Sprouting

Recently a new "sprout" of the Church began to emerge in one of our homes. Some co-workers of my wife started gathering with us after work to share life together over a meal and to interact with the Scriptures. A few know who Jesus is, others don't, so during our time together we seek to understand and follow the Jesus revealed to us in the Scriptures (particularly the Gospels), which is captivating to us all. Our conversations are rich and the questions raised are deeply profound. The presence of God is almost tangible when we gather.

The reason we consider our gathering a sprout is because the body of Christ has not yet fully emerged. Could it become a gathering of the Church? Absolutely, and that is our desire. But we're not there yet.

What we hope will emerge out of this gathering is a community of disciples that regularly gathers together for at least four purposes: to celebrate God and his activity (including sacraments), to encourage one another (prayer), to grow in our knowledge of and obedience to Jesus (interaction with Scripture), and to pursue lives of service while proclaiming the gospel in both word and deed.

This way of being the Church may seem too simple, but perhaps that's because the standard way of doing church has become far too complicated by things that really don't matter all that much in God's Kingdom. Call our approach simple or organic or missional, or whatever. We're simply trying to follow Jesus as best we know how and we're discovering that his way of life is the best way to live.