Have you ever been hiking at night? If the woods are dense enough, almost no moonlight or starlight penetrates the thick canvas of the forest roof. When you turn your headlamp on, the immediate area in front of you lights up, and everything else is draped in blackness. You can see clearly for maybe thirty feet, then after that it tapers quickly back into pitch black. There’s a certain amount of faith that you have to walk in when you are night hiking. You have to trust that the trail will take you where it is supposed to go. You have to have faith that the trail itself is safe, even if it runs alongside a step cliff or next to a rushing river. You trust that the noises you hear are really just big squirrels and not hungry bears looking for tasty, out of shape and slightly plump, stray hikers. So you hike in faith, knowing for sure only what lies 30 feet in front of you and hoping that you’ll reach your campsite before Roscoe the Mountain Man jumps from the shadows to demonstrate to you his deep knowledge of the movie “Deliverance.” It really is exciting. Believe me. Try it sometime. Well, I am on a night hike of sorts right now, figuratively speaking. All of us that have entered into this amazing adventure that is following Christ are on night hikes. Our destination is certain: the Kingdom of God. Our trail is firm: the Path of Righteousness and the Way of the Cross. Our light, The Holy Spirit, illuminates all that we need to know in order to navigate through the world that is shrouded in the darkness of sin. The path that I am currently on is not one that I ever thought that I would take. It is a crazy trail that already has seen miracles, struggles, leaps of faith, and mighty acts of God. And we're only at the beginning. My hiking companions are my wife Brandie, and my three sons, Sam, Jack and Luke. It is a journey that we would love to share with all of you, if you want to read along.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

part II

So picking up where I left of yesterday:

If a suburban church is to reach the lost, make disciples, and be the diverse group of eclectic people that it was meant to be, then several things have to happen. I want to talk briefly about two of them now.

First, it must intentionally develop community. A week or so ago I wrote about the church being a "contrast society". We as Christians are called to be different, to stand out in contrast to the world. If this is to happen, then it will only happen as a church builds deep community. This takes much intentional work and isn't something that can happen overnight. But the payoff for this investment is the foundation that is necessary for a deep thriving church. I will talk more about what true community entails another day.

Secondly, if a suburban church is to go beyond the superficial, they must be intentional about who is involved. This means intentionally reaching out to those that are not like us, whether that is in age, race, socio-economic status, etc... This does not mean that we weaken the Gospel to accept others. On the contrary, I think by embracing the diversity of the body of Christ, we strengthen how we proclaim the Gospel. But we have to remember that our ideals cannot be modeled after middle class values, our values must be created by the Word of God. So often we mix these things up and begin substituting worldly values for Godly ones.

Well, so much more still to be said, but I am tired. More to come....
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