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go here to buy my stock photography Alan Creech
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aaron klinefelter
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I'll not start at the beginning of all things - just at the point where Liz and I were a part of a local charismatic independent church here in Lexington. We had been there pretty much since 1989 I think. Eventually I "rose" into leadership there, paid my "dues" cleaning bathrooms, watching kids, cleaning the church, etc., etc., etc. Ended up the Pastor's chosen boy and was recognized and ordained there and hired as Associate Pastor. That lasted for about 10 months - until that great man of God had an affair with his secretary/worship leader and left me with a mess. Oh man, it was a mess. Church Conflict 501 I think the class was called - that's graduate level in case you didn't notice. You do NOT want to know the details. Very painful and disillusioning. I was interim Pastor for a short stint and we hired another Pastor - whom I already knew, good guy. A couple of months later I guess, he let me go. Turns out we shouldn't have hired another staffer - didn't have the money. Anyway, I was crushed. But we stayed and I basically kept doing the same stuff with no paycheck or office. This was an upper level class in "you can do pastoral ministry and not be paid and not have an office." I'm grateful I was "fired" from the ministry. Some things are learned best the hard way. We had small groups before this, but after that, at some point, we were introduced to cell groups and I sort of dove in head first. Someone had just before all this (I'm remembering now) given me a copy if Jim Rutz's book The Open Church. It kind of put me on tilt mode as you can imagine (if you've read it you'll understand). So, the revolution begins. Of course, even before this I'm seeing things I can't quite square up. It continues. I ended up heading the cell group ministry there and helping develop it to another level. During this time I had been "in training" for becoming a "Minister" - whatever that means. Well I knew what it meant then, in that context. I began to internally note a call to go and plant a church. I'm synopsizing a few years here. The talking about it began at different levels. In the mean time, I knew where I was supposed to be and I was there. As it goes along, though, that gets harder. So, again, there was a Pastoral change over. This time for good reasons - so I was there and was asked to and did, help with the transition. I thought I was actually going to leave when that Pastor left, to plant, but it seemed like I should stay and help, so we did - probably for too long. The cell church thing got hot and heavy after that - conferences, more cell groups, more intensity in the cell church philosophy at the church. A good bit of this was driven by me and what had been developed earlier. The more I was into something more relational, the more I wanted to go in that direction. So, briefing this down - after about 3 years in this new regime, we knew - it was time to go. The plan was to go and be a "daughter" of our church. The more we got into it, praying, etc., the more we knew we needed to stay in Lexington. That didn't happen. It wasn't within the ethos of sending out a planter in this particular type of church. They thought it wouldn't look right, because it was in the same town -- of 270,000. OOO K. Anyway, we decided to go - to separate and plant anyway, something even more different. We were prayed for but nothing was said about what we were going to do. That was all together, a very painful situation. OK, that's the backstory, here's how it started. We went home, waited and prayed for a while - months, and then I - yes I did - I designed the first website for vine & branches in 1999. It had information which I had been writing - a vision, etc. - for the new church plant. And I called it "community" on purpose so as not to use the word "church." Too much baggage. We began by having a meeting in our living room and inviting some people we knew. It looked quite a bit different than it looks now - more like a typical cell group or house church meeting. I had a desire to incorporate liturgical worship even at that time but didn't want it to be just because of my own tastes - because I had been Catholic (and still was internally to a great degree). That group got too bitter - we shut it down. We waited some more months, started another group - sort of went.... not where we wanted it to go - shut that one down too. That was in a September of some year - I honestly can't remember, maybe 2000? We then prayed, fasted, and waited will the new year - 2001 (I think) and started another time - This is basically what has now evolved into the vine & branches of today. There are one or two people still here from those days. The numbers have rotated in and out, up and down. How do you start and "build" a small community like this? You do it and you do it and you do it. You keep on and on and on. You don't give up. You never quit. You assess and reassess. You listen and pray and talk to people. You go through pain and frustration and more pain and more frustration (that part has never stopped). You know why you are doing what you are doing. You do what you believe to be the right thing. You remain open to the Holy Spirit to correct you, internally and through others. You reject modern notions of "success" and keep on going anyway, even when they say you're a failure, even when you think you're a failure. I could write that much more I think, but I'll stop here. Eventually you stop being angry and reactionary (good advice too) and calm down. Then you can see more clearly - you can see what to keep and what to throw away. You can see what to do and what not to do, and why. You can see the whole Church and be a part of it. That's where I believe we've landed. I pray we continue to learn what that means. Hopefully this has been some kind of interesting and perhaps helpful to someone. Grace and Peace be with you. technorati tags > church planting, emerging church, church, cell groups, ministry Labels: church, emerging church ::: ::: permalink ::: e-mail me :::
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three quotes |:: "Then, if we cannot as yet think alike in all things, at least we may love alike. Herein we cannot possibly do amiss." "Keep your eyes on the crucifix, for Jesus without the cross
is a man without a mission, and the cross without Jesus
is a burden without a reliever." "...I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be
completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self."
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