The church we’d love

I remember a conversation with friends, who we greatly admire, about us pioneering a new church. We were talking about the intricacies of such an adventure and how we would see this happen. We seem to be in a time where there is a focus on and perhaps even a trend to “plant” churches which is such a great thing but with this focus comes the obvious vast array of methods and opinions on how to actually do it. Like anything, we can allow the process to get complex and with all the well intended input and advice, before you know it, there’s an overload of information and confusion sets in.

The friends we were talking with have definitely “been there and done that” in relation to church, missions and pioneering. They’ve operated in the developed world and the developing world, been missionaries and church planters. They’ve immersed themselves in foreign cultures, overcome language barriers and effectively led right in their own backyard too. They’ve been a part of small churches, “mega” churches and everything in between and so in this particular conversation we were all ears. I remember a statement that seemed to cut through all the noise about how we would establish a new church. Our friends simply advised us to “create a church that you would love to be a part of”.

It was an exhale moment as it brought everything down to a place of authenticity. We want what we are a part of to be true, in other words, us expressing and creating from who we are, not us trying to be someone or something else.

So this post is about painting a picture of the church, the community of Christ followers, that we want to co-create with others. The church that we would love to be a part of. I’m not going to be able to get everything out in one post so this will becomes a series, taking time to break down and articulate the culture, values and environment we hope to see established in our journey.

Let me begin with this this statement about the church we’d love to co-create:

We want to be a part of a church that is real, honest and raw. We are anchored to Christ, immersed in grace and impassioned by love. Our faith will be expressed wholeheartedly. We desire to be a diverse community of people united in Jesus, a breath of fresh air where hope is found and friendship is celebrated, a symphony of humanity who carry heaven on earth. We will determine to empower all people and innovate to reach the lost, awaken the found and bring freedom.

This is what we hope to co-create.

This is what we see for the future, this is what we believe we have been called to create and lead.

Much love.

Bev

#LoveAndBeLoved