Saturday was a treat. Paul Moores and I hit the re-mix.ca conference to hear Mike Frost of The Shaping of Things To Come fame. Having read and loved his book, I wasn’t too shocked by what he had to say, but what did impress me is that as good as his book is, he’s an even better speaker. His presentation was dynamic! If you ever get a chance to catch him, it will be worth crossing the street.
Frost's message is that we need to let go of the paradigm of church that isn’t working. We were never meant to be a religion, an institution, or an organization, but a movement of missional, actional love. God is love, and if I realy love you with God's love, I will extend myself into your world so that you may become more of what God desires. The primary movement of the Christian experience is the movement outwards into the lives of others. As ‘sent ones’, it’s not about us or about you coming to us! Church is not about what we do when we gather together – do that however you want, but understand it’s not just about “alternative” ways of doing church. It’s about being sent, abandoning our own issues / needs / self-interests and GOING and seeping into the cracks of society and being with others.
I guess that’s what we’re trying to do. Our understanding of church has grown as we experience church in a way I could have never imagined even a year ago. Church without pulpit & pew or stacking chair & video projection. It’s not about the meeting, the music, the preaching. It’s about going and being with others who are not yet at 'the meeting'. Our experience of Worship and The Word is very different. I'm not sure churchaholics wouldn’t get their fix. But having been in detox from the drug of Churchianity, the freedom to focus on GOING and OTHERS is very satisfying.
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