We dream of a church where...

Today our weekly "work team" at church tried an experiment. For years, we have met on Tuesday mornings, starting at 9:00 a.m. with an hour of prayer and sharing, followed by our "business" discussion. This meeting is concluded by a 12:30 p.m. lunch that ends at 2:00 p.m.

Today we started our meeting at noon with lunch. We discussed some business over the meal, (which made it challenging to take notes on my computer). At 1:30 p.m., we started our more formal "business" portion.

Somewhere during that the business session, the meeting got heated. In fact, I've never seen so much tension and anger at any of the meetings that I've attended. Marie, one the church secretaries, made the observation that we hadn't begun this meeting with prayer. We then repented of our going about the church business without having invoked the presence of our Divine CEO.

The meeting went much better after that. However, one problematic area that did come up was poor communication. The right hand doesn't often know what the left hand is doing (or has decided). May God help us transform this from a weakness into a strength. Despite the conflicts expressed during today's meeting, I think that this potentially is a positive step in resolving them. However, it all depends on where we go from here.

I've started reading a couple of books on the Celtic Church, which will be sources of some future blogs. I also started a book by Pastor Doug Pagitt and the Solomon's Porch Community (the emergent-style church in Minneapolis that Pagitt helped found). Its title is Reimagining Spiritual Formation: A Week in the Life of an Experimental Church (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2003).

At the beginning of the book (p. 17) is a type of vision statement of Solomon's Porch that is titled We Dream of a Church Where... While this isn't a perfect church either, I like the direction where Solomon's Porch states it is going toward.

We Dream of a Church Where...

1. We listen to and are obedient to God
2. People who are not Christians become followers of God in the way of Jesus
3. Those who are not involved in church would become an active part of it
4. People are deeply connected to God in all of life: body, mind, soul and spirit
5. Beauty, art, and creativity are valued, used, and understood as coming from the Creator
6. Culture is met, embraced, and transformed
7. Joy, fun, and excitement are part of our lives
8. The Kingdom of God is increased in real ways in the world
9. The biblical story of God is told and contributed to
10. Biblical justice, mercy, grace, love, and righteousness lead the way
11. Truth, honesty, and health are a way of life
12. We value innovation and are willing to take risks in order to bring glory to God
13. Worship of God is full, vibrant, real, and pleasing to God
14. Faith, hope, and love ae the context for all
15. The next generation of leadership is built and leadersr are servants
16. Everyone is equipped to do ministry
17. God's Spirit takes precedence over all structures and systems
18. Christian Community is the attraction to outsiders and the answer to questions of faith
19. People participate in the Kingdom of God in accordance with their abilities and gifts
20. We are connected to, dependent on, and serve the global Church
21. Other churches are valued and supported
22. People's visions and ideas of ministry come to life