|
We embark upon this project holding the following core
convictions:
- We recognize that the
traditional church setting has become a subculture unto
itself, and is
rapidly losing traction with the culture around us. There is a huge shift taking
place in the culture, and the disconnect between the church and the
world is widening--and the church has not been adapting. We are convinced that the
solution lies in looking backward and forward at the same time--to
return to the basics of the mission of Christ, see it through a fresh
lens, and allow Christ in us to re-connect us to the people He died to
save.
- We believe that fresh
expressions of the church need to be contextual. Rather than planting churches by forming new
"Christian communities" and trying to get people to "join", we believe
we need to take the
gospel to where they are, allowing community form naturally
from that encounter.
"Church" simply does not have to look like Sunday Morning
Pulpit-and-Pew. We are now
open to new ways for the church to be shaped--holding to Scripture, but
not to tradition for tradition’s sake.
- We recognize that instead of
stuffing our own gifts into a box called "ministry", we need to allow
our gifts to be the ministry.
This past season has totally deconstructed our picture of
ministry, and even of "church".
We have been given a clean palate, free of unnecessary
limitations, to explore fresh ways for our gifts to be
used.
- We recognize that "Father's
business" encompasses far more than the traditional, clerical forms of
ministry, and can take an endless number of forms; and we are
encouraged to explore multiple out-of-the-box possibilities to
participate in Father's business.
- We acknowledge that regardless
what form ministry might take, the Spirit of Christ was already at work
in the life of each individual we will encounter, and will remain with
that individual after we leave. We purpose to respect this truth and not try
to be anyone's savior. We do not "bring" the
Kingdom of God; we only reveal it.
- We
recognize that we are likely to be far more effective as ministers in an
organic, community-based setting rather than attempting to prop up an
organization for its own sake.
|