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!
Slow but Good
The past few months have gone quickly. We look back over them and see that God is working in us and through us in a slow but good way. We have built relationships, engaged the neighborhood and have made a house a home and a base of ministry. Relationships take time, energy, and intentionality. Engaging the neighbors takes persistence, love, flexibility, energy and time. Establishing a home takes time, energy, and love. Adapting a home to a basis of ministry calls for intentionality, flexibility, and love.
Do you see the tensions and themes that we have immersed ourselves in over the past few weeks? Time, energy, intentionality, persistence, flexibility, and love are all necessary and needed things in our life as we seek to live missionally and point others to Jesus. So if you were to ask me how things are going? I would sum it all up by saying slow, but good.
Intersection
Our townhouse is located at a unique intersection. The T in front of our home brings together subsidized housing, townhomes and mansions. This intersection brings together more than financial worlds; it brings together different races and family structures. The other day, when we walked around to invite people to our Gumbo Party, we met people who were single, retired, married, expecting their first child, and living in a blended family situation. These various situations bring challenges and diversity.
We are blessed to be in this diverse place. We desire to bring together the different groups of people under the banner of Christ’s church. God has placed us here for such a time as this to reach these people. Think about your street. Who lives there? What season of life are they in? How are they similar or different? And how can you reorient your life to intersect with them for the sake of the Gospel?
Tents (Part 1)
Incarnation is a fancy term. Like much of Christianese, we throw it around and seldom know what it means. The first chapter of John’s gospel provides us a word picture of incarnation, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus was willing to put off his position in glory and humble himself so that we might be saved. The Greek word for dwelt is tabernacle or tent. Jesus was a tent dweller. The idea of incarnational ministry is to be a tent dweller. We have the opportunity to become tent dwellers in Lowry.
We desire to dwell in Lowry but also to dwell with the people of Lowry. Jesus did not come to earth and become a hermit, or monk; He came to be a friend of sinners. We seek to have Jesus as our example and leader in all things. In order for us to follow that example, we will view our home as a center for incarnational ministry with the people of Lowry. This will mean cookouts, parties, missional communities, kids sleepovers, and many other intentional connections to the community. We want to be known as a family that loves the people of Lowry and are for them. We want to be the incarnation of Jesus in Lowry.
What does it look like?
This month our formal learning was designed to make us ask questions and rethink the way we intend to “do” church. It all started out with reading the book to the left. After much research on small group strategies we have landed on missional communities. Missional Communities embody all of the elements we would like to have our small groups to live out. They focus on discipleship, evangelism, accountability, ministry and mission and their greatest trait in my opinion they are based in the community not a church building. If you want more information on Missional Communities make sure to read McNeal’s book and check back on this blog for the type of missional community we plan on leading in Lowry.
The second part of our formal learning was focused on biblically defining these terms: Priest, Deacon, Elder, and Pastor. It is important to not only define these terms but to properly implement them. Our desire is that we would not only define these terms biblically but implement them as prescribed in the Word.
One of the biggest desires is that we start with healthy DNA in our church so that church has the greatest chance to survive and thrive. We are so thankful for the opportunity to learn, grow, and plan during this residency.