This conversation made me count the cost of being authentically missional, incarnational, contextual, and evolutional. Am I ready to become a MICE follower of Jesus? These are the questions that we all need to ask today....what is the cost and can I afford not to do this?
Alan Hirsch says in The Forgotten Ways, "So while maintaining its "groovy" and somewhat alternative vibe, South [the church he served in as lead pastor in South Melbourne] had inadvertently become safe and more self-consciously yuppie and, as a result, had lost something of its edge. Without anyone noticing, we had lost our original call and missional heart." (p. 33)
Crossroaders . . . does this sound at all familiar? After the 4 hour discussion with missional minds and missional butts, I think the philosophers and I decided that this very much sounds like us. BTW....... Zorlofe is a cool name for a philosopher!
12 comments:
my question would be....how would having a communal life style benefit
GOD and impact the city in which we live. wouldn't that be closing in the church even more? because we would no longer be in our own neighborhood much less our community. why couldn't having a communal lifestyle mean commune with your neighborhood have a relationship with those that are around you instead of being closed up in your house.
ok philosophers, anyone care to address this one (very valid points)!
Actually we discussed this very same thing. The idea of communical living isn't to shut ourselves in a community and not share what we have learned about ourselves but how to live and part of the community's responsibility is to teach eachother more spiritually and because you live together there is automatically more accountability. In this type of living outreach and inreach (if you will) would be performed on a regular basis. In these types of living life amongst eachother is raised to a higher level because each person has a key role in everyone surviving and becoming stronger spiritually. We mentioned Youth With A Mission in our discussions and noted how it works for them and has been working for them for years. Anybody who has been part of Y.W.A.M. can attest to this and when done right works. The idea is that you can't hide like you can in your own home when living with others in a dorm type setting. You have people right there all the time who care, are there to pray and encourage you to go somewhere and have your quiet time everyday to grow spiritually and then let all that you have inside out to the world around you doing things that help the community around you in numbers. If you are an introvert communical living also changes you making you more of an extrovert, teaching you to get out of your shell making it easier to be missional to other people outside of your living enviroment.
I understand that concept and the point of being accountable to other people to me is just an excuse to make others more accountable to your actions more than yourself. your right when you are home you have the option of not picking up the phone. that shows a lack of responsibility or a need for privacy on that persons part. just like when one decides not to come to church they can either lie about it or tell the truth. i believe that is considered communal living when you are called on it as a fellow believer take responsibility and communicate. that is how ywam runs and instead of living on the same campus which is what it is (a campus)you consider tyler or your community or your neighborhood even your ccc family your campus.
this is what the definition also of communal living is to me
this came from a link from a link i have it at the bottom it says exactly what im trying to say
like a window card from hallmark
A missional community is about becoming by grace what Christ is by nature. As the community experiences this, wherever the community members live their daily lives, they are learning how to easily, naturally, and routinely embody, demonstrate and announce God’s life and reign for the sake of the world around them.
With this view, “mission” shifts from naming a function of the church to describing its essential nature.[1] In a missional church, the church IS mission rather than does mission as a program or activity of the larger life of the church. The church’s nature is to show the world what it looks like when a community of people live under the reign of God in every aspect of daily life. As Robert Webber states in The Younger Evangelicals, the church “is an alternative culture that points to the kingdom of God and the reality of the new heavens and the new earth.”[2]
http://www.theofframp.org/missional_comm.html
In my experience it wasn't that you had people to keep you in line and they became like parents to children to you but more like the relationships you took on with them encouraged you to want to be a better person and also not let people down making it easier for everyone accountability wise giving you less places to hide the evil things you might be tempted to do.
"The church’s nature is to show the world what it looks like when a community of people live under the reign of God in every aspect of daily life."
Exactly, what do you think happens in this type of community. They are living under the reign of God in every aspect of DAILY life because they help eachother in setting that up and remind eachother. Are you going to call me or knock on my door everyday making sure I read my Bible or had a quiet time with God and will you notice that I didn't since you live miles from me? Of course not. Yes, it's up to us to do that and we SHOULD be responsible enough to do that on our own but how many of us really are on OUR own?
This kind of lifesyle obviously isn't for everyone nor does everyone need it. I'm not saying that it is, I'm just simply stating the benefits as being part of it myself at one time and having some of the most spiritual growth in my entire life because of it.
So can we live communal lives and not be in the same house/campus/commune??? Seriously.
I WOULD PREFER A MISSIONAL LIFESTLY
PAYNEBOY
its seems that if one wants to have a communal lifestyle then there are places to have one (ywam) just for example instead of starting another entity that focuses on that. that seems to be how church got so out of hand. it has grown so big because someone wanted what the other wasn't offering. but if one wants to have a missional lifestyle then they put on the armor of god and open their front door and live it. its a put up or shut up kind of mentality. we see what GOD is doing and join in. not say hey look what i can do. but look what GOD can do through me, his creation.
When we get together on sundays( or whatever day is chosen) to commune together we are together to have communal worship not communal accountability.
Great points Jen, but could Sundays (or another day) be both communal living/worship and communal accountability? Both/And rather than either/or?
i think we already have that.
we just have to change our name not the initials CCC Crossroads Communal Church "Striving to be missional followers of Jesus Christ"
Hey Jen,
I love how you are asking and answering the questions.....I know JP feeds off this kind of stuff and really gets into it. Your views, words and opinions are REALLY appreciated!
Thanks for caring and for the input!
I appreciate you and your mind! :)
SP
BTW...I love the name Crossroads Communal Church!!! ;)
Hehe, yeah I like that name too! ;-)
Post a Comment