I once said of Immanuel that it was the first church that I would be willing to go broke working for. That statement has certainly been (and continues to be) tested (in that going broke is a real possibility), but one that I would still make. Immanuel has been the most challenging and rewarding church experience that I have ever had, and much, if not most, of that has been tied to the degree of expectation attached to it.
That degree of expectation hasn't just been something Rachel and I have experienced as pastors, but something at the heart of the Immanuel vision. As it says on our website, "No promises of an easy road...just people to walk it with you."
But as a church grows it gets easier to begin to compromise that vision. It gets easier to fall into routines. It gets easier to expect less of ourselves and of being the church.
So, my question is, how much should we expect of each other when it comes to being the church? Jesus' call to discipleship is nothing less than a "going all in." Is that what we should expect of Christian community?
4 comments:
I just posted some similar thoughts on my blog today...so I guess yes this going all in is the only way to go. otherwise, why would we profess to follow Jesus?
love ya'll
carl
It is a moment when perhaps we really should ask ourselves the question that Christians have made trendy and applied to everything except our lives: What would Jesus do?
I think we know the answer to that question... we just need to stop letting ourselves get bogged down with the details and actually do it.
At least that's where I stand. So many things I'd like to do, but I let myself get overwhelmed.
Ruth-
i think this is where Christian community answers its own problem. we help and encourage one another in developing habits (in homes and as a community) that keep us from getting overwhelmed. we help each other take certain things off the table and put others on. we strip back and simplify so that the distractions of life don't become an excuse for not being disciples. good thoughts.
This was a provoking and convicting post for me. and a healthy reminder that came at the right time. So thanks for that.
My other thought is what I call the "critical mass" of the church(*scoffs at own scientific pun). A phenomenon I've observed that occurs when a given church mass reaches a certain threshold and the identity of that church begins to alter out of some necessity, and much convenience. Shared ownership of commitments and values become diluted, intimacy is lost, and gives way to the corporate structure and all that comes with that term. I often ask myself if it is possible for churches like Immanuel to stay Immanuel, unless their growth is matched by turnover, which I think should be the objective (painful though it may be) of any true church. This principal is the litmus test for the small assembly, and will, I feel, ultimately reveal whether the rhetoric is genuine or merely sentimental.
I am encouraged by what I have been able to witness from this church, and in moments, have been shown the only sense of home I've known in Austin.
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