A Seeker-Driven Savior

When you run in church circles, which by the way should never be the only circle you run with, you learn a particular vocabulary of faith. A particular lexicon has grown around the style of worship services a church holds. People are often trying to get a handle on our church by asking me what our style will be.

God-centered

Sometimes I want to say we're are God-centered, because really, we are. I'm still basically an Augustinian kind of Christian- it's about God and His glory. Since I believe God is to be the center of our lives- no, that's still to self-centered- since we are supposed to be centered on God, of course our worship is focused on glorifying God.

Seeker-Sensitive

But sometimes I want to say we'll be seeker sensitive, because while it's about God, it's about creating a space for people to worship God. The assumption here being that folks who are seeking God will want to come to a worship service, and we should do everything we can to serve, accommodate, and present God clearly to them.

Seeker-Driven

But, and you may have guessed where this was going, it would probably be best to say we are seeker driven. Actually, we might be driven to make people God-seekers.

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." Philippians 2:5-7

It would appear that God was so driven to show us His love, so driven to restore our relationship with Him, so driven to restore our broken lives, that he came to us and became as one of us. God was driven to become flesh and blood, driven to die for our sins, driven to conquer death, driven to send His Spirit to live in us.
It would appear to me that God is therefore most faithfully worshipped when we are driven to reach out to those who don't know of this amazing God.

Fences and Gates

An old expression goes,

"Fences make the best neighbors."

The first thing I did when we moved into our new house was build a fence. I hated to do it. But it had to happen. My one neighbor has a big dog, we have three little kids. Not the best combination, even before you throw in my oldest daughter's irrational fear of animals.
So we worked together and built a nice neighborly fence, the kind you lean on and talk to each other, not the big privacy kind. But it still felt odd. Not the kind of example I wanted to set.
But this past weekend my other neighbor and I built a gate in the fence that was there before we moved in. Our kids were constantly jumping the fence to go between their play set and our trampoline. So it was time to just commit to each other. I said to our neighbor, "It feels like we're getting engaged!"
Later that night Robin came across this quote from Charles Swindoll in his book, Parenting: From Surviving to Thriving-

"Can you imagine the transforming effect on your neighborhood if everyone gave greater priority to their families? We would build gates into our fences."

It felt so good, so symbolic, to build that gate. I can honestly say I love my neighbors and my neighborhood. Whoever says that the suburbs don't have life and character hasn't been to mine. Every kid is a character, every family has a story. Our sidewalks are covered in chalk and littered with toys. I come home at night and find neighborhood kids asleep on our couch. I love it.
I pray that building gates, not fences, becomes the metaphor that dominates our neighborhood.

What will the new church look like?

People keep asking,

"What is the new church going to look like?"

I don't fault them- it's the obvious question. But it's still a hard question. I have to quickly evaluate- do they want the quick and easy answer, or do they have time to hear the whole story? Are they more interested in style, or do they want to know the substance? Can I use some tired churchy words, or will that just add more confusion.
The more I'm asked this, and the further down this road I travel, I'm more comfortable just saying,

"The new church is going to look a lot like me."

It does manage to raise some eyebrows, but it's also the most faithful and biblically sound answer I know to give. When we think about what the church looks like our minds turn so quickly to bricks and mortar, to style and venue, to one hour Sunday morning.
But when the bible describes the church, it's called the body of Christ. It's the people of God, the people who live in union with Christ and with one another. When the bible describes the church it describes the people that make her.

"You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and member's of God's household," Eph. 2:19

So the new church really looks a lot like me right now. But over the past few weeks we've already started to get a clearer picture of her- we'd added more people to the body, more personalities, more gifts and talents. We've started to see what the church will look like in worship, in bible study and in service to the community.
So if you want to know what the church will look like, just take a look at the people who are coming on board. It's a beautiful thing.

A very special day

So last week my friend Pieter, pastor of First Christian Reformed Church here in London, asks me if I want to say a prayer at the London Christian Pray Breakfast. Specifically a prayer for new Canadians and new churches. I say sure, it can't hurt and may even help. Now while I was happy to do it, I must admit, I thought it would be a kind of lame- a throw back to a bygone era, a bunch of pastors, runny eggs and soggy pancakes.
Let me be the first to admit I had it wrong.
Not only were there about 500 people and a really great program, I walk in and I'm seated at the head table. So I sit between the main speaker, who turns out to be the second largest share holder in the New York Stock Exchange, Tom Caldwell, and the mayor of London, Anne Marie DiCicco-Best.
Suffice to say I gave out a lot of business cards this morning.
I walked out and just had to laugh and give God the glory. Not a bad morning for a guy trying to make connections and make a name for the church in a new city.

But as great as breakfast was, I had an even better lunch. Just myself and Robin, my wife of 10 years today. Have I mentioned before that I have the most amazing, wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, creative and fun wife a husband could ever ask for? The most amazing mother who home schools our three children? One of the most remarkable, Godly, Christ-like women I've ever known? In case I haven't, she is all of this and more. I stand in awe of the 10 years God has given us together, and look forward to a lifetime together.
While it was a very special day in many ways, the most special part was spending it with Robin.

Working with the Wind

I'm so glad it's finally biking weather again. It has been half a year! I'm still adjusting from biking in the mountains to biking the southern Ontario plains. I thought it would be easier. I didn't account for the wind.
I'll be biking along and all will be fine- a great pace of 35+ kph, the sun shining, and the quiet hum of my bike speeding along the pavement. Then I turn. My pace is broken and the quiet is gone, replaced by a howling, almost deafening wind in my ears.
The wind makes an remarkable difference in biking. When the air is calm, you create your own resistance ( a lesson in itself). But when the wind is blowing- watch out. A tail wind of 30 kph means nothing- you're just keeping up. You simply feel apart of the environment. But turn against the wind and it's like hitting a wall. You fight to stay more than 20kph and the wind roars in your ears.

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it's sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." John 3:8

It's only rarely that the wind is truly at your back, pushing you along. Most of the time is spent fighting the wind. Going against nature and hearing her scream in your ears.
How often am I fighting against the Spirit? How often am I trying to go my way, my direction, my pace? The thing about going with the Spirit is that it doesn't even feel "supernatural." Most of the time it just feels like your going in sync- it feels like living the way it's meant to go.
I pray today I might simply work with the Spirit, and not against Him. May even the slightest change in direction roar in my ears and redirect my path.

If you build it

OK, I had to eat my words this weekend.

In the movie "Field of Dreams" the main character is given a revelation and the assurance,

"If you build it (a baseball field), they will come."

He builds it, and they come.
One of my "mantras" in mobilizing people to launch a church as been, "If you build it, they won't necessarily come." We have this wish that if we believe in something wonderful, if we put our work and effort into building it, the people around us will almost magically come streaming forth to see what we've done. What amazes me to see the amount of time, effort and resources people will put forth into something they believe in.
But many times people have built a church, but the people haven't come.
In the midst of building "it" people can forget the most important part- simply inviting people to the dream.

"If you invite them, they will come."

If you invite them, if you love them, if you bring them along, if you share the vision- they won't just come, they will connect. We will invite people because we have something to build. We will build because we have invited people along. We will have the balance of both- but it starts with the invitation. It the easiest part of the the dream, and it's the hardest part of the dream. But it's where we begin building.

But I did find one exception- when you build a trampoline, the neighborhood kids will come, even if they aren't invited (but we would have invited them anyways).

My Spidey Senses...

I can't believe I'm posting this picture, but I was there! I was at the premier of Spiderman 3 at midnight on Thursday in a Spiderman costume.
First the explanation, then the lesson. My friend Gayle (pictured) is a local movie critic, so this is part of her job. I get to tag along to the good ones. As for the costume, I honestly just had it lying around. No really, my mother bought it for me. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of it. So I couldn't help myself- I had to be the weirdo in the costume at the premier.
The lesson- the movie was good, but definitely the worst of the trilogy. Why?

FOCUS.

It had some action for the guys. But it was tame, so families could attend. Of course they really tried to develop the characters so the movie snobs would approve. And for the ladies, the budding romance of Peter and Mary Jane. The end result- mediocrity.
When you try to please everyone, you really can't do it well. But when you focus on one group with one thing, you have a much better chance of hitting the mark. What's more, you'll often earn the respect of a lot of others who recognize what you're doing. Romance isn't my first choice for a movie- but a romance done really well I totally respect and even enjoy.

Spidey should have stuck with aiming for geeks in costumes.

Connections Community Church will stick with aiming for people who don't yet know God.

The best part of the day

This past Sunday was a great day. I preached at a church and had a lot of encouraging comments. We spent the afternoon with some new friends- eating lunch, bouncing on their trampoline, and sharing about our lives. That night we had our very first Design Team meeting for Connections Church. We had a full house and a great time. I really came out of it feeling good about the where we've come from, where we're at, and especially where we're going. The truth is- we are a church. We had more than 30 people attend our meetings, we had an awesome time of worship with Nathan Birtch leading on Sunday (Mike Fluit led on Monday), we ate and shared together, and even the teaching wasn't half bad.
If I told this group we were going to have our first public worship service in a month they could pull it off. The great thing is that we can wait until after the summer to start our public worship. In the mean time we grow as a mission- reaching out, serving, sharing the word. All things considered- I was ecstatic! It was a little taste of what we believe will be.
But at the end of the day, as Robin and I reflected on it all, there was something else that struck us as the best part of the day. After lunch with our friends, and before our evening meeting, we came home to find our neighbors and their kids literally sitting in our driveway with lawn chairs, riding bikes and scooters, and drawing with sidewalk chalk. As we pulled in somebody shouted,

"Where have you been?"

I knew then we were part of the neighborhood. I knew then our house was starting to become the home I pray it will be- a place where people are welcome, a place where people long to hang out, where children play, parents laugh, and everybody knows your name. I knew were were connected.
And I know we can launch a church that will multiply this connection for so many more.