Smashing the God Box

Posted on Nov 19, 2011 in The Church | 0 comments

I had the opportunity to travel to California recently to visit a number of ministries that would never define themselves as a “church.”  However, I am getting a sense that how we define church is shifting.  This is how Kathy Escobar defined church in her book “Down We Go”:  Kathy says,

“My working definition of church is: “People gathered together in some way, shape, or form to learn and practice the ways of Jesus and pass on love, hope, mercy, justice and healing in a broken weird world.”

While I was in California, I participated in a regional conversation hosted by an organization called City Net.  The participants were seeking to bring together Christian Community Development and  Asset Based Community Development with the concept of being the church in the world ushering in the Kingdom of God.  There were more than 20 individuals participating in the conversation and most of the participants were under 30 years of age.  They came from new church plants, more traditional churches that were moving toward a missional paradigm, faith-based non-profits, and some were simply Christians who had banded together to be Christ in the world.

As diverse as the group was, they were all committing to be Christ presence in a specific geographic area and all had a desire to cultivate “little pockets of love.”  It was absolutely fascinating to see all the different ways these new wine skins were being shaped.  Most were very organic.  I don’t think any were being lead by senior pastors.  This is a very grass roots movement that is being driven largely by younger Christians seeking a more authentic way of living their faith.

Crissy Brooks is the founder of one of the more mature expressions of this movement in the area.  Crissy moved into an under-resourced community and began applying ABCD principals as she gathered her neighbors together and they went on mission together.  Below is my interview with Crissy who is the founder and Executive Director of Mika CDC in Costa Mesa, California.  (I apologize for the quality of this video…I am still learning how to edit and I am using a $10 editing app so as my daddy used to say “you get what you pay for.”)

Crissy would likely never call herself a “church planter” but I think she would say her ministry is practicing the ways of Jesus by extending love, hope, mercy justice and healing to a broken weird world.

So often we limit God to our tiny little boxes the same way we limit “church” to man-made structures.  What I am seeing is a movement of God that is exploding the smallness of our human definitions.  My favorite section of Kathy Escobar’s book confirms what I have sensed in my spirit for the past several years.  She writes:

“If you have God in a tiny box, limited by small definitions of who God is and how God works, we will not be open to creative imagination or allow our lives to be fueled by a more expansive view of what’s possible.  We’ll also have to reckon with humanity’s gravitational pull toward comfort and the vast difference between “building a ministry” and “cultivating community.”

 

“Jesus never talks about right beliefs, doctrinal statements, or church services.  He simply said, “Come, follow me.””

 

“Without taking God out of the box, we’ll never be able to make what could be, a reality.”

 

“Learning Kingdom ways is unsettling.  Our beliefs are important, as they are a part of our faith, but the word “belief” has come to mean our reasoning about God and the dimensions of the box that we put God into.”

 

“What would it look like in a community of faith if we recognized belief as important, and honored it, but do not have it serve as a gatekeeper for being together?  What would it look like if we allowed the larger community to continually shape and reveal our understating of who God is?  I have seen God grow bigger, and more real in people’s lives because they are experiencing an unadulterated version of their own, rather than my version.”

 

“Over the years I have seen what can happen when we listen instead of talk, and learn instead of teach.”

 

“My controlling tendencies can leave me thinking, “I should do something to bring that person over to the land of right-thinking.”  I am learning to hold that at bay and take my grip off others’ spiritual steering wheels and let God do the driving.  The point is not to avoid understanding who God is; the point is to keep our means of understanding open.”

 

“As we expand our “God borders” personally and corporately, we’ll provide room for people to explore what it means to know and follow Jesus, without feeling judged, squeezed down, or forced to conform in order to be in relationship.  As we learn to let go, we stop being know-it-alls and start being humbler, kinder people open to God’s spirit at work in our own lives and in the lives of others.”

 

“Many are tired of seeing new wine continually poured into old wine skins.”

So, anyone else out there shouting AMEN!? Kathy does such an amazing job of putting into words things that I have been wrestling with for years.  It was wonderful to get off the plane after reading Kathy’s book and to see people who had smashed their tiny “God boxes” and who were simply saying “Here I am Lord, use me.”

I am praying that God will explode in Richmond, Virginia the way I saw God moving in California.  For this to happen we have to let God out of the box and open ourselves up to new ways of experiencing and knowing the mysterious divine presence of Christ that dwells in each of us and calls us together to pass on love, hope, mercy, justice and healing in a broken weird world.

Has your definition of “church” changed over the years?

Have you seen your understand of God grow bigger?  If so, in what ways?

What would it look like in a community of faith if we recognized belief as important, and honored it, but do not have it serve as a gatekeeper for being together?

What would it look like if we allowed the larger community to continually shape and reveal our understating of who God is?