Simplicity

I continue to be excited about the simplicity of serving, getting together, praying, and asking “Who else?” It’s simple but profound. It’s about spending time and discerning what people God wants us to invest in. They may not even be the people we like. That’s a sign of the kingdom. This party is for everybody. It’s not our party-- it’s the kingdom party. It’s not for a bunch of like-minded friends who enjoy each other’s company. It’s for whoever listens and responds to the invitation.

Another surprise from God

Well, ViaCordis has gone international. We’re now in Germany. A pastor in Germany had started a large church there, but then felt the call to something smaller and more multiplying. He connected with Bob to process the idea, and instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, he decided to associate with ViaCordis. We’re still trying to figure out structurally what that could look like, but it’s exciting. We’ve always had the vision of ViaCordis spreading beyond the borders of the U.S. but we had no idea what that would look like or what form it would take. God is constantly surprising us.

One observation I’ve made over the last few weeks is that this disciple-making movement isn’t locked in by anything other than where we go. ViaCordis goes wherever its people go. It doesn’t take a building, it doesn’t take a campus. It doesn’t take a big budget. It just takes people. Most movements of the kingdom are like that—they just keep spreading like a wildfire without regard to boundaries and structures.

Becoming Bridges

Bob recently reconnected with Randy, a man who was once a teenager in a church Bob was working in. Randy had felt a pull towards church planting since those teen years and is now an adult living out that calling. He had lived in the Inland Empire (part of the greater Los Angeles area) and had built connections with people there. Without even meaning to, he had run across several people who were spiritually hungry for a relationship with Jesus, yet wanted something different than traditional church.

This would seem to be a church planter’s dream—except that Randy felt called to plant a church in Modesto, a community well north of the Inland Empire. Randy felt the tension of his dilemma. How could he follow what God wanted him to do while leaving behind spiritually hungry people?

When he and Bob reconnected recently, they hit upon a solution. He would become a bridge person, introducing these people he’d built relationships with to Bob. Bob and another member of ViaCordis who lives nearby would facilitate house church gatherings for a while as the group figures out what this could look like.

Please pray for this new house church starting up. Pray for the people hungry for following Jesus, and pray that we would find and raise up the leaders among them. Our desire is to develop these people into all God wants them to be, to resource them and get them started on the right track. This is what we’re all about at ViaCordis—raising people up from the harvest as we develop them into leaders who can continue reaching the harvest.

Jumping in with both feet

Recently Bob and a team member were going to take a look at a particular neighborhood and spend some time in prayer. They were considering a possible church planting project where God might be ready to do something. Bob asked this team member about his level of commitment to church planting. The man was initially taken aback by the question. Bob said, “The level of commitment is important. You have to be absolutely, totally convinced that God has called you to do this, because there will be times you will be discouraged and knocked down. At those times, it’s only being absolutely convinced that God has called you that will allow you to get back up.”

That turned out to be a prophetic word, as this team member met a challenge shortly after that conversation, and that challenge ultimately helped him consider and then strengthen his resolve and commitment to church planting. A timely reminder that if we’re involved in this kind of kingdom work, we will face opposition. Therefore, we need to reflect on God’s call and clarify our commitment.

Letting God be God

A woman in ViaCordis recently brought a concern to her coach (everyone in ViaCordis has a coach). She has been developing friendships with several of her neighbors in her apartment building. She has been engaging them in conversation in the hallways, inviting them in for coffee, has been present in their lives and allowed them to be present in hers. People have been surprised: no one in our building invites us in for coffee! She senses a loneliness and isolation, and this is her way of being a redemptive presence in the lives of those around her.

Yet this woman shared with her coach, “I feel like there needs to be more. This isn’t concrete enough. I’m not making disciples. I’m just showing kindness and hospitality.” She has shared the gospel in bits and pieces, but that has not been met with much receptivity. One woman in her building is a Muslim, and the woman from ViaCordis went over to her place when she accidentally locked herself out of the apartment. The Muslim woman invited her in, served coffee, and said, “You know what, I trust you more than I trust my own people.” This is a woman who wants nothing to do with Christianity, yet the sincerity with which a Christian has approached her has meant a lot.

Her coach said, “You don’t need to be doing anything more concrete other than being there and continuing to be in relationship with her and others. You sticking with her will speak more loudly into her life than anything you could share theologically. You’re being obedient, you’re listening to God, God is opening doors. Just continue to give and see where that leads you. Other people’s receptivity is not up to you. What’s up to you is how you love and serve others.”

Too often in western Christianity, we often devise our own systems of righteousness. We feel the need to intentionally invite someone to a Bible study when they’ve expressed no interest. Or we feel the need to press for spiritual conversation where there is no openness. When we meet the requirements of our own system, we feel good about ourselves, and climb our own ladders. Yet it doesn’t further the kingdom, and often sets it back. We don’t need to go down that road of setting up our own system of righteousness. We just need to be faithful, look for naturally-occurring opportunities to share Jesus, and let God be God.

Jesus and Crepes

We’re excited about two of our members’ work at the Salvation Army. They’ve been leading an anger management class at a women’s group home. They’ve recently been wondering about how they can help those women who are mothers with school supplies throughout the year and kids’ clothes for winter. ViaCordis is looking into gift certificates for the moms so they can take their kids shopping or buy items for them.

But even though the ViaCordis members haven’t shared those ideas with the women yet, they’ve been leading the anger management training as volunteers. Last week they brought crepes as a snack. The women were stunned. One of them said, “I can’t believe you’re doing this and are Christians.” The ViaCordis members responded in surprise: “How else would we be Christians? This is our understanding of what Jesus would do.” Truly, ministry is not a program. It’s just about being present in the world in ways that Jesus would.

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.