A Mosaic of Expressions
I mentioned in an earlier post that Lynn and I recently spent a Saturday in Columbia S.C. with a group of church planters. This gathering was brought together and hosted by a new friend of mine named Jeff Shipman. He is an apostolic leader of a church in Columbia and has a great vision for helping church planters live out their calling.
As I thought about what I should write tonight I reflected upon something he said that has really stuck with me. His words stay with me because I tend to be a bit (okay a lot)
myopic in my views about church and ministry, and what he said pushes against that tendency in me in a healthy way.
In this blog I've expressed frustrations with the American expressions of church around us. I've talked about ways to do worship gatherings differently. I've spoken favorably of the house church movement while cynically describing the more traditional forms all around us. But there is one truth that I've not done well at affirming. A mosaic is much more beautiful than a uniformly painted wall.
The truth is (and Jeff is so good at making this clear) that if we are going to see the Kingdom of God infiltrate our city, we need a mosaic of ecclesial expressions because different expressions will reach different people. The worship gathering I envision at Epic Church will probably not reach baby boomers. But guess what...Jesus died and rose again for baby boomers too. So as passionately as I am thinking about ways to reach 20-somethings at Epic with a worship "service" that would seem bizarre to boomers, we need people who are thinking about ways to reach 50-somethings with expressions of church that will most resonate with that generation of people.
As intrigued as I am with the house church movement as a means of reaching a generation of young people who search for spirituality in authentic, relational community and through social activism, there are still people who will drive to the First ______ist Church on the corner to find answers for the spiritual stirring that is beginning to happen in them. We need that church to be there and to be missional.
I love Jeff's approach. They draw circles on the map, identify the population and the churches within that circle, and then find ways for all different kinds of churches under different denominational signing to work together in assuming evangelistic responsibility for the people living in those circles. Jeff knows that he needs the other churches, regardless of how their expressions of church life may differ from his.
I (we) would do well to learn from him.