Transformation Lived
One of the rallying cries of our community of faith is "Let's live this thing out in our real life!" Weary of Sunday-go-to-meeting Christianity, the past five years have been a process of detoxing from a segregated praxis and attempting to take on a more holistic view of life with God in his kingdom. Easier said than done. Much easier.
T's latest post about the 12 steps as a plan of transformation is worth a read if you're interested in this type of thing. What this conversation has been doing for me can be best described in this statement from T's post: "Entering a reign" of any kind involves the submission of our will and our lives to the sovereign, and thereby trusting the sovereign a fairly great deal for wisdom, protection, etc." I cannot simply go on business as usual and expect the kingdom of God to become more real to me. Simply put, clinging to the illusion of control does not a disciple make.
Last weekend our community gathered at our house for an extended time of listening, prayer, and conversation about the next step for us corporately and individually. Leaving the Vineyard created the necessary crisis to force us into some hard questions again. Four years ago almost to the day we formed a 501c3 called The Vineyard Church of Palm Beach Gardens which we effectively killed over the weekend. The next structure could look completely different, but what stood out to me during our gathering was that structure and organization are secondary issues. The primary task, which is really just an invitation, is hearing the call to be vulnerable to each other and God, and then link arms as we collectively are transformed by the Master Jesus.
The core of the Northumbria Community's rule of life is the vow of availability and vulnerability. There is something very attractive about the simplicity of that vow. But inherent in its simplicity is the gauntlet thrown down of "Now go out and live it!"
T and I will be posting more about this in the future as our community goes further down the road into uncharted territory. As we write, we welcome feedback from any reader. This is not a private journey and it has been clear to us for some time that the wider community that frequents this blog is indispensable to our growth.
T's latest post about the 12 steps as a plan of transformation is worth a read if you're interested in this type of thing. What this conversation has been doing for me can be best described in this statement from T's post: "Entering a reign" of any kind involves the submission of our will and our lives to the sovereign, and thereby trusting the sovereign a fairly great deal for wisdom, protection, etc." I cannot simply go on business as usual and expect the kingdom of God to become more real to me. Simply put, clinging to the illusion of control does not a disciple make.
Last weekend our community gathered at our house for an extended time of listening, prayer, and conversation about the next step for us corporately and individually. Leaving the Vineyard created the necessary crisis to force us into some hard questions again. Four years ago almost to the day we formed a 501c3 called The Vineyard Church of Palm Beach Gardens which we effectively killed over the weekend. The next structure could look completely different, but what stood out to me during our gathering was that structure and organization are secondary issues. The primary task, which is really just an invitation, is hearing the call to be vulnerable to each other and God, and then link arms as we collectively are transformed by the Master Jesus.
The core of the Northumbria Community's rule of life is the vow of availability and vulnerability. There is something very attractive about the simplicity of that vow. But inherent in its simplicity is the gauntlet thrown down of "Now go out and live it!"
T and I will be posting more about this in the future as our community goes further down the road into uncharted territory. As we write, we welcome feedback from any reader. This is not a private journey and it has been clear to us for some time that the wider community that frequents this blog is indispensable to our growth.
posted by Mike Bishop at 7:48 PM
3 Comments:
hey mike -
i appreciate your sharing this...it seems the Father is at work with my little kinship as well as your group in Florida. Last September, in the kinship (homegroup/small group), at my house, one of our friends had just returned from vacation. while visiting a friend on vacation, they had gone to an AA support meeting with their friend. they were so impressed by the availability and vulnerability (not to mention diversity) of the group...as well as being keenly impressed by the Presence of Something Other - the Spirit of the Living God. While they shared that, I had been reading Rick McKinley's 'Jesus in the Margins' (great read, highly recommended) and he mentioned some observations about people gathering and AA and affinity versus community. all to say, we all felt we wanted to enter the messiness of community and live out the reality of the Kingdom-Life we have in Jesus. BTW, Ken Wilson, at the Ann Arbor Vineyard, did a study of the 12 steps and transformation a few years ago, which is still on his site, under 12 steps on the Jesus Path: http://www.annarborvineyard.org/kenscorner/kenscorner.htm
anyway, as a fellow disciple, i bless you guys on this journey and feel an affinity for being on a similar path...
peace steven
I think what you're doing is very exciting!
Steven,
Thanks for the info. My buddy T had looked at Ken Wilson's stuff a few years back. It's cool to see how people are out there thinking about this stuff and experimenting. We're very excited to see where this is going to take us.
-Mike
PS. Deb - Thanks! Enjoyed your latest post about why you blog - honesty etc. Keep up the good work!
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