Friday, November 13, 2009

Fresh Expressions, part 2

Bishop Cray is probably on an eastbound plane heading back to the UK, but not before really leaving a mark on this community and giving us much to ponder and wrestle with.  His talk really delved into what the essence of Christianity is and how we build a community of people who seek to embody that.  It centers on the cross.  We can't lose that focus in the midst of church hierarchy, rules, structure, traditions, etc. 
People say that humans are born with an intrinsic desire to understand the meaning of life and to recognize a power beyond ourselves.  However, this seems to be lost from a large population of the British, according to what we heard about the status of faith in British society.  So many do not even know who Jesus is or what a church is for.  The days of Christendom are long gone, though the Church of England is still in existence.  It's still hard for me to fathom a place where church is an oddity.
The challenging part for me in hearing about these "organic" church initiatives is, where does the diversity come in? I think it's wonderful to work within existing networks to grow a church, but it becomes a very homogeneous community.  If I hang out with a bunch of farmers forever, how will I ever learn to appreciate and relate to city folk?  And we're instructed to respect and learn from our elders; so a community of youth have little guidance and wisdom to draw upon in their circle.

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