After the bajillion cards, letters and emails sent to me by inquiring minds all over the globe* with the pressing question, “What’s This All Going to Look Like? What Will This Re-shaping of the Church Look Like When It’s All Over???”….
I’m happy to say I am finally ready to give you the answer you’ve all been waiting to hear:
(drumroll…….)
I haven’t got a freaking clue.
*Nobody sent me any cards or letters or emails asking this question. I was just being dramatic.
The Wild One and I were just talking yesterday about how we know we have certain gifts to bring to the table, and how we thought we were going to find a niche in the Body of Christ a certain way, and then it turns out God is shifting everything, and…what do we do NOW?
Here’s just one example. I’m a worship leader; I know how to do that. It’s not a boast to say I could get a job as a worship leader in just about any church that needs one–that’s just my skill-set. So what does God do? Yanks me out of the institutional church. Says everything is going to change. Hm.
Don’t get me wrong. I love where He’s brought us so far. I love the non-traditional community of faith He’s gathered around us. I think everything He does is beautiful in its own way. But I just know there is more–something He wants to add to this–something more… Something more we are to do. Even with the house church. I know God did this, but I’m coming to realize that getting us all out of traditional church into a living room was not a destination unto itself; it’s a step in the journey. There’s a reason He called this meeting. I’m hungry to know.
I can see the stirring in the hearts of our people, too. There’s a growing hunger for a shared sense of mission. We’re seeking, both as individuals and as a group, for God-ideas. That’s really awesome. It’s also really scary at times–for me, anyway–because it’s such unfamiliar ground.
Anyway…just wanted to let everyone know that I have no idea what it’s all going to look like.
One thing I do think, as a closing thought. I believe whatever God is doing, it’s going to be very diverse. In other words, I think He’s breaking the molds and patterns and formulas, and we’re going to have to stop copying each other. I think as the church “melts” from a solid to more of a fluid, it’s going to take many shapes, and the church is going to be a lot more contextual. That’s going to require us leaning on the Lord for guidance for ourselves, not going to a seminar to learn how to be more “emergent”, “missional”, or some other label. I’m not against those, and I read a lot of books, too. I’m just saying at the end of the day each of us has to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd for ourselves, and not expect it to look like what someone else is doing.
Whatever it’s going to look like….it’s gonna be gooooooood……
Wayward Son
Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo.
I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
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My “Best Friend” that I sometimes reference in my blog is also a Worship Leader. I sang on her team at times. To be honest I think that this shift is harder for you guys than anyone else that I know. Think about it…a pastor might not get paid for pastoring now with the shift, but at least he or she can ‘pastor’ the people that God puts in their way. You can pastor outside the institution. My gift of hospitality and teaching can also be done – one on one. Other gifts of evangelism, mercy, helps and on and on can be done on a one on one basis. But the Worship Leader needs (usually) a group to lead. And the way the church has made space for you to do this is in a large setting with a band and electricity and such (most times) The joy she got from leading worship is completely gone now except for the occasional small group that they break out the guitars. I am so curious as to what Father wants to do with these people who obviously have the giftings and skills to do something that is valuable to the whole body as well as the world.
I know you are more than a worship leader, as is my friend, but there is something there that I hear in the both of you talking that is almost like hearing someone who has lost a limb. It was so much of who you were and still are.
One thing I just saw last week was a worship leader in a bar. A couple came to town to plant a church that will impact the students here at Penn State. They asked the bar owners if they could meet there on Sunday nights. They got thrown out of a few places but one bar owner said – “Sure…will they buy beer? We are dead at 7:00 on Sunday nights.” So they have a VERY informal meeting. Students and some older people come in and order drinks, a guy who grew up playing in this very bar as a pre-christian got saved about 5 years back and provides the music – some christian and some secular – as people gather and talk. Then the pastor guy gets up and very “Rob Bellish”, shares something of the message of Jesus. It was great and the worship leader looked to be having a blast. His band was made up of one pre-christian and another kid who had rejected the church and said he would just help out with the music. (He sat to the side during the “sermon” and chain smoked.) I loved the whole thing. But I was especially excited to see a worship leader outside the box.
Sorry for the tangent but I’ve constantly been tuned in to you as you have talked about the whole worship thing and am really interested in how you are processing this part of the journey.
“I haven’t got a freaking clue.”
shew. i’m glad i’m not the only one.
🙂
Barb, thanks for the remarks.
Yeah, I think for me I’m just in the in-between. I know there are fresh applications of the gift of music and worship for a new paradigm; we’re just kind of in the in-between right now.
For me, I still think corporate gatherings of the saints are both good and necessary, though I don’t think they need to take place in institutional settings. I have still been leading a once-a-month public worship time here locally for anyone who wants to come. I just haven’t found a “niche” yet. Honestly, I just feel the sense of transition so strongly in the Body of Christ right now that I’m not taking any model for granted, because it’s all subject to change. I feel that eventually we’ll know what to do with our gifts; we just have to exercise some patience.
Thanks again!
Our home church experiment, which lasted on and off for a stretch of about 5 years was sometime beautiful and amazing, but it ended in a steamin’ pile of bull puckey. It wasn’t the fault of the home church setting. It was the weakness of humanity.
Since that time we somehow have slowly found ourselves back in a regular church building setting, but with a group that is not quite so crazy and impulsive and leadership-crazed as what we had been a part of before.
After all that we have been open to and let go of and been willing to try… we still don’t have a freakin’ clue either!
But, on most days, I no longer need to know.