Community and stuff

These are just my thoughts. Just me thinking out different things, and asking different questions as I walk out on my journey through life and toward God. Sorry its so long.

Life is a crazy thing. I’ve been realizing recently how all encompassing this walk that Jesus called us to walk really is. I think so many times we think the goal is to get to heaven and to get other people there as well. What if that view of following Christ is wrong? I think so often we itemize our lives. We separate church and state (I’m not saying we should make a political party cause that just gets nasty and people declare war and make stupid decisions in Gods name). Often times we also separate work from our walk with Christ, but sometimes they happen to meet up and cross paths. Is it supposed to be like this? If not then what is it supposed to look like?

Every time I read the book of Acts I’m floored with the way people lived. The early Christians lived so much different from us. I know its a different culture and a different period in time, but have we adapted this gospel the best way we can to the way our culture works today? Or have we missed the mark and not fully understood the reasons for the way things were done? Or do we not question and not think about it cause we don’t want to have to rediscover what we believe? We don’t want to find out we were wrong or misunderstood what the sacred text is saying. Isn’t that what it truly means to be a disciple? To be a student, always learning and being re-taught. Or have we decided we have learned all we need to know and its good, but we don’t want anything else? What if God wants to give you more?

Ok, now back to my comment on “the goal is to get to heaven and to get other people there.” Now a days in my thought process and journey I don’t really think thats the goal. Obviously the number 1 goal is to love God and love others, but I don’t think its about “getting to heaven” when we die. (maybe it is and maybe I’ve missed the point just cause I want there to be something more... I don’t know.) I think its about bringing or realizing and showing the Kingdom of Heaven where ever we go and where ever we step. I think our job is not to “save” people but to help them on their journey to discovering the beauty of God, the goodness in life, and the truth in life. But of course to be someone who is able to show others these things we need to be tasting them continually, and discovering things in the picture we didn’t see before.

Back to the “kingdom of Heaven”. Jesus is always talking about the kingdom of Heaven being near. (read the gospels if you don’t believe me) At one point some one asks Jesus where and when is the Kingdom of God, Jesus basically replies, wrong question, now and here. (Luke 17:20- on. its a pretty cool dialogue exchange, I kinda poorly summarized it) Has the churched turned into the where and whens? Are we running around looking for God and looking for the place where the kingdom is or will be? Or are we waiting assuming its coming when we die and the world sucks, so I’ll wait for it to come? It’s our job to be tasting God every where we are, discovering truth where ever God chooses to reveal it(Acts 17:23, 17, 28, and some more). We need to be enjoying beauty every where we go, even the valleys. I think through doing that it starts to touch the Kingdom of God and brings it to earth, and thats how others catch on and say I want that.

One of the things in the American church is we have turned the walk into a loan man walk were your path will run in with other believers a few times a week at the assigned religious time. Thats not bad but I think there is much more God has for us. These days people are all about relationship ministries. Which is right on, but a lot of times it is done solo and stays solo until the believer gets the unbeliever to church then the believers job is done. The bait was taken and the soul was saved. well done.

In reading the bible and learning more about the church and the culture of the time I see how community based it was. A lot of times these days, we will say our church is a community. Even more, some times we will have community in the name of our church. In Acts the church was an intense community of people eating together, praying together, worshiping together, and giving to one another so that no one among them was in need. (I would give book references in Acts but there are to many just read the book and you will see what I’m talking about.) How amazing is that?! Is that even possible in American culture? I’m not saying the Christians should segregate them selves to a block or part of the city. Thats just weird, wrong, and how poisonous kool-aid gets made. How can we as the body of Christ live like the Acts church? For the early church it wasn’t a time and a place it was them, It was what they breathed, it was who they were. They didn’t even think of church as where and when. They didn’t say “let’s start church...... NOW...ok we will be ending...... Now. See ya next week or Wednesday, don’t sin.”

I think when you live in community with other believers it creates a green house affect. (like dts...) You are going though other peoples struggles with them and see them discover God in new ways which then leads you to new discovery and deeper healing. Instead of being on your own and having to go through the problems, the joys, and the revelations by yourself, you are with others and learning together non stop. In this type of environment it is difficult not to discover and grow in Christ. When people as a group are discussing their lives with Christ it encourages one another, brings hope, and gives a sense of family. In community you rejoice together, party together, morn together, and change the world together. I think there are a lot of other huge positives but my heads not working while I’m typing this paragraph. sorry. I guess our question should be then what is true community?


Is there a way in America to be a community that IS the church? Do we have to stop using the word church because it is so often miss-understood today? Should we let the non-christians name us instead of Us telling them what we are?(Acts 17:6 “those that have turned the world upside down”) We can live it and let the nonbelievers tell us our name? I wonder if in Antioch, it was really the nonbelievers who first named the believers christians.( Acts 11:26) That would be a bold move to say “Look at me I act like Christ so I am a christian!” Who knows, interesting to think about though. Or how nonbelievers gave believers a word for the way they worshiped their God, enthusiasm. (I’ve heard it said, so double check and correct me if I’m wrong, that the nonbelievers had to make up a word for the way beleivers worshiped. so they made the word Enthusiasm. Origin early 17th cent. (from French Enthousiasme, or via late Latin from Greek enthousiasmos, from enthous ‘possessed by a god, inspired’ (based on theos ‘God’)) Do we live in such a way that I confuses the world? Do we live our hourly lives with the passion and inspiration of the Creator God?


Its true that the life style they lived in Acts goes against American culture.(Acts 4:32-) Christianity isn’t supposed to be a subcultural clone of what America is doing. Christianity is not the “holy twin” of the American nation. Christianity is not democratic, republican or even green party. We are apart of a different Kingdom, we are aliens in this world. I think when we get our minds around that it is easy to realize we should be living to bring that Kingdom here(John 6:66-69). So why are we waiting to die to see heaven? Lets start discovering and bringing the Kingdom of heaven every where we go! The disciples weren’t waiting they were living it. They were doing it so well that people of the kingdom they lived in got scared of their kingdom. So scared they started killing the believers(again I’m too lazy to give all the reference read the book of ACts). But others liked the teachings of this kingdom so much they wanted to hear more(Acts 17:20 and others)


Yes, Living like that will take huge sacrifice and be a huge personal cost. But like the Good book says, “this is a hard teaching, who can accept it.”(John 6:60, Mark 10:24) Christ also said its a narrow road(Matt 7:14). Are we as the body of Christ, as the church, on that road?

I think God does move with the solo or the small group walk, no doubt, but could you imagine if we behaved holy and believed we are who God says we are in large groups? If we were a community that walked out in an unbelievable love and full of mercy and grace. How many heads would be turning if we acted like that was who we are? how many people would be asking us not when and where but why and how? What a beautiful picture of the body of christ that would be! Could you imagine if the church was the Church and didn’t attend it? If we didn’t have these stupid divider lines called denominations up, but moved as one body? OO man that would be KICK A!

The walk that those who claim Christ’s name are called to live is so much greater then the where and when. It’s a constant. If we want to change entire cities we are going to have to walk out in the crazy counter cultural life style every second with the WHOLE body of Christ. What does that look like? I don’t know, but lets stop waiting to die and lets find out!

This walk means looking out for each others needs, till no one is in need. Helping the poor and other communities around us. Walking out in a grace that makes no sense, a love that confuses the logic of the smartest. Stepping out in faith and living like we can’t wait for the fullness of Gods kingdom to come here on earth. It means putting the “holy twin” to death, and starting a fresh with the culture that the Creator of the universe is King of.

The days of stadium revivals is over, the times when a good argument would make people except christ is dead. People are looking for life, substance, truth, something worth living for, and love. How will they find something that they have never seen? How will they believe in something they have never tasted? Lets show them every where we go, Every step we take, Every deed done, and every word spoken!! Lets let them join us on our journey to help them start theirs. Lets stop waiting to die and lets start living Kingdom lives now, no matter what the cost and what the consequences. Lets do this because that is our calling, this is who we are. Lets do this out of love and reverence to a Holy merciful God! There is nothing else worth living for.

Maybe all this is wishful thinking for me. Maybe I’m reading the scriptures the wrong way. Maybe I’ve fallen off my rocker and am try to live out an unattainable dream world. Maybe I missed the street sign for the narrow road and am on the interstate.

or maybe, just maybe...

God is moving globally doing new things. Maybe its our choice to partner with this Awe inspiring Creator and go against the flow of the way things have been done,

or we can say “No, my ways are working just fine for me.”

We can relearn and rediscover this Creator and His creation,

or we can say “I’m the teacher now. I have figured out this thing and I have the methods down solid, I’m no longer a disciple.”