This Blog is a bit meandering at times. In my mind, at least, I have been trying to crystallise things a little of late. I'm starting to rethink what it might mean to have a churchless faith. What it would mean to have a holistic, self contained, independent faith. Before I get to this I thought it might be helpful to go over my own history to how I got this current point in my life.
1982 - 1998: Happy regular church going dude. Maybe occasionally radical compared to some but always really safely in the church mold. In 1992 I moved to a new city where all of my new friends were non Xns. About halfway through 1992 I found a church to be a part of. Six years later in 1998 all of my friends were Xn and my entire life felt like it was self contained in what was a quite comfortable Xn ghetto.
1998 - 2001: Mid 1998 I moved to a new city with the intention of getting to know more people than just church people, which I did. I still wanted to be involved with Xns in some way so I became involved in a High School Xn outreach group. Now as far as these things go this group was pretty cool (even if I may say so myself). None the less, as the group we went through schools suggesting that students "Burn their plastic Jesus" and showing them how what Jesus said had more in common with Marilyn Manson and Kurt Cobain than they did with Fred Nile we started asking each other "Where are we sending these people to?" Often what we said then non church kids seem to like it more than the nervous church leaders. Throw into the mix that it was impossible slight loss that outreach was costing us we decided to call it a day and we became involved in "the church" hoping that somehow I could bridge the gap between mission and church.
2002 - 2005: I started work for a major denomination and studied theology at Uni. I learnt a lot from that job and have a lot of respect for those in the denomination but I'm not sure I did much to bridge the divide between the average Sunday pew sitter and those Nirvana listening high school students I met years before. The job was always part time and the second part time job I had to make living possible wanted me to work full time for them or quit. So I did.
2005: In 2005 I decided to try living a churchless faith. I hadn't really been going to church since 1998 but working for a denomination meant I was at a church most Sundays and studying theology meant I was always wrestling with my faith. Both these things had now ceased. I had heard of many people ticked of with "the church" who leave to do the stuff they wish their church was doing yet they end up doing less once they were out of church. So I decided to start this blog as a way of keeping myself accountable.
2006: In 2006 I started going back to a church because I thought it would be good to hang out with Xns again..
2007: I started getting frustrated with church, particularly the Sunday morning service so now looking at rethinking the churchless faith thing. I'm thinking what might an independent holistic churchless faith look like. Something that might naturally fuse church and mission but yet be something that other people frustrated with church or even the Nirvana listening high school student could follow without having to be needlessly frustrated. I know that Mike Frost thinks mission and Xy should be done with others but sometimes that's just not possible. Sometimes everyone you knew in your early 20's buys houses in suburbs you can't afford to live in or they move to the distant corner of suburbia that is nearest to their relatives and they are just as burnt out as you when it comes to trying some kind of Xn community again.
Personally I get my energy from being solitary rather than social and I'm sure there are others out there who can relate to this and feel odd and alone and are too burnt to risk throwing themselves into a Xn community again whether that be missional, churchy, emergent, both or whatever groovy label you care to name.
So, how can I live an independent churchles faith where I have the energy to connect with others, grow as person and serve others. My ideas on that next time.
1982 - 1998: Happy regular church going dude. Maybe occasionally radical compared to some but always really safely in the church mold. In 1992 I moved to a new city where all of my new friends were non Xns. About halfway through 1992 I found a church to be a part of. Six years later in 1998 all of my friends were Xn and my entire life felt like it was self contained in what was a quite comfortable Xn ghetto.
1998 - 2001: Mid 1998 I moved to a new city with the intention of getting to know more people than just church people, which I did. I still wanted to be involved with Xns in some way so I became involved in a High School Xn outreach group. Now as far as these things go this group was pretty cool (even if I may say so myself). None the less, as the group we went through schools suggesting that students "Burn their plastic Jesus" and showing them how what Jesus said had more in common with Marilyn Manson and Kurt Cobain than they did with Fred Nile we started asking each other "Where are we sending these people to?" Often what we said then non church kids seem to like it more than the nervous church leaders. Throw into the mix that it was impossible slight loss that outreach was costing us we decided to call it a day and we became involved in "the church" hoping that somehow I could bridge the gap between mission and church.
2002 - 2005: I started work for a major denomination and studied theology at Uni. I learnt a lot from that job and have a lot of respect for those in the denomination but I'm not sure I did much to bridge the divide between the average Sunday pew sitter and those Nirvana listening high school students I met years before. The job was always part time and the second part time job I had to make living possible wanted me to work full time for them or quit. So I did.
2005: In 2005 I decided to try living a churchless faith. I hadn't really been going to church since 1998 but working for a denomination meant I was at a church most Sundays and studying theology meant I was always wrestling with my faith. Both these things had now ceased. I had heard of many people ticked of with "the church" who leave to do the stuff they wish their church was doing yet they end up doing less once they were out of church. So I decided to start this blog as a way of keeping myself accountable.
2006: In 2006 I started going back to a church because I thought it would be good to hang out with Xns again..
2007: I started getting frustrated with church, particularly the Sunday morning service so now looking at rethinking the churchless faith thing. I'm thinking what might an independent holistic churchless faith look like. Something that might naturally fuse church and mission but yet be something that other people frustrated with church or even the Nirvana listening high school student could follow without having to be needlessly frustrated. I know that Mike Frost thinks mission and Xy should be done with others but sometimes that's just not possible. Sometimes everyone you knew in your early 20's buys houses in suburbs you can't afford to live in or they move to the distant corner of suburbia that is nearest to their relatives and they are just as burnt out as you when it comes to trying some kind of Xn community again.
Personally I get my energy from being solitary rather than social and I'm sure there are others out there who can relate to this and feel odd and alone and are too burnt to risk throwing themselves into a Xn community again whether that be missional, churchy, emergent, both or whatever groovy label you care to name.
So, how can I live an independent churchles faith where I have the energy to connect with others, grow as person and serve others. My ideas on that next time.
4 comments:
We have some similarities in our stories.
My approach has been to look for a common faith (with faith defined as a trust and awe that pushes one onward toward that which (s)he trusts). I've found similarities among God seekers regardless of the culture they grew up in. I've also found, which you probably have also in your theological studies, that Christianity contains deep connections to other religions. But one must go outside the walls of the church compound to find these.
Regards. Wishing you success.
Thanks Bill
we did good stuff
we worked hard
we have endeavoured to remain faithful
must be time to visit nEW nORCIA!
frog
In the end after theologising endlessly, I have to admit after 20 years of Sunday services in all shapes and sizes, church bores me rigid. It does nothing to me spiritually or relationally.
www.everyhomeachurch.blog.co.uk
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