TEAR UP THE MANUAL
It's overcast here in the DR today, with the sun occasionally breaking through. I'm spending this afternoon talking some more with our missionaries down here, Rob and Kelli nelson.
They're doing a medical clinic this morning, which I opted out of in favor of reading beside the pool and just catching my breath - I'll go to tomorrow's clinic so I have a first-hand picture of some of the stuff they're doing.
Charlotte is our main link person with the work going on down here through Island Impact and the teams we sends down several times a year keep us well connected, so my main purpose in toughing it out in this resort town for a couple of days is mentoring this great couple.
We talked for quite a while yesterday and one thing that came through clearly is the need for them to forget the normal model of church and continue to develop church here that is totally relevant to the culture. They meet over a restaurant on Sunday mornings and have been using DVDs for worship lately, which is totally okay so long as you forget the manual.
There is no set way to do church. You won't find a single dominant pattern in the New testament or in church history.
It takes guts to break free from decades or centuries of tradition, but it's so, so necessary.
So I'm encouraging Rob and Kelli to build the church side of their minsityry 5 miles from normal and be glad to be there.
After all, I never did like normal.
They're doing a medical clinic this morning, which I opted out of in favor of reading beside the pool and just catching my breath - I'll go to tomorrow's clinic so I have a first-hand picture of some of the stuff they're doing.
Charlotte is our main link person with the work going on down here through Island Impact and the teams we sends down several times a year keep us well connected, so my main purpose in toughing it out in this resort town for a couple of days is mentoring this great couple.
We talked for quite a while yesterday and one thing that came through clearly is the need for them to forget the normal model of church and continue to develop church here that is totally relevant to the culture. They meet over a restaurant on Sunday mornings and have been using DVDs for worship lately, which is totally okay so long as you forget the manual.
There is no set way to do church. You won't find a single dominant pattern in the New testament or in church history.
It takes guts to break free from decades or centuries of tradition, but it's so, so necessary.
So I'm encouraging Rob and Kelli to build the church side of their minsityry 5 miles from normal and be glad to be there.
After all, I never did like normal.
posted by Roger Blackmore | 12:28 PM
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