Empty Porches

One of the key architectural features of our neighborhood is the front porch.  Every housing unit (condominium, town house, or home) is required to have one.  Some are little more than a front stoop, but even those have a balcony on the second floor overlooking the front walk.  The intention is to create a sense of community and draw people into public spaces to relate.

Some of the people in the neighborhood do a great job of using their porches for just those things but there are other porches that are completely empty.  The definition of community varies from person to person.  Some see community as a tight knit group of people who care for others, while some see it as a safe place where people are like them. The state of your front porch seems to indicate where you land on the spectrum.

What does your front porch say about your value of others?  Is it empty, inviting, or some where in the middle? We strive to keep our front porch inviting and our door open to those around us.  And, for so many around us, that is a foreign concept.  After all, we are strangers and aliens in this land.

What is Missional?

Missional is one of the hottest terms in the church. And if you were to ask ten people you would get eleven or twelve definitions. So below is my attempt at explaining how we are Missional and how we intend for our church to be Missional.

Missional is not a program. Missional is a lifestyle. We will have missions as part of our church but we are to live on the mission of God daily. This mission includes loving our neighbors, serving others, and discipling our children. All of those things require daily considering others better than ourselves, laying our lives down and being a servant just like Jesus.

In our increasingly secular world we need to live more like the first century church than the nineteenth century church. The first century church lived in community with other believers, lived in the margins of society, and served God through their lives.

Missional is not something that can be learned from a weekend seminar; it is something that must be lived out and caught rather than taught. We are building the foundation for our church by practicing these same principles. We will infuse the Missional lifestyle into our Missional Communities through serving the community in a way the group is gifted and by serving other members of the group.

One of the other tenets of Missional is seeing all Christ followers as the priesthood of believers. Too many times we rely solely on the paid professional holy men to minister, serve and provide discipleship. But the Bible is clear that all believers are Saints, Ambassadors, Servants, and Disciple Makers. Part of being Missional is seeing ways we can minister to others, lead them toward Jesus and live completely for Christ.

The journey toward Missional living has consumed much of my thoughts and struggles over the last four to five years. I am excited to have an idea of how to live, love and lead. And I am excited to see how God will use this type of life to build His kingdom and His church.

Community

Though Eric and I are church planters, what we really pray for and strive to foster in Lowry is community. When we visited Lowry many times, before becoming residents, we were told repeatedly by people of all ages, stages, and ethnicities that a main reason they moved to and stayed in Lowry is because of the strong sense of community. Yet, upon spending more time there and eventually becoming residents of Lowry ourselves, neighbors met in our home for the first time and neighbors said no one gets together regularly. We have begun to question how Lowry residents, our neighbors, would define community and we are praying and pleading with God to redeem the definition as only He can. I read this quote this week and I can’t get it off my mind…”Because of our idols and the habits of our heart, church events simply become places that individuals focus on themselves in the presence of others. It takes deep reflection and costly commitment to live in community!” We believe, without doubt, that God has called us to Lowry and intends to redeem the definition of community there, but it’s gonna require deep reflection and costly commitment from us, and our neighbors whom God prompts to join us. Will you join us in praying that God will be glorified and honored and raise up His church in Lowry, as a result of community building?
We are praying and hearing from God that now is the time to begin a small group weekly Bible study and shared meal in our home. Our relationships are deepening with several neighbors and we are praying God will prompt several to come and hear His Word and be free to ask questions and have meaningful time with believers! Pray for lives to be saved and forever changed and for community redemption to begin and continue!

Community Starts Here

20140305-150221.jpg
We hosted our first neighborhood “event” last night. In our thorough research of the Lowry neighborhood before moving in, we were repeatedly shown that a planned “launch” of a service would not be the kind of church plant to “succeed” here. God shaped our philosophy for this area to one of deep, personal relationships and opening our home for social care of neighbors, as well as our corporate worship gatherings and discipleship, at least for a time. The concept of “missional community”, where we will disciple neighbors 1:1 or 2:1, host Bible study and corporate worship in our home, gather to fellowship and meet needs, and find ways to serve our neighborhood and surrounding ones as a team! Our home is our hub for now and likely for quite a while.
We were encouraged by our turnout last night. 30 townhome units were invited and 9 were represented. In our self-isolating, crazy-busy culture, this number pleased us. We met such a variety of ages, stages, and belief systems but they are all seeking “community” or they wouldn’t have come. We heard more than one neighbor say aloud how they liked being together and meeting each other, how no neighbor has ever invited other neighbors into their home, and how genuine we seem. God can and will use those impressions to build His church here.
I’m placing all my trust in Him to do it, so discouragement won’t creep in. There were broken, hurting people here last night. There were happy, kind people here last night. As far as we could tell, there were only lost and searching neighbors here last night. They came because they are willing to be known and we want to know them and love them with the love of Christ!
Pray for us as we follow up with the ones who came and try again to connect with those who didn’t. If you are praying for a street in Lowry, the group last night included neighbors from E 7th Ave and Quince. We are planning another event for April 7th to invite another set of streets close to our home, as well as working with some neighbors who came last night to plan an alley/block party for this area in the spring! If you haven’t seen a Lowry map and chosen a street to pray over but want to, let us know and we will help make that happen.
We are praying for God to “redeem the definition of ‘community’ in Lowry”. Won’t you join us?

Pumpkin Carving Contest (Before)

In response to one of the biggest needs in our neighborhood, lack of community, tomorrow we will be hosting a Pumpkin Carving Contest in our driveway. We invited four streets worth of people to come and carve pumpkins, meet the neighbors, and have a good time together. Pray that we have people come out, that the weather is warm enough (right now it is projected to be 59 degrees), and that we are able to begin building relationships with our neighbors that will lead to spiritual conversations. Tomorrow night, I will post about the Pumpkin Carving Contest once it is complete.