I knew when I announced that The Journey: Metro East would transition toward becoming an independent, autonomous church that I was in for a lot of conversations. I was prepared to work hard to cast vision clearly, honestly, and compellingly. So, I haven't be surprised by the need to cast vision - and then to do it again in short time. It isn't surprising - we are getting ready to do something that just isn't done very often. Healthy hives are rare enough, but the transition of a video venue to an autonomous church is as rare as finding a snipe on a snipe hunt.
I have come to see that church splits are actually quite easy at least in the beginning. All you have to do is rally people around a "common enemy." Just gather people together by what you all don't like or are angry about - and that gives momentum to the vision. (This can only last for awhile, though. Eventually all that sinful negativity will sap all the energy out of the church and the malcontent leaders will lose the ability to keep all those other malcontents together.)
A healthy hive, on the other hand, is a bit more challenging up front. You don't have a common enemy - you have a common, shared experience of something quite good. What that means is that I am asking people to leave something that they (and I) love. I am asking them to sacrifice something that is safe and familiar and good for the sake of the vision of increased effectiveness for mission.
This is quite a challenge. We are not splitting to "solve the problem" of our current church's preaching or worship or mission. We aren't leaving because The Journey has a crisis in leadership and we think we can do better. We aren't leaving because we can do any of this stuff "better" - we are leaving because we think it will simply be "better" to be more immediately contextualized to our immediate community. We are doing it, in other words, because we think the cause of the gospel will be served by our taking this step of faith.
And this is taking a lot of work up front - and many, many conversations. Many questions and the need to explain and re-explain my answers. But I hope (which means that I firmly expect) that all this work will prove to be effective and that many will join us as we seek to partner with the Spirit's work in our community. I expect that while it is taking more work up front to build momentum, the momentum will be real and long-lived.
Like turning a weighted fly wheel - it takes the most energy to spin it the first few revolutions and get it spinning. Once it is spinning, it creates much of its own momentum and is much easier to keep going... at least that is the way I hope it will work! :)
My next post will deal with some of the frequently asked questions related to our transition. I am finding that I am answering many of the same questions in different conversations - so I will share the questions and the answers next time.
I have come to see that church splits are actually quite easy at least in the beginning. All you have to do is rally people around a "common enemy." Just gather people together by what you all don't like or are angry about - and that gives momentum to the vision. (This can only last for awhile, though. Eventually all that sinful negativity will sap all the energy out of the church and the malcontent leaders will lose the ability to keep all those other malcontents together.)
A healthy hive, on the other hand, is a bit more challenging up front. You don't have a common enemy - you have a common, shared experience of something quite good. What that means is that I am asking people to leave something that they (and I) love. I am asking them to sacrifice something that is safe and familiar and good for the sake of the vision of increased effectiveness for mission.
This is quite a challenge. We are not splitting to "solve the problem" of our current church's preaching or worship or mission. We aren't leaving because The Journey has a crisis in leadership and we think we can do better. We aren't leaving because we can do any of this stuff "better" - we are leaving because we think it will simply be "better" to be more immediately contextualized to our immediate community. We are doing it, in other words, because we think the cause of the gospel will be served by our taking this step of faith.
And this is taking a lot of work up front - and many, many conversations. Many questions and the need to explain and re-explain my answers. But I hope (which means that I firmly expect) that all this work will prove to be effective and that many will join us as we seek to partner with the Spirit's work in our community. I expect that while it is taking more work up front to build momentum, the momentum will be real and long-lived.
Like turning a weighted fly wheel - it takes the most energy to spin it the first few revolutions and get it spinning. Once it is spinning, it creates much of its own momentum and is much easier to keep going... at least that is the way I hope it will work! :)
My next post will deal with some of the frequently asked questions related to our transition. I am finding that I am answering many of the same questions in different conversations - so I will share the questions and the answers next time.
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