Consistency Check!

Someone has quoted one of my posts from December of 2004 and challenged my apparent inconsistency. I actually welcome the accountability since it's a question I've had to deal with internally if not publicly (until now).

Basically, at that time, we had resigned from full-time responsibilities in the ministry and church where we were serving and I had taken on the full-time load of finishing a masters degree with a part-time role in leading worship at church and serving up lattes part-time at Starbucks as well.

As I reflect back on my words and thoughts at the time, I believe it was indeed a very serious paradigmatic shift away from a life that was completely ordered by religious and institutional obligation and activity. We often joke that our schedule included 4 or 5 nights a week at the church building (which was not an exaggeration). So when I spoke of re-orienting our lives in a healthy way by not considering the church/institution as the epicenter of our lives...it was definitely an accurate desire and path we began to move towards.

The most glaring case of inconsistency with that choice was actually our move to a large church in the Dayton area the following summer. In September of 2005, for reasons still not totally clear (mainly out of financial insecurities and career ambition), we accepted an invitation to direct the student ministries at this large congregation. The emotional, spiritual, & philosophical dissonance of that experience led us to resign exactly one year later and we landed with family in Cincinnat.

Now almost exactly another year later, I find myself in a staff position which at a glance may look like another inconsistent choice. But at Lifespring (our new church family) I believe we have found a church which trying to strike an authentic balance between being an institution and being a living organism with Kingdom priorities. This gathering of Jesus-minded people has no desire to create a self-serving organization of relgious activity. One third of our efforts focus on the worship gathering and refreshing our relationship with God. Another third of our effort is directed towards developing genuine community and relationships in the Body. The final third of our effort is directed outward with hopes of impacting our neighbors and our world.

Now I have four to five nights a week available for my family or to relationally invest in our neighbors or friends. I work a little at Starbucks on the side to keep the free coffee flowing (and health insurance!) I get out in the canoe or kayak an average of once per week. We ride our bikes or walk the neighborhood in which we live, work, play, and church (verb).

So that's where we're at and it feels like a great balance with which God has blessed us. Another comment I would make, however, is that there needs to be a statute of limitations on blogs, journals, or other ways in which we confess ideaologies. If we all agreed with everything we thought or said 2-3 years ago...it might be a sign of stagnation and little growth. I've been very tempted over the past few years to turn my back on the church and give up on the whole experience (not of God...just the church). But I really feel like the church can have a healthy role in our lives and in the world...it just needs to be stripped down to the essentials.

I share these words (and hopefully all my posts) with much humility and the posture of a life-long learner!