:: Post-VERGE Thoughts ::

I had the honor of joining 2000+ other folks this weekend in Austin, for the first-ever "missional community" conference to be held in the U.S. (it was labeled such by speaker and author Alan Hirsch, at least).

Twelve City Church folks were able to join the conversation over three days, seven main sessions, and several breakouts, to hear thinkers like Francis Chan, Matt Carter, Neil Cole, Jeff Vandersteldt, Ed Stetzer, Hugh Halter, and Hirsch (the conference's Yoda) share their unique take on this new, emerging (in the best, non-loaded sense of the word, dear fundamentalist reader!) way of doing life as a church. Or to say it better, they shared their take on their unique ways of returning to the church life one sees in the New Testament. Because let's be honest, living as a community on mission is not a "new, emerging" concept at all; it was the original intention and design for God's people, from 2000 years ago and even beyond that.

After a few days to reflect on the weekend and to digest the info overload (seriously, just search #verge10 on twitter & see the massive amount of content - and that's just the 140-character versions that made it to attendees' microblogs!), here are a few post-conference thoughts/prayers [if you're just skimming, please at least read #3].

1. I HAVE DEEP APPRECIATION FOR THE UNITY IN DIVERSITY
All 12+ main session speakers believe that the church should be less of the "institution" it has become and more of a family/community, carrying out God's mission in the world. Don't roll your eyes at the overused word, but they all see it as being more "organic" and outward focused, than it currently seems to be in many of its' expressions. But every one of the speakers had a unique take on exactly how this should play out:

Some of their churches gather regularly; some don't. Some come from one church of thousands; others come from dozens of churches made up of 10 people. Some have seen this happen in the U.S; some have carried it out abroad. Some were in their early 30's; George Patterson was not! And so on. But they all believe in this lifestyle, and see it as the hope for the church in the U.S. There were differences; there were things I didn't agree with; there were things other speakers didn't agree with. But they all had a heart for the gospel. And they all had a heart for God's mission. And that was beautiful to see on one stage.

2. I AM EXCITED FOR THE POTENTIAL OF THE CHURCH IN AMERICA
Seeing masses of folks from different denominations, urban/rural areas, etc. experiencing the same thing made me excited: they called the conference VERGE because it felt like we're on the VERGE of a meaningful return to church life as we saw it in the Bible. If we all go back to our homes and start to live out gospel-centered, mission-focused, disciple-making lives as a family, it makes me excited for the building of the body of Christ in cities across our country and world. BUT...

3. I HOPE & PRAY THAT FOLKS DON'T GO HOME & JUST TRY TO IMPLEMENT THIS NEW "CHURCH MODEL"...
...because that's exactly what we tried to do over the summer and fall of 2009. For the past three years, we have been experimenting with "missional communities" in a college ministry I ran. So when we began building a core team for a new church, that was our aim: to build a church on the model of the New Testament. It was only by the grace of God and getting to spend individual time with some of this weekend's speakers over the course of the fall that we were able to "course correct." Here's the point: "missional community" is not a "model" at all. It's not a church structure. If it is, then it's just another program, which it was very clear nobody wanted at the conference. If it's not a model of church, what is it? It's deeper than that: it's a lifestyle.

Living as a community on mission is not a weekly event; it's an everyday activity. It doesn't start from a pastor preaching it to his church; it starts as individuals start to live it out and others catch on. It doesn't mean that a church has to "blow up" its small group program; it means that we train our leaders what it looks like to live on everyday mission, and to see disciples being made. Then God builds his church; not us. My fear is that many folks - especially younger, second-in-charge types, or youth pastors, or easily-discontented folks - will return to their homes and churches, and will try to implement the model that shone forth in this weekend's content, laying the "new way of doing things" on top of the existing church mindset and structure. It won't work; you, your church, and everyone involved will be frustrated.

My prayer for VERGE attendees - including myself and our folks who went - is that we'll all go home; that we'll be slow; that we'll ask ourselves...

• How am I living out the gospel in my life right now?
• Who are the folks in my spheres of influence with whom I'm pursuing intentional relationships?
• Who are the people in my community who I "do life with" as family?
• How can I live this out, and who can I model this to and with, that they may model it to others?
• If I see myself as a missionary to my city, how would I live

...and other questions like this: not focused on my church, but focused on my life. Because again, it's not a shift in church model; it's a shift in communal lifestyle. And that shift is deeper, harder, more intentional, and starts with you. But that's the shift that must be made: it must start with Jesus, be focused on the gospel, care more about making disciples than building your church, and spread by example. If it's not, it will be at best a blurry facade of the true change in your community you're hoping for.

If you want details/warnings/downfalls I learned early in our process of laying The City Church's foundation, and what we did to fix them, I'll be happy to share them with you; contact me here. Thank you, Stew & ASCC folks, for a great weekend. Thank you speakers, for inspiring us with not only your thoughts and presentations, but also with your lives and experience in modeling this for the rest of us. Thank you attendees, for being willing to live in a way that makes our culture look at you differently, causes you to suffer, and sacrifices yourself and maybe the number of butts in chairs on a Sunday, in order to see the great commission carried out.