meditatio at the water's edge

Here are a few thoughts that I posted on a discussion board a theooze.com I thought it would be worth posting them here as well:

...perhaps we need to re-evaluate what "real church" looks like. Perhaps it is a para-church organization. Perhaps it is a group of friends that like to hang out and talk about God or do service projects or just enjoy life and acknowledge that God is the Lord of their lives.

Perhaps church is more about the journey together than the destination of heaven. Perhaps it is being people living within the story of God than it is about doing morning devotions. I could go on and on... I think we need to realize that church comes in many forms that are different than our previous idea of church.

Perhaps it also means that we step out and begin new forms of church. Perhaps we need to move beyond the idea of a "church within a church" and get our elderly people to commision us to follow our own visions. Undoubtedly, and no "perhaps" on this point, we need to grow and prune churches to believe that they are a sending people.

A sending people, a missionary people, don't just send others to Africa. They also send others to grow new faith communities on the other side of the country, on the other side of the state, and also on the other side of the street. We are NOT competing here. We are brothers and sisters.

Brothers and sisters grow up and move out. Mom and dad are glad. Why doesn't the church get this concept? I'm not even sure that we as church planters, youth pastors, or Ooze addicts get this idea too well either...

If we are truly a sending people, youth pastors would be encouraged to start new faith communities. Church planters would be encouraged to grow new dreams and visions, and the family would function as it should. It needs to continue to grow, and it needs to continue to grow up... as we become kingdom people.