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Alan Creech
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aaron klinefelter
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March 31, 2005
> 10:50 PM
great expectations I couldn't resist. I want to talk about how things work in this little world of odd little churches (I'd rather call them communities so I will), of odd little communities, of strange "new" ways of doing things, etc. Yeah, this is in my own context, I'm being good, see. Crossover though, it's always lurking near. In this context there is a deeply important, and yet surprisingly often ignored, matter of expectations - educated expectations which are brought from one place to another by everyone involved. These expectations, I believe, are many times not even recognized. We don't even consciously know that we have them, but we do, and they are very deeply ingrained. You should really read Bryan Sherwood's beautiful post about this kind of thing in his own experience along with this. Very relevant. These expectations - let me not be terminally cryptic - are about "church" and everything in it. They spring from a certain ecclesiological ground. In other words, these ideas about what church is and how it happens, what a pastor is, what a "member" is, how "discipleship" happens and what "evangelism" is and how that takes place, all come from somewhere. They don't just pop up in your head one day. These things are sewn into our brains and hearts. We shouldn't think we are blank slates when we leave one place, one way, and move onto another. If we have been previously "churched" in some way, we have been educated with expectations. They're in there. So, say that's so, and then you find yourself out of that former system and you happen upon a funky little deal like vine & branches. "Ah," you say to yourself, "a nice church for me to be a part of." Then you "start coming" and it seems very interesting indeed. At first it's not so strange. The people are friendly, snacks are good, that liturgical prayer thing is interesting, and you recognize that thing called "communion." A few weeks go by and you start to (for some odd reason) wonder when the "pastor" is going to "preach" a "sermon." You haven't heard one yet. Then a month or two goes by, nothing on the sermon front, and you miss a couple of "services" and the pastor didn't call you. And you just remembered while you were in the shower yesterday morning that, "good Lord, there's never been an offering at that place!" You begin to wonder if your "needs are being met," or if you're "getting anything out of it." Thoughts buffet you about how you feel neglected and that you aren't being "discipled" properly. Everything seems so blah and regular, nothing's really "happening" in this church that you can tell. Hmmmmm. Let's turn the tables a bit. Say you started this weird new faith community a while back. It's fine. Things are going well enough. You have about 8 people (and you think in those terms in the back of your head still). People know you planted a new church and so when they see you they ask, "how's your church going?" You honestly don't know how to answer them. You struggle for a second or two and say, "it's goood, going pretty good." Then they just come right out and ask what they meant to begin with, "how many people ya'll got now?" At this point your insides are just turning to mush and you want to disappear. You don't want to say "8," so you say something like, "I guess we've got about 8 or 10." Yeah, big time new paradigm pioneer there. You're the leader. You're the pastor. You're the planter or whatever and guess what? You don't know what the hell that means any more. You know some things intellectually and, to be very fair and accurate, deep in your heart, but the rest of your thinking apparatus has yet to catch up. Tuesday night comes around (that's when you're little "church" meets) and you get tense earlier in the day (maybe even last night), thinking about what to "do" and who's going to "show up" this time. Whether you really think you need to or not, you try to come up with something to "say" to "them." You have this queasy feeling that "they" all are getting pretty fed up with not "being fed" properly and will probably soon leave. Later that night, in your meeting, someone cries and tells a story about something going on with them and you struggle to stay silent and let everyone else hear and respond too. You feel, with great intensity, the drag on your soul to solve the problem, to give the great wise answer. You also feel, often, that tug from "them" - from the rest - from those who have come from another world into this one with their ingrained expectations - magnetic expectations that pull at your heart till you feel like it will bust out of your chest. But you know you must not buckle under. You can't just go back and be "pastor Alan" again, not like that. This will feel good to both you and "them" for a while, but will not facilitate what God has brought you both here for. Oh, and there is still this nagging thought pattern in your head that goes something like "there's me and there's them - I'm the pastor and they are my people" - "them." Hmm, I may have to stop and listen to Radiohead some more. Ok, Iron & Wine just got turned on - "Such Great Heights" - does that mean something? I don't know. Anyway, I hope you see what I mean. Please see some of this. All of you involved in these new communities - all people and leaders among them. So much of our continuing angst comes from these expectations - which come from ground we are no longer planted in - which do not belong to our present context. God's Wisdom and Grace be with us. Labels: church, emerging church 0 Comments:| permalink | e-mail me | 
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