As you may have heard, some friends and I are planting a church. This post is part of a series I’m doing that outlines some of the vision God has given us. I’d love to interact with you about it.
So far: 1. “Why?” – 2. Our mission – 3. Skeptics and Dreamers – 4. Missionary communities.
That covers the sense of mission God has given us, as well as the kind of community we are envisioning. Now it’s time to talk values: how we intend to go move out into the mission together. The first three values are Journey, Honesty, and Community…
JOURNEY
Following Jesus means we’re part of God’s Story. It means we’re on a journey, walking together toward a goal. It means process, change, growth, doubt, and struggle. We want to make “relational space” for skeptics, strangers, doubters, and searchers to explore faith. We want to learn how to listen to one another and walk with those that society has marginalized.
HONESTY
We want to place a high value on honesty, even when we don’t end up looking so great because of it. We want to be known for who we really are, even in our doubts and questions. We value the unconvinced explorer and the courageous questioner. We want to cultivate a community where there is no pretense, preening, or status games. We want to be as honest as possible with God and others about our lives, a community of people who know how to say “I messed up.”
COMMUNITY
We value honest, grace-filled, face-to-face connections with others. Community is not a commodity we can consume, it is something we enter into by spending a lot of time together, serving one another, listening to one another, investing in one another, and forgiving one another (because we’ll all need it). Valuing community means inviting others into our actual lives, with all the mess and inconvenience that comes with it.
Next post – Participation, Oikos, Simplicity, Wonder
Leave a Reply