The Big Day!

So... yesterday around 2:00pm a baby boy was born in Burlington - 7lbs, 11oz. As far as we know both baby and young momma are healthy. We will likely be called today to come pick up the baby at the hospital to begin the foster placement.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging emails. Please continue to pray for all of us - the Mays, the baby, the mother. There is much excitement, fear and sadness in this situation, but we trust that ultimately God is doing a great thing in the gift of this child's life.

We sure appreciate you all.

Cleve & Amy 

Here We Go...

Dear Friends,

Amy and I have big news to share with you and a great need for your prayers. Many of you know that for the last four years we have been licensed foster parents hoping for the opportunity to open our home and our family to a child who needs both. Our ultimate hope is to adopt, as we believe this is a ministry to which God has called us. This sense of calling has been developing from the early days of our marriage and we have been praying for God to send the right child at the right time. Well…

A week ago we received a call from the Methodist Home for Children (our agency) asking if we were willing to be considered for a foster placement for a baby boy that is due to be born in early January. The boy’s mother is a 15-year-old girl, herself under the care of DSS. Amazingly, this is very much the kind of scenario that we have hoped for in this process… the opportunity to come alongside a girl in a tough spot and provide a tangible alternative to the easy way out she could have taken. However, there is the reality of our current situation… new community, new church, new four-month-old baby. Well, much to both of our surprise, Amy and I both felt a sense of excitement about this possibility even in the face of the chaos that is our life at present. Along with this, we have a deep conviction that when our Lord calls us He always leads and provides everything needed for the journey. Therefore…

We said, “yes.” Now, in this system “being considered” does not mean that you will be selected from the pool of potential foster parents. However, yesterday we received word that the May family has been chosen. Again, the question was asked, “Are you willing to proceed?” After prayer and a family meeting, again we said, “yes.” So…

Sometime in the next few weeks will have an addition to our family… at least for a time. We really are aware that this will be a crazy season of life – likely the most difficult we have yet encountered. We see that reality, however, within the context of a greater reality in which our Lord gave us a home and called us family in our hour of greatest need. We now have the privilege of honoring the One who so welcomed us by welcoming this child, and we are excited and grateful… and, of course, scared out of our minds! All that to say…

Please pray. Pray for the young mother who is facing such difficult circumstances. Pray for a healthy delivery of this baby boy. Pray that, even now, the Holy Spirit would incline this child’s heart to Jesus, and that the season spent in our home as a part of our family would serve to demonstrate the love of Christ to this little one. Pray for us and for our kids, that we would be prepared and equipped for what lies ahead. Pray for anything else that comes to mind. And then…

Pray some more!

We are so grateful for each of you and the role you play in our lives. We look forward to giving you updates soon.

Merry Christmas!

Cleve & Amy

November Update

Friends,

I have so much to share with you about The CityWell’s November… crazy, wonderful month. First, on a personal note, I am so thankful for God giving me a deep sense of peace with regards to the anxiety I wrestled with for several months. Thank you for praying for me in this! I hope you will continue to do so.

November marked our official transition out of the May house for our Sunday gatherings because we simply do not have enough room for everyone who is joining us. We are very grateful to our friends at Reality Ministries who allow us to use some of their space for these times together. We meet in the game room, a large space filled with couches, game tables and a huge fireplace that serves as the focal point of our worship time. It’s a wonderful, relaxed, inviting space and we are thankful!

I wish all of you could be with us for even a single week. I am constantly amazed when we gather at how God is bringing to fruition the vision of The CityWell being a diverse community. I often find myself just looking around the room in grateful amazement as people of several ethnicities, nationalities, and varying economic situations engage one another in growing friendships, share food and laughter, sing together (sometimes in different languages), and pray for one another. We are becoming who we truly are as Jesus’ church, one new humanity in Christ. It is awesome, and it is nothing other than the work of God!

We continue to share life together in homes on a regular basis, both formally and informally, and we are moving toward what I hope will become our regular rhythm of gathering midweek in our “Wells” (our extended family-sized groups that focus on becoming family and sharing common mission), and then corporately as The CityWell on Sundays. Please pray for us as we discern the way forward in this. Specifically, I would appreciate prayers for wisdom as to when to shift from being a single Well (which we presently are) to giving birth to multiple Wells. Along with this, please pray for God to give the future leaders of these Wells the vision for this calling. 

Another thrilling aspect of November was the initiation of The CityWell Formation Team. This group of people has been meeting faithfully on Monday nights in our home to pray, read scripture, dream and work together toward a common articulation of our vision and values, as well as to work through the increasingly pressing and rapidly growing list of logistical issues attending all the momentum we are experiencing. These meetings are long and we are doing hard work, but Amy and I reflected last night on what a gift it is to move forward in this adventure with such awesome people. We definitely need your prayers for wisdom, creativity and unity as we proceed in this critical work together.

Finally, I want to tell you about the central role mission plays in the formation of our identity as a church. Every month we commit as a whole community to a particular way to “give our lives away,” as I like to say. In November we collected winter supplies (clothing, coats, hand warmers, blankets, etc…) for a community of homeless people who live in the woods here in Durham. We partnered with Open Table Ministries in this endeavor, and look forward to another partnership effort with this ministry in December. I believe mission, the sending of God’s people into the world for the sake of the world (and for the sake of God’s people!) to be at the heart of God and therefore at the heart of what it means for us to be a church. To that end, please pray that mission will become an even more central element of our life together.

I am so grateful for the privilege of this assignment in life, and I am grateful for your partnership with us. I hope you will consider supporting us financially as you look at your year-end giving. If you would like to make a contribution you can send checks to The CityWell 1426 N. Roxboro St. Durham, NC 27701. All gifts are, of course, tax deductible. If you would like to set up an automated schedule for giving, please let me know and we will make that happen.

Thank you friends, and may December be for you a month of remembering and celebrating that the Christ who came, comes to us still; and Christ will come again!

Cleve 

Woefully Negligent

So... I confess. After all, it's true.

I am a woefully negligent blogger.

I have lots of excuses. I even believe some of them. However, the fact remains that I have not posted in nearly four months... IN SPITE of the fact that there is SOOOO much to say.

In confessing, I hope you'll forgive me and continue to dream and pray with us as we continue in this beautiful experiment.

You'll see that I have posted monthly updates from the last four months that will help to bring you up to speed on life in The CityWell. And I promise to be far less a slacker from this point forward.

... until the next time I forget how to type (my favorite excuse!).

October 2011 Update

Dear Friends,

As I write this update, I am so grateful to have you as partners in prayer, for I am more aware than ever of our absolute dependence upon God for all things. Of late a few scriptures have taken up residence in my heart, and this month I’d like to share them with you with the hope that you might “pray these scriptures” on behalf of me, my family and The CityWell.

Psalm 127:1-2 - Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

The first part of this verse has been on my mind for over a year now, as I believe it absolutely true that the Lord must be the one who builds The CityWell. God is the Lord of the harvest who will raise up the laborers for this harvest field (Luke 10:2); and like Jesus told Peter: On this rock I will build my church… (Matthew 16:18). However, it is the second part of this verse that speaks most powerfully to me at present, for I find myself frequently eating the bread of anxious toil. I am so tempted to believe that “success” is up to me and that if I only work a little harder or for a few more hours… Last night I sat on my deck alone and confessed my anxiousness to God. I confessed because the root of anxiety is a lack of trust in God to be who God is and to do what God does. I am fearful because I fail to believe that God really will build this house. I confessed (and confess) freely and with hope because our Lord has assured us that His response to the sin of my fear is only grace and the reiterated promise of rest for His beloved.

And that is who we are. Beloved.

 John 15:4-5 - Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

I suppose you can see a bit of continuity in the messages God is speaking to me through the gift of His scriptures. These verses (and really the whole passage they are taken from) pierce my heart because I am so tempted in my anxiety to demote the priority of abiding in Christ and elevate the things that seem urgent in my days. In Jesus’ words I hear a stark statement of reality (apart from Him I truly can do nothing) and a gentle invitation (abide in me; be nourished by me; find strength and hope in me). The pattern of life God has designed for us is one of rest followed by work, abiding followed by fruitfulness. In the last month I have been very convicted of my bent toward working until I absolutely need rest, rather than working from a place of rest. God is calling me to work from my rest rather than resting from my work.

Regarding The CityWell, October was a month of joy and rigor. Our weekly gatherings continue to be an occasion for thanksgiving as we are growing deeper in relationship with one another, enjoying worship together, and press forward toward a communal understanding of who we are to be as God’s church in this particular place and time. In addition to these Sunday gatherings we also have two smaller groups meeting one evening per week. These groups are marked by rigorous conversation about our calling and beautiful times of prayer for one another. In all of this I have the gift of laboring with an incredible group of people as we engage together in the hard work of becoming a community. I would invite your prayers for all of us involved that God will continue to grant the gift of discernment as to all of our callings in this ministry, and the communal gift of the Spirit of Jesus to bind us together in love, unity and common mission.

Thank you for your partnership in this ministry. I pray you will each know the fullness of God’s blessing and find the deepest joy in knowing that you are the beloved of God!

Grace and peace,

Cleve

September 2011 Update

Friends,

I am amazed that three months have gone by in the life of The CityWell. There are some great stories to tell, some wonderful answered prayers, and some surprising realizations. I am grateful for the opportunity to share these things with you, and more so that you care to hear and to pray for us. Thank you!

We have a consistent group of people for whom The CityWell is becoming a church family, and this is so exciting to see – particularly knowing that we are just beginning to experience the power and beauty of being the community God is calling us to become. We have continued to gather consistently, but in a variety of places and forms, not settling into a permanent routine. Sometimes we pile into our home; sometimes we meet at a local park; other times we gather in smaller teams in people’s living rooms; and other times we gather somewhere in the community to serve together in some way. Occasionally our gatherings slightly resemble church as most of us know it. We enjoy singing, praying for each other, receiving God’s gift of Communion, and meditating on the scriptures or stories of how God is showing up in and redeeming our lives. Often we share food with one another or meet simply to enjoy life with one another. While this is a bit chaotic, it is intentional, as we are seeking to develop a 3-dimensional life together, with upward (connecting with God), inward (connecting with one another), and outward (connecting with our city) dynamics that together comprise the fulsome life into which God invites us.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of gathering in smaller numbers and in intimate settings (like a living room) is that everyone can truly participate. I’ve been struck anew by the tone of Paul’s letters to the early churches… he’s writing to networks of oikos gatherings (oikos is Greek for household). So, for instance, in 1 Corinthians 14:26 we find: What then, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. Each one! I am learning in a new way to take seriously that God really does impart gifts of the Spirit to EVERY believer for the sake of the whole Body, and we are learning how to structure our life together in ways that we can receive the gifts of each one. Pretty cool stuff!

Please pray for all of us, that we will have the patience and wisdom to discern God’s leading in this little church experiment. Particularly pressing in my mind is the tension between wanting to grow, and wanting to grow in the healthiest way. For instance, I believe we are called to maintain the oikos as the primary expression of our church gatherings, so as not to lose the gifts of intimacy and full participation, and to create environments where we can best grow as disciples. Therefore, the way forward for us will likely be the formation of a network of oikos gatherings, but how to get there… well, like I said, please pray for us. On a related note, I believe that God has called The CityWell into being for the sake of making disciples of those who are not yet followers of Jesus. Over and again in Scripture we see God’s heart to seek and save the lost, God’s great and generous desire for the world that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Please pray that our hearts would come to beat with God’s on this, and that we might know the joy of seeing people’s eyes open to the incredible love of God for them in Jesus.

Thank you again for your partnership in prayer, and many of you for your continued financial support. I am deeply grateful to be in this with you and I hope for the opportunity to share more soon.

Grace and peace,

Cleve

August 2011 Update

Friends,

August was blur, and there are so many things to share with you. First, the home front: Our son, John Coleman May III, was born on the 10th, a whopping 8lbs 13 oz with double dimples and reddish hair! Enjoy the attached picture. We are delighted... and tired! Thank you for your prayers for him and Amy. Amy is recovering well and doing a remarkable job balancing 3 kids, making a new house our home, and hosting regular and increasingly large CityWell gatherings; she is superwoman. Our girls have really taken to having a baby brother. McKenna is working diligently toward her junior momma-bear merit badge and Ellison is enjoying playing with little man when he's happy and ignoring him when he's not. Many of you have heard that John has an enlarged right kidney. After some rather uncomfortable tests, we still do not know why, but we are encouraged as some of the more severe possibilities have been eliminated, and John seems to be doing just fine. We would appreciate your prayers for a quick and healthy resolution to this. Amy and I would appreciate your prayers that we will communicate well and grow in our sensitivity toward one another as we navigate so many new variables in our lives.

Things with The CityWell are certainly on the move. The circle of friends who are involved is growing daily. We continue to meet regularly in a variety of places and for a variety of purposes. In August we had seven official gatherings. Some of these were bible study and prayer focused, some vision casting focused, some worship services, and some social/relationship-building times. The last two Sundays we have gathered in our home. On the 21st we enjoyed a time of worship together. We were delighted to see our living area crammed with 21 adults and five children. On the 28th we gathered at the May house again, but this time for a potluck feast and a time of prayer. Along with the abundance of delicious food, we were amazed to see nearly 40 people in our home!

Momentum is certainly building, which presents great opportunity and a number of significant challenges. Namely, we are running out room to grow if we are to continue meeting in homes, which I believe to be important at this point. The vision God has given us for The CityWell is to be a network of missional communities that can reach broadly and deeply into our city. Missional communities are necessarily smaller groupings (extended family size, 20-40 people) that are committed to doing life together in intentional ways and in our natural environments (i.e. homes, neighborhoods, work places, etc...), such that we might encourage one another in the habits of discipleship and in missional engagement with our communities. The theory is simple: we grow most as Jesus' followers through close friendships that aim at discipleship, and in taking God up on His calling for each of us to partner in the work of the Kingdom. All of that to say, please pray for us as we negotiate how to harness the momentum we are experiencing and direct it toward the vision, rather than letting that momentum carry us away from the vision.   

Thank you again for joining us in this ministry through your prayers. What a gift! If you are interested in supporting us financially you can send contributions to: The CityWell 1426 N. Roxboro St. Durham, NC 27701. All gifts are tax deductible. If you would like to set up an automated schedule for giving, please let me know and we will make that happen.

I look forward to sharing more of the unfolding story with you soon.

Grace and peace,

Cleve

Answered Prayers

Just over one month into this adventure and I think we need to take a moment to look back and take note of all the ways God is answering prayers.

1. We have prayed for The Big Scary Dream of what this church can be - a vision that only God can bring to pass and that no one will ever mistakenly attribute to our ability. Status: prayer answered! God has given us a vision to be a church as diverse as our city that builds our life around rhythms of discipleship and mission more than around buildings and services. Truly, if God doesn't build this house, then we labor in vain.
   
2. Literally, as I wrote that last sentence, I was reminded of a second prayer when my alarm went off on my phone... 10:02 am every morning reminding me to pray as Jesus instructs us in Luke 10:2 - The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore cry out to the Lord of the harvest that He might raise up laborers for His harvest field. God is answering this prayer constantly, bringing people into our path, often in unexpected ways. Just today I had a conversation with a wonderful nurse in our hospital room (for those that don't know, John Coleman may III was born on Wednesday... AWESOME!) that might lead to another partner. Please keep praying for more laborers.
   
3. We have been praying that God would bring together people of different races and backgrounds to join us in this adventure. God is also answering this prayer in beautiful ways, as our gatherings include Latinos, Asians, blacks and whites. We definitely need continued prayer for this.
   
4. We almost lost two of our core team to a school requirement and after praying that they would be able to remain with us, God not only made that possible but also provided funding for one of them, Alma Ruiz, to become our first CityWell staff person!

These are just some of the ways God is proving faithful as always. This is an awesome gift to have to rely so heavily upon our Lord and to see His provision and leading. Please continue to pray with and for us, particularly for the following things:

1. For God to guide us in how to order our lives together such that we learn how to live into rhythms of discipleship and mission that make us joyful and powerful Kingdom people.
   
2. For God to form in us habitual missionary postures, that we might come to see ourselves as partners with God in every aspect of our lives.
   
3. That we might have favor and influence with friends and neighbors who are not yet followers of Jesus, and that we might know the joy of seeing them come to celebrate the salvation He won for them! 

Our God is amazing! Thank you for joining us in this great work of prayer.

Grace and peace. 

 

Surprise

Last week I went to the Fullsteam Brewery for their open mic night... great place, great time, great beer, definitely going back soon! While there I met this really cool gal who is a local singer/songwriter. We were having a great conversation until she asked me what I do (never a fun question for a pastor at a bar). When I told her I am starting a new church her demeanor visibly changed from open to guarded. Much to her credit she continued the conversation, asking, "So, I guess your looking for a building then?" I responded, "No, we're really more interested in people than we are in buildings." Immediately her demeanor changed again (back to open) and she said, "Wow. I could be into a church like that." It was a great moment when surprise conquered assumptions and an imagination was opened, if only a little, to new possibilities.

A little surprise can go a long way.    

I am constantly thinking about how to describe The CityWell to people, about how to express our emerging identity in ways that are surprising and intriguing. We need surprise and intrigue because people inside and outside the church have deeply ingrained ideas of what the church is... ideas that often have little or nothing to do with who we hope to become, ideas that are loaded with assumptions and baggage that are the very reason so many people want nothing to do with the church. I hope that surprise and intrigue might help break through those preconceptions so that we have the opportunity to invite people who think they are not interested to join us in the journey of following Jesus.

So here are a few surprising statements about The CityWell:

1) We want The CityWell to be a church that no one goes to. So often in our culture church is tragically reduced to a place people go. We will not settle for such a flaccid understanding of ourselves. The CityWell is not and will not be a place to go, we are a people trying to live together in the ways of Jesus.

2) We want The CityWell to be a church that desegregates Jesus. We believe that the church is one of Jesus' most tangible ways of being present in the world. This is why the Bible calls us "the body of Christ." We also believe that the rampant segregation of the church (less than 8% of churches in America are multi-ethnic) presents an unclear picture of Jesus to the world, as Jesus is the One in whom every dividing wall and barrier of hostility is torn down. We must not and will not settle to be another homogeneous congregation, so we will strive to embrace and reflect the diversity of Durham. 

3) We want The CityWell to be a church that lives to give our lives away. Jesus said, "If anyone would follow me, let them take up their cross..." He also said, "whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." Jesus calls us to come and die... to die to ourselves, to die to the small world of self-centeredness, in order that we might live Him and for the sake of others. To be His people, we must learn to give our lives away and so become a people marked by generosity, goodness, beauty and joy.

What do you think? Would you be surprised and intrigued by a church that people don't go to, that desegregates Jesus and that lives to give our lives away? I am. 

Shifting the Center of Gravity: Part 2

So if the center of gravity must shift in our self-understanding and practice as the church, what forms of being the church might be more helpful toward the goals of bearing witness to the Kingdom and making disciples of Jesus? Well, lots of people are wrestling with this question and several have made very promising suggestions.

I am excited about one such idea, the formation of missional communities. What if the center of the church's gravity was in small communities of people (10-30 people) who are committed to living rhythms of discipleship in the context of their daily lives with their neighbors, friends and children. If we build The CityWell around these small communities, I'm inclined to call them something like wells, sources of life for those of us who long for the whole of our lives to center around the person and ways of Jesus.

The rhythms these wells live by might include meeting together weekly as a whole group, meeting weekly with one or two other people in the well for accountability and encouragement, and sharing in a common mission within our city, seeking to make a concerted, focused and sustained effort to bring the reality and beauty of God's kingdom to concrete expression in Durham.

The weekly well gathering could be in homes and allow time for sharing life and a meal, for prayer and listening to God's Word, for friendship and inspiration toward the community's common goals of discipleship and mission. I am hopeful that incorporating children as full participants in the practices of the wells would be natural and transformative for children and adults alike. These gatherings would also offer a wonderful opportunity for inviting our friends who are not yet followers of Jesus to come along, to observe and participate in the ways of the Kingdom and the practices of discipleship, to explore and discover the ways of Jesus at their own pace and to come to believe in the context of first belonging with a people who love them and learn with and from them. This idea thrills me, as I would never flinch to invite my friends of different faiths to my home (or to a friends home) for dinner, prayer, and a conversation of what it means to live as a follower of Jesus. This strikes me as much more helpful than inviting people to "church" when there are usually deep-seeded reasons why they have other agendas on Sunday morning.

The smaller, intimate time between 2 or 3 people of the well could fit easily within people's schedules, happening over coffee, lunch, an evening drink or any mutually convenient time. This discipline would aim at deep accountability to living and growing in the ways of Jesus, time for mutual prayer and the gifts of encouragement and support. This kind of rhythm and rigorous practice can keep us from complacency in our life with Christ and open us up to greater possibility and joy as His disciples.

Finally, each well could have the freedom within the vision of The CityWell to seek the shalom of Durham, to discern the ways in which God has equipped and is calling them to pour their lives into our city. Each well could choose the ways they would invest their lives together for the sake of Durham, serving in areas of shared passion and hope. Another crazy idea (spurred by an experiment attempted by Rick Rusaw of Lifebridge Community Church) would be to give a significant percentage of every well's giving to The CityWell back to the well for discretionary use. So if the well I am a part of wants to pump money into a local public school to improve the educational opportunities of our city's lower income students, or give significantly toward the construction of a Habitat home, we would have the resources to do so without negotiating the red-tape of a church board. I suspect that we will grow to be more generous people when we are excited about seeing our giving make tangible differences in our city in places and ways our hearts have been given to.        

Taken together, these practices of communal gatherings, shared lives, listening to scripture, prayer, accountability, and common mission would have awesome impact in forming us as followers of Jesus and bearing tangible witness to the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps such a center of gravity might firmly ground us in a more fruitful way of being the church. What do you think?

Shifting the Center of Gravity: Part 1

Most any discussion of church these days quickly reveals that there is a definite center of gravity that determines the form and fruit of Christ's body in our culture. Think about the questions we ask about the church:

     Where does your church meet?
   
     What style of worship do you have?

     How big is your church (meaning how many people attend on Sunday)?

     What programs does your church have? 

All of these questions assume that the substance of the church can be weighed according to a particular center of gravity... the Sunday morning gathering. In fact this assumption is so pervasive that the vast majority of people in our culture, including Christians, speak of the church primarily as a place to go (or not, more commonly), or an event to attend.

More than just our language, within the church world our scorecards betrays our common understanding of the church. What is a successful church? Well, it may be said that we measure our success by the ABC's: attendance, buildings and cash. How many people come to our expensive buildings to put cash in the plate so we can afford our buildings?

This is a bit crude and generalized, of course, but the attractional nature of our scorecards is undeniable. We also measure participation in our programs, our men's and women's groups, our youth groups and kids' programs, our bible studies and Sunday school classes. While many of these programs likely occur throughout the week, they produce the same effect as the Sunday morning center of gravity... namely, that church is understood as something I leave my school, work, neighborhood (and all of the relationships naturally associated  with these fields of life) in order to go to the church to do the God thing.

There are several problems with all of this. First, when we think and speak of the church as a place to go or as an event to attend we lose the deep sense that the church is a people on mission together to bear witness to Good News that in Jesus the Kingdom of God has come near, and to make disciples who, because of his life, death and resurrection live according to the reality and in the ways of that Kingdom.

Second, by creating a culture of "come" (come to worship, come to Bible study, come to youth, come to the committee meeting) we actually work against our ability to heed Jesus' commission for us to GO. Rather than being a people on mission, we extract ourselves from the harvest field; we leave the everyday places of life in which God has placed us as missionaries; we go to church and fail to be the church.

Third, in the culture of "come" we end up dumping an enormous amount of time, energy and resources into a one hour event that is demonstrably ineffective toward our primary goal of making disciples. It has been said that attending church for most people has the formative impact of going to the gym, drinking coffee and eating donuts while watching your trainer work out. We must face the reality that a tragic number of the folks who attend our churches faithfully are not deeply formed in the ways of Jesus. Simply put, participation does not equate to formation.

So what are we to do? Should we do away with the Sunday morning worship gatherings?

By no means. 

Rather, I have become convinced that we simply must shift our center of gravity. Where corporate worship is a vitally important element of the church's life, we must not expect it to be the primary bearer of the weight of disciple formation.

If we are to make such a shift, what would be a more fruitful center of gravity? Might there be ways to be the church in the daily rhythms of our lives, in the natural fields of life to which God has appointed us to live and bear witness? Might it be that a new center of gravity would more deeply form us in the ways of Jesus and free us to be a people on mission together whose faith, homes, work, schools, neighborhoods and relationships become an integrated whole?

The writing is on the wall. Our current forms of church are not producing deeply formed disciples of Jesus who are capable or motivated to go and make disciples themselves. And so the church in the west is dying. Something foundational must change or we will certainly get where we are heading. We must shift the center of gravity for what it means to be the church. The CityWell will be an experiment in just such a gravitational shift, and I am hopeful that the Lord will show us fruitful ways forward, that we might be a people who show forth with our lives the life-giving Good News that Jesus is Lord.

Perhaps you will join us for the shift.

Tagging On...

Some very helpful recent feedback on the potential reception of the tag, "Follow Jesus. Live Well. Bless the City." has led me back to the drawing board. New thought... We should not expect a person to glean from a sticker, t-shirt, business card or other single-glance media a solid understanding of our mission. Actually, in trying to encapsulate our mission in pithy phrases we likely open ourselves up to misunderstanding and/or allow people to think they know what we're driving at without actually having a conversation to really understand. So, what if the goal of the logo and tag is simply to invite inquiry that leads to dialog and a fruitful opportunity to express the Good News that Jesus makes it possible and invites us to follow Him, live well, and bless the city. So how about something like this:

The CityWell

For All Who Thirst

Thank you to the CityWell core team for these ideas. I'd love to know your ideas as well.

Playing Tag

The gestation period for the The CityWell is quickly coming to an end, and suddenly I am having to move from the dreaming/theorizing phase of this process to some concrete things like incorporating (serious pain in the rumpus), putting together a website and having a logo designed for all print material. Hopefully next week, I'll have some logo ideas I can post for your feedback, but for now I need to finalize the tag line that will be a part of the logo. This needs to be a simple, sticky, and compelling statement. Here is the version I'm leaning toward at this point:

The CityWell

Follow Jesus. Live Well. Bless the City.

I think these three phrases encapsulate the vision for this church and flow sequentially, with following Jesus being the ground for the other two. What do you think?

Pray For the Big Stuff!

So I met with some great people the other night to talk about what we pray God will do in and through The CityWell. One of those folks made a piercing comment relative to our dream that this community of faith will embrace and reflect the diversity of Durham: "We are an awfully fair-skinned group so far."

Well, in general, that's true... so far.

And that must change.

Quickly.

To that end, I am convinced of two things: 1) Given the cultural and historical baggage surrounding race relations in our country (and particularly in the South), it will be a true miracle of God if The CityWell becomes what we believe it must become. 2) God loves to perform miracles.

Would you please take a moment right now (or several moments daily for the next few years) to pray that God would pull together a diverse core team that will embody this vision for The CityWell? I absolutely believe that God's desire is for The CityWell community to live out the true story of God tearing down every dividing wall through Jesus. Therefore, I believe God will answer these prayers!

Thank you for being a critical partner in this.

What's in a Name?

Names can be arbitrary or chosen simply because the namer likes the sound of a given name.

Names can also be thoughtful and loaded with meaning, symbolism, and hope.

Even intentionally chosen names, though, can come with unintended baggage. For instance, my parents named me Harold Cleveland May III... a distinguished name, if I do say so myself. However, I don't think they thought about the ways this name could be turned against me in the torture chambers of middle school, where I was called "Cleveage," which was bad enough until the day when Erica Peterson put together that my first name was Harold, and she dubbed me, in front of the whole PE class, "Harry Cleveage." I was 13.

Devastating.

So what about the name of this church, The CityWell? Why have I chosen this name? What does it mean, symbolize and hope for? Might there be some unintentional baggage that comes with it?

I've already posted on the biblical basis of the name (see the post What is a CityWell?), but there is more to say. The name obviously breaks into two component parts, City and Well. The first of these parts is hugely important. You see, God has a thing for cities. I know God loves all of creation, but God REALLY loves cities. In fact, when God brings the Kingdom to completion and puts everything in creation just how God wants it to be, there will be a city, the New Jerusalem. Did you know that your eternal destiny is big city life? I hope you weren't hoping for a mountain cabin or secluded island somewhere. We get a city, because God loves cities. I suspect the reason for this is that cities are full of people and we know God loves people. Beyond this, though, the population density of cities presents particular opportunities for community life not often found outside of the city. Central to these is the element of diversity in the city, which creates the possibility of worshiping communities who presage the heavenly city where God revels in the glory of the nations (Revelation 21:24-26). A community like this can exist now, because we worship the One who taught us to pray for the Kingdom to come ON EARTH as in heaven.

So, the CityWell will be a church in the heart of the city, working for the welfare of the city, and embracing and seeking to reflect the diversity of the city because God digs cities.

The second part of the name is no less significant. After all, what is a well? A well is a source of refreshment for all of the people living in a given area, a common ground where people across the spectrum of status, income, background, and race find the one thing that can quench the thirst common to all people. A well is a place of gathering, a place where stories are told and lives are shared. A well is a necessity for the flourishing of a community, a source of health and strength for a city, a gift that brings life to a city.

And the CityWell will be a people committed to blessing Durham in like manner, as we believe that Jesus sends us out, as He was sent to us (John 20:21) that we might be all of these things for the world.

But what about unintentional baggage? Perhaps you can help me out with that. The only thing I can think of is that unlike a well, this church will not be a place or a building, but rather a people who gather and who are sent throughout the city to live as a blessing to the city. What do you think?      

My Last Year

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday.

Two things converged to provoke this post: a bible study and a text message. 

Bible Study on Mathew 6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." 

A friend of mine asked a great question: "Is this just about having a better heaven after we die? What good does that do us today?" Gotta love a question like that.

My dad sent me a text: "Happy 33. That's how old Jesus was when He was killed. Be careful this year."

Nice.

So, what if this is my last year? What would it mean for me to lay up treasure in heaven? Should I spent these last days planning the decorations for my heavenly mansion, or is Jesus talking about something else?

My guess is that when Jesus talks about heaven He's not doing so in the ways our popular conceptions might suggest. I think Jesus is looking toward the new heavens and new earth, which rather than being an escape from this world means he renewal, healing and full, God-intended glory of this world. So, to lay up treasure in this "heaven," means to invest in this world, to invest in the things that have a future in the new heavens and new earth, to invest in beauty, goodness, reconciliation and every expression of human flourishing. When Jesus says, "lay up treasures in heaven," He's telling us to live now in light of all that will be, to be salt and light, to be kingdom people, to pour our lives out for other people and for the glory of God.

So what does this mean for my last year? Well, I think it means throwing myself into something that will produce the things that will last in the new heavens and new earth, and I can think of nothing with more potential for this than the church. The church can be a generator of heavenly treasure. Imagine people coming together under a common banner of Jesus' love, with a common name as His brothers and sisters, with a common mission as partners of God living out and living into the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, reconciling across every dividing line under the common awareness of our new identities in Christ, moving into the city together with a common desire to be agents of goodness, beauty, healing, and justice, purposing to know and follow Jesus and to have our hearts synced with the heart of God, all in order that we might be restored to our full humanity and be a part of the restoration of all creation!

Beautiful.

So, with my last year, I intend to lay up treasure in heaven by planting The CityWell with the confident prayer that this church will be all of these things, and that long after my life on this side of the new heavens and new earth, this church will continue to generate the treasures that have a future!

Care to join me?

Too Many Churches?

Last weekend I went public with the news that we are heading to Durham to launch The CityWell. The response in our community and among friends around the country has been very encouraging, but amid the well-wishes and affirmation has been a question voiced by several people, "Don't we already have too many churches? Why one more?"

Well, I think we can respond to that question in a number of ways, but we must start with the heart of the matter; namely, church planting flows from the heart of God. Allow me to explain. God is perfect community, Father, Son and Holy Spirit eternally existing in complete self-giving, other-exalting and ultimately loving union. This is why the Bible can say, "God is love." Add to this that we are created in the image of this communal God and we start to understand why all of us so long for relational connectedness. Going a step further, the scripture clearly displays God as one who calls forth communities to participate in God's life and to bear witness to the world regarding God's beauty, goodness, power and purpose for creation. We see this with God's call of Israel to be a holy people and a royal priesthood. We see it in Jesus' calling together a community of disciples and then in His sending those disciples out to call forth new communities to partner in God's purposes. Throughout the book of Acts we find the emergence of new faith communities wherever the Gospel was proclaimed and received. Intriguingly, the narrative of Acts ends abruptly and seems to remain unfinished, as if to suggest that the mission of spreading the Gospel through the formation of new churches is not complete. The Church is called ever forward to establish new communities of faith who will live forth, and invite the nations to participate in, the Reign of God. So the short expression of this heart-of-God purpose is this: God is perfect community and always calls forth new worship communities; we are made in God's image to do the same thing. 

Here are a few more reasons (briefly stated):

• New churches see 3-4 times more people per attendee come to faith in Christ than do older churches.
  
• Churches that remain committed to birthing new congregations retain their external focus and evangelistic effectiveness far more than churches that exist only unto themselves. Church plants bring vitality to "parent" churches.
  
• As cultures change (and ours is in a decades-long whirlwind of change), new churches innovate ways of articulating the unchanging good news of Jesus in new and relevant ways.
  
• New churches are incubators for new leaders to raise up and discover their Kingdom calling and gifting.       

All this to say, in a context where only 17.5% of our population has any meaningful connection with a Christian church, I don't think we are anywhere close to having too many churches.

What do you think?

Start Digging!

Exciting news! As of last Tuesday the CityWell has an official commission. In late June my family will move to downtown Durham, NC, where we will begin putting legs to the CityWell dream. We are thrilled and scared out of our minds all at the same time. However, we are convinced that God laid this path before us, and we trust that God will lead us "to the land [he] will show [us]." 

The downtown Durham area is perfect for an experiment in being the church in new ways. Consider these reflections from a MissionInsight demographic analysis of the area within a 5-mile radius of central downtown: 

• Of the 270,000 people in Durham County, over 168,000 (62%) of them live within a five-mile radius of downtown, and this number is growing.
  
• The ethnic/racial diversity of the city is also growing. In 2010 43.6% of the population in the study area was Black, 32.4% White, 16.1% Hispanic/Latino, 3.7% Asian, and 1.6% other.
  
• The average age of the study area is 35 years. 11.3% of the population is college students or people new to the professional world. 43.6% of the population represents young families, families and empty nesters under 55 years of age. Less than 20% of the population is over the age of 55.
  
• 28% of the households in the study area live on less than $25,000 per year, with 16% of the population living at or under the federal poverty line. 40% of households live on less than $35,000 per year. 35% of the households generate between $35,000 and $75,000 annually. 25% of the households make more than $75,000. The number of higher wage earners is growing steadily and this growth is projected to continue.
  
• 41% of the adults in this study area have no college education. 36% have at least a bachelor’s degree, and the remaining 23% have an associate’s degree or some college. The area is growing in number of people with higher educational attainments.

The MissionInsight report reveals the significant racial, ethnic and socio-economic diversity of the downtown Durham area. This diversity must inform the mission of The CityWell, as God is calling us to this city and not merely to one demographic of the city. We must intentionally seek to embody the diversity of the city if we are to be a faithful sign and foretaste of the barrier-destroying Reign of God.

The demographic analysis also reveals that educational attainment in this area is very high, the percentage of people with at least a bachelor’s degree being 17% higher than the nation as a whole. Therefore, mission in this context will require presenting the Gospel in thoughtful, nuanced and intellectually rigorous ways. 

The population of the downtown area is young, which bears several implications. First, the younger the population the more saturated the worldview with the marks of post-modernism, prominent among which is a deep suspicion and aversion to institutional Christianity. In addition, much of the population in this mission field is biblically illiterate with virtually no understanding of the Gospel. However, being a southern city, there will be some vestiges of Christendom lingering, though this fact is significantly mitigated by the urban ethos and the heavy influence of Duke University in the city’s DNA. These factors suggest that a significant element of The CityWell mission will be helping people unlearn what they think they know about the Gospel and re-think church outside the Christendom box. 

With regards to religious practices in this mission field, there are many people with a deeply entrenched Christendom view of the Church and Christianity. However, more prominent in the religious attitudes of this mission field is the presence of a postmodern preference for an undefined and individual spirituality. These cultural contours will significantly impact the form of The CityWell’s mission, as well as how we contextualize the Gospel. In particular, we will seek to demonstrate that true spirituality is ultimately found in community and must be grounded in God’s revelation in Jesus. This mission will require a generous and affirming posture akin to Paul’s at the Areopagus in Acts 17, recognizing the God-given impulses relative to the imago Dei in all people. This culture calls for tour guide evangelism, in which we point to the ways God is already present and at work in people’s lives and provide an interpretive framework of scripture and biblical theology to direct people to a life-giving relationship with Jesus.

All of these factors call for a new expression of the Church, and I am really excited to see what God will do in our midst as we seek to know and follow Jesus in downtown Durham.

Please pray for us... and then pray some more!

Resisting The Homogeneous Unit Principle

In the last few decades of the 20th century the church growth movement was hailed as the potential plug to stop the catastrophic draining of people out of American churches. Central to this movement was an idea that came to be known as the Homogeneous Unit Principle. The basic idea is that people don't like to cross lines of race, class, politics in general, and are much more likely to come to faith in Jesus if coming to church doesn't force them to step too far out of their usual environments and comfort zones. This was a well-intentioned theory, but I fear misses one of the central callings of Christ - namely, that we are to be a people who manifest the reconciliation of God precisely by crossing lines others won't cross; and so Paul says that in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female...

The Homogeneous Unit Principle demands that a church "target" a specific, narrowly defined demographic of the population. For instance, I could plant a church for white hipsters who only drink coffee from Starbucks. Who knows, it could work...

So, I'm struggling with this idea. On the one hand, I think it is probably a true theory; people are more likely to sign up for something if we minimize discomfort, and relationships that require crossing lines of race and class will inevitably be uncomfortable at points. Then again, people are also more likely to come to Christ if we drop the whole "repent of your sins" thing, too. So, planting a church for people that look like me, are educated like me, vote like me, and who just like me is probably a lot easier than kind of diverse congregations we are dreaming The CityWell will be. But, on the other hand, do we see these homogeneous churches in the Bible? Do we hear in the scripture a call to do whatever is expedient to grow the church? I don't think so.

I think the reason I'm struggling with this is that, while I can comfortably reject this philosophy, everyone I read and talk to seems to assume it. I read authors and hear speakers say all the time, "Know who your target audience is." Or they ask, "Who are you trying to reach?" These statements and questions are followed by exhortations to be very specific and to base your targeting on personal affinity. Being so utterly surrounded by this mentality makes me feel a little insecure about my convictions.

Honestly, I have a hard time answering the question, "Who are you trying to reach?" at least answering the way people seem to expect a smart church planter to. I want to say things like, "anyone who doesn't know Jesus is their Lord," or "whoever God puts in our path," but these answers don't seem to be adequate, and I feel a bit insecure, wondering if I am just really naive. However, beyond choosing a city, I don't see the great evangelists and apostles in the New Testament employing targeting strategies. I don't think Philip was trying to reach Ethiopian eunuchs; God just put him in the right place at the right time to share the Gospel with a person who did not yet know to celebrate the victory of Jesus. Was Peter working on his marketing scheme for Gentiles, or did God thrust him into relationship with Cornelius and family? And Paul seemed to proclaim the good news to anyone and everyone, just trusting that God would grant the gift of faith to some.

I really don't want to plant a church just for young, privileged, white people, or even more broadly, for the folks who inhabit the same social strata and have basically the same "family values." I don't want to adopt a philosophy of ministry based on utility and rigor reduction. I want to trust God for divine appointments, miraculous conversions, and to tear down dividing walls. I want The CityWell to look like the Kingdom, not a private school. I want to resist the Homogeneous Unit Principle and its attendant practices, but I confess that such resistance is difficult.

What are your thoughts about all of this? 

Living Out the Heart of God

This morning I was sitting in a coffee shop waiting for a friend and I found myself (once again) daydreaming about this church. Specifically, I was envisioning conversations with people who God might call to be a part of this one day, and I was wrestling with how to describe this vision. As I've been writing and talking to others (many of you) about the CityWell dream I have been frustrated trying to put labels on the vision God is giving me. For instance, as prior posts indicate, I think it important for a church to embody Gospel reconciliation by reflecting the racial, ethnic and class diversity of its community. So, am I to say "we are planting a multi-ethnic church?" That description just seems too narrow. Or, as I believe churches should exist for those not yet celebrating the reality that Jesus IS their Lord and Savior, should I say, "Yeah... we're planting a church to bring people to faith in Christ." Once again this doesn't capture all of why we should exist. My list of inadequate descriptions goes on, and so as I wrestled with articulation today this thought occurred to me: everything I describe when talking about The CityWell is secondary; all of these attributes, no matter how significant, are derivative of a greater, more encompassing calling. So, here's my latest attempt to put words to the vision:

The CityWell will be a faith community seeking to know and follow Jesus, that our hearts might come to beat and break with the heart of God.

In short, The CityWell will exist to live out the heart of God. I am excited about this articulation because it encompasses and grounds all of the more particular elements I've been pointing toward, as it begs the question, "Well, for what does God's heart beat and break?" Now that is a question pregnant with implications! Here are a few quick examples:

1. The Father's heart beats for Jesus, and Jesus' heart beats for the Father (see John 17:1). Implication: because the Spirit includes us in the life of God, the church is to be a community of worship.
   
2. God's heart beats for all people, so the church must intentionally embody diversity.
   
3. God's heart breaks for the oppressed and hurting, so too the church must practice compassion and ministries of justice and mercy.
   
4. God's heart breaks for those who refuse His embrace (Luke 13:34-35, 19:41-44), and so must the church long to see people come to worship and exult in Christ. Evangelism flows from the heart of God.

We can go on and on (and I'd love you to add to this list). I think this pursuit of having hearts in rhythm with God's heart can govern all of a church's priorities, values and ministries. What do you think?

Whether or not this ends up being The CityWell's purpose/vision statement I pray it will be true, as I don't think we can go wrong having our hearts synced with God's!

How to Start a CityWell

I had a conversation with a new friend this week about the potential of CityWell churches and along with the philosophical, theological and biblical questions came this very pragmatic one: "So how will this start?" What a fine question!

As in other posts I feel compelled to remind myself and readers that I have never done this before, so at least part of my answer has to be, "I really don't know." However, that is not all I have to say. I think we have some great pointers in the scriptures, particularly the book of Acts, where we find several models of church planters in action. More than that, we find in Acts examples of intentionally multi-ethnic churches and the accounts of their beginnings. There are also many thriving multi-ethnic congregations around the country that serve as guides to those of us hoping to follow in their footsteps.

In Acts chapter 8 we find that persecution has broken out against the church and many of the followers of Jesus have scattered. In verses 4-5 we read: Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. Two very significant things strike me here. First, everyone preached the word. The scattering that occurred did not include the apostles; they stayed in Jerusalem. These preaching refugees were ordinary folks (these ordinary preachers are an example of what I am looking toward in the earlier post, Ordinary Leaders).

Second, and these verses are instructive for how a church like the CityWell must begin, Phillip decided to go to Samaria. He didn't accidentally end up there. Philip was a Jew (a Hellenist to be precise, but this just meant a Greek speaking Jew), and Jews never accidentally went to Samaria. He intentionally crossed lines of culture and race to share with these people the good news of Jesus. Likewise, CityWell churches will only be churches for all people if we are intentionally churches for all people. In our culture a multi-ethnic congregation can almost never happen without such intentionality. We will have to determinedly form relationships with people of varying backgrounds, races and cultures, and, like Philip, we will do so explicitly because of Jesus, who transgressed every social, cultural and religious boundary in his ministry of reconciliation.

The narrative continues: And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. Philip's impact in Samaria was a matter of word and deed. So it must be with the CityWell churches. First, Philip's message was unapologetically about Jesus; so will ours be. Second, in our calling to seek the welfare of the city (Jeremiah 29:7), we will begin and continue as servants of our city, whose deeds give credibility to our message. Notice two things about Philip's deeds: first they address people's spiritual and physical needs, and second, they are marked by the power of God. I believe the church can and must engage the city and it's needs in these same ways today.

So, the short answer to how we start is this: We will prayerfully and intentionally seek to build relationships across lines of class, race and culture, believing that God will bring together exactly the right people to begin the CityWell dream. As these relationships form, we will begin to share our lives together, seeking God's will and power to become the church we are called to be. We will pray like crazy. We will worship together and encourage one another. We will look for ways to serve the city in the name of Jesus. We will share our vision with anyone who will listen and trust God to draw people. All of this we will do long before we launch public worship services because we are talking about planting a church, not just a worship service. CityWell churches will not begin with a pre-fab, cookie-cutter model; beginning with a general vision to be a church for all people centered around the life, teaching and calling of Jesus, the details of our vision and plans will develop as we go, as we consider the intersections of our context, the people God brings to us, and the call of the scriptures. If these churches come to be, there will be no doubt that this is a movement of God! I pray that it will be!

Why Multi-Ethnic?

I have suggested in several of these posts (and in conversations with many of you) that CityWell churches will aspire to be intentionally multi-ethnic. Commonly the response to this hope is, "Why?" I have three primary reasons; congregational multi-ethnicity is a matter of:

1) Faithfulness to the Gospel vision

2) Effectiveness in our Gospel witness

3) Fullness of Gospel life

There is so much to say about this first reason, but for now I’ll be short and somewhat general. I believe that at the heart of the Gospel is earth-shattering, life-giving fact that God has reconciled the world to Himself in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-19), and that this means that in ways we can barely grasp the reality of (but it is nonetheless REALITY), in Christ’s body the dividing walls between God and humanity and between all peoples have been torn down (Ephesians 2:14-16).

Forever. 

Continually in the Scripture we are called to live according to the vision of all God has accomplished in Christ and will bring to completion on the Last Day. In Revelation 7:9 John sees “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” In Revelation 21:24-26 we find an image of the kings of the earth entering the New Jerusalem bringing the glory and honor of the nations to God in praise. This is where we are heading - a church of all peoples, undivided, united in praise, not squashing but celebrating the distinctiveness of the world’s cultures. The church triumphant will not be mono-ethnic, so why should the church on earth be? Jesus calls us to live concretely, here and now, according to all that is true in Him, in order that His kingdom would come on earth as in heaven. This is a Gospel vision and it is splendid! We must not be content to pursue anything less.

It is not coincidental that the churches we read about in the New Testament were made up of Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female, slave and free. All of these would-be cultural fault-lines of division become bonding seams in the church because in Christ God created a new humanity, a third race, if you will. This is who we are to be, and I think we are impoverished in the experience of this reality insofar as our congregations are mono-ethnic. More than that (and this leads to the second reason to pursue multi-ethnicity), I fear that to the degree we do not pursue a corporate life that reflects the heart of the Gospel, we diminish our witness to the truth of the Gospel. Jesus prayed for the church’s unity in order that the world may believe that the Father sent Him (John 17:21). This inclines me to think there is a very significant correlation between our visible unity and the effectiveness of our witness.

In addition to this, the demographics of our country are changing radically and rapidly, and I think we are living in a historical moment where the racial and ethnic divisions in the church are more unpalatable to the unbelieving world than ever before. The fact of our Sunday morning segregation only makes the church appear more irrelevant in an increasingly multi-ethnic world. Conversely, powerful will be the witness of congregations who, through reconciliation to God in Jesus Christ, commit to the messy, difficult, but ultimately beautiful work of reconciliation across lines of race, culture and class.   

Finally, multi-ethnicity is a matter of fullness of Gospel life. In the midst of Jesus’ prayer for our unity he said, “these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” I believe that real-life, real-time reconciliation and shared worship and ministry is part of the “life to the full” that Jesus came to give the world (John 10:10). I have no doubt that God is doing mighty work and pouring our blessing in all kinds of congregations, whether mono or multi-ethnic, but the presence of God’s blessing should make us hungry for more, not complacent with the status quo. I hope CityWell churches will always yearn for everything God has in store for us in Christ, that we might taste the fullness of Gospel life.

Ultimately, only God can accomplish something so unlikely, and if the Lord does not build the house, the workers labor in vain! Please join me in prayer that God would do just such a work in our midst!

The MOST Important Question: A Foretaste

So, I'm operating under the conviction that the primary purpose of the church is to be a sign, a foretaste and an instrument of the Kingdom of God. In the last post we explored what it might mean to be a sign; in this post we'll consider what it means for the church to be a foretaste. I would suggest that a foretaste is something to be personally experienced (tasted to be precise), something to be shared with others, and something that creates a deep longing for more.

The church is to be a foretaste of all that God will one day bring to completion. So, if the Biblical picture of the new creation is one where forgiveness finds fullest expression then we are to be a community of people radically committed to forgiving one another and all who wrong us. If the Kingdom to come will be marked by justice and God's provision, then the church must be committed to meeting the needs of members and community. If the new heavens and earth is to be populated by people from "every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages..." and we are to join in one anthem, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10) then the church ought to reflect the full diversity of its city. If heaven is to be an eternity of joy and celebration, then the church must be a people of contagious joy, gratitude and hope! Jesus believed His followers could be just such a foretaste, and to that end taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come ON EARTH as in heaven!"

I believe God has every intention that these things are to be personally experienced, at least in part, within the community of the church, here and now. This has significant implications as to what we are to expect in our participation in the life of the church, and why and how we invite others to join in. We all know that true forgiveness, justice, reconciliation, joy and celebration are rare in our world, and yet these are the things that can and must mark our lives as God's people, the church. Is that what we expect, or do we settle for something far less, something more facile and less demanding? Do we understand that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us and that by His power this life can take root and manifest in us (Romans 8:11)? This is not mere idealism, unless, of course, believing in the power of Christ's resurrection is the same! The church is called to embody these things, the church can embody these things, and thank God, sometimes the church does embody these things.

When we live together as a foretaste of the Kingdom of God, then we can say to our friends  and neighbors, with confidence and joy, "Hey, come taste this for yourself." An invitation like that trusts that God is actually present with and among us and working in tangible, observable ways. Such an invitation looks like Philip's to Nathaniel, "Come and see" (John 1:46), and rests on the hopeful, live-giving truth that following Jesus is a real-life, day to day adventure with a living God, and not just assent to a list of religious propositions. Might it be that the communal life of the church (and not some form of argumentation) is the primary evidence for the truth of the Gospel? Is this what Jesus meant when He prayed in John 17:20-21 that by our unity the world might come to believe that He is from the Father? I think so.

I pray that in CityWell churches we will expect more than an entertaining experience, inspiring worship and good programs for our kids. I pray that we will expect God to do more than we ask or imagine, to make us mighty in service and witness to Him. I pray that we will experience deep reconciliation with the Lord that breaks out into deep reconciliation with each other across dividing lines of every kind. I pray that we will personally taste and see that the Lord is GOOD! And when we do two things will happen: We will invite others to share in this life of Christ with us, and we will long for more, for the consummation of God's Kingdom. This is what the church, as a foretaste, does... it offers a taste of ultimate reality to be personally experienced and shared with others, and it breeds longing for the fulfillment of all God's promises. May it be so among us!

The MOST Important Question: A Sign

What are the primary reasons for the church's existence, and, by extension, why should there be CityWell churches?

These are first order questions, the answers to which will determine the answers to pretty much every other question. So, here is my first response: The church exists, and hopefully CityWell churches will exist, to be a sign, a foretaste and an instrument of the Kingdom of God. I'll address each of these elements in successive posts.

To say that the church is a sign of God's Kingdom presupposes something about the world, as well as something about God's intentions for the world and strategy to realize those intentions; namely, the world exists, from creation unto eternity, to be the theater of God's life-giving love, the stage where divine dance constantly creates and invites the creation to joyful participation. That’s why we’re here, you know – to join in the dance, to share life with God, to enjoy the Lord forever!

Well, obviously things in our world don’t always resemble a divine dance; we often experience destruction rather than creation, and our lives are as often marked by brokenness as by joy. Yet however far astray from God’s intentions we have fallen, God remains determined to reclaim all that is lost, to make everything sad come untrue (thank you Jason Grey for that phrase), to make all things new, to bring His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven!

So what does that have to do with the church, and in particular with CityWell churches? In short, everything! The church is to be a sign of this coming Kingdom of God; our whole identity, our mission, our very existence is determined by God’s prerogative to bring about a new creation. To say that we are to be a sign of the kingdom is to suggest something both exalts and humbles the church.

First, the church is exalted in God’s grand scheme to route evil and reconcile all things to Himself, as God has designed that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known (Eph. 3:10). There is no escaping the fact that, for reasons only God knows, the church is at the center of God’s strategy to right the world again.

Second, though, the church is humbled by it’s role as a sign, for a properly functioning sign also points beyond itself. Being a sign, means to always bear in mind that this isn’t about us; this is all about GOD and His Kingdom. The church must assume the posture of John the Baptist, who seeing Jesus said, “I must become less, that He might become more” (my paraphrase of John 3:30).

So, CityWell churches will have to continually ask of themselves: Do we recognize the magnitude and significance of what God is calling us to? Are we trifling with religious consumerism or are we engaged on the front lines of the invading Kingdom? Are we aware that this is not all about us, and that we can easily be distracted from a Kingdom focus by seemingly more pressing concerns such as attendance, budgets and our own institutional survival? Is our ministry geared more toward the church or more toward the world into which the church is sent as a sign? When people who do not know Jesus come into contact with us, will they see us lifting up ourselves, our interests and our programs, or will it be clear that we are about Jesus’ agenda for the world? When people look at our life together will they see a dance? Will they see joy and creation and beauty? Will they see the signs that God is in fact busy making all things new?

I pray that CityWell churches will be signs - hopeful, joyful, life-giving signs that God has indeed inaugurated His kingdom through Jesus, and that this kingdom is coming to completion!   

The 10:2b Virus

About six months ago author Neil Cole (Organic Church, Organic Leaders) infected me with a contagious virus known as 10:2b. If you're not totally opposed, I'd like to pass the virus on to you.

At the beginning of Luke 10 Jesus is sending out 72 of his followers to be His forerunners in all the towns to which He was planning to go. He grants them all the authority to heal the sick and to proclaim the Kingdom of God (which is a pretty amazing investment of power and responsibility), but in verse 2 He also gives them a command: And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." The command, of course, is to pray, which is not merely preparation for the work of ministry; it is the work itself!

Jesus situates His command in an observation that is both hopeful and heavy at the same time: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. This is the reality of the church's environment in every time and place, and Jesus' words remind us of the necessity of our complete dependence upon our Lord if we are to see this situation as hopeful (The harvest is plentiful!) rather than heavy (ughhh... where are the laborers?). In view of the awesome harvest God calls us to, we must cry out to the Lord that HE might raise up the laborers for HIS harvest field. We will not succeed in this work on our own, for like the Psalmist says in Psalm 127:1 - Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. 

As I dream about the harvest CityWell churches may be a part of, I know this work cannot be accomplished except by the power of Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. I do not want to labor in vain, so I have volunteered to be infected with the 10:2b virus. Every day at 10:02 am the alarm on my phone goes off and I stop whatever I am doing to pray the second part of Luke 10:2 (thus the "b"): "Father, you alone are the Lord of the harvest, and I beg that you would raise up laborers for Your harvest field, that the CityWell churches may be houses built by Your hands." To this base, I add specific prayers for people to be prepared even now for the ministries God will call them to in these churches. This has been a great discipline of intentional dependence, which could also be called a practice of living in reality.

So what do you say? Care to catch the virus? I would love your partnership in these prayers.