You don't read my blog for my Theology!

In the year and a half that I've been "blogging" I have written a few posts on the church/theology/bible. Here is what I've noticed: The vast majority of people who read my blog are waiting for funny stories. That's cool. That is one of the main things that I post on here. I also know I'm not the most brilliant Biblical scholar and may not be writting the most thought provoking posts. You can go to Brett's (http://mentalmeandering.blogspot.com/) or John's (http://faithpractices.blogspot.com) for that. BUT, I think I'll still write some thoughts about God.

With all that being said, I was asked to blog my response to Bobby's post on the Postmodern Deconstruction of the Modern Church (http://www.emergentadventure.blogspot.com/). In his blog, he says that the latest movement in the postmodern/emergent church is to meet in homes and he propounds the question, "Can it get smaller than home churches?" This is my response.


I don't know if I have any answers, but I have thought about the movement into homes for awhile.

A couple years ago we moved to home ministries for our high school ministry. We still met as a large group, but HANDS DOWN the biggest amount of ministry, impact, passion, heart, outreach, Spirit, etc. was found in these home groups. Each took on a unique feel and most were thriving...we got people in the homes that would NEVER go to church...Alpha does this same thing...I really do think it is the next wave.

It can't get smaller though...I think what we will begin to see (in an attempt to get smaller) is the "I don't need church" mentality. Meaning, "I don't need to meet regularly and fit into some form. The church is the people, so I will just hang out with my believer friends and do outreach by hanging out with unbelievers." While I totally agree that the church is the people, Paul was still writing to people who were gathering regularly, partaking in the sacraments on a regular basis, listening to the reading of the Word (or Paul's letters), meeting with people of all different ages, etc.

I think this can totally take place in a large church (although, it is much more difficult) or in homes. The bottom line is that we don't "neglect to meet together" (Heb. 10:25).

Emergent vs. Non-Emergent (for lack of a better term)

I think if I were to come back to the states that I would want to be a part of an "emergent church". I have some friends who have started an emergent church. I haven't been, but I imagine that it is a good blend of relevant worship and theological soundness.

But being in the Czech, I have been thinking a lot about what are the concepts of the emergent church that I can grab onto and use and what things have no relevance here. There are some things that would totally work, but others that would be a huge turn off. It has actually made me question how much I really know about this culture. What I've realized is that no matter what style we use, outreach is about going OUT.

I was just with a youth leader this weekend and he has been hanging with a group of students in a pub throughout the week. All these kids from this one high school go to a pub nearly every day and hang out. When he goes there they talk about life, but spiritual things always come up...It is amazing. He doesn't do anything fancy. There isn't a really cool program set up, he just goes, hangs with them and outreach is being done. It is totally incarnational. He is even thinking about starting a bible study in the pub! It is really cool. This is all being done in the capital of one of the most Atheistic countries in the world. It just proves that people are spiritually interested even in spiritually "dead" places.

I think it is sweet to set up a church in a way that unbelievers want to go, but what I think is more important is going TO them. I hear people talk all the time about doing outreach, but how often is that outreach really going out and how much of it is "inreach", where a relevant event is planned and the people are invited, but the unbeliever is forced to make the first step? I think that it is expected of missionaries to be involved in the community and reaching the people, but where are the missionaries to the States? How many youth leaders and staff are actually going out and hanging with students in their environment? When I was working with students in the states I was constantly hanging out with them at their houses and hang outs, BUT I was hanging out with the Christians...Don't get me wrong, I think this was equally beneficial, but I wasn't doing outreach. Consequently, they weren't either.

I am currently studying Acts and in Chapter 3 Peter and John are on their way to the temple at the hour of prayer (I wonder if they were going there to pray or if they were going there, because they knew that there would be people to get in spiritual conversations with!). Anyways, on their way they heal a man who has been lame from birth and a crowd gathers and then Peter shares about God. This is continually happening throughout Acts. The apostles GO OUT and get in spiritual conversations with people. The ministry that they do "inside" is to the body. I'm not arguing that we should set up services that are only for believers. I'm also not arguing for street evangelism. My point is that we need to be going out and reaching out to people in their world. We can't expect them to come to us. We need to build relationships with unbelievers and use that relationship to talk about spiritual things.