My Church

    I sat on the bar listening to Bob's sermon full of gratitude for what God is giving me. Earlier in the morning I attended the early service at St Matties and now I was sitting with my friends in a pub being the church. How cool is that.
    Now no church is perfect. Everyone lets you down, and early on the leadership at Evergreen (the name of my little community) warned me that the community would let me down at some point and sure enough they have. But that is OK.
    Every church has its little quirks and Evergreen is no exception. It's taking me awhile to not chuckle every time I gather with the men at the Horse Brass for our Monday evening gathering. Many of the guys feel a need to light up a cigarette, a cigar, a pipe, or all three. So we sit in a pub trying  to not feel too much like C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien and talk about life. It is all good. But this Christian freedom thing can be comical at times...
    Bob pours everything he has into this little community. It is evident to see everywhere. He really cares and he is gifted as a public speaker. The sermons are both expositional and dialogical. They go two ways. Bob has a conversation with us. We laugh with each other and have a good time.
    The music is low key and thoughtful. The congregation more restrained though at times trying to break out... Since we meet at a pub, people have to be there early to set up the pub for a meeting and then many pitch in to break things down so the pub can serve us lunch when the final blessing is given.
    The church tries and often succeeds to follow God's command to care for the poor, and give to those that need. Every other Sunday a group go out to hand out meals and warm clothes to the homeless. Ten families were adopted by the church and Christmas meals were provided. That may not sound like much but I would guess that the median age of the congregation is under thirty and many are in entry level jobs or are just starting families; others are students with little or no income, and still they give. They give because as a community we really do want to make a difference in our city. Most people  ahve a conscience at Evergreen and that is readily and gratefully evident.
    Many of the congregation live in community in order to save resources and live out the commands in the NT that tell us how we are to live in relationship with one another. Home groups meet every week in nearly every quadrant of the city. People genuinely seem to like and love each other here. Sure we are clicky like every other church. And sometimes it is hard to break in, but all in all, I'd say most people cross-clicks better at Evergreen than any other place I  have experienced. It  simply take a little work and perseverence. If this forty year old man can break in, than nearly every twenty and thirty something should be able to. People let you down every where and people get hurt and leave Evergreen just like every other church.
    Because of our ethos we cause problems for ourselves, but I don't think any of us would change that ethos for the sake of convenience. We are non-programmed so although we are small we can move slowly at times. Having said that, the communication in the church is remarkable because of the internet.  We have a forum where any and everything gets talked about. It  also becomes a good way to get introduced to people  in a safe way. Kinda cool actually.
      Though we have been affected by the emergent movement and like a lot of what we see, we don't see it as "all that". We tend to call ourselves "missional" rather than "emergent," and in a lot of ways an objective outsider probably would look at Evegreen as  a recast, cutting edge, evangelical, baptistic church which unintentionally markets itself to the millenial generation. That is probably what I would say Evergreen is becoming at this point. And I have to say that I am perfectly cool with that. We are growing up together and I don't think anyone really knows how it is all going to turn out.
     As I said, today I did get back to St. Matthews and Dad and I will head out there tonight for the 10:30 Christmas Eve Service -- probably the best in Portland. I need the safetely of the Prayer Book, the confession of sin, the pronouncement of forgiveness and the real presence of Christ as He makes himself known to me in the sacrament. So when I don't have my kids I am going to keep getting up before God to make it there for 8 AM. The liturgy and the sacrament connect me to Jesus as very little else can.
    Right now I like my church situation.

Comments

[Aaron Kelly]

I sure hope Evergreen never becomes a baptist church. I identify more with "emergent" personally than I do with "missional," although I do identify with both. I think Bob, and perhaps Evergreen in general, does fit your definition of being more focused on the "missional" hip re-casting of evangelicalism than on the "emergent" which I see as more of a move to do away with the distinction and rift between evangelical and mainstream Christianity as evidenced in the works of McLaren and others. That's my fear about the "emergent" movement, that the "missionals" will break from and eventually even attack the people who lean more mainstream just as the fundamentalists (traditionalists, more accurately) and evangelicals did in their day. Rob Bell seems to be doing this already. I really hope this doesn't happen, though I fear Bob might go along with it if it did occur.

I really get meaning from the sacrament, too, whether in a liturgical or plainer way. I know that's a strange thing for a kid whose first liturgical service was that Christmas Eve service, but exploring the reason for communion was what lead to my initial conversion experience (which was very much like a miniature step one, two, and three). (Yes, that does mean I am a "born again" Christian, as cliche as that term has become.) And I have come to see the cycle of death and rebirth in my own life, which has just made the service more and more meaningful. Even when I couldn't stand anything else about Christianity, the Lord's Supper stayed meaningful to me.

[aaron]

I am blessed to have you in my "Church Situation" :)