Last year I got to meet with someone doing a church plant in my area. He's a paid worker leading a small group of people from the same church that's moved into the area to do a church plant. An intentional community of sorts. I always get excited about this kind of thing so I organised to meet with him and hear what they were doing. After being asked a few questions about how evangelical I was I got the feeling that I was not the kind of person they are looking for to be part of their community. Although I expressed interest to meet with other people who are part of the plant, I was told just to look at their infrequently updated website.
The conversation felt very much like my initial church surfing in the area. The underlying message from each church was always the same. "this is the way we do things here... Join in and do it our way or don't"
It's frustrating but nothing out of the ordinary. Turn up to a liberal church and tell them you believe in 7 day creation, or turn up to a conservative church and tell them you think the first 11 chapters of genesis are myth and you'll get the same awkward treatment. It's because you're the kind of person that they never intended to have in their community.
As Xn communities we're comfortable with people who believe the same as us and we're comfortable with people who might journey with us until they end up believing the same as us. Basically church is open to anyone on the line between unbelief and belief just like us. It's the way that we as church communities keep control of what we believe. For as much as Xns talk about going on a journey with people we always want that person to end up believing the same things we do and usually learning those beliefs from us or in the same way we did. If you've found yourself believing something other than what the orthodox for that church is they don't know what to do with you. Apart from maybe hope you go away.
This is perhaps one of the reasons I get so irritated when I sense someone trying to sniff out if I'm evangelical or liberal. They want to know if I fit on their line between unbelief and what they believe. If I fit we can work together if not then we'll usually talk platitudes about all believing the same gospel but then work completely independently of each other.
I'd like to propose an unintentional community? One where a group of Xns with wildly diverse beliefs and ideas work, live and play together.
The conversation felt very much like my initial church surfing in the area. The underlying message from each church was always the same. "this is the way we do things here... Join in and do it our way or don't"
It's frustrating but nothing out of the ordinary. Turn up to a liberal church and tell them you believe in 7 day creation, or turn up to a conservative church and tell them you think the first 11 chapters of genesis are myth and you'll get the same awkward treatment. It's because you're the kind of person that they never intended to have in their community.
As Xn communities we're comfortable with people who believe the same as us and we're comfortable with people who might journey with us until they end up believing the same as us. Basically church is open to anyone on the line between unbelief and belief just like us. It's the way that we as church communities keep control of what we believe. For as much as Xns talk about going on a journey with people we always want that person to end up believing the same things we do and usually learning those beliefs from us or in the same way we did. If you've found yourself believing something other than what the orthodox for that church is they don't know what to do with you. Apart from maybe hope you go away.
This is perhaps one of the reasons I get so irritated when I sense someone trying to sniff out if I'm evangelical or liberal. They want to know if I fit on their line between unbelief and what they believe. If I fit we can work together if not then we'll usually talk platitudes about all believing the same gospel but then work completely independently of each other.
I'd like to propose an unintentional community? One where a group of Xns with wildly diverse beliefs and ideas work, live and play together.
4 comments:
Such a difficult thing! I've tried going to a charismatic church for three years now, against the grain of my own experience and belief. I've found it so hard to be church with the people who have very different beliefs - zionists, creationists, etc. Their Jesus is so different to mine. This is why I always sniff out where someone is coming from and attempt to label them. :)
(In my best moments, I can appreciate many diverse movements of Christianity and emphasise their best aspects.)
this already exists Chris, its called normal life, there's only one catch, you can't talk about religion, christianity, or your faith
So I was doing a search for chords for dumpster divers by the psalters to sing at church on sunday, somehow i stumbled on your site and found all your valley songs which I instantly decided was a complete jackpot. we have been moving away from shitty music and into something a bit different and the songs you have there are brilliant, so thank-you for your collection. i started a small collection myself (http://www.nathancolquhoun.com/2008/04/04/good-songs-to-sing-at-church), but your list is remarkable, thank-you
then i read this post, and i realized that we are on the same wave length in terms of what we are wrestling with. just this week we have had some more conservative types declare that they were leaving our small little church plant because one of the leaders in the church (me) is wrong in saying he doesn't know where he stands on the homosexual issue. I am not even telling them that I disagree, I simply refuse to land on the issue. So they leave.
Anyway, thanks for the writing and your thoughts, keep it up, I'll be following your blog from here on in. I'm not sure where you are from, but let me know and if we're ever in the same neighbourhood (yup I'm Canadian) we'll have to grab a coffee.
Hey Nathan H,
Difficult indeed, friggin' difficult and there maybe times were our own conscious dictates that we need to draw a line in the sand. But I suspect this would happen a lot less than say regular denominational lines or similar.
Hey Nathan C,
Thanks for the comment. You've inspired me to keep updating the list with chords, lyrics and music. Would love to grab a coffee at some stage but I'm Australian (Perth to be exact) so it maybe unlikely that our paths will cross. Sounds tough with people leaving from a small church plant. I've written a couple of thoughts (but not for a while) on homosexuality here's the link if it helps. http://achurchlessfaith.blogspot.com/2005/09/homosexuality-new-leprosy.html
Chris
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