Wide Open Space: From Organized to Organic Church

My latest favorite attempt at "getting it" comes from the book "Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-by-number Christianity" by Jim Palmer, author of "Divine Nobodies" whom I quoted at Christmastime for his "walking wounded" Christmas message. In Wide Open Spaces and in the chapter subtitled "Can church be everywhere, all the time, with everyone?" he chronicles his move from organized church to organic church, though, as he makes clear, it is about adding to the mix of churches and faith communities and ministries instead of trying to hold out one way as the only way of being church. Here are some of my favorite excerpts from his book published last year (as we at A Third Place/The Living Room Church go forward this year this may lie behind much of what we decide to do. And note: In quoting, I stay true to his own use of language when it comes to God and gender, though I prefer a more inclusive use): Click and read on...

"My journey has involved leaving organized church. Even as God led me away from organized church, I'm sure God also leads people to organized church for various reasons. Throughout my life-time, I have encountered many different types of churches--liturgical church, traditional church, contemporary church, seeker church, purpose-driven church, home church, and emergent church. Each of these expressions of church has unique elements that I found meaningful in some way to my relationship with God.

"Though I've experienced many different forms of church, there have also been some common elements that have been true of all of them. These include: an organizational identity with a name and 5013c legal status; a specific location(s) identified as the primary place or central hub where church happens (such as a church building, community center, school, or someone's home); professional clergy or paid staff presiding over and managing the major affairs of the church; some configuration of public worship services, programs, groups, classes, meetings, events, and committees as the primary means for facilitating worship, fellowship, discipleship, service, benevolence, and mission. [He sums these up as functioning on three levels--a cause, a community, and a corporation. He says most people agree that the cause and community are the most important but that he spent most of his time as leader dealing with issues related to the corporate].

"First, too much of my personal identity was wrapped up in leading a "successful" church, which was measured in terms of size (attendance, budget, and buildings). The bigger the better!...Another reason I focused on the corporate side of church life was because of this idea I had that people needed such a system in order to grow spiritually and function together as a community and a cause. That's the nice way of putting it. The not-so-nice assumption was that if people were left to themselves to function without such a system and outside the watchful eye of trained pastors and staff leaders, they would digress spiritually, we would all risk falling into theological heresies, and everything would unravel into chaos....I came dangerously close to implying that organizational involvement was the very essence of Christianity. A Christian faithfully attended services, programs, events, and classes, tithed, filled a needed position or served on a committee in the church, and pulled his or her weight in contributing to a steady stream of visitors.

"Looking back, I sometimes wonder if we really were a "community." Seems like what we were facilitating was mostly meeting-based relationships....Here are some other ways I hindered people's relationship with God by focusing on the church as an organization...First, even though we all know church is people, verbally and nonverbally I implied that church is a place, location, and building, and happens on certain days and times during the week. In many cases, this emphasis defined Christian living almost solely in terms of organizational involvement. "Worship" was something that happened on Sunday mornings and "outreach" was a program you signed up for in the lobby... Second, [we] encouraged an unhealthy dependence by the congregation upon these few...Third, though Jesus emphasized that people change from the inside out, our church often focused on external things as measurement of Christian maturity. The people who dressed nicer, attended more services and activities, prayed out loud in front of others, gave the most money, quoted Scripture, were up on stage, held more jobs in the church, invited the most visitors, had well-behaved children, and had no bad habits were considered more spiritual than people with less of the above. Fourth, as a church we also separated the giver (tithing or otherwise) from the actual recipient of the gift.

"The last few years I've discovered it's not necessary to have buildings and classrooms, staff and programs, or even incorporate as a 5013c organization and have a name in order to be the church. You can if you want to, but you don't have to. Regardless of how you do it, what constitutes church is relationships--with God, people, and the world. For me, "church" is taking place in some form or fashion everywhere, all the time, with everybody. It involves an endless number of interactions and encounters that largely go unnoticed by the rest of the world. But it's through these very unassuming daily happenings that God is transforming others and me...This way of church depends on two things: 1. being consciously aware of who and what is happening around me as daily life unfolds, and 2. being intentional about discerning and acting upon the opportunities everyday living, interactions, and relationships offer. A few examples:

--A friend emails me to see if I want to have coffee on Saturday morning at the Billy Goat Cafe. He and I always have plenty to share in terms of what we are experiencing with God. When we get together, it's an iron-sharpening-iron time that fuels our desire to know God.--On Tuesday afternoon at the post office I get into a conversation with the guy behind me as we wait in a long line...Perhaps God is trying to place him and me in each other's lives.--Sunday morning we are hiking at Radnor Lake with some friends. During one part of the hike, the sun's rays suddenly break through the tall trees, causing everything to glisten. Everyone stops. We stand in wonder and marvel at the beauty, and our hearts are turned toward God in worship.

"That's not to say we don't ever plan something in advance. Most Wednesday evenings, a group of us meets at Starbucks for conversation. Every Monday night, some friends invite all their neighbors over for dinner...On Sunday mornings, except in the summer, Pam and Jessica are involved in the Good Shepherd children's program at an Episcopal church across town. Occasionally we attend a worship service or some event at other local churches in our community. For a time, a group of families met in a home to take Communion together. Right now we are in a season where we choose to celebrate Communion at home as a family. Another church in our community offers a monthly Taize service, which I sometimes attend and always enjoy. In the midst of all this diversity, I connect with a solid social network of people that keeps growing. It's a diverse network of folks involved in one another's lives. We love one another, serve one another, teach and encourage one another, give our financial and material resources to one another as there is need, and bear one another's burdens. We do life together. [He writes about having more time, away from programs, to be more spontaneous and more available to family and neighbors, and thus connecting more with people, in little ways like checking up on neighbors in need, going deeper with them, and therefore himself.] I've come to see the significance of my encounters with people is not pointing them to God as much as actually being an expression of God. [He remembers how he used to go with people to knock on stranger's doors in other neighborhoods to witness to them, and how it hit him he could just knock on his neighbor's door and start a friendship,]

"I guess to some people this idea of church "all the time, everywhere, with everybody" may seem somewhat chaotic, disorganized,m or flying by the seat of your pants. Admittedly, there's been a time or two I've considered trying to help things along a bit, but I've seen God is capable of working matters out just fine on his own...Jesus once said that the kingdom of God grows organically. It begins as a tiny and insignificant seed...If your spiritual radar is on, you will find these little mustard seeds all over the place...Day by day I'm seeing that under the radar, beneath the surface, and off the grid is a world of nobodies being the church. There is very little traction for marketing some sort of church-growth philosophy or strategy from it. It would never occur to my friends to use the word missional. We don't have a "strategy" to reach "unbelievers," because these people are simply our friends with whom we spend time and share our lives.

"In our way of "doing church" you can't click on a calendar and pull up a configuration of services, meetings, and programs. People are compelled by the Spirit to come together in various ways for various reasons and purposes, but these can dissolve, evolve, morph together, and multiply in all sorts of different ways. Our eyes have been opened to our identity as beloved sons and daughters of God and citizens of his kingdom. God is not somewhere up in the sky; he's living his life in and through us, the body of Christ, in the neighborhoods where we live, the places we work and play, and the people we come across each day."