A Movement Towards Communionity

Anchor is part of a movement to connect with a Christ who is connected with our community. It's a movement towards communionity. We believe that the Jesus we worship and serve is fully present in our neighborhood. With or without us.

Anchor wants to join Jesus in what he is doing in our community. If Christ comes as good news, then that's what we want to be as well. But this requires that Anchor continues to learn how to commune with a Christ such that it builds a movement of unity with our community. Communionity.

Too often Christians focus on "Jesus and me" at the expense of "Jesus and my neighbor too." Communion on Sunday mornings too often reinforces a narrow view of being a Christian, "Thank you for forgiving me of my sins." What if how we did communion focused us less on our past sins, and more on Jesus and his current work to save our community from sin?

That's what we'll learn and begin to put into practice this Autumn at Anchor. Communionity is our new word to describe our learning to commune with Christ who is connected to our community. Unity with Christ will include unity with our community where Christ is currently at work. Can our participation in communion increase our connections in the community with people not like us, with the poor and imprisoned, with the wounded and wandering?

We'll have to learn some new ways of partaking of Communion, of participating in the Lord's Supper, of celebrating the Eucharist, of anticipating that Great Banquet. It'll take some practice, some creativity, some openness to the promptings of the Spirit of Jesus. And that's what it takes to start a movement of communionity.

Jesus came to start a movement where by ever more diverse people would experience the healing, freeing, transforming power of God and then in joy invite their community: "Come follow Jesus with us!"

Come join us in our movement towards communionity!

The Church Just Wants Your Money! (part two)

Churches too often ask for money from a position of neediness. Which ties guilt to the request. This also gives the aura that maybe there was a little mismanagement or lack of foresight or wisdom. All of which will discourage people from giving generously (though maybe still out of guilt).

When a church asks for more money, there needs to be a clear articulation of how the generosity will help the congregation love it's neighbor better. 

If the giving is to be for facility upgrades, one would want to know how the facility is used to serve the community. If increased giving is for staff, one would want to know how the neighbors are going to be better served. If the giving is for programming, one would want to know how this will help make the neighborhood a better place to live.

Are we asking for more money as a way to spread the good news, or is it getting in the way? There is nothing wrong with asking for more money, unless how and why you are doing it undermines your ability to live out the Gospel.

Is Jesus being honored with the stewardship of the money that has already been given? Is the community being served well? Is the congregation growing in generosity, love, grace and truth? How will more people be blessed in the congregation and the community if more money is given to the church?

The Bible teaches us not to be stingy with our money, but to be generous. If you love money, you will be stingy with it. "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income." [Ecclesiastes 5v10] But if you love God, you will be generous with it. The church ought to ask for more money, but more for spiritual formation reasons then money woes. By helping the congregation grow in generosity, they grow in their trust with God, they grow in their help to their neighbor, and they become less worried about having enough money.

The Apostle Paul writes to his friends in Corinth:

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." [2Corinthians 9v6-8]

If we learn anything about Jesus, love and money, it's to be generous with it. Sow generously to the people in your life. Be generous to people in need. Sow generosity as you love your neighbor. Be generous to the Lord's work.

Since your local church is part of the Lord's work, and it has people in need, and it includes people in your life, and it's part of the neighborhood, be generous to your local church!

But even more important, sow generously as the Spirit of the Lord directs you.

The Church Just Wants Your Money!

It's out there. Enough churches have earned the reputation for being money-grubbers, that it's tainted everyone else.

For a church to talk, let alone teach about money, has become a very awkward situation. Church leaders are afraid to ask about money, members get uncomfortable if there is too much talk about money, and visitors get concerned if their first Sunday happens to be when there is a request for more money.

But: churches have got to figure out how to talk about money more often in a more normal fashion. Money is the stuff of life, it is "the answer for everything." To quote Ecclesiastes 10v19.

So if churches don't mature in the way they talk and teach about money, they'll make it almost impossible for members to mature in the way they manage and spend their money. Money is a really important issue for people. And churches.

The more wisdom we can accumulate about managing and investing our wealth, we increase our opportunities to bless and help our neighbors. "Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have money." [Ecclesiastes 7v12]

Anchor is in the process of asking it's congregation to give more money. It's been a difficult task, since we've not talked about money very much and thus we aren't comfortable doing so. But Jesus says that in order to receive, you have to ask. So we've made the ask. And people are responding.

They're thankful for the difference Anchor has made in their life and of many others in the congregation. They're also excited about the involvement of Anchor in the neighborhood, and they want to see that increase. Our pastoral staff makes a point of investing in the people of the congregation and the community. We ended the year 2012 with one full time pastor serving the congregation and the community. We'd like to end the year 2013 with two full time pastors serving more people. The need is there. More money will make it more possible for Anchor to better serve more people in our community and congregation.

We want to help make more disciples of Jesus who will help make our neighborhood a better place to live. An anchor for the community. Because Jesus is an anchor for us.

Discipling is a difficult task. Discipling such that the community is transformed by the love of Christ is even more daunting. But if our love for God is connected to our love of neighbor, and if we are to be transformed by God's love, shouldn't our neighborhood be transformed by our love for God?

That's what I think Jesus has in mind for a church to be and proclaim the good news of salvation and shalom.

And it's what Anchor is committed to doing everyday.

The Church is Like A...

What is the church like? 

Or: what could the church become like? 

In an age where more churches are closing then being started, when attendance is declining and unbelief is rising, we ought to reconsider who we are becoming and what we are doing. 

Using the analogy of place, what could the church be like? In desiring Jesus's work of redemption and renewal of all things to burst forth in local churches, what kind of places should we be?

I've listed out seven metaphors of place that help me grasp the multi-faceted reality of a church as a place where people gather in the name of Jesus. These metaphors come from my readings from the New Testament about Jesus and from important places in our society, as well as realities of the church over the ages.

The Church is like a Business: the church is a place where people get organized with their time, their money, their interests and skills in order to better serve one another and their community. Jesus wants us to use our wealth as a blessing; organized generosity is better then chaotic help.

The Church is like a Community Center: the church is a place where helpful collaboration can occur that blesses the neighborhood. Jesus instructed his disciples to love their neighbor, their enemy, and one another.

The Church is like a Dining Table: the church is a place where people gather around a table to break bread and eat together. Jesus earned the reputation for being a glutton and a drunkard because of all the time he spent with sinners at a table.

The Church is like a Hospital: the church is a place where spiritually sick and physically ailing and existentially broken people gather together looking for hope and healing. Jesus said he came to heal the sick, and so a church ought to continue in that work.

The Church is like a Mission Post: the church is a place from where people are sent out into their local and global world as messengers of the Good News. Jesus commanded his disciples to go into the world where they live.

The Church is like a Sanctuary: the church is to be a place of prayer with other believers. Jesus wants to be an anchor for our soul, the one upon whom we cast all our cares.

The Church is like a School: the church is a place where you learn to love like Christ.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life - he is the teacher and we are always his students.


Churches run into problems when they focus on only one of these metaphors, or make one more important then the others, or forget about how they are all interdependent.

Imagine what the church could be like if all seven of these metaphors were at work in our congregation?

What do these different metaphors mean for leadership in the church?
What kind of participation does it require from people who choose to be part of a church?
What challenges do churches face in light of these metaphors of place?
What opportunities can we see through these metaphors?