No answers, just a journey

I’ve been reading a great new book by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger called Emerging Churches ~ creating christian community in postmodern cultures. One of the things about it that I have found affirming are the stories the authors relate of others that have remarkable similarities to the journey we have been on over the past few years. Essentially Gibbs and Bolger set out to listen to the concerns and insights of emerging church leaders, “recognizing that they do not claim to have the answers by are prepared to embark on a journey of faith, trusting God to give them insight and strength in the course of their pilgrimage. They demonstrate a strong commitment to the Bible as their guide for the journey but are seeking to read it with fresh eyes as they shed the constrictions of modernity and endeavor to apply the story of God’s redemptive engagement with humankind in a cultural context that raises new questions and poses fresh challenges.” (Emerging Churches, p.11)

One of the aspects of that quote that resonates with me is not claiming to have the answers, but being prepared to embark on a journey of faith. It has been frustratingly wonderful to make the move that we have for the purpose of catalyzing a community of new believers in this urban neighborhood, but moving without a plan how to do it. In fact, we purposely avoided a preconceived ministry agenda because we felt they would be founded on misconceptions and inaccurate assumptions about the community we were coming to. Looking back on the last 2 years, I see there have been pro's and con's to this, but over all I think this is one thing we did right.

When we were discussing with other Christian leaders the challenges and opportunity in downtown Vancouver, the assumption that was often expressed was the need for a “long-range plan” and a “high-powered team” - almost a militaristic paradigm. This would be something that they would endorse and consider supporting financially. Well, we don’t really have a plan, and from all appearances we probably look pretty weak – at least that is how we feel. But perhaps in our weakness He will show himself strong, and in our willingness to be like Abraham and wander without a map, God will take us to a good place that we couldn’t have gotten to on our own. All I know is that it has been an adventure!

It’s not a journey to find the answers ~ the answer is to embark on the journey.