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Just got a quick note from one of the Acts 29 leaders we spent? some time with? – Mark Moore – who was driving the behemoth that I incorrectly called a Mustang Charger.? It is, according to Mark, a Dodge Charger, and he sent me a picture of the aforementioned beast in all its primal beauty.? Thanks Mark!? Oil-producing countries watch out!?
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Scott? Thomas (left), with some of the Acts 29/Mars Hill crew, Scottie, Brent, and Steve Tompkins (Mars Hill Shoreline pastor).? ?
Following my trip I’m going to write a few posts with a general framework as follows:
1. Musings on Seattle the city
2. Musings on Acts 29/Mars Hill
3. Theological/sociological reflections on the experience.
1. Seattle the City:? It was a great place to visit.? In fact it’s probably the best intro to the US if you don’t want to be crushed by the cultural differences between UK/Oz and the US.? Most people we met said that Seattle wasn’t a typical US city, being more laid back than most.? That turned out to be true.? There was a cruisy feel to the place, exemplified by the Markets down near the waterfront.? Plenty of bookshops, fish-shops, arcane little stores selling all sorts of things.? There was a touch of Perth to it, being about the same population with similiar types of tall buildings.? Starbucks were ubiquitous, and the eating establishments were good quality and nicely priced.?
2. Acts 29 network was well worth the trip alone.? I love the can-do attitude of the American church leaders.? Scott Thomas heads up Acts 29, and he is hard-working, well thought out theologically, and great at relationship building.? I really liked him, he was a lot of fun and very hospitable and generous to us.? He and his family moved to Seattle a year ago to take over the network, and it has great direction and a clear mandate. It’s all about raising up and supporting church planters to ensure that there is maximum return for the investment.? The screening process? is? robust to say the least.? Six months of investigations? culminating in an almost two-hour interview? of the church planter and his wife.? All the tough questions are asked,? such as your areas of? weakness, the sins you struggle with, what your wife thinks of your struggles, how you will cope with difficulties.? The grading system will reject some, but there is? scope to come back after a period of reflection and maturity.? Because the operate in grace there is a level of? honesty required, and? offered, that cuts through all of the b/s.? Their drop-out rate? is non-existent.? One of the things I really appreciated is that they have the radar out for those guys who are simply “against” things, such as the established church.? If they’re more anti-church than pro-gospel they won’t make the cut.? They aim to be theologically conservative and ecclesiologically radical.? I hope the network can be? of help to us in Australia and I will be working to ensure? we can be involved.? ? ?
3. One of the key issues that was raised time and time again was, not surprisingly, household church.? Most people I spoke to? were suspicious of it, or at least a little cautious.? One pastor from Chicago, John, articulated the feeling rather well when he said that the US experience mitigated against inviting people to your house.? I countered that this was the UK and Oz experience? also, but that? household church is NOT about inviting people to an event, but rather? into a network of relationships.? I am completely in agreement that? to invite people to a church service at your house is no easier than inviting them to a church? service in a building, HOWEVER that is not we are aiming to do in The Crowded House.? Church is not the event, it is the people of God? gathered? around Christ, and that includes the event, but is not limited by it.? Church is a taste of the future, not simply in its formal meeting times, but in its whole life, as it lives out the Spirit-life that all of creation will experience? at the end time.? Hence the creativity we experienced at Mars Hill – and it is an extremely creative expression of how to do a certain model of church – is a creativity IN Church, not a creativity WITH church.? The standard model is the given and is simply tweaked to be more accessible to young educated post-Christian Americans.? I’m hopeful that the Acts 29 Network will be adaptable to the model of church that we are working with.
Some questions for you:
1. Is the assumed big-church model? a sub-cultural blindspot that needs to be addressed in the US?
2. Is the US just a little further behind UK/OZ when it comes to being post-Christian?? Will a time? come when the Christian framework is no longer a given in the same way it is in the rest of the English-speaking world?
3. How can we better learn from the can-do attitude so prevalent in the? States?
’til tomorrow!? ? ? ?
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