Urban Ekklesia

House Church. Urban Church. Organic Church. Multicultural Church. Simple Church. This is a space created for both humble and passionate reflection on the missional, emerging church in urban North America.

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Location: Bronx, New York, United States

A space for thinking out loud and inviting others to join the refining process. Justice, mission, politics, the city. Everything is connected. Theology is life.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

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.

2 Comments:

Blogger Corky Alexander said...

A nice post on a nice blog. May God answer all your prayers. You are a great and thoughtful minister.

3:14 PM  
Blogger Corky Alexander said...

A nice post on a nice blog. May God answer all your prayers. You are a great and thoughtful minister.

3:15 PM  

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