Look again

We are again reminded that we must keep the vision in front of people. At ViaCordis, we’ve agreed in the past that our gatherings will consist of four parts: connection, worship, edification, and sending. Yet we find edification—teaching and engaging with scripture—dominating our time. We value edification, but our vision for ViaCordis requires that it not be at the expense of connection, worship, and sending. We wonder if this imbalance is part of the DNA we unintentionally bring with us from the traditional sermon-centric church. We need to remind ourselves constantly of the vision to be on the lookout for unintentional messages we may be carrying with us. Then we need to be intentional about changing those messages.

One practice we engaged in a couple of weeks ago was having the facilitator go around to each person and ask, “How are you doing? How have you sensed God this week? What do you sense him calling you to do? How can we pray for you?” Each person received a time of individual focus, and it was one of the more empowering times we’ve had together. Sometimes an exercise like this will take most of the gathering time, but we feel that as long as we balance the four elements we want to incorporate over the course of a month, we will be honoring our values. Our vision affects how we gather. We need to practice the way of community we want to pass on: not discounting any one of these four elements, but seeking to rebalance them as we follow the leading of the Spirit.