4 posts tagged “church”
We have been thinking a lot lately at Crossroads about vision, and how to capture the 'essence' of the kind of church we are trying to be. Our history lies fairly close to the 'seeker' movement of the 1990's: if you ask long-term Crossroads people what kind of church we are, many would use terms associated with seeker sensitive ministry and the passion to reach unchurched people. But we have also been wrestling with questions of depth, clarity and discipleship and, like many seeker churches, with the challenge of resourcing not only those who seek but also those who find! We have many seekers coming to our services, but we also have many finders... and they are hungry to grow in their faith and explore engagement in mission. In the hunt for a new paradigm that captures, in a single phrase, our response to this dillemma, our best effort so far is 'Transforming Church' (or 'transformational' if it makes more sense that way). Why transforming? Because the journey of faith, whether you look at it from the perspective of first steps or the vantage point of many years expereince, is a journey of inner and outer transformation. We are changed by our encounter with God in Christ, and through that change empowered to change our world. As we have been saying at Crossroads for a while: 'changed people change people, and the people they change change the world'...
This is very much a work in progress, an attempt to put words around the we see way God moving in this uniquely international city. No robots, no intergalactic war, but an army of transformers being changed and bringing change...
I'm not often a fan of avant-garde music - Philip Glass's score for Koyaanisqatsi drove me crazy - but when I came across this video trailer for a new recording of Steve Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians' I felt it had something really special about it. Reich, who turned 70 this year, wrote the piece in 1976 and intended it to be a "leaderless collaboration" - somewhere between classical and jazz; a piece taylored to the musical skills of the composer's own group 'Steve Reich and Musicians'. The original piece didn't have a written score - this was created later and published from notes and recordings. What I loved about this video is the evident pleasure found by these these young musicians in playing together (they are students and friends from the Grand Valley State University in Michigan http://www.newmusicensemble.org/index.html). The piece in incredibly difficult, and took over a year to learn, painstakingly built-up one section at a time. But there is real joy in the end result - a performance in which the concentration and effort of each player is rewarded by the rhythmic and melodic convergence of their sounds. The whole is very much more than the sum of its parts, and the players have the real satisfaction of knowing that they have contributed to something no one of them could have achieved alone, and yet in which each one of them is needed.
At the risk of over-cooking an over-used analogy, this 'sang' for me as a powerful metaphor of the best kind of human community, and the joy of building church. Each plays a part. Each is needed. But the end result is more beautiful than any one could achieve alone. Church: I am essential to it, but it's not about me. Stretched out between these two realities is the joyous, creative playground we are called to.
watch the video and see if you too are reminded of the joy of building together...
In preparing to speak to the leaders of the International Baptist Convention at their gathering in Copenhagen, I was searching for a word to describe the place to which God seems to be leading us at Crossroads - a place somehow beyond the traditional understanding of 'international' churches. I came up with 'metanational', but then discovered that the word is already in use in the business world. The 2001 book 'From Global to Metanational' describes a commercial transition from international (offices in many nations) to metanational (learning from many nations) companies. The difference is summed up as:
"a company that builds a new kind of competitive advantage by discovering, accessing, mobilizing, and leveraging knowledge from many locations around the world."
Then I realised that, translated into the church, this is exactly what I was reaching for - a model that speaks of not only delivering to multiple cultures, but also receiving from many cultures. We discussed this in Copenhagen, and there was real resonance with the way other churches are moving. The International Baptist Church of Hamurg is a leading example - visit their web site at http://www.ibc-hamburg.de/
We came away convinced that God has a special place in his purposes for these multi-cultural, multi-nationality churches, modelling peace and reconciliation in a patchwork of Europe's ethnicities.
Having been told recently that Amsterdam is now officially the most international city in the world - with 177 resident nationalities against New York's 156 - I was excited at the prospect of pursuing God's vision for the church as a 'skin kaleidoscope'.
http://www.sanderchan.com/2007/08/worlds-most-international-city.html
Welcome to the metanational church!
The interview between Bill Hybels and Bono from the summer of 2007 has now been uploaded to Youtube. It's viewable in 8 parts altogether - this is part one. It really is an intriguing and excllent conversation - remarkable not only for the way Bono has brought big changes to Hybel's view of poverty and aids - but also for the way Hybels has been able to impact Bono's view of church. Not a predicatable meeting of minds - Hybels confesses as a lifelong country and western fan that he would have been more excited if it had been Garth Brooks asking for a meeting - but an exciting one all the same. If you haven't seen any of this it is worth taking the time to view. From a Crossroads perspective, we are exploring links with Stop the Traffik - a global coalition on People Traffiking - which should throw up opportunities for us to make a real difference to the lives of people driven into slavery through violence and extreme poverty: not exactly the agenda Bono is talking aobut here, but part of the same ethos of the church taking action to show God's justice and mercy to those who most need both. [ http://www.stopthetraffik.org/ and http://www.stopthetraffik.nl/ ] To explore just how God's mission in the world touches on such issues, you might also want to visit the site of Rick Warren's 'PEACE Plan' - one of the best current examples of a church leader thinking clearly through issues of church planting, leadership and justice.
Apart from the extremely cheesy backing music, this video is a good introduction to the PEACE Plan... Where was Bono when they were recording the soundtrack? More details on the PEACE plan at http://www.thepeaceplan.com/ . A number of US apologeitcs websites, already fuming at the success of Purpose Driven Life, have chosen to slate the PEACE plan, but can we really complain about two of the biggest church leaders in america - Hybels and Warren - waking up to global poverty and committing to the mobilisation of God's people in service? As Warren says on the PEACE video,
"If we could figure out a way to turn an audience into an army; to turn consumers into contributors; to turn spectators into participators, it will change the world. It's time to stop debating and start doing. It's time for the church to be known for love not for legalism, for what we're for not for what we're against. It's time for the church to be the church."
Even if you don't like the style, the marketing, the music or the shirts, you can still see God at work in these developments.
