“The gospel is socially embodied in the people called the church. As its members we are incorporated and engrafted into the body of Christ by our baptism, by our receiving of the Lord’s Supper, by our hearing and doing of his Word, not by a chatty and sentimental private relationship with our divine buddy.”

Ralph C. Wood, Preaching and Professing

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There has been a great shift in the church, a shift that I believe Wood is raging against with his statement above. It is a shift away or rather a pull away from the church–away from community and into a secluded individualistic faith that disallows communal discernment and testing. This, I believe, is extremely dangerous and detrimental not only to faith, but to the living body of Christ (a.k.a. The Church).

This move towards “chatty, sentimental, private relationships with our Divine Buddy” is a fairly recent move in the faith of Christianity, experiencing its heyday during the rise of Evangelicalism; itself a rage against a lackluster experience of God beyond the church and into our everyday lives. It arose out of a belief that there was a lack of deep faith within the church. Hence, daily Bible reading, journaling, prayer, quiet times, and the like sprung up along with devotionals with flowery language talking about “God being as sweet as apple-pie.” (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Wood’s quote, his rage, represents a pendulum swing–and a lot of hyperbole to get his point across.

We mustn’t walk away from experiencing relationship with God/Jesus on an everyday basis in how we pray, in how we approach and understand Scripture, in how we journal, but at the same time we absolutely must be sure to continually engage with the community of believers. Faith is not an individualistic expression. You see, the church is the engine God designed to be the change in the world. It isn’t about you, rather it’s about us. It’s about us doing life together and bringing about change together in the name of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Wood is raging against individualism in favor of the empowered body of Christ, the engine of change God designed us to be. Because together we can do so much more than we can on our own. This is what it means to be the church.

“The Ruthless Christ.” Is this how we proclaim Christ to the world?

“We will make our claims for Christ as unique and as the Savior of the world, hoping that we will live out our beliefs in such a way that they help to commend our faith effectively. Our conduct far too often contradicts our profession, however. We are supposed to proclaim the God of love, but we have been guilty as Christians of sowing hatred and suspicion; we commend the one whom we call the Prince of Peace, and yet as Christians we have fought more wars than we care to remember. We have claimed to be a fellowship of compassion and caring and sharing, but as Christians we often sanctify sociopolitical systems that belie this, where the rich grow ever richer and the poor grow ever poorer, where we seem to sanctify a furious competitiveness, ruthless as can only be appropriate to the jungle.”
-Desmond Tutu

“The 21st century will not be dominated by America, China, Brazil, or India but by the city. In an age that appears increasingly unmanageable, cities rather than states are becoming the islands of governance on which the future world order will be built. Time, technology, and population growth have massively accelerated the advent of this new urbanized era. Already more than half the world lives in cities and that percentage is growing rapidly. Just 100 cities account for 30% of the worlds economy and almost all of its innovation.”
Foreign Policy – Beyond City Limits

This was my hope in moving to San Francisco, in starting a church–a community of people on the same page, on mission together striving to change the world. This is why we chose the city, one of the most influential cities in the world, one of the most influential cities in the United States. I believe the only way we can actually see the restoration of the world take place is by going into the cities and creating renewal.

I continually work for, hope for and pray that IKON will be this type of community. That as we venture together into this mission of helping people find their way back to God, of seeking after justice for the poor and marginalized, of living intentionally in the ways of Jesus, we will see the change we so desperately hope for and a world restored.

I know these things are possible with our community. I know that IKON has a bright future ahead, and I am excited to be journeying with this band of brothers and sisters in creating the impossible–changing the world through the renewal of all things.

Yesterday was a huge new step in the life of our community as we launched our partnership with The Common. This technological partnership will help us facilitate a greater sense of care within our Families, meet needs throughout our community, and help us tackle larger needs within the city of San Francisco and beyond. The Common will help us to not only communicate needs but facilitate ways in which we can unleash our community to meet those needs!

I can’t believe how simple this whole site is and how easy it will be to mobilize our community to truly make a greater difference in people’s lives. I’m truly stoked about the possibilities and tremendously thankful for our team of facilitators and administrators who have made this all possible! If you’re a part of IKON make sure you sign up at one of our Sunday Gatherings in the next couple of weeks and get in on the action!

I’m looking forward to this movement of generosity that is budding within our community, and I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of it!

I’m not a big fan of Good Friday. As everyone takes today to reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross, I’m already looking ahead to Sunday. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been much for waiting that I don’t particularly like to celebrate Good Friday, maybe it’s because I enjoy living too much in a post-resurrection world. Maybe it’s my silent protest against the Church for living as if it’s Good Friday everyday, living as if we’ve lost and are powerless by simply celebrating the crucifixion but forgetting about the resurrection. So, as Good Friday marches forward and hundreds of thousands of Christians around the world gather to celebrate let me offer up a few words of challenge from theologian N.T. Wright:

The wrath of the Lamb, of which Revelation speaks from time to time, is the anger of love against all that hurts and damages the beloved [you are the beloved]. The love of the Lamb is the great reality that under girds the entire vision. And it is that love which is revealed at Easter.

Without Easter, Calvary was just another political execution of a failed Messiah. Without Easter, the world is trapped between the shoulder shrug of the cynic, the fantasy of the escapist, and the tanks of the tyrant. Without Easter, there is no reason to suppose that good will triumph over evil, that love will win over hatred, that life will win over death. But with Easter we have hope; because hope depends on love; and love has become human and has died, and is now alive for evermore, and holds the keys of Death and Hades. It is because of him that we know–we don’t just hope, we know–that God will wipe away all tears from all eyes. And in that knowledge we find ourselves to be Sunday people, called to live in a world of Fridays. In that knowledge we know ourselves to be Easter people, called to minister to a world full of Calvary’s. In that knowledge we find that the hand that dries our tears passes the cloth onto us, and bids us follow him, to go to dry one anothers tears. The Lamb calls us to follow him wherever he goes; into the dark places of the world, the dark places of our own hearts, the places where the tears blot out the sunlight, the places where tyrants pave the grass with concrete; and he bids us shine his morning light into the darkness, and share his ministry of wiping away the tears.

This year, let us leave Good Friday behind and instead be Easter people, Sunday people, the people that we have been called to be and let us move forward in the power of the Resurrection and change the world.

She stood there with her head hung low and a scarf over her head as she held a sign in her hand. At first I couldn’t quite make out the words but then, almost instantly, they became clear: “Sick with cancer, no health insurance. Selling crafts for treatment.” She didn’t look homeless, in fact she was recently showered and clothed in a sun dress, but the frailness of her body showed the signs of a long bout with chemotherapy and a disease that was ravaging her life.

I walked on by.

I walked by trying not to make eye contact (an easy feat considering she was looking down at the ground), unsure of what to do, trying desperately to blend into the rest of the crowd that was walking along with me to get inside the church building for Sunday worship. Together we stood, we sang and we prayed, watched some baptisms and listened about the upcoming Compassion Sunday, we listened to a sermon and were challenged by the concept of Sabbath rest and prayed again for the poor and destitute in our society, sang another song and were dismissed. We walked out the doors and again, there she stood holding a basket, head hung low, looking even more frail than she did the first time I saw her. As we got a little bit closer, Tracy prodded me to take notice, seemingly asking me to do something… but what? I didn’t know.

I walked on by.

I walked by trying not to make eye contact, unsure of what to do, trying desperately to blend into the rest of the crowd as we walked away from church…

As I hang my head low and ponder my lack of action I can’t help but find it interesting that this woman came to the church for help. She may have stood at a distance, but she knew what she was doing–coming to the church for compassion, for mercy, for love, grace, help… and we walked by. (I didn’t see a single person stop.) She came to the people, not the structure, not the organization but to the people… but the people were unprepared to help.

(I could take this as an argument for why national health care is such an important issue, this woman who was sick and potentially dying from cancer couldn’t get the treatment necessary because she didn’t have health insurance.)

What can the church do in a situation like this? What can people do? How do you attempt to tackle a problem like this?

Immediately I think about small groups–inviting her into a community that can love and care for her, offer up financial help and opportunity to pay for her care by literally adopting her into their community. I see the potential of the small group to be an emotional support to her, walking her and guiding her, praying for her and loving on her during the difficult times of treatment. Such thoughts literally brings tears to my eyes because I see that as a beautiful expression of the gospel.

A small group, however, is unable to tackle a challenge like this unless they are prepared to act–and by act I mean taking the first step. How do you not only prepare a leader for something like this, but empower them and empower a member of a small group to take such a big leap of faith, compassion and love? How do you acknowledge their step of faith and encourage them along in the process… not to mention encouraging them to do it again?

I walked on by… and I’m left with nothing but questions…

Last weekend Tracy and I were able to visit some dear friends in the San Diego area who four months ago planted Momentum Christian Church in the city of Chula Vista. On Sunday morning we were able to share with the entire church about our endeavor in the city of San Francisco to plant a new, reproducing church that will help people find their way back to God.

I’ve been able to travel around the country quite a bit the past several months and share about this new church and it’s always a thrill to be in front of new crowds and see their eyes light up as we share what’s possible in this amazing city. A couple of times we’ve been bowled over with generosity from these churches as they’ve presented us with checks and gifts of varying amounts and types, but nothing prepared me for what we experienced at Momentum.

As Chris wrapped up his interview of me he told the church of his desire to partner with us in making this new church in San Francisco a reality but was uncertain of what exactly that would look like. (Understandably so, they’re a four month old church still being supported from churches from around the country.) “However,” he said, “we’ve been keeping a secret from you all weekend long. Three weeks ago we decided as a church that we wanted to give you our entire weekend offering and use it to help you start this new church…” Immediately, I began to tear up absolutely astounded by this community’s generosity and commitment to helping people find their way back to God not only in Chula Vista but up the coast in San Francisco as well. Chris went on to tell the church that three weekends ago, the offering they took up was $5,100 (a huge offering for a four-month-old church) and since that weekend their offerings have skyrocketed!”

As a new church plant we’re extremely excited to be partnering with a church of this caliber, a church that is this focused on mission, that is so entrepreneurial they’re willing to take a huge step of faith and commit to us in such a major way. I’ve heard stories like this before, but never thought we’d have a story like this to share with our church community. God has provided for us in ways that we never before could have dreamed and churches around this country have stepped up in major ways despite the economic situations they find themselves in. It is our dream to emulate these churches, to follow their example and be as generous to others as they have been with us. It’s that sort of generosity that not only propels the Kingdom forward but enables movements to be birthed!

Thank you Momentum for your amazing example. The tales of your generosity will be legendary!