Neither This Nor That.
My Christian life has been lived in churches where the primary marker of inclusion is ‘belief’.
Belief in Christ, yes, but that was usually just a check done by the pastor — ‘Are you saved?’. ‘Yep, when I was 4 years old’. ‘Great’.
The belief that allowed you to be in or out wasn’t faith in Christ.
It was actually belief in… How things are done. The worship style. Acceptance and adherence to the many crazy rules found within church life. Belief in the pastor. A belief statement. Etc.
If you could agree to all the beliefs, and behave yourself, then you could belong — if not, you eventually moved on or where asked to!
The community I am now part of, and have the privilege of leading with Vicky, is a little different.
We’re conscious of all the inherited beliefs and rules we are all saddled with. We are making ‘belonging’ central to our community. We’re creating an environment where questioning, doubting and uncertainty is welcomed and accepted — an environment of deep learning about God. We’re seeking a community of pastors, of saints, of disciples — who although incredibly different, come together in a radical act of inclusion, gathering around Christ’s table in worship of God.
In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:28
What a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God.
What if this Kingdom was to be acted out, performed right here, right now? What would a foretaste of this look like?
At a recent gathering of our church planting community, we dared to dream… writing on large sheets of paper as many ‘Neither This Nor That’ divisions as we could think of, while praying together as a community that we would see spaces created where these divisions were suspended, and where the Kingdom was displayed — a beautiful display of love, where God’s Kingdom would be acted out right now.
‘Disabled / Able Bodied’, ‘Young / Old’, ‘Vegetarian / Meat-eater’, ‘Educated / Uneducated’, ‘Heterosexual / Homosexual’, ‘Rich / Poor’, ‘Couple / Single’, ‘Male / Female’, ‘Black / White’, ‘Parent / Not-Parent’, ‘Employed / Unemployed’, ‘Believer / Unbeliever’, ‘Healthy / Sick’, ‘Graduate / Non-Graduate’, ‘Homeowner / Tennent’, ‘Introvert / Extrovert’, ‘Protestant / Catholic’, ‘Big / Small’…
What if communities of disciples lived radical lives of inclusion, where the love of God was displayed, and where our gatherings were marked by unity in Christ, rather than unity in beliefs.
Crazy?
