Great weekend!

Hey, we had a great weekend men's retreat!

Big thnx to Steve T for all the food and Dave for the use of his property.

space for "church"

(As the leadership addresses issues regarding the building, I want to take time here to share and discuss issues regarding "space for 'church'" - all these pictures are local churches)

What is "space for church"?

There is a common understanding that the church needs to gather, and to gather there is a need for a space.

We call it church.

We call the space church, as if that is the "ekklesia" sometimes. We pass our church building and say, "There is the church."


Our language, though only language, betrays the subtle influence a building has on us.

There is the church.

But the ekklesia is not a building, of course, and we know that theoretically. It's just the subtle impacts of "space" for our worship are hard to counter.

Buildings really do impact us tremendously in how we function as a Body of Christ. One of the most profound impacts has been the need to gather.


Again, we need to gather. What we do in our gatherings are very impacted by our building. Most people would recognize this. But I want to go deeper than how does the foyer impact our greeting or our programs.

What about simply having a "space" versus not having a "space." A space in flux. In other words, a church without walls or a building.

One impact a building has on us is a subtle implication that people should come. We invite people to come and hear the sermons, come to our studies, come to our programs.

We tell them to come. Fit our building, our programs, our studies. We get them to come but by the way we dress, act, speak, and the way our building shapes us we teach them that to fit in and become a Christian is to do that too.

It's not intentional. But it happens.

It sometimes feels like we think Jesus said, "Now...bring them into your space where you can make disciples and teach them." With that we put this pressure on them to be something.

We tend to forget that we are to go to them...and live with them...and become "all things..."

What about a church with no walls? It still has to meet together. Somewhere.

We just need to know how our space (or lack there-of) impacts us and others into thinking what they have to become to come to Christ. Because we are who we are (human) we will have a "culture of space" and subtly communicate to others that there is a certain way to behave to join us in our space. We want to be as aware as possible of what we do, why we do it, and if we want to continue it or not.

Does it help us gather and be sent out to follow Jesus? Is it effectively used to tell people about Jesus death and resurrection and help us disciple one another?

"...and I am one of them."

Would you like to receive a letter like this?

This seems a cheerful world, Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden, under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see--brigands on the high roads, pirates on the seas; in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds; under all roofs misery and selfishness. It is really a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. Yet in the midst of it I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasures of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians -- and I am one of them.
---St. Cyprian, c. 258, a letter

If Cyprian was my friend what would I say in answer to his letter? Would I tell him "I am one of them"? Drug abuse, abortion, the highest murder rate in the the western world, Sexual abuse tolerated, women and children abused through pornography; would we say it is a bad world but in spite of it all we have become a quiet and holy people? Are we despised and persecuted like they were in the first churches? No way. Maybe we would be different if we were persecuted. Can we pray for that?

I hope our community is radical enough to be seen as counter to this messed up world. So I want each individual to be radically committed to overcoming their personal worlds of addictive, relationship damaging sin. We must speak to that and seek that change in our community or we will become irrelevant like most churches.

Holiness should not lead to arrogance but to a deep desire to love our neighbor. That will be the measure of our faith. Will we sacrifice? I think so. I see it happening already. Will we live radically different. Will we speak to our neighbors with our lives?

Cyprian spoke to Donatus in about the year 258. Who will write about us? What will they write? Will they want to say, "I am one of them?" after watching us?

Why Plant Churches?

I noticed this quote from a book titled "Forgotten Ways".


“Ivan Illich was once asked what did he think was the most radical way to change society; was it through violent revolution or gradual reform? He gave a careful answer. Neither. Rather, he suggested that if one wanted to change society, then one must tell an alternative story. Illich is right; we need to reframe our understandings though a different lens, an alternative story.. ” The Forgotten Ways, 190.


I sometimes look at the church landscape of Evansville and think, "Wow, am I radical!" But when I read this and think of the disruption Jesus' ministry caused in His culture, perhaps I am not radical at all. Is the story I am telling an alternative story in this culture? Is it because I am afraid I might not fit in or that I might be rejected? It is a constant temptation but I think I passed that fear 5-6 churches ago where I really tried to fit in and failed miserably. The reality is that we follow a Savior who was killed here; His reality is that He did not fit in either.

Are Reality Shows really showing reality? How can Jesus be Lord for people in this culture of Harry Potter, Food Networks, trans-gender rallies, and "Reality Shows"? We have to offer something radical in a culture of idols. Paul offered a Jesus; a man who claimed to be God, born in a room full of cow pies and animal dung, born to a virgin, who was a King and they...we killed Him. Did He really come out of that grave? Does He really care personally for me? Can Jesus possibly replace one's religion? Can He replace someone's idol?

Jesus is not an escape from reality; He is reality!

The Mountain Top prepares you for The Valley

Sometimes we forget to mention why we gather together. Maybe we just forget what we are about on Sunday mornings? We are not just a social club! We have a purpose for gathering. We believe that Sunday morning should be a mountain top experience that energizes you.
THE BATTLE
Your week has been difficult. You are working at your job or at home while being a living witness in that world, loving your families sacrificially, and no doubt, enduring abuse from people who do not work or think like you do. Yet, you are determined to follow Jesus each day and if that is your plan, you have been opposed all week. Even getting out of bed to come to worship on Sunday morning feels like misery sometimes. But you come with hope in your hearts.
HOPE FOR WHAT? Because you hope to experience what the first church experienced in the first few Sabbaths after Pentecost; the presence of God through the movement of the Holy Spirit in your soul. He promises to be with us always but sometimes we forget. The first church worshiped God and they were energized by His power for their mission to their world.
THE BIBLICAL PATTERN FOR US
However, please notice that worship did not come first. (Acts 2:42-47) Worship was the outgrowth of, and the result of hearing teaching from the Word of God combined with intimate relationships. Worship was also a response to prayer and the breaking of bread; a remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice. In keeping with that pattern, our worship comes after the teaching of the Word each Sunday; not before. Some will argue that prayer and studying the Word of God IS worship. I can accept that but still like the physical worship of Sunday morning to follow teaching.
TEACHING
As for teaching the Word, we began teaching the book of Genesis on April 1st of last year. We are currently making plans to teach Ruth and then John. Whatever we teach, teaching the scriptures will always be our plan and sometimes, but not often, we will divert from the steady teaching of a specific book of the Bible for a topical message.
PREPARATION FOR YOUR MISSION
You were designed specifically to be sent to your world in the power of Jesus Christ to a hurting world that is seeking life in all the wrong places. You were made by a loving God and redeemed by the Blood of Christ for this specific battle; to take Jesus Christ, the living water, to a dry and thirsty land. It will be the continual plan at Journey to prepare you for your mission.

Journey Calendar/Newsletter

Here is the Journey242 calendar (click here). If you like, save the (internet) address and bookmark it or even print the calendar. If you know of a church event that needs to be on the calendar, please email us at Journey242@gmail.com with the details. We will try to limit this to church and small group related events.

There is a danger in using the internet to communicate to people. As I think about this, it points to a possible confusing paradox to have most of our church information on the impersonal internet. We stress a relational focus rather than the impersonal focus of being event driven, program driven, and propositionally driven. If we do not continually and actively pursue relationships with one another as we follow Jesus, we could just become another non-relational, impersonal, propositionally driven church where legalism prevails and lives never change.

However, I (Bill) believe that the younger generations are using the internet to investigate and make decisions before they would ever darken the doors of our church or even more, before they would contact us in any way. With the internet we can be quite transparent. We can say up front who we are and what we are about. We can avoid being dogmatic and pursue open, honest communication where doubt is ok; where tough questions can be asked and hopefully answered.

I (Matt) also believe the internet forms a foundational and grounding place of many of our relationships already. We use it to find out about people, who they are, when to meet them, and alot of other simple aspects of relationships. The internet is an entry way into relationships for many, and for some it's often the only place of personal relationships.

For many young people, relationships begin on the internet and we welcome those relationships and the tough questions. Jesus did too. Jesus embraced the lonely, confused, and lost who had real questions and who were really seeking something they did not already have or understand. Jesus only attacked the hypocrites who thought they had all the answers. We want to reach the lost, the lonely, and the downtrodden.

Sometimes I (Bill) have to remind myself that we are on a Journey as we follow Jesus, walking and talking with Him as he changes us into His image. Jesus fulfills the laws by offering a relationship that by its very existence, changes our life. New friends can change our life by how they relate to us and how we relate to them. If we want to be "like Mike" we will buy Nike shoes and try to imitate Michael Jordan.

A relationship with Jesus does the same if we are following Him. To follow we have to surrender control. We have to want to be like Him. So don't let this calendar become something that replaces people or God. Let it become a planning tool that helps you find more time for living the Kingdom life now, following Jesus now, and inviting friends into that life with Jesus now.

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=journey242%40gmail.com