Connecting with people last week

Last week it seemed like we had lots of good discussions with neighborhood people. My wife had a chance to talk about marriage with one of our neighbors, whose marriage is breaking up. We both spoke with a couple of whom the man's mother was just diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Friday I met with a friend who is the leader of another organization in France. We discussed some future possibilities of collaborating in Paris. We then met with a group primarily from Texas who are looking to send people to work in Europe. I shared some of the lessons learned from working long-term in Paris. This was a good exercise for me, as I made a 2 page summary of some of these lessons. This will be helpful in talking with future people considering Paris.

Saturday afternoon I accompanied my son to a birthday party in the suburbs at this fun center for kids. The party was for a girl whom we have met at our church. After 2 consecutive weekend of birthday parties for my kids, it was nice to have a calmer weekend & enjoy someone else's party. The girl's mother died suddenly last summer & we're getting to know her & her father now. It was good to be able to support them through our presence at the party, as well as meet some of their friends, as well as the family who drove us to the party. I was able to use my photography to serve them as unofficial photographer of the event.

Yesterday we attended the worship service of our church in morning. The sermon was on Eli & the young boy Samuel. The preacher pointed out that Eli might have appeared to be submissive to God's will. However, God was displeased with his laissez-faire attitude toward his sons and their behavior. I missed the end of the sermon, as there was a homeless man who walked through the church during the service & planted himself in one of the bathrooms (locking everyone else out) to clean himself. Not knowing if he was dangerous or not, I went downstairs to check out the situation. Fortunately, he wasn't violent or anything. But in this day, with some strange people out there, we need to be wise in these types of situations.

I started reading a book by Alan Jamieson titled "A Churchless Faith: Faith Journeys Beyond the Churches" (London: SPCK, 2002). It's by a pastor in New Zealand who researched a phenomen he observed of people leaving evangelical & charismatic churches. They were continuing & growing in their faith, but not joining more traditional-looking forms of church. They were networked with other believers & would gather together. Apparently, they outgrew the patterns of faith offered at their former churches and found that their growth was stiffled by remaining there.

I've had this book for several years, but finally feel in a place to read it now. We're thankful for our current church situation, as we're able to be resourced, as well as serve, particularly with children's ministry. However, we're not being sollicited to come more or be more involved in formal church activities. Involvement & attendance are not the measure of one's level of spiritually here, even though they often seem to be in many other churches. We're able to invest in relationships in our neighborhood & not feel that they are in competition with "church stuff."

During this season of life, I'm feeling that the priorities of many churches are off center of where they need to be in order to reach out to the growing percentage & overall numbers of "outsiders." So much time, energy, & resources of churches goes toward maintaining the current system & comfort of those already part of the church. Certainly some of them need to go into the flock. But so much of Jesus' attention went toward the lost sheep, rather than the 99 who were safely in the fold. Generally, I think that if a church has a major focus on the lost sheep, those in the flock will grow faster than they would otherwise. Being outward looking helps us to grow in our walk with the Lord & in our practical knowledge of prayer, the Scriptures, etc. Switching metaphors here, we need to have the mentality of a country preparing for battle, rather than a peacetime mentality that can lull us to sleep & being out of shape.