Ecclesiastes 4:7-12

                                        A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

I inherited a meaningful piece of my vision (which I think of as a set of values) indirectly from the Navigator’s who leaned on “one-on-one” and “small group” ministry models. Our family lived in a community of believers for 15 formative years which was focused on discipleship and community. We taught our own children. We helped each other move, remodel, babysit. We worked and played together and thought of it as worship. I did not know how intertwined with these people my life had become until we relocated to another city. Neither did I know how unique our experience was until, for the first time, I became an integrated part of a traditional local church.

When we arrived in our new city, we were shocked at how private, independent and disconnected people were compared to what we had been used to. We learned that if we wanted community, we would have to build it with those who had an appetite for it. We didn’t know it, but we had been ruined for church in the traditional institutional sense of that word. I am sure I have been a thorn in it’s side as I have kicked against the organizational goads almost from day one.

Where we had come from, a few folks had titles, but their authority did not derive from those titles. The authority to lead in our culture had been earned by simply standing alongside each other through life’s experiences and exemplifying character in the context of relationship. In our new traditional setting leaders were selected by elders or voted on by the congregation. They too had served but their service had often happened only in the context of institutional ministry models. We observed that the authority in the traditional local church was less relational and more positional – a lot like a business. While this statement may be incomprehensible to many, our engagement with the traditional local church felt as though we had moved from a family into an organization.

I served for approximately 15 years in the traditional local church, much of that time as an elder, believing naively that my community DNA could serve this local assembly. After resigning a few years ago and just living life as an untitled person, relating to others simply as a friends or a potential friend, I have been able to recover some sense of family and purpose. Note; In my experience it seems I have been a much better representative of the kingdom of God as a friend than I ever was an elder, worship leader or teacher.

I have learned the hard way that institutions don’t want reformed. They want perpetuated, and the things that achieve this tend to fashion cultures that resemble businesses with employees and programs as opposed to families with members with lives to live.  All I can really do is keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, acknowledge that the upward call of God in Christ offers every son and daughter a never ending opportunity to know Him more intimately. What I can do is invite others to join me so that together we can explore and discover the treasure and the mystery of Christ who has welcomed us into the eternal community He shares with the Father and the Spirit.

I believe that ultimately whether we are in an institutional church setting or in a  smaller community (or both) our kingdom relevance will ultimately be born out of our relational intimacy with Him and each other. Before the final chapter of the Church is written I believe we are going to discover that we are going to need Him (in each other), far more than we may currently grasp.

So Father, as we see the day drawing near, let us draw nearer in Your holy presence with hearts that are fully assured that Christ is now our life and that He provides a living way of continual access into Your presence. May the love we encounter there give us the security to become available to each other in new and authentic ways. May we become the family that all men hunger to belong to. Amen.