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Back from Peru

I'm on the plane ride home and it's a long flight, so I thought I'd write a post about my trip before things got too busy at home. Where do I start? In the space of five short days, God has connected me with another "network node", a group of kingdom-minded people who are living out their discipleship in Arequipa, Lima, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and anywhere else God sends them. These are people I am now proud to call friends, brothers, sisters. I'm anxious for the day when I can introduce them to my family and our community.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, or know me personally, you would know that I am passionate about asking questions related to God's kingdom and new expressions of church, and carrying on relationships with others who are doing the same. This is not a hobby or side project of mine. This is my calling, at least for the time being. Over the past year or so it has been increasingly difficult to put myself in the category of "church planter" or "pastor", even for the sake of relating to the established church. Not to decry those terms - Amber and I have founded a concrete gathering of Christians in Palm Beach County and I do pastor (verb) people as God presents the opportunity. However, it would be disgenuine to co-opt those words from others who have so much invested in a particular meaning that I do not share. When I was ordained, I was commissioned as a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the Good News of the Kingdom, not as a pastor, church planter, or anything else. I am finding that to be more and more significant as the years pass since June 3, 2001, the day of my ordination.

This week I had the opportunity to do nothing else other than work within my calling. Ever wake up in the morning anticipating God to use you in a significant way, but also be totally relaxed about both how he would use you and the outcome? I lived that almost the entire trip. I also had the remarkable opportunity to watch others do the same, or at least have that appearance. I saw servants serving, leaders leading, ministers ministering, worshippers leading the way in worship, those with mercy extending mercy, those who intercede interceding, and so on. The body of Christ in operation. The family of God, ministering to one another, proclaiming the reality and availability of God's reign on earth. Wow.

My part was small, but I believe God answered my prayer to be used at his disposal. In five days I uncovered a network of ten missionaries, plus an unknown number of Peruvians now reconsidering their ministries in light of a Kingdom context. Chances are, you've never heard of these people. They don't have blogs (but I'm working on that...and maybe a few of them will introduce themselves in the comments:) and they minister in parts of the world and through organizations we've probably never heard of in the States. But they are out there - feeling alone in most cases, and carrying around lots of the same questions and passions many of us carry. What hit me like a brick wall this week was that there are most certainly many others like them around the world. Not just missionaries, but people like you and me who love Jesus and are trying to make sense of life in his kingdom. They don't hate the church. They don't say we should abolish pastors and destroy all religious institutions. They, like us, just want more. (Although here's a quick, funny story. One particularly enthusiastic young Chilean woman who visited the conference, after hearing the kingdom message presented, started a little cheer with her group as they were preparing to leave: "Up with the Kingdom! Down with pastors! Up with the Kingdom! Down with pastors!" Her pastor was standing right there, and thankfully, was laughing uncontrollably.)

"The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed... The kingdom of God is like yeast... The kingdom of God is like a pearl..." Perhaps you could say, the kingdom of God is like a nanny, caring for children with absent parents. The nanny fosters and teaches the children, and they mature under her care, in spite of their parent's neglect. One day, when the children are grown, the parents come to them and say, "Now that you are grown, come and learn the family business with us. We will teach you everything you need to know. We'll provide all the resources and training you need. We'll even set you up with a shop of your own so you can become successful like us." But the children say, "Thanks, but we don't want your success. Our nanny has raised us differently. Under her care, we've seen that the world is a much bigger place than the little world you control with your businesses. We want to discover the world she taught us about. Thank you for providing a place for us to grow up, and paying for the nanny's care, but we cannot accept your offer." And with that, the children leave to explore a world that will forever remain a mystery to their parents.

The Kingdom Banquet

Sorry for the delay in updates...the wifi here has been a little spotty. The conference has been progressing nicely so far. Lots of conversation about the church in transition, aligning ourselves with what God is doing in his Kingdom. I got a chance to teach a little on community today. Boy, it was fun. Very good response, God ministered to a lot of people. Dang, I need to do this more often.

Afterwards, we had a feast on the hotel grounds (see photo above). Good stuff. God's Kingdom in action.

More to come, but I'm kind of written out after staying up until 2 AM last night writing my talk. Here's a few more photos...



Downtown Arequipa



View out the front of our hotel

In Lima

Smooth flight...I'm hyped up on Peruvian caffeine right now. Hanging out in the house of a guy who is an missionary specializing in retrofitting new agricultural technologies so the rural poor can use them. Below are two examples - a do it yourself steam-powered soy milk boiler and a front wheel drive motorcycle that he's going to retrofit for biodiesel soon. He's also working on a plan to build a trailer outfitted with welding equipment so he can take city kids and teach them how to weld out in the field. Very cool.

Flying to Arequipa this afternoon...

Peru

Tomorrow evening, I am driving to the Miami airport to leave for Peru. Recently I've been carrying on a conversation with a missionary in Arequipa who, along with his family and another family, is rethinking church and how to help the people they are ministering to become disciples. In the course of our conversations, I was invited to join them during a retreat they are hosting for local pastors next week - and they would pay my way!

I feel honored to be able to make this trip and humbled that they would invite me. However, this is the kind of thing Amber and I have been praying for. We want to help the church in transition, wherever it exists. Locally, we're doing that with a small network of friends. Beyond that, we want to be available to whatever God has for us.

Pray for me as I'm there that I can be attentive to whatever God wants to do. Also, please pray for Amber and the kids during their week at home without me. I'll have internet during the trip, so I'll be posting updates and photos here and there.

The Tiny Church

If you haven't already, you need to check out this post by Andrew Jones, Tiny is the New Small. It's always encouraging to hear Andrew's perspective on the global church, particularly in light of what we have been doing as a faith community and among our friends and partners in the US. I particulary liked this paragraph:

"Simple/organic church people have got a cold shoulder from “church” leaders for a decade. Singularity frowns on modularity. They are considered a threat to the system. They are called “house church” but that doesn't really fit what they [we] are doing. Its not house church and its not “small groups” and its not rebellion against church. Its attempting to BE the church as God intended it."

That is refreshing to hear so plainly stated. I've been criticized in the past for not aligning myself with one particular "label", be it "house church" or "emerging" or whatever. Fundamentally, the reason I haven't been into labels is that my personal journey as a Christian has been the primary driver for why and how my paradigm has changed. Second to that has been relationships with others who have had similar experiences. New ideas, whether they be theological or practical, have played an important role, but come firmly in third place in relative importance. So how can I lock myself into one camp when my own and my friends' experiences have come from such diverse sources?

I suppose if I had to label myself, I would be in the Jesus-centric, Gospel of the Kingdom camp. We are trying to reorganize our lives and churches around the idea that the gospel is more than "say this prayer so you can get into heaven". The theological and practical implications of this are enormous and will have to be worked out over multiple generations. Our part is to be pioneers - experiment, make mistakes, collaborate, and probably (unintentionally) tick some people off along the way.

The Well

It has still been difficult to get in a regular rhythm of blogging. There is a ton I'd like to be writing about, I just feel like I'm slacking off when I sit down to write. Probably not a good feeling and I just need to let it go.

Anyway, we just moved into a new house which has kept us pretty busy over the last few weeks. We are now landlords of two properties...our old townhouse and the studio apartment above our garage. The girl who is renting our studio has a dog which our kids love. That is the perfect kind of dog for us...one we don't have to take care of. The house itself is working out great so far, but getting settled in a new place is always a chore.

One of the advantages to the new place is we are within walking distance of two families in our faith community. We have started worshipping with these families and a few others on Sunday nights. Kim and T Freeman now host and facilitate our old group. This change has worked out tremendously for us. A few months ago, Amber and I recognized that we needed to move away from coordinating anything on a weekly basis. With our life the way it is right now, having any sense of preparation for a weekly event is a stretch. So we pitched the idea to the community that we would organize our once-a-month gathering for both communities. We take communion there, worship, and I have a chance to share a bit to the whole community. Amber was motivated to begin working with the younger children with her Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training. This seems to be working out well for everyone involved and keeps me from going crazy every week.

A side note regarding our faith community. Ever since "formally" leaving the Vineyard, we've been the no-name church. Frankly, I don't think it's made that much difference. A little awkward at times when you're explaining to an acquaintance about your church, but other than that, what really is the purpose of a name for a church? To me, being nameless is helpful to reinforce the idea that we are simply part of God's Church, no 501c3 necessary. On the other hand, every faith community has a unique story, a window into how and why God has put a group of people together. A name can help tell that story in a simple, tangible way.

The name that tells our story is The Well. The Well is certainly not a unique name for a church (make sure you check out that last link:), but does that really make any difference? Again, we are just a part of God's Church, no more and no less. Sometime during our first year together, when it was Amber and I, Kim and T, and my brother Mark and sister-in-law Alison, we were sitting at the Freeman's house being quiet and listening. I'll let T tell the story from here, and why it matters to our community, because he remembers more of the details than I do:

I had been praying for some insight from God specifically for our group; and it might have been something we all agreed to seek that night. As others were praying and sharing, I had a distinct confidence that if I opened the brand-new paperback Message New Testament sitting in front of me, that I would turn to the story of the woman at the well. I honestly didn't even know the reference to the passage. Sure enough, I opened the book right to that story. I felt like God was highlighting that story as at least a significant part of what we were supposed to hear and be about, but, since others were talking, I figured I'd wait until they were done before reading it aloud. While listening to everybody else, I accidentally let the bible close again, which was only a problem because I hadn't paid attention to the reference, but I felt like God instantly assured me that I would open right up to it again, which I did.

As we read the passage that night and/or since, the impressions I got for our group were several. I've heard since that night a pastor say that this is one of the theologically richest passages in the bible. I think we are supposed to explore some of that richness now and in the future. Here's some of what I feel like is for us so far:

- The story is so personal and real and missional, just like we need to be. Jesus is thirsty; the woman is tainted morally, ethnically and socially, but God initiates with her. He comes in low. She's tired. She wants to talk big religious issues (keeping things off of her?), and Jesus brings the focus back again and again to himself and to her, in a way customized to her and their conversation. He reveals personal things about her and himself (You don't get Jesus plainly admitting his messiahship very often in scripture). The disciples walk up, adding their awkwardness to the already bizarre moment. The harvest, the mission, is right there in Samaria, an "on the way to somewhere else place", right under the disciples noses, but Jesus has to point this fact out to the disciples, and to us.

- Similar to mission, the story deals with where and how worship happens (which is everywhere, "in spirit and in truth"). It says the Father is seeking people to worship him in that way. As people who are seeking to actually worship God outside of our gatherings (and in our often unimpressive gatherings), this passage is a big encouragement and guide to us.

- Both food and water are talked about, not unimportantly, in this passage. For those of us with longings and holes of the soul, Jesus' words about "never thirsting again" and about his "living water becoming a spring within, welling up to eternal life" are the gospel itself. After seeing the woman run off to tell her town about him, Jesus is physically satisfied. I don't know if the woman ever got him some water, but he refuses the food the disciples brought him, saying, "I have food you don't know about . . . my food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work." We need to dive into this reality.

- This passage is about the supremacy of Jesus. The woman asks, "Are you greater than our father Jacob?" Jesus answer, contrasting Jacob's well with his living water gives the amazing and currently controversial answer: Yes. Jesus' practical centrality, his messiahship, is the climax of the story. We and our culture have the same question for Jesus: "Are you greater than my current way of doing things?" "Are you greater than my other authorities?" We need to hear and live his answer.

- This passage is also classic "Vineyard doin' the stuff with the Holy Spirit". Supernatural insight (without any fanfare) is part of the dynamic through which God changes this woman and her town, and centers them around Jesus. It's not the focus of the story, but it is a necessary and ordained part of it that can't be taken out of it. Neither should we leave or take out such things from among us.

Pretty much says it right there. Since this is a long post, I won’t add any commentary other than to say, matter-of-factly perhaps, that is why we chose the name “The Well”. Don’t look for it on a website or an Articles of Corporation anytime soon, however. More on that another time.