Lane Mixes It Up
Coram Deo is a communal affair... so welcome Lane Freemyer to the fray with some thoughtful thoughts (is that redundant?) on structure. Writes Lane:
Passionate, disciplined, loving, scripturally aware, active members have to be the dream of every pastor. That and a hip building with really good coffee. But the elusiveness of that kind of church is expressed by that rueful joke about the trouble with churches (they’re full of Christians), which would be funny if it weren’t so true. Our community is made of the same selfish, sinful folks as many others. I personally testify to all-to-frequently passing on opportunities to be missional, due to apathy, fear, or whatever. My question is: How do we avoid falling into the same trap that has swallowed other congregations? Is there structure that can help?
We say we want to be a community that helps bring people to Christ. What does Coram Deo to need to do to be that kind of community? The 'programs' we disparage, privately or otherwise, all started out with the noblest of intentions. They were a means to accomplish noble goals - to instruct and guide the faithful and the new believer, to mobilize the congregation, to marshal resources for ‘the Good Fight,’ wherever it was being fought. Flawed as they were in practice, they started out as best attempts to do those things that every community needs to do - including us.
That’s not for us, though. We’re about authenticity. We’re about organic community, organic friendships, evangelization through loving the hell out of people (literally). What do we have right now other than our intentions? We will bring about the kind of community we want as a collection of individuals, united in common purpose, acting every day. We must act. How do we structure to best enable effective action? Or do we even need structure? Maybe congregating on Sunday, hopefully with our new friends and new believers, and just celebrating Jesus together with the aforementioned really good coffee is all the structure we need. Sounds pretty good to me. But effective action without plan or framework doesn’t often translate from theory to practice in the business world, and I know God is not a CEO and most businesses aren’t Spirit-led so maybe the analogy doesn’t work, but I’m thinking a little structure might help us harvest.
I’m not asking for a step-by-step manual. I think Bob illustrated very well in his 8/6 post how rules or externals lead to legalism that leads away from our Lord. I know that being ‘organic’ (new buzzword patent submitted) is the reality of true ministry, that rules can’t express the truth of loving God and one’s neighbor. After all, even Jesus illustrated the concept with the example of the Good Samaritan rather than a list of rules. Clearly it’s more easily illustrated than defined. Maybe missional community, to paraphrase Potter Stewart, is a ‘know when I see it’ affair (if you’ll forgive the analogy). Maybe the answer is as simple as "We’ll be led by the Spirit and Bob’s Spirit-inspired leadership," and if that’s the case, consider me down with that.
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Organization vs organism is this Friday, and all will be revealed then. Then again, maybe our conversation can be framed by these questions.
It is a pleasure and an honor to run this race with you all. May God be glorified in us.
Passionate, disciplined, loving, scripturally aware, active members have to be the dream of every pastor. That and a hip building with really good coffee. But the elusiveness of that kind of church is expressed by that rueful joke about the trouble with churches (they’re full of Christians), which would be funny if it weren’t so true. Our community is made of the same selfish, sinful folks as many others. I personally testify to all-to-frequently passing on opportunities to be missional, due to apathy, fear, or whatever. My question is: How do we avoid falling into the same trap that has swallowed other congregations? Is there structure that can help?
We say we want to be a community that helps bring people to Christ. What does Coram Deo to need to do to be that kind of community? The 'programs' we disparage, privately or otherwise, all started out with the noblest of intentions. They were a means to accomplish noble goals - to instruct and guide the faithful and the new believer, to mobilize the congregation, to marshal resources for ‘the Good Fight,’ wherever it was being fought. Flawed as they were in practice, they started out as best attempts to do those things that every community needs to do - including us.
That’s not for us, though. We’re about authenticity. We’re about organic community, organic friendships, evangelization through loving the hell out of people (literally). What do we have right now other than our intentions? We will bring about the kind of community we want as a collection of individuals, united in common purpose, acting every day. We must act. How do we structure to best enable effective action? Or do we even need structure? Maybe congregating on Sunday, hopefully with our new friends and new believers, and just celebrating Jesus together with the aforementioned really good coffee is all the structure we need. Sounds pretty good to me. But effective action without plan or framework doesn’t often translate from theory to practice in the business world, and I know God is not a CEO and most businesses aren’t Spirit-led so maybe the analogy doesn’t work, but I’m thinking a little structure might help us harvest.
I’m not asking for a step-by-step manual. I think Bob illustrated very well in his 8/6 post how rules or externals lead to legalism that leads away from our Lord. I know that being ‘organic’ (new buzzword patent submitted) is the reality of true ministry, that rules can’t express the truth of loving God and one’s neighbor. After all, even Jesus illustrated the concept with the example of the Good Samaritan rather than a list of rules. Clearly it’s more easily illustrated than defined. Maybe missional community, to paraphrase Potter Stewart, is a ‘know when I see it’ affair (if you’ll forgive the analogy). Maybe the answer is as simple as "We’ll be led by the Spirit and Bob’s Spirit-inspired leadership," and if that’s the case, consider me down with that.
Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Organization vs organism is this Friday, and all will be revealed then. Then again, maybe our conversation can be framed by these questions.
It is a pleasure and an honor to run this race with you all. May God be glorified in us.
posted by Bob | 10:10 PM
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