Real Worship

It’s been a very interesting few weeks.  Things have been quite busy lately and I’ve not managed to post. I must admit to getting withdrawal symptoms.

There’s an expression that comes to mind, “Constant change is here to stay”;  I’m not sure where I first heard this, but it has certainly been my experience.

As a church, we’ve been on a voyage of discovery.  Along the journey, God has been reminding us of the vast richness of His great grace; He’s been revealing His heart for relationships and delivering us from the obligations of religious performance.  We’ve been reminded that we are the church (the people) – not the building and not the Sunday service.  Church isn’t somewhere we go, or something we do – it’s who we are.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve always had a heart after God (I’m not the only one that God has told to move half way across the country to be involved with what He is doing here).  As a group of believers, we’ve always sought to be real & passionate – in our worship and in our study & application of His word.  It’s been good.  We’ve operated to the best of our ability with the knowledge we’ve had.  Yet still, we somehow missed the mark.  We’d built an organisation… not a community.

God has been deconstructing the organisation and is now in the process of building the community.  As part of the next step in the journey, we’re changing the way we meet together (in the Stevenage congregation – initially).  From the Sunday just past (13th September) and for a period of 4 weeks, we’re not meeting together in one large gathering; rather, we’re meeting in smaller gatherings in homes.  The main proviso being that we break bread together.  Thereafter, we will alternate our large, “whole family” celebration & the smaller home-based meetings each week.

Will these changes bring about community?  No (certainly not if all that happens is reproducing the larger meeting in smaller venues).  That’s not the intention in doing this.  Rather than being a cause, the changes in the way we meet together are an effect, a consequence; a means of expressing the life & love of God in community.

As an aside, I’ve heard reports back from several of the smaller groups which met Sunday.  All have been positive.  It did feel surprisingly bizzarre for me, however, not “going to church” Sunday morning & leading worship.  Whether or not that says something about any addiction I may have to church attendance I don’t know (I guess doing something differently after 27 years will feel strange).

One of the upshots of what’s happening right now is that from the end of this month I will no longer be employed by Redemption Church. I believe that I should still continue with as much as possible of what I do here; so the challenge is to find a suitably flexible means of generating an income that allows me to do that.

I am genuinely excited about what is happening.  I feel as though I’ve stepped over a threshold into a place I’ve never been; a much bigger place with no familiar landmarks.  If you feel so inclined, please pray for me to have clarity & courage at this time.

Credits:

The title of this post is credited to Mark & Sandra Neale.  The phrase came up in on one of our conversations on our Journey to Exeter.  We were talking about what God is doing with His church; they said that if ever they were to write a book, it would make a great title.

The picture at the top of the post is from ASBO Jesus – cool site!