The Exodus: Part Eight & Conclusion.
My post
Leslie’s post
Nick’s post
Eric’s post
Anna’s post
Andrew’s post
Jessica’s post
d10 is a not a gang name, nor is he a rapper. It’s a ghost name for one of the most crazy smart guys I know. They’ve worked as worship leaders and in youth ministry in churches ranging from a small southern baptist church, to the large ‘first baptist church’, to ‘a huge megachurch in Alpharetta. d10 is the somewhat defacto leader for a house church in northeast Atlanta. He plays a mean violin (not sure about a fiddle) and is a PHD candiate in really smart engineering stuff that I can’t explain. I asked d10 specifically to be the last guest blogger of the week and to conclude our series because I have so much respect for his posture of faithfully exploring alternative faith communities instead of sitting on the sidelines complaining like me. He’s generous, hopeful, and the only person who had a better beard than mine. Ladies and gentleman, I introduce to you the d10.
I think the D10 take on this is going to be a little different than the previous entries. Even as I start to write this, my heart is heavy. I made a rule with myself that I wouldn’t read the other posts until I wrote my own first, but I just broke down and read all of them and the ensuing discussion, and now I’m processing where to begin my own thoughts. Reading all that just made me sad and a little teary.
I, too, haven’t been to a “church service” for months. But for the past year I haven’t gone more than days without gathering in a relational faith community where “church” has happened. Our housechurch was started in October of 2005, and it wasn’t born out of a negative reaction to traditional church forms, but out of a deep seeking of a new expression of the body of Christ. Honestly, it was something we couldn’t help but do.
I have to say that I’m not bitter about the traditional church. Lady D10 and I left on some of the best of possible terms, where the leadership took us at our word when we told them God put it in our heart to start a housechurch. They didn’t criticize us, but rather asked us how they could support us as we stepped out to where God was leading us. That still amazes me considering how opposite our current approach is from the one we stepped out of. That’s not to say we don’t have some baggage, but honestly who doesn’t? Moreover, I hope for a better and better relationship with those still in the traditional model. Otherwise we aren’t participating in the ‘capital C’ Church and I fear we’d miss out on so much. Truthfully, a lot of us have been pretty ecumenical when it comes to orthodoxy [right thinking] for quite some time, but I think we have some ecumenical “catching up” to do when it comes to orthopraxy [right practice].
I don’t believe housechurch is the only way to do church and be biblical. Some of you might wonder if that’s how I felt if I didn’t say that. There are some housechurches more biblical that some traditional churches, and some traditional churches more biblical or missional than some housechurches. I just happen to believe that the housechurch framework provides more flexibility and opportunity for the things I see as the bottom line essentials of following Jesus Christ. So to answer Josh’s question, I’m going to try to lay out a limited framework of what we’re doing now, and I think this will adequately answer the question of why we transitioned to something new. I’m going to try to point out the advantages of our current approach instead of pointing out the disadvantages of the traditional churches we shifted out of. I assume those negatives won’t really need to be explicitly pointed out anyway. Alright, let’s get to it.
GOD IS INTERACTIVE We believe God is real and listening, and we also believe that He speaks to us… in a lot of ways. Because of that, we structure our gatherings in a way that wholeheartedly embraces that. Instead of spending hours talking about Him, we talk to Him and try to listen to Him. Not having an agenda, order of service, or other time constraints make this very possible in our setting. So because we try to follow God in our meetings, no two meetings are very similar. Some are very confessional. Some are celebratory. Some are reflective. We aim to create as much space for ‘real life’ as possible by keeping the scripting to a minimum. They’re always unpredictable and genuine, full of life and reality.
THE BODY OF CHRIST The notion of the body of Christ defines our community. Not more central than Christ, of course. The point here is that we believe everyone has equal access to God and that in the New Testament we see churches led by the plurality of the group instead of a central leader. Some people call this the “priesthood of believers,” but the bottom line is that every member of the community is recognized as a unique expression of Christ and as such, is completely critical to the life of the body. Nobody is marginalized and forced to just listen. See 1 Cor 14 for more of an idea – “everyone has a hymn, a teaching, …”
So in our faith community, we don’t look to a single person as responsible for the spiritual teaching of the community. Instead, imagine ten people coming together, having been wrestling with applying the Bible and belief to life all week, sharing the net of their experiences with that and urging everybody on toward deeper missional living. I believe 10 people digging deep is much more grounded than one person doing the work for everybody.
All of us own the community. All of us own each other’s spiritual health. All of us own our orthodoxy/theology. All of us depend on each other to press toward Christlikeness. All of us hurt when one hurts, and all of us rejoice when one rejoices. Maybe it sounds cliche, but that’s really how it is.
SHIFT FROM THEORETICAL TO APPLIED In our community, we work so hard to operate at the point where real life and faith intersect. Therefore it undeniably comes down to honesty. So we have created an atmosphere where the ‘language of churchianity’ feels very odd or foreign. Instead, if you come to one of our gatherings, you will hear things that would sound very out of place in a Sunday School environment. People confess shocking things in safety.
We believe we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds like it says in Romans 12:2. But we recognize this is more like erosion of the heart than an instantaneous event, so we affirm the role of the humble journey and small steps toward Christlikeness. We are sick of perpetuating a defeating guilt-trip over not being perfect in our devotion or praxy, and instead embrace the process and the inherent struggles (if we’re honest) that we experience therein.
This mentality says that we aren’t going to gloss over the hard things. Things like struggling with sin, loving people we don’t like, acknowledging doubt, facing fears, working through depression, embracing humility, becoming last. Not that we’ve attained these things, but our approach allows us to at least face them head on honestly in a safe environment.
MONEY TO FEED, CLOTHE, AND SEND Jesus taught us that when we feed the hungry, give to the poor, clothe the naked, give drink to the thirsty, care for the sick, and visit those in prison, we are ministering specifically to Him in those moments. And have you ever thought how sortof odd it is that James tells us that pure and undefiled religion consists in taking care of orphans and widows?
We responded to this by deciding that all of the money given would be in turn given away. We intentionally seek ways to support ourselves so we’re not a burden on the church and more money can be given to meet felt needs in the community and world. Even with just 10 or so people, it’s amazing to us how far money stretches when you take out all the perpetual bills a lot of churches maintain.
Here’s an idea of where our money goes: We are responsible for a Mercy Home in India. We buy webcams and mail them into the Middle East to faciliate the meeting of persecuted believers over the internet via video chat. We pay the bus fare for a kid in Romania so he can travel back and forth to school every day for an education that will allow him to break the poverty cycle. We’ve bought industrial dryers for shelters for women and kids who are victims of domestic violence. We give to random needs as we become aware of them. We support those in our midst who travel to incarnate the mission of Christ in the far places of the world, like Niger, Kenya, India, and the Middle East, to name a few.
THE SHARED LIFE When I read Acts, what I see is a group of people whose lives are so intertwined that they literally have “everything in common.” They broke bread together daily. The life of the church community was rooted in the daily interactions and not the weekly gathering. The latter was essential but the former shaped the substance of it.
This happens on Thursday nights at dinner around our table. It happens during the week when we meet for lunch. It happens on weekends when we share in all kinds of things, from ministry to hanging out. So in everything, we strive to keep relationships center.
It’s messy and gritty a lot of the time. We get overwhelmed, tired, confused, discouraged, you name it. But we see ourselves more as family than friends, knit together deeply in a way that compels us to move forward in forgiveness and grace, into deeper community and connectedness.
IN CONCLUSION So to the traditional pastor who reads this, everything I said above is part of what we shifted out of the traditional model to experience in a more deliberate way. Every single thing I mentioned could be accomplished in a traditional setting, but for us, the purest and most complete expression emerged when we stepped out into a more unconventional form.
At the end of the day, this new approach is propelling me to deeper places in my faith like I’ve never experienced before, and for that I give God glory.
If you’ve read this far and are interested in some other posts I’ve written along these lines, hop over to FiniteThis.com and check out either “Community and My Glorious”, “From Stage to Sofa: A Memoir”, or my “Open Letter”.
peace of Christ – d10
These posts are not our attempt at being critical. But are the autobiographies of a bunch of 25 and under former staff members and leaders in the traditional model of church who have now found alternative ways of experiencing community and living the way of Jesus. These writings will be compiled and circulated among some local pastors with the attempt at rebuilding some burnt and broken bridges.
Tags: finitethis, D10, House Church
jessica...
Friday, 8. September 2006 um 11:26 am Uhr
okay, i am not even half way through this great post but i just gotta say whoever linked those big words straight to their dictionary definition just saved me some extra clicks, thank you.
jessica...
Friday, 8. September 2006 um 11:31 am Uhr
okay, i read the whole thing and i thought it was really beautiful
zane anderson
Friday, 8. September 2006 um 11:33 am Uhr
I know where you are coming from, Josh and guests. I have two fine brothers who are traditionalist pastor types, whom I dearly and forever will love. We’ve had some jugular-popping disscusions but like opponents in tennis, we shake hands when it’s over.
Let’s keep seeking peace with all! Yours is a great endeavour here as you keep reaching out. Thanks for the encouragement. Be lookin for more
d10
Friday, 8. September 2006 um 12:07 pm Uhr
jessica – you can thank my wife and eric for suggesting some definition links…
gentry13
Friday, 8. September 2006 um 12:54 pm Uhr
a pitch perfect conclusion to an intriguing series. thank you D10 and brownie.
Check this out… at zacwheeler.com
Monday, 11. September 2006 um 10:58 pm Uhr
[...] Josh Brown has put together a great series called “The Exodusâ€, and has included a great group of people to share their thoughts and stories about faith and their reasons for leaving the mainstream church. I was blown away by the honesty of everyone. I would encourage you to go and check out this series. You can also get a pdf of the entire series called, “The Exodus Papersâ€. [...]
“My Exodus” To Wordpress and “The Exodus” To Alternative Forms of Church at atypicalspirituality.com
Thursday, 14. September 2006 um 5:29 pm Uhr
[...] D10 [...]