I’ve been thinking a lot about Ephesians 4:1-16 this year, which talks about the full and divine unity we share with each other and with our Lord.  “For there is one body and one Spirit…one God and Father of all.”

Immediately after proclaiming the infinite unity found as part of Christ’s body, Paul remarks,

“But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift…The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.”

Powerful words!  Our unity is found NOT in our conformity to each other, but through our Giver, who blessed us with diverse gifts!  Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  They are the gifts of Christ to the Church.  Truly the only one I see being used in churches today is the Pastor, and I’m not sure we have a healthy view of what a biblical pastor might look like.  In fact, I don’t think any of these 5 functions have a proper meaning to us as Christians today.

What are we doing when we don’t accept the gifts of Christ to his Church?  Well, just look around at what is happening in our churches today.  Heresy, scandal, and baby Christians who still need spiritual milk from a burned-out pastor.  We have got to find our giftings and begin to use them to grace the Church.  It is not only “BY grace you have been saved,” but also “FOR grace you have been saved”.  Each Christian endowed with the Holy Spirit has been given one of these gifts.  On baby Christians: 4:14 says, “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about…”  He believed that Christ had graced Christians the gifts to bring the Church to “unity” and “maturity”.  But what do these 5 functions look like?
I would compare them to 5 friends with a car on a journey.  The apostle finds himself staring at the road map more than the road, looking at the BROADEST picture possible, and giving the rest of the passengers vision and guidance on how to get to their destination. He is the one who cares most about the destination, and inspires the others to keep going.
The prophet is farsighted, and is checking the signs way off in the distance to make sure they are headed in the right direction, he is also looking toward the horizon, checking for deer crossing the road, and pot holes that could slow them down.

Our evangelist friend is the driver of the car.  Pushing onward and upward, further and further into the journey, the evangelist loves the feeling of putting another mile marker behind them, and sometimes races beyond the likings of the pastor and teacher, who is sitting in the backseat.

These two are listening carefully to the clinks and squeaks the car motor is making.  At every rest stop they check under the hood to examine the healthiness of their vehicle.  All they brought on the journey was a manual for the vehicle they are driving, and a good set of tools.

I truly believe that there must be a radical shift in our view of church leadership if we are going to arrive at the destination of unity and maturity in Christ.  It won’t come from another “retooling” of church as we know it, and it won’t come from bringing another church guru in to snazz up our programs.  It will happen through the realization of EACH Christian’s giftedness, and contributions toward making the journey a safe and exciting ride.

I’m currently trying to discover which giftings I have been graced by Christ with.  I think I lean towards evangelistic giftings, out and among new people, sharing the Gospel and then moving on, hoping that a pastor or teacher can take them under their wings and truly help them bear fruit.  Although I am very different from the other giftings (I see bits and pieces of each gift) I know that I need others to make any lasting impact.  We need each other to get where we are going.

Like the old African proverb says, “If you want to travel fast, go alone.  If you want to travel far, go together.”

About 2 years ago I was somehow signed up to receive a lifetime’s supply of FREE Christian Chronicle newspapers.  I haven’t seen one now for about 11 months.  I guess lifetimes don’t last as long as they used to.

The Christian Chronicle is a worldwide newspaper written to encourage and unify Churches of Christ all over the English-speaking world.  In my days at the ACU Periodicals Library, I found a strange joy well up inside me each and every time I noticed the latest edition had been published.  I suppose it’s those deeply rooted CoC genes that run 4 generations on both sides of the family…

So you can imagine when I read an article on the organic church movement in the Churches of Christ from this article that my interests were raised.  A well written article that introduces the missionaries and professors sticking their necks out for so many out there who are unreached by Christ’s Church as we currently understand it.  Those interviewed all made it clear that this is not a matter of competition between “legacy” style churches (traditional congregations as we know them) and the new emerging family based churches, but rather a bold new move that God and his people are taking to reach the unreached.  As I’ve heard it said, “It will take all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people.”

I grew up about as enveloped in a Church of Christ, Restorationist tradition as you can imagine.  Like most people, I was raised completely oblivious to the fact that I held some pretty sectarian views from my Sunday School training concerning restoring the order of the original church.  Like many, I went through a stage of rebellion, where “restoration” was the furthest thing from my mind, and looking for that latest and greatest worship technique (including smoke machines, which are quite handy!).  And finally, came to a place where I saw the deep need for restoration, though not in structure (which only leads to more leaky wineskins) but for seeing the Gospel again as GOOD NEWS to me, and to everyone.  Orientation, Disorientation, Reorientation.
How long has it been since we saw Christ’s Gospel on earth as pure joy and good news to us?  When was the last time we read Psalm 16:11, ” You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand,” and actually felt butterflies in our stomach?  When did we last know for sure in the depths of our hearts that God wanted to live in intimate proximity to you and me???  This for me is the TRUE restoration that God is after among his people.  How that happens is through pure, divine, ongoing relationship with the Lord, and with his Bride the church!

How AWESOME to be a part of that bride, which is becoming more and more healthy and reflecting more and more of her companion’s character!  The definition of “organic” church means that there is no final wineskin that will wrap around this Bride, but that she will constantly be sheltered by the cocoon of transformation, and constantly be breaking free to experience new life!  This is much bigger than just the “restoration” of the original order of worship, it is about restoring the entire creation to abide in God’s great delight.  Organic church for me is the ongoing restoration from fallenness to fulfillment in Jesus Christ alone.

It was neat to see in this article some awareness raised among Churches of Christ not in what we are doing, but what we are trying to become.  I’m tired of doing church.  I want to BE the church with my family and friends 24/7.  I want to be committed in a covenant relationship with brothers and sisters that enjoy authentic worship, both in song, and in loving service to each other.  I want to be whisked away in evangelistic mission, not because I have to prove my love to my Lord, but because I have found my true rest in being his, and he has shown me exactly what he would have me do.

For more - read the Washington Post article that came out last Sunday.

Last Thursday I took a nice drive down to Austin, TX with some old friends and some new faces to gather for a Texas-wide organic church planter’s conference on coaching.

In terms of moving people deeper into realizing their potential in God’s Kingdom, I think coaching offers a healthy alternative.  Rather than top-down training programs that command and control the blossoming church leader, the coach simply learns to ask questions to the coachee in hopes of raising their awareness and responsibility towards a certain topic that the coachee is interested in growing in.  The “leader” is the one being coached, not the coach himself.  This is a big paradigm shift for me, because it means that I must have faith that God can be trusted with the other person’s life; it is not all up to me to see discipleship happen in others.
As the weekend went on, we Abilenians built closer relationships with each other, and shared stories about the particular communities and house churches we were involved in.  It was inspiring to hear about the diversity found in the Jesus Family Network, and at the same time to hear about the common dream to see Christ formed among natural relationships in our city!  Over lunch, just before our return to Abilene, the 6 of us sat around the table and challenged each other to take new steps in creating a more cohesive church network in our city.  We talked about the need to raise awareness in our individual house churches - sharing what God is doing around the city.  We encouraged each other to begin coaching relationships with people of similar giftings.  It is simply amazing to see what can happen when you put two pastors in the same room and give them opportunity to learn from one another.  I’m hoping and praying that as the network of simple churches in Abilene develops, more and more people of similar gifting will find each other and began to rely on each other for resources, encouragement and coaching.

In a lot of ways, it all revolves around stories.  I get so encouraged hearing about the ways God is working in parts all over Abilene, outside of my little world.  I came back from Austin so excited that I mapped out all of the house churches in the city, as well as the families that are interested in starting one soon.

I think one of the biggest potential dangers in house churches is the tendency to isolate ourselves from the larger family of Christ.  The more my wife and I begin to move into this way of living, the more we are hearing of others who are doing the same.  Wouldn’t it be foolish to avoid each other?

At the very end of the conference, Kent Smith gave the “invitation”.  No, not for someone to come forward and be baptized, (although I DO wish we had ended the afternoon with “Just as I am,”)  but rather the DAWN invitation.  Basically, it is a broad overview of what DAWN (Disciple a Whole Nation) is all about (a flat-structured organization that promotes church planting awareness and training all over the world, including North America), as well as an invitation to join the emerging coaching network in the United States.  DAWN realizes how many people are out there truly working at planting a healthy church in their living room, but also is realistic about the fact that many of these Christians are going to need some encouragement and coaching.  Kent asked us as church planters from all over Texas to consider joining this network of coaches, and to invite others as well.  While I don’t want to be overwhelmed with “another responsibility”, it really sounds like this coaching network is there mainly for each other’s general encouragement and provides great opportunities to remain connected to others who are doing the same things you care about.  Very cool.

by Virginia Hamilton

I played, a child both wild and meek,
with God at games of hide-and-seek.
I searched in vain the usual places
and found a thousand saddened faces.

“Your God is hidden in heaven,” they said;
“You’ll see him only when you’re dead.”
How could I make them understand
God often took me by the hand?
Then as my tears began to fall
I felt his touch and heard his call,
“I never hid from you at all.”

I played with God a game of tag,
his mantle flying like a flag.
I gave my God a good head start
but caught him running in my heart.

I played with God the game “I Spy,”
but lost him with my fading eye,
till playmate God in his pure kindness,
printed his image on my blindness.

St. Theodorus the Great Ascetic writes that things can only be understood in terms of their purpose. This describes not only the whole, but also the parts which make up that whole. Every bit has a piece to play in the overarching purpose of a specific thing. He later writes that the purpose of our life is blessedness, or what is the same thing, the kingdom of heaven or of God. Simplified, he says our purpose is to receive an “influx of the divine”, for by the influx that which is lacking and imperfect in us is supplied and perfected.

Sometimes I feel like I know what my purpose in life is – to glorify God, or to “make disciples”…things like that. But truly, these are all purposes of my own power. A can opener’s purpose is to open cans, but it cannot do it by its own power. By its own power its only purpose is to sit there and look like a can opener should. Its purpose is to sit there patiently until someone of greater purpose come along and takes a hold of the can opener and uses it for a purpose that is beyond what it could do on its own. I am much like this can opener. I can make purposes that sound good, and are necessary – but truly the “influx of the divine” is a direct statement about our powerlessness and our purposelessness without a being of higher purpose coming along to enable us to live for the purest purposes we are able.

Theodorus calls this “deification”. I have always been a little nervous about this phrase, which means we become more and more of God. (not just like God!) However, if we truly believe that we are used by God to fulfill the greatest purpose in our lives, we again must see ourselves as being the extension of God into the world for his purposes. Much like a pen, a writer is only tacitly aware that she is touching the pen; rather she feels the paper and the words she is writing with the pen. Of course, this is not a simple process. We have all been introduced to the pen at one point in our life, and it was not a smooth transition from finger paint and scribbles. When we learned to write, we not only learned an alphabet, we learned to inhabit a tool and send an influx of our own nature through the tool and express ourselves on the other side. Deification is much the same process. God is introduced to something new in us, and when we invite him to take our life and live through us, we become the pen through which he will write his masterpiece. At first pens and fingers do not always cooperate, and there are wide margins and larger prints, but over time, God’s writing through us becomes a majestic calligraphy of divine beauty. This “influx of the divine” is a slow, wonderful, painful process of sacrifice and patience. But in the end we arrive at our purpose – blessedness in the Kingdom of God’s Heaven, right here on earth.