These posts are meant to explore the idea of vows between a group of Christians forming a common life in which they seek to follow Jesus together… something that unites their journey beyond attending a weekly worship service together, but rather striving to adopt a common way of life. The vows we’re looking at come from a community in San Francisco called ReImagine. Be sure to read the original overview post here.
Obedience. We recognize Jesus as our teacher and authority, and wrestle with how to surrender to the way of love in every detail of our lives. We submit ourselves to one another in love and strive to keep our vows to God and our commitments to one another.
- We are obedient to the 10 commandments and the law of love.
- We meet with a trusted mentor or peer-mentor to talk about personal growth at least 6 times a year (a personal growth plan should be written on your own or with your mentor).
- We seek community discernment on major life decisions (change of vocation, marriage, relocation, personal crisis, etc) through a listening meeting.
Just this past week, I taught from
Galatians 5:1-15 where we are reminded not to use our freedom as followers of Jesus to indulge in whatever lifestyle we want, but to look for ways to serve each other in love… this is the essence of the entire law. To learn how to love and follow the example of Jesus in every aspect of our life (work, friendships, family, social interactions, etc.) is a journey that will never be completed until God’s Kingdom is fully consummated - our sin still creeps up. So often, in our zeal to make it clear that we are right with God only by the grace of Jesus and not because we have earned it with our right behavior (which is 100% true), we often allow the fact that we will undoubtedly fail to become an excuse to not try at all.
Somewhere along the way, we’ve adopted the mindset that Christianity is more about right belief systems, and have neglected the fact that our call is a call to follow Jesus. To learn from him. To become like him. This is why believer in the very first days after Jesus were known as followers of The Way.
I love the commitment that’s expressed in the vow above to help each other learn to live in the way of Jesus. It’s not simply a matter of learning right doctrine (while that is vital), or of worshiping together weekly (and that is essential), but of learning to live as Jesus did in the details of our everyday life - through our spiritual disciplines, through our relationships, through our decisions, through our hobbies, through our vocation - everywhere.
So the question becomes, what does this look like? In a small community of 20? In a church of 50? 500?
I love, love, love the idea of regular interaction with a trusted friend/mentor based around nothing but how you are progressing in your walk with Jesus.
Sometimes this happens in accountability groups, but often those tend to stress very narrow areas (have you read your Bible this week, have you avoided specific sins, etc.) What is these relationships were to take a broader view, examining how our lives were matching the picture Jesus paints in the Sermon on the Mount? Are we regularly practicing the spiritual disciplines that we’ve committed to as an effort to be present and growing before God? Is our intimacy with God pushing into the common areas of our life - our attitudes at work, our interaction with family members who are difficult to be around, our struggles over particular areas of sin, our love for the other folks in our church, etc.
Much to think about here… if anyone’s out there, leave a thought or two.
Found out the AC was out when I got to the office today. That is a no-go here in Houston… so I got to work from home today. I’m going to get started working through the vows for Christian community tomorrow, but saw this quote over at Jared’s site and wanted to share it here too…
Pastors, teachers and elders are not “life coaches” who help us in our personalized goals for spiritual fitness, but gifts given by the Ascended Lord so that the whole church might become mature and less susceptible to being spiritually duped (Eph. 4:1-16)…..not surprisingly, ministers today are regarded more as “life coaches” who facilitate our self-transformation than as ambassadors of Christ, devoted to the Word of God and prayer, so that they can spread a feast on behalf of the King for His people in this world.
– Michael Horton in Modern Reformation
I’ve been fascinated lately by the common life of ReImagine, a group of people livining in intentional Christian community in San Francisco, CA. (One of the leaders of the community, Mark Scandrette, is the author of Soul Graffiti and is currently on tour with some guys from Emergent Village.) Now, a couple disclaimers up front: I probably do not agree theologically with some of what Mark and the folks at ReImagine believe - but as far as I can tell, they are still my brothers and sisters in Christ. I also am not a fan of using creative language for everything (rather than being a small church, they are a “center for life integration”) - I’m just not sure it’s helpful and at times it can seem contrived and annoying. </disclaimers>
That being said, the way they describe their common life together resonates pretty deeply with some longings that I have. Since we started Kaleo a few years ago, we’ve said continually that we want the church not to simply be an event or an organization, but a community of people that truly do life together. Like many other churches striving for a sense of community, it has been an uphill battle for us - our culture values the individual and their autonomoy pretty highly, and everyone is just flat out over-committed and busy. To live our lives together is much easier said than actually done.
We’ve seen some really beautiful expressions of love and sacrifice, care and need-meeting over the years though, and those stories are such an encouragement. On the other hand, I wonder if there aren’t deeper and more intentional ways that we could go about sharing our lives together.
Over the next few days, I’m going to blog through ReImagine’s seven vows of life in their community, and trying to explore what they would look like in our context here in Houston. Specifically, I want to think about things like:
- Is there a difference in what is possible in a more organically structured community like ReImagine and a more formally organized (meaning we have by-laws, a more formalized leadership structure, etc.) church like Kaleo?
- At what size does this kind of thing become impossible to manage sheerly out of size? (50? 100? 500?)
- How would vows of common life interplay/supplement/replace a more traditional membership covenant? How do members of the church hold each other accountable for living in this way?
- Are there areas of church life missing from the vows? Admittedly, ReImagine based their vows almost exclusively on a study of the Gospels. Are there areas of Christian living that are more informed by the epistles that are missing here?
Here’s an overview from the folks at ReImagine just to get you aquainted. In the interests of keeping posts manageable, I’ll try to tackle one or two vows at a time for the next week or so…
As a group we are committed to a deliberate approach to making a life together in the Way of Jesus. We reviewed the Gospels and identified seven themes based on how Jesus lived and what he taught: service, simplicity, creativity, obedience, prayer, community, and love. Through common vows we make our desire to follow the way of Jesus concrete and tangible. A vow is a solemn promise made before God and people to take or refrain from a specific action. A vow expresses sentiment, intention and a commitment to specific practices.
So, I’ve been missing KaleoBill.com a little bit. I miss the folks who used to converse here. I miss the conversation. I just miss it in general.
So…
I think I may return to (semi)regularly blogging here. I know you’ll all be sitting by your computers, hitting refresh every few seconds now…
As you might have noticed, the blog has been a little slow lately. Alright, it’s been dead. And so now it’s time to recognize that fact, have the funeral, and move on.
I started blogging at KaleoBill (back on kaleobill.blogspot.com before moving over to my own domain) back in 2004 - it’s been over four years now. To be honest, I’m just a bit bored with it. It was a great way to write through the first few years of Kaleo, but the time has come to make a change. So, that being said - this will be my last post on KaleoBill.com. But have no fear, the blogging will continue…
1. Kaleo will now have it’s very own blog. KaleoHouston.com/blog - a source for news, discussion on what we are learning in the messages on Sunday, what it means to live out our faith as a community of Christians in Houston, etc. Go, subscribe, and join the conversation about what God is doing at Kaleo Church!
2. I’ve got a new blog too. But this one is staying mostly under the radar - I’m not handing out the url. To be honest, I’m really looking forward to having a place to write about whatever I’m thinking, frustrated by, praying for, questioning, etc. But for now, it needs to be a pretty private place. If you’re interested, send me an email (bill at kaleohouston dot com) and tell my why you’d like to read - and I might just send you a link. (Chances are, if we don’t actually know each other in person, I probably won’t share - sorry.)
So there you have it. Tonight, when you gather with friends and drink your Schlitts Malt Liquer - pour one out for KaleoBill.com.
KaleoBill out.
Update: If you want to keep up with family stuff and see pictures of Mirabelle, you can check out the new family blog that Shannon put together - StregerFamily.com.
Tomorrow, I’ll be making an announcement for all five of you reading about the future of KaleoBill.com.
Stay tuned.
If you’re still around, keep watching…
