Scott and I walked away from the Greenhouse training in Orlando with a lot to chew on. This was to train people how to start organic churches. Because I like bullet points, I'm going to just shoot off a few of the things that stood out to me. (This is all through Scott's notes and conversations with him because I didn't attend the training myself)
-The church is not a what it is a who. I love this. We so often forget this. This bears repeating.
-We expect too much in the first year and not enough in the first ten. This was super encouraging to both of us as we reflect on the last 7 (can you believe it's been SEVEN?!?!) months that we've been here in Augusta to do "this". After talking with others, it is TOTALLY NORMAL to be in the shoes we're in right now when just getting on board with organic church. We (probably more accurately, I) have often felt like we're not doing what we should. People ask how it's going, and I feel a slight bit of shame as I say I have nothing to report. But we're normal, all is well, and shame I should feel no longer!
-We are like ants. On the surface, it doesn't look like they're doing much, but they are building empires underground. All the prayer, prayer walking, searching, thinking, talking, and relationship building that we have been doing is just what we should be doing until God leads otherwise. It may not look like we're doing much yet, but we're laying a groundwork and cultivating soil.
-Organic church is just that, organic. It gets rid of all of the man made structures.
-You can't make organic church happen. God does. He is the Lord of the harvest, not us.
-We are to plant the gospel through our relationships with the people in the community to where God leads us. Then we are to let the indigenous people decide where the church meets. The church, as all living things, has a life cycle. It should die to reproduce more. Meeting together as one particular group does not mean that it will remain that same group forever. As new disciples and leaders are made, they too go out into the field to plant seeds of the gospel and begin new churches.
-Any fool can do their best. He who believes in Christ attempts the impossible, and Christ in him is able to perform it! Why should I cower and be afraid? It's not about me!
One last thing that I was reminded about during the trip is something I read several months ago about light vs. darkness. Jesus says that we are the light. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Gates are defensive. Therefore we should be on the offensive, NOT scared of the darkness, and running straight towards it with our light shining. Growing up in an upper middle class, very white, suburban area, I have a tendancy to be quite afraid of the darkness. Not that there wasn't darkness all around me growing up, it just wasn't the obvious kind. Either that or I am just oblivious (which is equally likely!). This is not to say that we should be careless and walk down dark alleys alone at night. However I have Jesus, and so I should not be afraid. Bottom line.
Huge sigh of relief. We're golden. Jesus is the king. We are to listen and be obedient to his leading.
By the way, no one else we know personally does church this way, so you will find no condemnation here if you choose not to. However we love talking about the simple way to do church as opposed to the 'traditional structure' so if you ever want to talk about it, we would love to talk to you anytime!
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