you tell I’m having one?!) is the fact that someone, somehow, has punisher the divx to ‘have a go’. Someone somewhere has to leave plan A and move on to plan B, C, D, W until we begin to discover new ways of being and doing church that resonate with the communities we live in – with the people who think churches are for nutbags.

I’m not one for failure – I hate to make a mess of things or come out at the end of the day with nothing to show for my efforts, but I know that’s a very real possibility for those of us who have chosen to take the missionary route.

I’m grateful for all my Forge mates and fellow missionaries who help me keep focused on the goal when I feel like dropping the ball and sticking with the 10%.

I actually don’t think I could look away now. I don’t think I could honestly say ‘let someone else figure that one out. I’l just run a church’. My focus has shifted too much.

But will it ‘work’?’

Dunno… dunno… sure hope so… but it might not…