The Missional Journey
Last Monday after class, Cindy, Jeff, Pete, Theresa and myself went out for coffee and to talk. I have been thinking a lot lately about what we are about to do here at the church. Back in December I felt that we were supposed to get back to what the original vision of this place was. We were going to plant a missional church. We were going to have an emergent flair to what we looked like. I even took some heat from some of the local leaders here about doing it (comments about how a friend of a friend of a friend knew someone who once met a person who went to Todd Hunter's church and how we REALLY didn't want to do that now, do we?) Well, we did want to do that, and we were going to do that, but we ended up taking over a church instead. One thing led to another and we didn't do it. Well, now is the time to do it.
It always seems like when this group gets together, I get in trouble. Not from them and not because they cause trouble (it has been a long time since we got kicked out of Bakers Square for throwing pie, but I digress). No, I take heat from other people within the church because I talk to them more then I talk to the people who are complaining (hmmmm, I wonder if there is something to that, but once again, I digress) So, back to my story....
We got together and I told a story. I started to think about the times in my life when I felt like I walking totally in the will of God. Then it hit me. I was in collage. I was working with the TEC retreat program within the Catholic Youth Office in Chicago. Now it had nothing to do with TEC, it had nothing to do with the CYO, what it had to do was with the people I was working with. For about a seven year period a group of us did ministry with a passion. We were working with the kids through TEC, but it went beyond that. We were working together, whatever one of us needed, we all did. We played music at each others churches, we prayed together, we ate together, some of us even married each other. Amazingly, very few of us lived near each other. We were scattered all over Chicagoland. We all had different jobs or went to different Universities. But somehow, our lives were always intertwined. And it was more then a friendship. It was all about God. Our lives were intertwined around each other and around Christ. When we got together we joked and laughed, but we always were ready for whatever God was wanting to do. And we usually did it. It was a powerful time of my life. We preached the gospel (even in a Catholic setting) and we saw lives changed.
That memory affected me this week. Cindy and I received a prophetic word from John Paul Jackson back in 2001. It went something like this: "Leadership, leadership, leadership, stop being reluctant and follow me. Leadership, leadership, leadership. The giftings and callings of the Lord are irrevocable. I will restore the ministry of your youth so that the mockers and the scoffers will be quieted. I will give you gifts so that you will know and that they will know that I am God. Leadership, leadership, leadership." (Or something like that.) We always looked at that word as a "go" word, that we were being restored and we were about to get sent. Looking back, both were the case. The one part of the word that has always confused Cindy and I was the part about the ministry of our youth. I was not saved in my youth....she was a punk rocker in her youth. And then on Monday afternoon it hit me. TEC. Not that we would be doing the retreat again, but that we would be active in a community again like that one. It caused me to shutter and almost cry. It has been a long time since we did that. I did not realize how much I missed that community.
So I pulled together the people that I am closest with here. Jeff, Theresa, Pete and of course my wife. I would have loved Alice to be there, but it was late, and Josiah needed to be in bed. I told them a very brief version of the above story and then asked them what kind of church did they want to be a part of. We went on for about two hours. I really don't know what this will look like when we get there, but for the first time since we moved back to Illinois, I know we are on the road. I am really excited.
I have been blogging for four years now. I'm hoping to document the journey right here. It is my prayer that there are more then five of us on this journey. It is my prayer that most of the church joins us, leaving the idea of belonging to a church and instead becoming the church. It is time to become missional.
Oh yeah, it has been a long time since I was in contact with any of those people from my youth. Dave, Gabe, Keith, Dan, Sue, Anita, Cathlene and Andrea. If any of you are out there and happen to come across this, shoot me an e-mail. We should get together sometime over at "Jim and Pete's" for pizza and some good memories! :)
It always seems like when this group gets together, I get in trouble. Not from them and not because they cause trouble (it has been a long time since we got kicked out of Bakers Square for throwing pie, but I digress). No, I take heat from other people within the church because I talk to them more then I talk to the people who are complaining (hmmmm, I wonder if there is something to that, but once again, I digress) So, back to my story....
We got together and I told a story. I started to think about the times in my life when I felt like I walking totally in the will of God. Then it hit me. I was in collage. I was working with the TEC retreat program within the Catholic Youth Office in Chicago. Now it had nothing to do with TEC, it had nothing to do with the CYO, what it had to do was with the people I was working with. For about a seven year period a group of us did ministry with a passion. We were working with the kids through TEC, but it went beyond that. We were working together, whatever one of us needed, we all did. We played music at each others churches, we prayed together, we ate together, some of us even married each other. Amazingly, very few of us lived near each other. We were scattered all over Chicagoland. We all had different jobs or went to different Universities. But somehow, our lives were always intertwined. And it was more then a friendship. It was all about God. Our lives were intertwined around each other and around Christ. When we got together we joked and laughed, but we always were ready for whatever God was wanting to do. And we usually did it. It was a powerful time of my life. We preached the gospel (even in a Catholic setting) and we saw lives changed.
That memory affected me this week. Cindy and I received a prophetic word from John Paul Jackson back in 2001. It went something like this: "Leadership, leadership, leadership, stop being reluctant and follow me. Leadership, leadership, leadership. The giftings and callings of the Lord are irrevocable. I will restore the ministry of your youth so that the mockers and the scoffers will be quieted. I will give you gifts so that you will know and that they will know that I am God. Leadership, leadership, leadership." (Or something like that.) We always looked at that word as a "go" word, that we were being restored and we were about to get sent. Looking back, both were the case. The one part of the word that has always confused Cindy and I was the part about the ministry of our youth. I was not saved in my youth....she was a punk rocker in her youth. And then on Monday afternoon it hit me. TEC. Not that we would be doing the retreat again, but that we would be active in a community again like that one. It caused me to shutter and almost cry. It has been a long time since we did that. I did not realize how much I missed that community.
So I pulled together the people that I am closest with here. Jeff, Theresa, Pete and of course my wife. I would have loved Alice to be there, but it was late, and Josiah needed to be in bed. I told them a very brief version of the above story and then asked them what kind of church did they want to be a part of. We went on for about two hours. I really don't know what this will look like when we get there, but for the first time since we moved back to Illinois, I know we are on the road. I am really excited.
I have been blogging for four years now. I'm hoping to document the journey right here. It is my prayer that there are more then five of us on this journey. It is my prayer that most of the church joins us, leaving the idea of belonging to a church and instead becoming the church. It is time to become missional.
Oh yeah, it has been a long time since I was in contact with any of those people from my youth. Dave, Gabe, Keith, Dan, Sue, Anita, Cathlene and Andrea. If any of you are out there and happen to come across this, shoot me an e-mail. We should get together sometime over at "Jim and Pete's" for pizza and some good memories! :)
Sounds like a great journey
Posted by
Missional Jerry |
7:44 PM