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-Jared

Writing from Long Beach

Written: Jan. 28th
Here I am in Long Beach, CA writing from a coffee shop. Rob (a new son of God as of Easter '06) and I came out to the Organic Church Movements Conference. The first night Neil Cole, author of Organic Church, stood up and shared his heart. It wasn't polished; his video clips didn't even work! He just shared his heart. "'Doing church' organically is messy," he said. Hurting people hurt people. It's not coreographed. You can't control it. Most of all, as a worker you focus your energy and your emotion on people rather than filling seats in a crowd. He confessed the temptation to take the easier road, but he also expressed how the Lord alone has renewed his strength after a very hard year in ministry. And that, yes he is staying faithful to the call. We continue the missional journey because it is worth it, not because it is easy.

Organic church is hard. It's hard because life is messy. Hurting people hurt people. We act out in all kinds of ways -- impatience, withdrawal, isolation, resentment, anger, & so on -- because we hurt. In the economy of the Gospel, victory comes by way of surrender, but on the road to sweet surrender it's all pretty messy. As I listened to my friend share his journey, I felt God working in my own heart -- strengthening my resolve, affirming me, and convicting me of my own areas where repentance is needed.

As I sat in a forum on "organic church" (i.e. house church, simple church, etc.) in the Black community, one man reaching out to some well known hip hop artists in L.A. shared a prayer. He challenged us to ask God to teach us to love people. He reminded us that this will often begin at home with our spouse and that this prayer can revolutionize our hearts as God begins to answer. A friend to the left of me was weeping, and my own heart moved as I reflected on what God has been doing in me since I first prayed that prayer. And feeling that He has more to do in me, I promised to pray it again. Renew us. Give us a love for people, Oh God.

If you get this tonight, pray for my safe travel. (I'm on an overnight flight back to NYC in a few hours). Overall, a great conference well worth the travel. God is certainly up to something.

Well, I was supposed to be in Texas today, but weather conditions forced me to turn back around at Houston and return to New York short of my planned destination. As a result, I had the opportunity instead to participate in one of our 'house church' meetings. It was one of those gatherings that represents what organic church is supposed to be. We started off (more or less on time) with meaningful prayer for one another and for outsiders. While still not of the highest quality, the singing time was energized and meaningful. It was intergenerational as the 1 1/2 year old raised her hands and cheered participating in the praise, and later while changing my (almost) 2 yr old daughter's diaper at home she continued singing her adaptation of one the morning's anthems: "I follow Jesus, no turn back, no turn back." The non-Christian among us asked questions. Everyone shared during the discussion, and application to our lives was made naturally and spontaneously. It was apparent that most, if not all, had spent time in the Gospel text during the week. A teenager shared her testimony of practicing healthy conflict resolution with some of her unreached peers and then how she initiated prayer with them at the end of their conversation. Sharing Communion and then later a salad together, the group continued to share their lives with one another while the women in the group made plans for a ladies night at the movies tomorrow.

Most importantly, it wasn't so much that the meeting went fairly well, though it did. Rather, the dynamism comes from the fact that each person is in pursuit of the Kingdom of God. (Organic meetings depend on this; rather than on well-done coreography.) At one point I looked around the room and just thought to myself, how much each person here has really grown in Christ, and how much they have contributed to my own development as well. God is at work indeed. May each one continue to grow in Him in ways that they (or others) would have never imagined.

Continue to pray for each participant and each house church to choose a real faith, real humility, real passion, real love, making a real difference in our truly broken world. Pray for workers from the harvest. Petition that the Holy Spirit cultivate transformation and allegiance to Christ in each heart. As we sow the Seed, may the Lord of the harvest bring the growth.