First Missio Piece Up!

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At the end of last year I heard about an opportunity to join a writing group hosted by @missioalliance intended to help develop and amplify traditionally marginalized voices (https://www.missioalliance.org/finding-our0-voice-introducing-the-2024-writing-fellows-cohort/) I’ve been following Missio for awhile now, grateful for how they’re trying to reimagine what church can and should be. Also, if you’ve been reading this blog you know that I’ve been exploring how to express what Ive been sitting with with regard to what it means to follow Christ in our day and whether church as we know it is really what Jesus intended for us.

Long story short, I applied and was accepted into the group and my first piece has been published! Grateful for this opportunity to grow, and to be able to share the journey with you.

Art credit: http://justinheap.co/

Link to the piece: https://www.missioalliance.org/the-costco-run-confronting-my-true-self/

The Best of Church

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I don’t know if the turning of the calendar is leading me to this, but a few weeks ago I set out to embark on a tour of local congregations. Truth be told, I’ve been compiling a list of churches I’d like to visit for awhile now, but I finally made my first visit last week. So far I’ve visited one church solo and another with friends who’ve been going there for awhile, and I’m excited by the ones remaining on my list.

And although I’ve only visited two congregations so far, I’m already starting to experience a few unexpected outcomes, one of which is this: a new sense of the best of what church can be…

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A Church Without Titles?

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In my previous ministry I’d usually spend some time in my membership classes looking at Acts 6. This was to provide some context about why our church had elders and deacons. If you’re unfamiliar with the passage, it describes how as the number of people following Jesus began to grow, the needs of the community began to grow as well. In response, Jesus’ original disciples, the de facto leaders of the community instructed the people to choose seven new leaders to focus on and take care of those needs, allowing the twelve to focus on prayer and “serving” the word. Now throughout this passage the work of both the seven serving the community and the twelve serving the word is called “diaconal” work, which could be translated as “ministry” or “service”, but the name “deacon” came to be associated with the group of seven.

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Longing for a Church of the Nones?

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In “I left the church - and now long for a ‘church of the nones’”, Perry Bacon Jr., a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote something that resonated far beyond his usual readership, drawing thousands of passionate comments. In his very personal piece he shares his journey from growing up as a pastor’s kid, to being active in church as a young adult, to gradually becoming a “none”, aka one who does not belong or practice a particular faith tradition. But the part that really seemed to engage people was Bacon’s conclusion that, regardless of our beliefs or faith traditions, and regardless of how difficult it has been for him to find something appropriate, we as a nation would be better off connected to “church-like” institutions, a so-called “Church of the Nones”. He writes…

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Worship Music, Inc

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My partner and I recently watched the Netflix dark comedy series Beef together, and we were both struck by a scene in the series’ first few episodes when one of the main characters, a down-on-his-luck Korean-American man named Danny (Stephen Yeun) accepts an invitation to church. The scene begins with Danny standing alone just outside the sanctuary door, deciding whether or not to go into the service which has already started. He ends up going in, and as the door opens immediately a soundscape familiar to many Christians takes over the scene: electric guitar and keyboard creating a meditative musical backdrop as the worship leader prays over the congregation.

And as the worship team gets going, two things become clear: 1) Danny is in for more than he bargained for and 2) the band is good. Really good.

It turns out that…

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