Imperfect Worship

Last night I witnessed something pretty cool. I spoke to a college group/campus ministry on campus and had an amazing time. It was simple, straight-forward and refreshing. Once the music began I quickly noticed that from time to time the percussionist would be off beat … sometimes subtly and other times more noticeably and blatant. But the great thing was that it didn’t really matter.  It didn’t detract, distract, not even take away from the experience.  As a matter of fact that element alone enhanced everything.  Why? Worship is not about being good but simply worshipping, period.

I guess I tire of hearing how giving God “our best” and words like “excellence” is a cover-up to our feeble attempt to entertain people into the Kingdom.  I know those are strong words and I know full well how powerful music is in culture but come on, do we really think a kickin’ band draws people into the Kingdom? Maybe this is an issue of foundationalism. If the main thing we’re “selling” to get people to come to our worship gatherings and then to stick is our music then I would say we’re off track.

I’m not downplaying good music and we all know it when we hear it but last night as we talked about church history, culture, and wordview shifts I couldn’t help but notice how when the church is birthed in any culture there will be beautiful aspects that radiate the bride of Christ and at the same time there will be blind spots that we simply cannot see because this is the culture we live in and breathe in. How much of the culture’s capitalism and materialism has influenced the church today?  I know this is somewhat an old and well-trodden topic that has been picked apart by many but every now and then I just wonder … and wonder out loud.

I’m also not too sure where the balance is as well. I like good music but at the same time there’s something refreshing about a simple gathering of people who’re there to worship. No polish, no smooth transitions, but simple adoration of God. I also realize that that doesn’t have to be separated from high quality of music.  I’m simply afraid we’ve high-jacked worship to be about having and doing trendy music and if you’re not fortunate to have access to great bands then you’re a second-rate church because you don’t quite have down the latest Crowder or Tomlin songs.

Planting at the U

There’s something definitely appealing about planting a church on or around a large university campus.  I have to say that these places are some of my favorites to be around because of the energy and limitless potential found within.  As I walk around or sit in coffee shops I wonder which engineering student is going to do something amazing, which MBA student will make their first million by 30, or which law student will get into sports law, become an agent, and represent pro athletes?  See the potential?  Well, what about the church?  What about new church plants?

No one denies that these 4-5 years in college are some of the most influential of your life.  Often times decisions made in this time period will set the trajectory for the rest of your life. According to creative-class-guru-economist Richard Florida the 3 most important decisions in your life are … What are you going to do (job)? With who (spouse)? And where?  Your time in college shapes and influences those 3 decisions tremendously.

What about spiritually? While students are wrestling with those 3 questions what if we infused church planting / discipleship into their DNA? I know we’ve had campus ministries for decades now and one of the struggles is that, like youth ministry in high school, it’s hard for college students to connect with a church and stay connected.  Many involved in campus ministry may be super active spiritually but struggle to connect with a local church. Why do we assume that all of the sudden after 4 years when they move on they’ll seamlessly integrate into a local church?  I’d define church anywhere ranging from an upstart church plant, to a typical house church, and all of the hybrids in between.

That’s where church planting on campus is so key. It integrates students into the church / a church from the beginning.  How cool would it be that their exposure to following Jesus in the context of a local church like this is so profound and simple that when they go on as engineers, MBA-types, or lawyers that they’d be able to replicate what they experienced?  Instead of trying to graft into an existing church maybe it’d make more sense for them to simply plant?

Imagine what’d happen after 1-2 decades of this kind of thinking on our major college campuses?  Wow …

New Urbanism in Small City, USA

It’s funny, I post on New Urbanism last night and as I sit here this morning at the Coffee Hound in Normal, IL I’m looking out the window at the reality of this concept unfolding before me. Home to Illinois State University downtown (or actually called Uptown) Normal is going through a revitalization process of its own as they apply principles of New Urbanism.  Wider sidewalks, beautified streetscape, new incoming trendy apartment lofts, right next to the university, shops and restaurants galore … and my first question always is, “Where’s the church?”

I know the inherent dangers of chasing after such things as New Urbanism because these types of areas attract young urban singles and DINKS (double-income no kids) who tend to be white collar, have discretionary income, and so on.  Often times areas being revitalized are older, thus have great character, and have fallen on hard times.  Usually lower income working class people live in the area. But when a place becomes a hotbed and building and retrofitting sets in the cost of living sky rockets which forces working class families out (maybe not so much in Normal, IL). A church could be planted in these areas and be just as homogeneous as the suburbs and the poor/lower class will only continued to be marginalized and forgotten.

My dream would be to plant churches in these hotbeds with a church having a distinct missional ecclesiology.  The trajectory is outward and all people are loved and cared for whether that be mainstream or marginalized.  It could be akin to some of the apostle Paul’s writings where he talks about how when we’re in Christ there’s neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female … poor nor wealthy, white collar nor blue collar nor no-collar, Black nor White nor Yellow, etc.  In Christ we’re all family loving and serving one another as well as our cities.

I’m humbled to live in such a time as this where cities are truly the new frontier in mission whether that be Normal, New Songdo City in South Korea, Dubai (UAE), or wherever.

Campus Connection

Yesterday I had a blast hanging out with Michael Arthur at Millikin University.  He’s a local pastor who’s also ramping up to plant a church and is trying to create a new campus ministry from scratch at the same time … amazing guy. We met for coffee on campus (well, except both of us didn’t actually drink coffee) yesterday, talked, and then explored the campus.  I don’t know if there’s anything I love more than hanging out on college campuses. I love the differences, the diversity, the history, the buildings, the vibe and of course the students. To go from Monday where I was on campus at the University of Illinois with over 40,000 students to Millikin with 2,500 students is a fun game in compare and contrast.

Since I like new adventures I’m particularly drawn to the idea of starting new things on or around college campuses.  Since every school is different then the way to go about it varies as well.  Do you do a conventional large group gathering?  Dorm / house churches?  Do you simply plant a church on campus?  Do you plant a church in the area and simply make it college friendly?  Along with that are other questions like … how do you meet students?  What’s the best way to connect with them?  How do you gather a group when you’re not a student?  I think the most exciting thing is that there is no set way.  Every campus requires a different approach, different methodologies, and new innovative ways.

I guess the tried and “true” way feels like bland vanilla ice cream to me.  Why not do something new?  Why not try something no one ever has done before?

Church Planting and the Movement of God

Often times I vacillate back and forth in my thinking in regards to church planting. It’s like I have a Calvinistic Sean fighting in a cage match with the Arminian Sean and the results are bloody knuckles, fat lips, bruises, and a heck of a good time.

Part of me just wants to just jump into the melee of church planting and start doing, doing, doing.  It’s kind of the notion of running out the door sprinting and yelling behind my shoulder, “Hey Lord, bless meeeeeee …!!!”  Often times when I see a need I just want to do something about it or grab someone by the collar and pull them with me.  Lack of progress is frustrating for me and I need to see tangible results / movement before I go to sleep every night.  Groups or leaders involved in church planting or campus ministry who spend gobs of time in prayer and Bible study frustrate me because I just want to yell, “Ok, that’s fine but just DO something!”

At the other end of the octagon is the calm, cool, collected, and trusting part of me. I don’t want to be a bull in a China closet, I don’t want to run out from under God’s protective umbrella, and I want to be patient, trusting God, attentively listening for His voice, seeking Him, and straining with all of my might to hear what He’s doing already and how I can be involved. It’s the idea that God was already at work here long before I got here and my job is to listen for His voice, look where He’s moving and stirring hearts, and then join Him giving Him the glory.

I realize both are part of the same pie or two sides of the same coin, but right now I’m learning trust, dependency, and surrendering to God. Just as the “Filioque Controversy” has taught me much regarding God’s already work in the world I’m learning that when I catch a glimpse of who He is, what He’s already doing, and join Him then ministry is a heck of a lot easier (and funner!).  Then when that happens I can run after it with all of the gusto I have.

Church planting and campus minsitry seems to be clicking best when there’s a healthy tension between both sides … trusting and doing, listening and acting, seeking and obeying …

Swank Urbanites

Last night we went out on the town in ATL and landed in a hip, trendy, and rather swank club that was bumpin’ with activity.  As the night wore on the more vibrant it became. Most of them were young singles living in the city.  The buzz and electricity of the place was life-giving.

The dude who brought us there was Tim Wolfe who planted 1027 Church. Not only did he plant that church but he works with many in the area planting other churches.  It was beyond exciting to hear the stories and see what God is doing in this city. So 5 of us sat there last night talking about planting churches in the city whether it was Seattle, Atlanta, or wherever.  Earlier that day I had heard Tim talk to a group of about 40-50 church planter guys about reaching young adults and he centered his talk around the city since that’s where most of these young adult live.

The diversity and complexity of city life is both an obstacle and a catalyst for church planting.  When you throw together high levels of ethnic diversity, a whole plethora of sexual orientations (straight, gay, bi, trans), and a varied socio-economic background you have immensely tough  but fertile soil for church planting.  From our conversations earlier in the day to what we saw last night it is true … most of our church planting efforts and strategies don’t factor in this explosive-growth population segment.  How do you reach poor urban neighborhoods? How do you reach new live-work-play urban neighborhoods (mini-cities) like Atlantic Station?

It’s a completely different game than the suburbs.

Planting Churches On/Around College Campuses

This morning I visited Vine Community Church in Carbondale, IL. It was an amazing time worshipping with that group of believers.  It’s funny because in light of my last blog about worship gatherings I know sometimes I give the impression I think they’re wrong or evil or of the devil.  So not true.  I just like to explore, ponder, and question things.  If truth were told I LOVE gathering with other believers and worshipping corporately. I even love music styles that resonate with my heart where I’m swept away.

I had never heard of Vine Church before I got to Carbondale on Friday.  I was supposed to hit up one of our tribal (SBC) churches but once I heard of Vine, checked them out on the ‘net, I knew I had to go.  As I scoured their website I was super impressed … their passion for college campuses, their church planting efforts, and their church planting network they’ve created. I was eager to visit them today and so I came in with high expectations. I wasn’t disappointed.

The music was phenom, the message was grace-based and right on, and I totally dug the overall vibe of their gathering hang-out (still trying to get away from saying things like “church” unless it is about the people). What was most impressive was the sheer number of college students and young adults there.  I was blown away.  Afterwards as I chatted with Sandor (the pastor) he said that their college student numbers weren’t as high as they were even a year ago and that they were at about 40% right now.  40% of 1,500 adults?  That’s 600 college students!  If you were to add up every campus ministry at Southern Illinois University I don’t think it’d add up to 600 students.

So what then does this say then to the potential of planting churches around campuses? Would it make better sense to invest in collegiate church planting or campus ministries?  Obviously both are vital but what I’ve seen at Vine and countless other churches is a longer and more sustained impact and influence.  Even today in his message Sandor talked about what a blessing it was to start a church with mostly college students and how they sacrificially gave of their tithes and lives to get the church off the ground.  Usually when we talk about planting churches with college students I often hear how they’re a drain, they don’t give, and aren’t that productive.  I’m here to say that is NOT true AT ALL!!!

This is why I’m excited that in our NEXT/GEN world we’re retooling to do more collegiate church planting.  We’re not abandoning campus ministries but I think for long term influence and a larger impact a new church geared towards college students is the way to go.  Your thoughts?

What If?

I think one of the benefits of not growing up thick in the churched culture is that I’ve always felt like an outsider looking in, even still to this day.  This has led me to always be asking lots of questions of why we do what we do … and now 16 years later after deciding to follow Jesus that part of me hasn’t changed.

This last few days I’ve been pouring over research and demographic materials and websites from a couple of regional small cities here with a burgeoning Creative Class.  These great cities also house top notch universities as well as downtown cores in the revitalization process.  One city in particular, Champaign, even was bold enough to state that they’re investing in the downtown core because of Richard Florida’s writings on this Creative Class and their desire to attract and keep this valuable asset.

What I’m constantly doing is asking how we need to go about church planting differently.  Here’s the reality … our current strategies have brought us our current results yet we all dream and long for a true movement.  Me too but our current practices will NOT take us there.

WHAT IF?  What if the way to movements hasn’t been conceived in our imaginations yet? What if we’re honest enough to admit our current funding processes and strategies will not and can not birth a movement?  What if we opened our eyes to see that the more control institutions have the more it squelches movements?  What if we learned that less control meant fertile soil for something spectacular to happen?  What if all our current strategies are doing is quenching the Holy Spirit as we rely on our own wisdom?  What if God still uses foolish things to confound the wise? What if the foolish things were ordinary Christians in the marketplace and the wise were us denominational church planting strategists?  What if we had less strategies and more action? What if we realized that the world doesn’t need another new church like the way we’ve beeing doing it?

What if we had it all wrong?  What if we chucked our plans and lived life on the lunatic fringe of church planting?

The Church as Transforming Agent

So we’re in our monthly all-team all-day staff meeting in a downtown coffee shop in Springfield.  The goal is to work on 2010 goals which seems a LONG way off.  (I can’t even think beyond Christmas ‘08 it seems) However, we’re talking vision now and how everything flows from vision.  The vision for us is a New Testament church within easy reach of every person in Illinois.  What does that mean?  Is it clear?  Is it even inspiring?  Does it move us to action?  Does it evoke passion?

So what?  What if we plant 3,000 churches in the next few years?  If we’re planting “conventional churches” then I see no impact nor influence on culture.  Right now, we have GOBS of churches that have little to no influence on culture. The early church grew because they were agents of community transformation it seems … living a radically different life, rescuing babies from the trash dumps, and so on.  I believe we can plant thousands of churches but have no affect on culture.  BUT, that’s not what we want.  Maybe our goal should be holistic community transformation which is accomplished by the planting of thousands of NT churches?

Push back … what are your thoughts?

Cyborgs and Church Planting

We’re currently living in the tension of being “ecclesiological cyborgs.” Somehow someway we’re part machine (i.e. programmatic, corporate, and big “biz”) but yet we’re also part organic matter (fluid, dynamic, squishy).  Welcome to church planting and missional tension we feel today.  If you were to take a cursory glance across the landscape of church history you’ll note how the church evolved from an incredibly fluid and organic movement to one that is marked by institution, organization charts, and it resembles more of a corporation than a family.

As culture continues to shift and contort at a pace unparalleled in human history one of the collateral effects is that it is challenging the church’s base ecclesiological assumptions.  Churches that once were highly programmatic are beginning to shed those mechanistic restraints and rediscovering an ancient and organic form of Christianity akin to the early church. The church’s impulse is centrifugal and a missional outlook is providing the framework of the way church is done. This discussion was on the front-burner during a recent conference in Deerfield where Ed Stetzer examined the missional nature of the church.

In the conference Stetzer noted that missional is not a fad like seeker or emerging, but instead of whole new way of living / being for the church. This supercedes peripheral issues like music, polity, and brand of church.  A missional church is one that sees itself as the missionary to culture.  Collectively and individually the church is the transforming agent in culture.  As we look to plant Next Gen churches and start new campus ministries our desire is that in everything we do it is missional in nature.