AC3 VB141 De-Churched Series Part 2

 Here it is the much anticipated part 2 of the Dechurched video blog series! Enjoy :)

AC3 VB140 De-Churched Series Part 1

Here you go! Here's the link to the article Rick and Dan are referring too in this video blog. Enjoy! :)
https://www.barna.com/research/meet-love-jesus-not-church/

What's "Church"?

Rod and Dan near Vantage. Good Friday 2017

Since 2008, I have been part of the Northumbria Community which can most simply be described as a new-monastic group: people from all over the world sharing a common set of values (a Rule for living) not unlike monks of old, but organized in ways that make living out the Rule possible for modern people.

For example, the old monastic rules were based on values like Chastity, Poverty and Obedience (to an Abbot or Abbess). This wouldn't  work for married people with jobs who live thousands of miles away from each other. But there are transferable principles which we can live out. Things like the rhythm of daily prayer, practicing hospitality, being available and vulnerable to God and our neighbors, studying the scriptures, etc. Living this way in the Northumbria Community has become a pillar supporting my spiritual life.

That may sound "traitorous" coming from a senior leader at a church. "Aren't you supposed to get ALL your spiritual/relational/emotional needs met by your church?", you might ask.

Maybe so... But this begs the question, "What IS the church? 

Rick and I will be posting a series of video blogs RIGHT HERE, to hopefully start a discussion around this very question.

My early contribution to the dialogue is this quick story about friendship:

Because the Northumbria Community is a "dispersed" community with members all over the world but "headquartered" in N.E. England...there are not many other members near me. In fact, Spokane is home to my closest Companion in the "NC". Rod Cosgrove and I met BECAUSE of the NC. We had both visited Nether Springs (the Mother House in England) separately, and the folks there (knowing we both lived in Washington) got us connected. That was 2012 and Rod and I struck up a fast friendship. We have too many common bonds to list here, but suffice to say they are many...not just living the Rule for Life.

As Companions in the NC, we are asked to re-evaluate our commitment to the Community each year (re-take a vow to live by the Rule). Not unlike membership at AC3, this is a once-a-year-reminder and review opportunity to examine how God is calling us to live. Traditionally, Easter is the time of year we re-state vows, but being that both Rod and I work for churches and that the next closest Companion is in St. Paul Minnesota - getting together with others on Easter to take our vows is a non-starter.

But this year creativity struck, and Rod and I decided that we COULD meet on Good Friday at the half way point between Marysville and Spokane (Vantage).

Rod brought copies of the vow ceremony and I brought the components of a cross (made from bamboo and hemp twine: biodegradable) and we made a short hike on to the high banks of the Columbia River.

There...we were the church. Not ALL of the church. But part of it. 

We hiked back down and spent some time catching up on family news, talking about what God was doing in our lives, laughing and story-telling; we grabbed a greasy-burger for lunch, then said our goodbyes, driving onto opposite on-ramps of I-90. 

It was impressed on me that this time with Rod did not COST Allen Creek Community Church anything. It contributed. I came away feeling inspired, cared for, motivated, less weary and more assured that God is at work in our world. I was a better "Dan" when I got back home. I believe Rod would say he was a better "Rod" for his church and family too.

So, if God was glorified, if we grew as disciples and we were inspired to engage in Gospel service with new energy and vision...how was this NOT church? 

My answer is: Mission. 

Being inspired to serve is one thing. Serving is another. Rod would agree with me that our local congregations (the places where we meet weekly with a group of others) is critical as the place where every follower of Jesus is given a platform to ACT upon inspiration as well and not just receive it. While on some days it would be tempting to think that my "church" life consisted of getting together with a few hand-picked friends in a beautiful outdoor setting where we laugh and pray, worship and study...that is simply not the whole picture.

Part of what makes church "Church" is mission: reaching out to no-believers in real and honest ways with the Good News. As good as friendships can get - it's still not enough to be "Church".

What's "Church" to you?

AC3 VB139 Discipleship

Check out this weeks view from the video blog location. Enjoy! :)

How To Defeat Loneliness

How To Defeat Loneliness

In Four... Five Easy Points (okay, Five and a half)

As as elder of AC3, I get to participate in guiding and planning the direction of our annual church retreat - Vision Cast. This year, one of the key concepts we wish to focus on is community. It also ended up becoming the focus topic for our study group - Lion Tracks - and without my apparent input even (funny how that happens). So over the last couple of months I've been doing some reading and thinking on community. I have been sampling ideas from both Christian and "other" writers in an attempt to work from a broad pool of ideas for my own study and edification. 

One of the key problems in our world, I've discovered, is loneliness. In the last 20-30 years, the number of people in our society who feel they have someone they can turn to and trust to be a friend in difficult times has plummeted by a shocking percentage. We have more superficial connections to others than we ever had, but the consequence seems to be a decrease significant connections. Loneliness, the books say, is a killer. One author said it's ability to shorten our life spans here on earth was roughly equivalent  to smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day!  Others claim loneliness may soon be the Next Great Epidemic.

Loneliness must be defeated!

Around here at AC3, we certainly have an increasing emphasis on compassion ministries - feeding the hungry, taking in the lost children, helping people get back on their feet. I would like to see us collectively take on a compassion ministry to defeat Loneliness. 

It's not a requirement for salvation, you know, to help those who are in need, but rather, it is merely the result of receiving the love of God - so great is the incoming flood, it must over-run the banks and spill out into our world. I believe this. I also believe that we are, at the same time, captives in the foreign land of our culture and just as susceptible to loneliness as the one estranged from God.

I myself have always felt like a misfit. I learned early on to believe I didn't belong despite any evidence to the contrary. I know also that I am not alone in feeling alone. If you were to ask me, however, if I suffered from loneliness - I would be just a bit offended and insist that I was most certainly not lonely. We are complicated creatures it seems. I would probably be able to say "I am hungry and need some food", but never would you catch me saying "I am lonely and need a friend". No way. Some people might, but my impression is that number is very small. 

So how do we defeat loneliness? Since we rarely admit our own loneliness, and dare not confront the loneliness in another, it seems so much easier to just ignore the whole ugly plight. Am I right? 

Well, while I don't have a certifiable foolproof answer for you - I have discovered some possible hints. 

First of all, we need to assume the need exists in everyone. We know everyone needs things like air, food and water - and certainly some have more resources than others - but we can easily assume everyone has the need for others as well. Also - the actual degree of need for community and trustful friendship is likely to vary from person to person, but no one is an island - some somebody once said.

Secondly... you would do well to assume that you yourself are included in the "everyone" of point one - and that you do in fact need a trusted circle of friendship - even if you don't feel it. Perhaps it is especially true when you don't feel it. It is almost a hunger in reverse sometimes - a hunger that causes you to starve yourself to death. The greater our loneliness, sometimes, the greater the pull towards isolation from others. I don't know why this is, but it seems to be a common experience. Again, we are complicated creatures...

Thirdly... do not try, whatever you do, to make direct eye contact with loneliness. You have to sort of just watch it out of the corner of your eye - especially your own loneliness. The best way to defeat your own loneliness is to go attack it in others. Even then, however, you must deploy a strategy - you cannot just walk up to someone and say "I'm going to fix your loneliness for you!". Chances are quite good that you would get the same reaction from them that you would get from me - and you will not walk away unscathed...

Fourthly... (and even I am begining to wonder how many points I have here...) Be wary of trying to "get in" to some or another circle of community. C.S. Lewis delivered a lecture on this dangers of trying to gain acceptance into the "inner ring" of some clik or circle. He warned that this desire to be accepted in a popular group is liable to make a scoundrel out of you - his words, not mine. Besides, he says, the very charm that entices you while are on the outside of that coveted group, vanishes the instant you are on the "inside".  This forces you to go looking for another circle to charm you. 

His advice is quite clear... 
   Find something you enjoy doing. 
   Do it often. 
   Invite others to enjoy with you. 

We attack loneliness most effectively, and most enjoyable, through shared interests and shared values. Don't wait for someone else to build the right environment for you - build your own and share it.

I guess I have two more points to raise, and they are closely related so maybe we will just say Fifthly...
This point I discovered early on in my Christian training... and that is a truth about sin. Once I accepted that I was one who committed this thing called sin, I soon realized that if the gospel was for me, then surely it was for everyone, then it followed quite plainly that everyone sinned. That meant that getting close to anyone was going to be risky. More than risky... it seemed I was guaranteed to "get some on me" if I was doing community the right way. I became confident that I would be hurt by the sin of others, and I would have to find a way to deal with that appropriately. Walking away from community was just not going to be an option. Obviously, if some person has intent to maliciously victimize me in one way or another, it is reasonable that I should distance myself from that person. But just because someone is not intent on hurting me, or even truly intends to be a close trustworthy friend, does not mean I won't get bumped and bruised by them occasionally.

Bob Marley once said "The truth is everyone is going to hurt you. You just gotta find the ones that are worth it."

And that raises the other half of this point... who is "worth it"?
Our primary shared value is the love of Christ... don't forget that, whatever you do. You must learn to see this thing in forwards and in reverse. I share life with others who love Christ and seek to follow Him. I also share life with others who are loved by Christ and are being sought by Him. Value and worth come from no other source - I promise you this is truth - even if I am struggling to communicate it fully. Our culture values wealth and good skin and strong manners and a hundred other things. You are being trained, perhaps unknowingly, by our culture to value the things it values - because that is what culture ultimately does. Beware of cementing your approach to evaluating other people based on anything other than the love of Christ.

So here is a hasty summary for you...
If you are going to defeat loneliness in yourself, you are going to have to first defeat it in others. If you would do that, you must see them as your Christ sees them. Destroy anothers loneliness and your own will surely flee the battlefield - tail between it's legs-like. 

AC3 VB138 Investigations

Here it is! Enjoy :)

AC3 VB137 The Resurrection Truth

With Easter coming up this Sunday Pastor Rick talks about how there are real facts and proof that Jesus did in fact live, die and raise from the dead. Check it out here. Enjoy! :)