7August2009
Posted by craigkendall under: Foundation; OMGosh!.
I had an interesting experience this week along the journey. Actually, the intersection of several points along the journey this week which Father used as another point of helping me understand just how busy He is all around me (and on occasion my part in it).
I’ve been teaching at a community college for a couple of semesters. In my summer class I had a very interesting collection of people and since teaching there is part of my “as you are going” journey I am conscious to try to look at the students for what Father may be doing individually in each of their lives. One I’ve been particularly interested to watch has been in the life of a young lady I’ll call Holly.
Rewind a little over a year. On Facebook I came across an old high school friend with whom I had lunch and we immediately realized he and I were on the same journey years and miles apart for the last 30 years. We’ve since been hanging out almost every week to talk about what Father is doing in our lives and spur each other on along the way. I’ll call him Kevin.
Kevin has the unique opportunity of assisting a handful of young adults with their journeys in a nearby community. I’ve met the group and hung out with them several times. A great group of folks with varied backgrounds and stories. One of the young ladies in the group, like most of us, had lots of hurt and difficulty in her past with which, as most of us do, she had found ways to cope. In her case one of her ways to cope with the hurt involved being in deeper than friendship relationships with other women. I’ll call her Mary here.
The other day at lunch with Kevin he began telling me a story about Mary and the young lady with whom she had broken off a relationship when she began to discover the grace of Jesus along her journey. I don’t remember all the details, but suffice it to say that Mary’s former girlfriend was angered by Mary’s new direction and very resentful of Kevin, the group Mary had become a part of, and all that Father was doing in Mary’s life. Kevin told me at lunch that day that in recent weeks Mary had seen a change in her former girlfriend’s attitude about Mary’s new direction. Even making the comment that Mary was happy all the time and asking what was it that made such a big change. Kevin, Mary, and their group have been praying for Mary’s former girlfriend to see Jesus and experience the healing that Mary has found. I’m not 100% sure how the punchline in the story wound down, but it was something like “Father has been answering our prayers by allowing her to see Jesus every week for a couple of hours and none of us knew it. You see Craig, her name is Holly.”
WHOA! It took it a couple of moments for it to sink in. Mary’s Holly was the Holly from my class. The same Holly in whom I had seen an attitude change throughout the course. Holly and I had never really talked about religion, but I had just been myself with her and not been concerned with what Father was doing in areas of her life outside my reach. Always watching and often asking if it was my place to say something Father just said no… be yourself with Holly.”
So, I was blown away with that. But equally cool was the realization that what had occurred in this set of relationships served two other purposes in my own life. One, it reinforces the teaching about things and people with which I consistently (whether back to back in time or over years of separation) come into contact not being by accident, but that as I am where I’m supposed to be, when I’m supposed to be there it only makes sense that I’d encounter these people and things again as we are each a part of what Father is doing in each other’s lives. Second, for a couple of weeks, maybe even months I had been feeling a little like I was out of the game if you will. It was as if, because I had not been actively “doing” as I had been indoctrinated by religion I was not doing anything. Like I was on the bench if you will. Father showed me in that one brief moment and the intersection of several, up to that point, unconnected lives that when you are being where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there, and doing/saying what you are supposed to be doing/saying when you are there that you are never out of the game. The game is not about me.
13June2009
Posted by craigkendall under: Body Design; Foundation; Other's Words.
The churchETHOS blog has a really good article about checklist christianity vs following Jesus.
“Checklist Christianity” is that form of religion that teaches, either directly or indirectly, that our spiritual growth, or even our worth as a Christian, is tied up in what we do. Specifically, the more bible studies you attend, the more extra-curricular “Christian” activities you are involved in, the more you read your bible and pray on your own, the more you are growing spiritually.
I’d add “Goes to church” to his list of items. Many folks won’t even count the items he has listed until they know you are going to a certain church… and ultimately if you don’t attend a church at all nothing you do on the checklist matters.
It’s sad, and unfortunately probably has its roots sometime in the stuff we have recorded in Acts-Revelation, but somewhere along the lines walking with Jesus turned into going to a church rather than being part of the body of Christ. At some point by, no doubt, some well meaning religious individuals, the body of Christ was conceptually split up into “local” and “global” yet if you read all the gospel accounts very carefully you’ll discover this never seemed to be on the mind of Christ. He always spoke of His body in the global sense.
What if following Jesus takes you away from attending church as we have always known it and introduces you to something very different… something I’m beginning to see may be more like what I believe Jesus had in mind as He walked among us. Something where He, not an organization, provides the relationships with other believers who will build you up and whom you in turn can build up in return.
11May2009
Posted by craigkendall under: Body Design; Foundation.
I was just on Meetup.com responding to some messages and checking the schedule for the week to make sure the groups I was part of are on my schedule for the week, and looking to see what new groups might have bloomed over the last week. I’ve found Meetup.com is a great place to discover opportunities to get plugged as an “as you are going” Christ Follower.
This morning I see a Northern Colorado Christian Business Something Or Other… Can anyone tell me why business people need to have a “Christian” business organization? You have “church” to gather with others you consider likeminded. Why this cultic practice of subdividing yourselves from every opportunity for relationships where you could be useful to Father?
This is directly counter to how you see Jesus walking among us. Other than his group of the twelve he was consistently out among the people at their events and their gatherings. He neither practiced nor advocated a “Christian subculture” removed from the step and pace of everyday life.
Perhaps it’s because we have confused being separate in how we live our lives among the rest of the world as Jesus did, in how we determine our priorities with just being separate completely. While those who follow Christ were dubbed “the called out ones” by Jesus, I don’t believe we were called out to be closed away, closed minded, closed off, closed down — a closed subculture.
Your church staff will be very frustrated with me on this one, but let me challenge you to go to Meetup.com, find a group that shares your hobby or work interests and plug int to see how Father can use you in a group outside the walls of the subculture you’ve been hiding in without realizing it.
1March2009
Posted by craigkendall under: Body Design; Foundation; Random Notions.
… and we were there last night.
A friend of a friends living room in Boulder
Ben and Robin Pasley grew up in a denominational church setting like me. They did the music circuit for a while, then the church scene, and feeling a draw to deeper family and discipleship began what is now Enter the Worship Circle to mentor young musicians and disciple them.
A friend of mine in Boulder fellowships with a group of college age folks and invited them to come hang out Saturday night and play and sing some songs. It was very organic except for the chairs, which my friend said he set up to help us former denominational types feel more at home.
I’m not sure if it’s truly longing for that experience I once knew as worship or the deep seeded messaging all my life that I should be in church every week and memories of the times it was enjoyable to be in that type community.
Through the experience I found myself talking with Father about what worship is out here where He has us now. Part of the answer He gave me right away… I worship as I walk each day with Him. I found myself wrestling with Him about the music, and the friends, and the… He said something simple like “I’m not enough? The people I bring your way each day are not enough?” I said okay and asked Him to help me be happiest in Him alone.
We are beginning our third year walking in faith apart from organized religion. It has been a complete time of life transition for us as all of our adult lives were intertwined as family and occupation in organized church stuff. No doubt it will take time before almost 25 years of addiction and 45 years of indoctrination is purged from our system. Last night was another step in that process. One simple step at a time.
14February2009
Posted by craigkendall under: House Churches; Random Notions.
Could this be our new home?
So this is just kind of funny. For months we’ve known we would probably be moving up more to the Boulder/Longmont area and for most of those months I’ve pseudo-jested about finding an old empty church to rent to live in. The thinking on our part centered on how wonderful it would be (and ironic in this case) to find somewhere that has enough space that we could offer for other former church staff members whose journey following Father is leading them out of a church vocation, to come and stay with us at no cost until they got back on their feet working some other job/career.
So, we’ll likely be moving in the next month or so and have ramped up the looking process. Today while Julie and her best friend Amy were out and about looking at areas and availability of rentals in those areas they found this! Unbelievable. Could that pseudo-jesting have been based on the prompting of Father instead of me thinking I was being funny.
It would be something to be able to respond when asked where we go to church, “GO? What do you mean, we live at the church!” and really mean it!
9December2008
Posted by craigkendall under: Body Design; Foundation; House Churches.
Reading the reminder article posted by Jeff McQ at Losing My Religion: Re-Thinking Church today prompted me to understand something more clearly. Many folks want to know (whether it’s the few how actually ask or the apparent many who ask others) what led the Kendall’s to leave the church or more commonly “what happened”?
There IS a lot of discussion and exploration about alternative forms of gathering as the body of Christ these days. I’m afraid to say that in many instances some of what’s driving folks to explore alternatives is the same thing that has fueled church hopping for decades. Someone get’s their feelings hurt and shazaam, it’s time to look for another church. It’s often couched in all kinds of other surface reasons… we’re just not being fed, or folks just never really reached out to us, or something similar. So there appears to be one group who are exploring alternative “church” types due to dissatisfaction with the “church” they were part of before.
Our experience has been very different. We love the friends and “stuff” that was going on at our “church”. It was a great place with tons of amazing people and lots of cool events and programs. For us, following Jesus required us to leave the walls of what we had always known as “church” because we could no longer follow Him and stay there. Stuff He showed us about walking with Him and His Way made what we saw going on there in His name a stench to our nose. No one mistreated us. No one was ugly to us. No one chose the wrong color of carpet. We just could no longer stomach what was being done there as really about the Kingdom as much as about a kingdom. Not as much about persons as people. Reversals of parables and stories were showing up all over. The one was left for the 99. The mite was no longer mightier than the millions. The treasure was left covered up in the field so the previous pursuits of so much potential could be pursued. We could no longer stay where we were and pursue Christ because following Him was taking us outside the traditions and established ways of doing “church”. Some would say we became disgruntled on some level, but having been in church work for decades this was no disgruntled church member leaving because his or her feelings were hurt. This was, “I’m not so sure ‘church’ is supposed to be what we’ve made it” and in order to follow Christ into exploring what He meant we had to remove ourselves from the addicting influence of the show.
The interesting thing is He has not allowed us to pursue another way of doing “church” but instead only Him. Because we are in Colorado, there is every a-typical opportunity for church around us. While we treasure every opportunity we have to gather with other Christ Followers, He has not taken us to a house church, a missional gathering, or any other form of a programmed event where people get together to be a “church”. Don’t get me wrong. We do purposefully seek out opportunities to be together with other Christ Followers. Dinners at the house seem to be the most common type, but any occasion to hang out with other Christ Followers is at the top of our list of stuff to do.
So, how about you? What led you to that new “church”… Christ or frustration?
6December2008
Posted by craigkendall under: Body Design; Foundation; Other's Words.
Several have asked and others want to know but don’t ask. I’ll answer anyway. The question is something like, “Why don’t you go to church anymore?” While I won’t spend time rehashing the journey that brought me to where I am (read the rest of the MyWalkBlog entries if you are interested in that), I’ll instead answer the question for those who will to some degree admit they at least partially agree that “church” as we have always known it does not accomplish the mission that Christ left with His followers, but who would challenge that I should be “inside” applying what God has shown me as a fix for the “church”. Today I was catching up on some blog reading and came across the following section of a post titled Is Deconstruction Enough? Wayne, being challenged whether he really wanted to be known as one of the guys who convinced people not to go to church on Sunday morning says as part of his response:
The reason church life grows stale is because we’re looking for institutional solutions, not relational ones. If we equip people to live loved of God and live as lovers of people, the church will spring up all around us. It probably won’t be contained in a specific meeting or building but will grow wild and free and bear fruit in the interconnection, collaboration, cooperation and submission of brothers and sisters who are being changed by Jesus. That can look like a hundred different things. But once I begin to describe some of those things, I know our tendency as humans to prefer replicating a model to following the Head! We love to construct things, not build up people. The New Testament points us to building up people in Christ and seeing what expression that takes. I don’t think it works the other way around. (emphasis mine)
And there you have in a nutshell my answer. I remember several years ago, when following God on my journey brought about some interesting developments in our own group. The church we were attending immediately wanted to find a way to replicate what was going on in our group through months of praying and following by putting together a handbook, having a training session, and watching the Spirit of God take that group exactly where we were headed because we were following God.
One of the key questions I remember the church leader asking after I told him our off-shoot groups followed no curriculum was “but how do we control what goes on in the groups.” My response? “If you think you control the groups that meet on campus because they all meet at the same time each week and because you put approved curriculum in the leaders hands your nuts.” Do you see it… “But once I begin to describe some of those things, our tendency as humans is to prefer replicating a model to following the Head!”
Other than the simple fact that Jesus, the Head, has not led me back to an institutionalized gathering, I’m confident that any attempt to change the institution, as others have suggested, from the inside out though it would be the result of a small group learning how to walk in intimacy with God, would be subjected to tendencies and efforts to replicate the model and not the following of the Head that truly brought about the change. Besides, ultimately, those who have “gotten it” begin to struggle with being inside the institution themselves and we all know how that “movement” would sit with those who lead the institutions.
Pursuing Christ Outside the Walls!
