What if we just stopped meeting?
This was one of the questions I proposed to the open house at our last community forum. What would happened if the open house just stopped gathering all together? And the answers…well some actually said that they would stop going to church all together.
At that moment I had to ask myself the question, whether that was a positive answer or a negative one. And I have to say I found that response filled with truth. Truth of where those toh’rs we at, and truth about the niche we fill as the open house. Sure it would be easy to look at it negatively, but I am choosing not to. But feel free to add some negative thoughts in the comments if you want.
I made mention at the meeting about whether our church should become a website entirely. A space where people post when they gather, post when they want to get together, a space for resources and leave it up to each other to get together. Now that may be a little too loose for some, but I have this crazy feeling that we might need to consider going radical on our concept of gathering.
The truth is our crew is transient, x-y generation, random at best, but “community common” (thanks Randy) and actually does these types of relationships well. So maybe what we need are some rhythms? What I mean by this is perhaps some phases of when toh meets and usually around a type of teaching, experience, service, or need in certain lengths of time. For example, what if we met all together once every 6 weeks for a meal and some worship (whatever that looks like) and then in between we had 6 week rhythms? Say 6 weeks of teaching of a certain book of the bible, or 6 weeks of serving at a local mission, or 6 weeks of absolutely nothing? and each participant is required to come up with how they would like to spend or give to the rhythm? Then we get together for a party at the end of each rhythm..
I doubt I am coming out with anything new here, in fact something in me thinks this is similar to how the Jews gathered before the synagogues were built into the culture. Every certain amount (perhaps 6 weeks) of time there was a feast and a celebration of the lead up time. Similar to Passover, Yom Kippur, and other Jewish feast holidays.
So for now we are still gathering regularly, but I have a feeling some changes might be coming. Perhaps we should get that leadership team together before we make any decisions.
Oh Leadership…thats entirely different type of post.
more to come.
Tags: church, life, meeting, rhythm, the open house
I like a lot of these ideas – and would certainly appreciate something that fits this crazy lifestyle we seem to live. From what I noticed of TOH, it’s attended by a lot of young people, who perhaps, like me, find their schedules changing every few months, depending on school, jobs, internships, activities and relationships.
So, you’d have an excited participant, is what I wanted to convey. Rad stuff!
We just finished the first of our new 6 week cycle, and so far I love it. Week 1 is communion. We gather around a common meal, break bread and drink wine, read scripture (readings only, no formal study), pray, sing, and celebrate everything God is doing in and through us as the table reminds us that He is in and through us. And we eat great food, a whole brunch, with the likes of swiss asparagus bakes and fried bacon. Last time we looked at renaissance art and watched a homemade video of us over the years. Week 2 we kick it at Tapestry Tuscany. This keeps us connected, gives us a week off, and gives us a place to bring people who might not be ready to join us in the living room. Then 4 weeks of Bible study, prayer, and open and accountable conversation about life and following Jesus, along with planning and sharing about activities in the neighborhood. Might be a little more structured than your web-based idea, but building the cycle around the communion table has been a winner, and we all enjoy the variety.
thanks Deanne for the encouragement. I have a feeling we will continue Tuesdays until we get a feel for what a rhythm will look like for us. I hoping to receive a lot of thoughts from everybody.
Nick, thanks for that. sounds rad. I think for us we need to be a little more random, (i.e. yours are still every Sunday i think, so the cycles never really end), so that we have distinct starting and ending points. feel free to give me more insight if i am missing something from your model.
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