So...we decided we would go to the first church on the block and if we didn't like it we would go to the next. We didn't know anything about church (obviously). Turns out the it was a church of Christ. I thought, "Cool, I want to learn about Christ!" We wondered why they didn't have a piano and the elders laughed when we asked. But the bottom line is that we were loved. We were asked over to peoples houses for dinner and immediately began to develop relationships. We got involved with the youth ministry and began to learn how to serve. We were blessed to work with some selfless, tireless workers for Christ. Two years after we started attending the church decided to become non-denominational so that we could use musical instruments and have a more biblical view of the role of women in the church. We decided we wanted to reach the lost and lost half of the church in the process.

A couple of years later we started to rethink our structure and started talking about cell groups. Having the strengths of learner, ideation and intellection I immediately started doing research. I happened across two resources that would start the change of how looked at church. I found some resources on home churches. As I started to read about the intimate relationship and rich fellowships available my heart started to long for this kind of church. I longed to know and be known by others. I longed for my kids to have some intimate relationships with adults other than us. I longed for a different kind of church...

The other resource I found the book Soul Tsunami by Leonard Sweet. Sweet challenged my thought process about what church is and how the church needs to change to be relevant to a changing culture. I realized for the first time that my thoughts about church were not weird, just shaped by a postmodern view of the world.

The church I was in were led by Godly men, but not open to any structure that varied from traditional models. In addition, I did not have the spiritual maturity to communicate these ideas in a loving way. So my rebellious attitude took over and I tried to present some different visions about what church could be that were, needless to say, not exactly embraced....

I decided to blow off writing my "12 Angry Men" paper and write some more of my story....I'll go with the shortened "Mark" version...

I started using drugs in the fourth grade (parents beware). My parents put me in a drug treatment center my freshman year of high school and I got out and promptly went back to using drugs. Two acquaintances of mine decided to rob a guys house and wound up killing two guys and getting life in prison. This was my "wake up call". I went to 12 step groups for almost 12 years before God really started tugging on my heart. I wanted to live a spiritual life, but I just didn't see the kind of life I wanted to live modeled in the 12 step groups. As we were preparing for marriage I told Trish that we would never celebrate Easter in our house because I didn't believe in all that "Jesus" stuff. Trish and I got married in Vegas and her uncle sensed that we were seeking spirituality and tried to convert us to Mormonism. I read all that he sent me and it caused me to read the Bible for the first time in many years. I started reading the Bible and watching some of the televangelists. Six months after I told Trish we would never celebrate Easter we were walking into a church behind the house we had just bought....

I'm a Blogging virgin. I started reading some Blogs from people on a journey to do "church" a different way. I discovered that I'm not crazy because I think church should be a place where life-change takes place; where people love each other in tangible ways; where following Christ is a lifestyle rather than a Sunday morning event; where every person discovers and uses their gifts and talents in an affirming environment; where our goal is to transform our community rather than look at our bellybuttons.

It turns out there is movement of house churches (sometimes called missional communities) that are taking these concerns very seriously. Rather than complain about their issues in already established churches they are meeting in homes and changing their community one life at a time. How cool! And how sad! That it takes a new/ancient form of church to (re)emerge because the existing churches are enslaved to models that won't/can't address these issues.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to come across as totally negative about tradional and contemporary churches. There are some large churches doing some great things, but I think it would do the Church good to rethink our mission and purpose.

The next few posts will be some thoughts about my journey and what led me to the point I'm at now...