A co-worker left an article by Doug Giles in my mailbox this morning. It's called "A Profane Faith." She said I may not have written it but she could hear me saying it. Halfway through the article I thought - this is what I believe but I'm not so great at making it a reality. Here's the part I liked best:
"To help you take your Christianity out of the Christian ghetto where the secularists would love you to remain, here's a simple can do: start to see life as a whole. Begin to merge, as J.I. Packer says:
Your Christianity with culture,
Your contemplation with achievement,
Your worship with work,
Your labor with rest,
Your fasting with a Fosters,
Your love of God with love of neighbor and self,
Your personal identity with social identity,
Your wide spectrum of relational responsibilities with each other in a thoroughly conscientious and considered way.
Try that next week, next month and the next few years, and watch your influence spread like butter."
It's nothing new really. My favorite was the line about the Fosters. I think because if you're talking about beer - you're talking about bars. Why not go there?It seems I have segregated myself from non-Christians in an unconscious manner. I want to become a part of people's lives who don't get church, much less, The Salvation Army. Fado Fado, here I come. I think the early slum sisters did that.
5 comments:
Hi Joy,
I agree with you. Staci and I have allowed our home to become a “miniature temple” on Sundays as we lead worship in our living room. In fact, we call it The Living Room at The Salvation Army. We are already making plans to change the atmosphere of the chapel into a Living Room environment and call it the same thing. For now, we only worship in our home. This is not encouraged from our leaders, but the fact is we are starting a new corps and with our family of six and the two others who were worshiping at The Army before we arrived, we had eight. Our home worship has grown to a humble ten and we are planning to grow bigger and bigger.
On Tuesdays we have a small group that we call “The Family Room.” It has grown from 10 to 17 in 2 months.
Here are some of the testimonies from those who are new and have begun worshiping with us at our home on Sundays:
“It’s been a while since I've felt such unity within a church setting, and that is such a shame. But I feel it and not only that; I see it in the ministry you are leading.”
“It is nice to look forward to Sunday morning worship again. Not that I can't worship whenever or wherever I am, but the corporate worship, a group is what I look forward to, and not a group looking forward to a podium, but a group looking at each other, smiling at each other, picking on each other---LOVING each other. Your family and the "brothers (the other guys who come to worship)" are wonderful people. Thanks for creating that environment.”
“I want to tell you that I am very much enjoying being able to join you guys for church. You, your family, and your home are a wonderful source of refreshment for me and for many others, I'm sure. Thank you!”
The impact of home worship has had a major impact on my family. My children now see worship as a part of our world, home, work, play…lives, rather than a part of what we do “at the corps.”
We have begun plans to build teams of “Kingdom Builders” who serve the community. For example, people will go to bus stops in the morning to keep an eye on children when parents can’t be there; they will go to mall parking lots during major shopping seasons to walk the parking lots and keep people safe as they take packages to their cars; and they will serve as bar chaplains who sit in bars, drinking milk or soda and offer a listening ear and a call for a driver to those who are running from their troubles and ending up running to a substance.
I’ll close this way-too-long comment with this:
“If you want to meet needs, you’ll create programs. If you want to get people to where they need to go, you’ll create community.”—M. Scott Boren
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Johnny,
Thanks for your comment. It's refreshing to hear of Officers who are willing to step out of the box and actually build community instead of program. I hope that the words of those who worship with you are where you look for encouragement until our leadership catches on. I wish Atlanta had a Corps like yours. I'd be there in a second.
Joy
ya know what i think? i think i like your blog title...it sounds so...something...
Joy:
it's painfully easy to be totally separated from non-christians - I was taking stock the other day and I realised that not only do I have NO non-Christian friends, but I have only one non-Salvationist friend... Sad, sad day. Once we get stuck in the rut it's a nightmare to get out. Rip off the bandaid
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