Glimpses of Real Church Community

After a couple of weeks of really slacking off and doing nothing but worrying about things that are completely out of my hands God has kicked me in the pants and told me stop focusing on the insignificant and start focusing on him.

As a result I have kicked off a personal study of Acts which is easily my favorite book in the Bible. I love the vision that Acts gives for what Christianity is and what it should be. Reading through the first 6 or so chapters yesterday I was again amazed at the growth of Christianity. A spreading of not only a religion but away of life that was starkly different from the culture of the day.

When I was reading through the opening chapters I started thinking about the complaint I here most often when I speak with my Church friends. For the most part they complain that their Church isn't growing. They often tie that lack of growth to something like crappy worship or bad preaching. Ironically if they would look at the ACT's church compared to their own community they may see some more realistic reasons why "Non-Christians" are not drawn into Church communities like they were in first century AD.

Check out this passage and see if you can see some differences between how we play Church and how they live out Church.

⁴⁰With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." ⁴¹Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. ⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. - Acts 2 40 - 47

These early Christians were practicing true community and were helping those in need and as a result their numbers grew exponentially. Their values and lives offered a stark contrast to the values of the day. They were truly new creations, their old values were gone. Is it really any surprise that Western Christianity is in the decline? Consider that Christianity over the past centuries in the Western world has moved away from a community based religion, a religion that is focused on the needy and has become a Church that shares more in common with a country club then the original church. The Acts church asks for nothing less then complete devotion to the Saviour of the world, in lieu of his sacrifice not really that much to ask for. In contrast todays Christianity asks for an hour to an hour and a half a week and may be an evening during the week. Is it really surprising that half ass Christianity has bread half ass Kingdom growth.

Sorry if my thoughts are a little scattered my mind is a bit shot today. My hope isn't to offend but offer a challenge, a challenge that God has placed on my heart as well. I think as Christians we need to join together devote ourselves to Christs work!! Let us all pray that we as a Christian Church can catch the fire that the early Christians had!

HELP WANTED!

As most of you know by now I have been exploring the possibilities of church planting. One of the first steps in planting is surrounding yourself with people who share a similar vision and who are willing to help out with the plant. I need people who are willing to be active participants. Basically I need people who are willing to join me in doing the grunt work doing the small things that go into launching a church community. Now I know many of you are probably saying I would love to be involved in some ways but I don't want to leave my current church. If thats the case and you feel God wants you where you are, you can still support spiritually and financially. If you are willing to help out by praying for the church or if you are willing to support it financially please drop me an email!

I guess the next thing I should do is let you know some of the non-negotiables about the church plant. The vision I have had for this church plant is one of a "community Hub" or a "Third place". Basically I am hoping to create a community that meets spiritual, social and physical needs. I want to create a community like we see in Acts. A group of people who come together often, who share there things when someone is in need, but most importantly they are a community that embraces the community around them with Christ's Love and Peace!

Please pray about it, and if God convicts you and you are interested I would love to meet with you for coffee. There are a lot of unknowns in this process but I know two things for sure. One I can't do it on my own and two God wants it to be done and I don't want to get in his way!!

PEACE

Sorry about the delay

Life has been crazy as per usual, and looks to only get busier with the arrival of my little guy at the end of the summer. That being said I couldn't be happier, and it is amazing to see God working through the chaos. Over the past couple of weeks Kristen and I have settled into our new church community "the freeway," which has been a lot of fun. I have accepted a part-time position selling for a tech company Emrose in T.O to help with the bills as we prepare for maternity leave. On top of which Routes has been pretty busy with lots of programs and trips! BUT Life is good and more importantly GOD is good!

Peace!

The Beach

2 days on 2 different beaches + No sun screen = one serious burn.... So I am a bit of a lobster right now and when I say a little bit I mean a lot. As I am typing my back feels like it is going to peel right off. Ouch I just moved. Turns out I learned the age old lesson again "Every decision has its consequences." The past months have been filled with decisions and I pray I am making the right ones as opposed to the ones that are going to get me burned!

Peace