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It Begins with a Broken Heart

Last week, I told you about God's call for us to leave it all behind in moving to Columbia to start Awaken. There's another reason why de-emphasizing the form of church was and still is important.

Transformation on any level doesn't begin with a new church form - it begins with a broken heart.

In this day when so many are frustrated and disenchanted with more traditional forms of church, it's pretty easy to draw a crowd by selling a new church form - especially this "missional community" idea. As we've pieced together what God has called us to do, people have responded with phrases like, "Man, that is so Acts 2," or "Yes, someone finally got it right," or "That's the way Jesus would do church." I appreciate their enthusiasm, but I have a fear as a result of some of these comments.

The point is not to sell out for a church model that's "not like the last place." To that, I say, "Why bother?" Missional communities or Mega-churches can be equally effective and equally defective. The determining factor is not the form, it's the heart. The point is to be so broken over lostness in your city that you would do ANYTHING short of sin to see that city transformed!

God can do a lot with a heart breaking over lostness. I'm not sure He can do much with the pride that comes with thinking your form is the only one that is right and that it's way better than the one down the street. If that's the only reason we employ new church forms, then something is way off.

For months, we begged God to continually break our hearts for Columbia, not a church form. He has and still is. Along the way, we've asked Him to send us people whose hearts are breaking for Columbia, not a church form. He has and still is. As we form community and catalyze movement, our prayer will always be for God to keep us broken.

Leave it Behind

Bono says it so well at the end of the U2 tune, "Walk On"...

Leave it behind
You've got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme...

Gotta admit that I didn't exactly jump for joy when it became clear that God was calling us to Columbia.  I sort of wondered why God would call us back to our hometown when Jesus didn't do so well when He passed through His hometown (Matthew 13:57-58). :-)

Not long after we started the journey, the unique opportunity that God was giving us became clear. Because we grew up here, there was a bit of street credibility that we could leverage.  We've paid our dues here. We know the culture. We know the people. We know the lay of the land.  We have an inside track.

As part of leveraging this, we felt like God called us to leave behind every form of church we've ever loved, hated, wondered about, worked in, dreamed about...everything.  He called us to leave it all behind, join Him in Columbia, and spend considerable time getting to know people.  Without a big vision to sell my only option was to listen.

As we got to know people...people far from God, people very near to God, and people at all parts in between...the question became "what does church look like among these people?" Instead of me asking, "How can I get people to do what I want" the question was, "How can I join what God is already doing and do what He wants."  I'm telling you, we would have never arrived where we are without this beginning point.

We'll use the same beginning point with all of our missional community leaders and anyone else who embraces the missionary call of God on their lives.  God is already at work in every man, woman, and child drawing them to Himself in and through Jesus - He's calling us all to join Him.  But joining Him often times means we have to leave it all behind.

Awaken Columbia

Well, the cat is finally out of the bag. Head on over to www.AwakenColumbia.com to see what in the world God is up to here in good 'ole Columbia, SC and what He's called us to do to be a part of it.

Pretty exciting stuff.

Pretty scary stuff, too.

Last night, we launched a 40 day season of prayer & repentance. You can follow, read stories, and participate yourself via the Awaken blog. We'll culminate this season on August 10 with a worship & communion gathering where as a community we will give ourselves fully to Jesus and His mission in this great city.

I've been sort of stealth about what we've been up to on purpose. Mostly because I needed time to let this vision marinate in my mind and heart, which has involved lots of wrestling, stretching, learning, doodling, etc. But, I also wanted our family to have time to start to live it. Don't want to take anyone where I am not willing to go and already going myself.

So, I'll unpack more of this in the coming days and weeks.  But for now, you know what we're up and you know how to pray. Thanks to all who have already been praying for, encouraging, and supporting us and this work. Keep it up!