There is a longing for intimacy in our society. Todd said, “Gen Xers and Millenials (sic) have a real desire for community. Longing for it. “If we’re willing to be gatherers there is no shortage of people who would like to be invited into that.” Todd noted, “If you create the space and invite the Spirit He will not refuse the invitation.” Would you be willing to create space in your neighborhood, in your home perhaps, and invite the Spirit and your neighbors?
Source: This is What it Looks Like to Accidentally Become a Church – Fresh Expressions US
If you have been following my blog for any length of time or listening to the podcast, you’ll know I value the type of things that happened with these five families mentioned in the article I’ve linked to here. Our situation in Oikos Cedros is very similar.
Part way through the article the author asks if this can legitimately be called a “church” when several families, whether Christian or not, are meeting together once per week like this. I think the answer to that question — which I think is rhetorical — is a little bit more complicated than a simple yes or no answer. Especially since all believers in Christ make up the Church, but I’m willing to bet the author didn’t wasn’t phrasing the question that way accidentally.
Of course such a meeting, with believers anyway, is “church”, whether they meet on Sunday mornings under a steeple or not. I’m not criticizing the original article because I’ve spent some time on their site and I get what they’re doing and I like it.
I just thought of this particular idea while reading it: what if not only is the church not a building, but it’s not a specific frame of time, either?
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Chew on that for yourself, as I’m not even finished figuring out what I mean by that!
I’d also like to ask a different question: would people who leave traditional church and evangelize and disciple their neighbors in a similar way as Todd be considered a part of the “dones”? You know, the when that’s said derogatorily of them?
Check out the original article here.
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