What is Church?

So today I sat in on a leadership meeting of Beyond Sunday and they were discussing narrowing their focus down to three things.  What did they decide to narrow their focus on? That would just be too easy if I told you, ask one of the it's their vision after all and they can explain it better than me.  However; in the course of the discussion about the focus the issue came up that most of their church is related or really close friends that are family.  Now this brought up potential problems because of how close everyone is that it would be hard for others to join the group.  However; if we take this concept to the church in Acts we see a very different story.  In acts everyone was together every day and they shared everything and ate together.  At that point when you spend that much time with people you begin to feel like family.  A prime example of this is at Mission California, by the end of the year, the students have a family feel.  yes people have their disagreements and issues but in the end its like our brothers and sisters.  Yet when the new year starts more people are added to the family, because more people are added to the constant of life and they just become like family. So perhaps a church that is like family is not so bad at all.  What if people came to church and were treated like family?  Like a healthy family that does not hit when there is conflict or yell or run away but that processes conflicts and other issues using God.  What if the love one for another was so evident in the church that people would come and see that God has a strong love for them and how to love.  If the church was family then others would see what family should look like and begin to bring that home and families could begin he process of healing from the generations of hurt that they have seen for so long.  Maybe then will divorce rates in the church go down... Just my own ramblings.   

Priorities

These pictures are some people that have a special place in my heart. Aren't they cute?  I just can't wait to see what God is going to do in them and through them.  Its exciting to see God at work.

Changes

It is a new season in my life... there are so many changes and change is scary.  This weekend I am leaving my best friend and sister at Mission California.  Mission California is an amazing program and the staff are some of my best friends and spiritual parents.  I love being around them because I know that I can be me, I can be who I am and talk about what most people would consider to be crazy.  Now I leave my best friend, and only close friend I had near me (location wise) here in Fresno.  I know that God has called her to be here and begin a new journey in her life.  It is time for her to become the amazing woman of God that she is called to be.  However; inside I want t be selfish and just take her back with me so that I can have my best friend near me.  There is this constant conflict in me between me (my flesh) and my spirit because I know that it is time for her to be here and me to be there.   Next as of Friday the 22nd I am no longer a part of Teen Blaze.  I had been feeling it coming for awhile and God gave me the release that it was time to go.  The last two weeks I was there I felt like an outsider, like I was not really there at all.  I had already had my own feels like I was not supposed to be there but God confirmed it and I spoke with the pastor and let him know and He released me and gave his blessing. I am now in theory with no place to call home churchwise, and it is scary.  I go to a church not to far away from where I live or work.  I love being with their people and I go to their youth service and to their small group when I can.  However; God has already told me not to set root there because that is not going to be my home.  God has showed me that I need to re-prioritize my life and that means that more changes are to come...

Ministry Vision So Far...

Ok so I am working on my ministry vision stuff for my church plant and I need some feedback.  Let me know what you think or spots or things I should change wording or if something sounds stupid..

Church is no longer a place where people can go and have a service and eat and socialize.  The Church as a whole has spent too longer relaxing and being content with the status quo that we have left people out.  I believe that the Church does some great and amazing things for the Church and their people.  Picnics, barbeques, potlucks, and helping each other out are great and wonderful things but sometimes we forget people.  God has given me a passion for the forgotten and left behind.  A passion for those who got dropped by well meaning people in such a hurry to get more souls for the kingdom that they dropped what was in their hand.  In the Bible the way that people took care of the poor was that they allowed them to glean from their harvest field after they had gone through and harvested all that they wanted.  Sometimes they missed some good harvest because they just did not see it, and sometime it was not ready at the time of the harvest, sometimes is may have been bruised or not top quality and sometimes stuff fell out of the basket because they were in such a hurry that they dropped things.  God does not want these forgotten ones to be left behind.  He has given me a passion to go back and pick up the gleanings.    The people in the harvest of gleanings may be broken and bruised and damaged but God still loves them and wants them in his kingdom. 

People that are bruised and broken and damaged do not always fit in with the regular Church, sometimes it takes longer for them to understand and to change into who God is calling them to be.  Sometimes God works with them differently then with people that were raised in church or have homes that work as an incubator for God’s Spirit to work.  Years of abuse take more than just  one day in church for God to change the person and make them whole.  For some people it can take years to get through the layers of protection that they have put up to get to who they are.  It takes patience to be willing to work through it all and to love them no matter what.  The people who are forgotten about need more than brotherly love.  They need people that are willing to have that unconditional love that says “I know you made a mistake but that was the past and now its time to move on.”  They need people that are willing to love even though it hurts.  God shows his unconditional love to us and some people understand that concept.  The forgotten people cannot grasp this concept because there is no history of people sticking by them and saying I am not leaving you.  People that fight for them when no one else will.  Therefore they need people that are willing to be a vessel of this agape love that stands by them and fights for them.  That says I am not leaving you. 

The battle is raging for the hearts of men, women, youth and children and unless people stand up and say I am going to fight for them, they will be lost to the enemy.  Its time for those people that have a passion for these forgotten ones to fight for them, they are our sisters and brothers in the Lord.  I know I am not letting any of my sisters and brothers go down without a fight and without giving them a place to say “sanctuary”.  A place where the enemy cannot take them out and kill them.  In the medieval times people could go into the church and claim sanctuary and their accusers could not enter and take them to judgment.  People need sanctuary now from Satan, even if it’s a brief moment to breath and rest before going on.

This new church is going to be called Metamorphosis because we will focus on transforming lives one day at a time.  A place of safety, much like the cocoon a caterpillar goes into that protects it as it becomes a butterfly, so the church needs to be the cocoon that protects the people as they become who God has called them to be.  Also metamorphosis because, we are not looking to change only the way a person looks but the inside of them.  A tadpole also goes through a metamorphosis in which it goes from being a creature that must live in water and swim to being a creature that can live on land near the water.  Metamorphosis is not an instant thing, it is a process much like our walk with God. We are metamorphosis.