Redeeming the Couch

I grew up fairly traditional (at least as traditional as a Pentecostal church can be). We began with the old, hard wooden pews. Not benches - they had backs - we were not barbarians! Then the padding came. Oh, the joy of the padded pew. I'm sure some thought taking it easy on the posterior was just an outward sign of a deeply spiritual problem of moral ease and spiritual laziness. But it is really all about atmosphere. Folks are more open in comfortable surroundings. Now for us in the west, that means laz-i-boy recliners but for others it may mean sitting in the dust around a fire roasting grubs. I guess my point is that if people don't feel relaxed and safe in their surroundings, then they may not open up and will not come back.

Atmosphere is a major player in our church plant thoughts. This may seem like the opposite of living on the edge, in the holy wild, all that jazz, but it is not. Even in the desert, the Israelites had one sweet, tweeked out tent to worship and sacrifice in. They felt safe and close to God when they were in that tent. Fact is, younger folks, and especially those who have no church background, feel kinda weird at a traditional church. We want to create an environment where they are as comfortable as they are in their own living room. Where they will feel free and safe to explore God, ask questions, and dig deeply into who He is. So how can we create this atmosphere? Couches.

I think the cafe setting is the ideal setting for a church. Lots of comfy couches and coffee tables spread around. Some tables and chairs. Even some pillows on the floor. And lots of paper. I want the tables and the coffee tables covered with paper table clothes. Here is the idea. We gather, get our coffee and chat a while - develop relationships. I don't want to just see these people on Sunday. We sit and we pray. We read the Scripture together. Then we meditate on it. We all take out our pens and express ourselves on the paper table clothes. I want to see people interacting with God and his Word. Maybe they journal, maybe they jot down a lot of questions, maybe they draw a picture. The point is that they are comfortable enough to interact with God in a very real way and with each other. Then we can sing praises (with the volume as high as allowed by law), share our journeys, teach from the Scripture we read, pray for needs, healing, salvation, etc and discuss the Scripture. That's my idea of a church service.

But we don't' stay on the couches. They are not for living they are for learning. If we are not participating in a community service project, we are not worshiping and serving God. But service is a whole different core value that we can save for later.

I want to continue to unpack our vision, mission and core values in later posts. I hope they resonate with many of you. But it kinda begins on the couch, cultivating intimacy with God and each other just like you would with a close friend or loved one. Couches are good places to share our lives.

Creating Sacred space

I was reading 1 Timothy 2 this morning and in it Paul wants to see all people saved and worshiping God. I'd say that is a lofty vision, especially considering the state of the spiritual in the USA today.

A friend and I have been talking with a fellow we work with. He is interested in spiritual things so I gave him a little Gospel of John to begin with. He told us how he was raised in the church and even was a deacon at his church. Now this is a mainline denomination church, but he has some very twisted views of God and Scripture. I do not think it is solely because he is a sinner but I think it is also because of poor Christian education, and THAT is of major concern to me. He told me the other day that he was reading "that John book" and wanted to know if Jesus was God. I assumed that he understood that fundamental doctrine, but here was a churched guy who not only missed the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh but did not even recognize the Gospel of John as part of the Bible! I recently read some stats by the Rainer Group that showed that almost 50% of the people in the church are not born-again Christians! Add to them the number not even going to church and you have a huge mission field right here at our back doors. No wonder missions organizations say that the USA is the 5th largest mission field in the world and the largest in the western hemisphere. Our neighbors are not only unsaved, they are Biblically illiterate. More than half of the people in the USA have not had an adequate presentation of the gospel -- and most of them actually attend a church!

The church in America is not doing a good job, that is plain. That is why the first part of our vision statement reads, "We seek to help people with life's journey by: Creating an environment of intimacy with God, seeing souls saved, changing lives. (Luke 10: 27 - 28)." We want to create a space, environment, atmosphere where people feel safe, welcomed and where it is OK to question God, seek the truth, and discover intimacy with him. The hardest part will be getting them to come in the first place - this is not going to be "Field of Dreams" if you build it, they will come. To have the unsaved even enter an environment of discovery and interaction with God we have to have Christians who are passionate about sharing their journey with their unsaved friends and inviting them to look into this Christian life. This is not a pastoral job or a task reserved for deacons and elders. The entire body is called and commissioned to share their lives and their faith with their world. The unsaved will be drawn to real people who are trying to figure out life with God. It is a process and they can start just as they are.

We are not there yet, but we are pressing forward. And we simply invite others to come journey with us.