Sabbath Group

A couple of days ago I asked you to imagine Church as it could be. It seems only fitting then that I tell you a bit about how Church is, right now, for me.

Church, in my experience and history, has always had two components; a heart and a backbone. I went to church for the heart, and the backbone helped support that. Let me explain.

When I first started going to church (First Baptist of Spring Lake), the church itself was the backbone. Sunday services, prayer meeting, etc. These supported what truly drew me to Church -Youth Group, which was the heart of it for me. I was drawn by the community and the relationships that Youth Group offered.

College had the backbone of Bible College and the heart of Monday Midnight Prayer. Post-College had Seacoast Church and EveryTuesday, but more importantly, "Family Dinner," a Sunday night prayer gathering. It was when I moved back to Michigan that things started to change. I bounced from community to community, not having a strong backbone. I did have "Friday Nights at the Muffin Place," which was a great way to grow in relationships.

And now I've moved to Seattle and have not found a typical "church" to partake with and of. I don't have the backbone that was so familiar and helpful as I was growing up. But recently, I've found the heart of a community that truly draws me - Sabbath Group.

We meet weekly in each others homes and have a meal and drink wine. We take turns sharing how our lives are going and what God is doing. We share hardships and successes, laugh and cry, drink and dream. Tomorrow, we'll get together and make homemade pizza's and watch the Superbowl.

So that's the place I'm in with Church. My wife and I have talked recently about finding the space and place to reintroduce some sort of backbone to our lives, but I feel no pressure. It's been an interesting journey to here; but it's helped me realize what's important and what's not; what I will fight for and what I will take a pass on; what's worth the trouble and what's not.

Imagine Church

I used to think about starting a church. Or "planting" a church, depending on if I could convince someone to give me money. It's never went beyond the conceptual phase; my friend Geoff and I would discuss the things that made us most excited but never the challenges or steps we would need to take to get there.

In all of my/our conceptualizing, there was one idea that always stuck with me, something that I reflected on after Monday's post linking immaturity and creativity. It was simple - the idea of imagination.

It's even a cool tagline - Imagine Church. It's a name, but it's also a statement. It's a verb.

Imagine church... where we replace barriers with open arms.

Imagine church... where we swap exclusivity for diversity.

Imagine church... where people are more important than tradition.

Imagine church... where creativity is our worship of God.

It's that idea of emphasizing creativity and imagination over stodgy traditionalism and sentimentality that appeals to me. The idea first started percolating in my head when I read a book by Rick Bundschuh - Don't Rock the Boat, Capsize it. It's mostly a discussion of how Rick does church (in Kauai Hawaii).

The key thing I remember from the book is Rick's quest to make change a tradition of the church. After all, change is inevitable. Resistance is futile, so to speak. And if we can't resist something, shouldn't we embrace it and use it for the glory of God? Routinely, Rick's church reorganizes everything from the structure of the church service, the time of the church service, even the way the church sanctuary is designed, decorated, or oriented.

I don't want to work for or in or with a church that's is rigid and inflexible. The church I imagine is one that is willing and able to move and change - to become all things to all people. What do you imagine in a church?

(There appears to be two Imagine Church's already - one in San Bernardino CA and one in Westfield IN)