In the first part of this article I explored something of what makes us the amazing people we are; how, when awakened, we become “forces of nature.” The bigger question for this column is: How can an awakened person live in an inherited or denominational church?

A LONG WAY TO GO AND THE F WORD
I have been on what I now see to be an odyssey for more than ten years. I want to be very honest though, for, although I have traveled a long way in thought and practice and relationship, I can’t hide the fact that I’ve got a long way to go towards being as missional as God is calling me to be.

Not long ago I heard someone say that our failures might be the platform for our humanity. I like that. I once read this advice in a Seth Godin Book: ‘Fail and Fail and Fail Again’. He was encouraging his reader to keep trying things, to take risks. I thought that would make a great title for a book if I ever wrote one!

Tim Heerebout responded to my last article, asking “Do you think an established church can ever be moved from the old mentality to really adopt this as a core value?” He allowed me to ask a question in return: “What would you say are the five most significant things for establishing a sustainable faith community?”

My thanks to Tim, who responded as follows:
1. Connection to Jesus
2. An understanding of how we’re to be involved in His mission
3. A map for the journey through discipleship
4. A radical commitment to community
5. A heart for serving the world

If Tim is right (and I think his list is powerful) then we begin to see the size of the task for the awakened person (and why there will be many instances of failure when different cultures clash). This next list shows the current state of many churches that have to be led towards Tim’s top-5:
1. Connection to (their) church and its doctrines
2. A limited understanding of mission which often sees the end result as a larger church (still doing things their way) or doing things for people that don’t connect them with a faith community.
3. An emphasis on the traditional ways (service attendance, membership, job-filling, financial giving) which tend to externalize faith
4. Deep community is an add on – “we” emerges out of “I” when it needs to be the other way around
5. Try to change the “sanctuary” and see how separated church and the world are

FAILED AGAIN
Just before Christmas I found myself reacting in a meeting to someone who wouldn’t work with the order things needed to progress to explore a mission opportunity. It became an argument and I got angry, so much so I felt it too deeply.  After apologizing to everyone, and to the focus of my anger, I knew I didn’t want to cover this over or carry on as normal. (It didn’t help when others of the meeting told me they would have strangled him.) My sadness over this resulted from my daily desire to be more open to God and his work in making me more like Jesus. Yet I “lost it,” and I felt the failure again. My response has been to begin an experiment.

Frank Laubach is one of my heroes of the faith, and inspired by – but not copying him – I have set out to be more present to God each day, and, (please God), to be made more like Jesus. I am sharing this here because I see this as being the central need for missional leaders who hope to be about all God wants of them, through all God has given them.

You can read about the experiment at: http://www.geoffreybaines@btinternet.com.

Last time I wrote how I was right in the middle of “it” – the denominational church. I can see how much of what happened in this meeting was the result of more than three years of frustration spilling over – I had not noticed how close to the surface it was until then.

ZOOMING
I think through my experience of the last few weeks, I have become more convinced of how important it is to know who we are, what we are meant to do, and how we connect with God. I am exploring how I can better make the contribution that only I can make … so watch this space. I believe the person I was arguing with has amazing talents and abilities too, but just as mine must be offered in the right places and ways, so must his.

There’s a great Marcus Buckingham line I’ve just been searching for in his books, but as I haven’t found it yet, I’ll just paraphrase: Never mind trying to put anything else into people; it’s hard enough trying to bring out what’s already in there – focus on the things that are already in there.

So my experiment includes focusing on “what’s already in there,” taking this as far as I can. Seth Godin calls this “zooming”: stretching your limits without threatening your foundation (Small is the New Big). This isn’t X-Factor (American Idol) Christianity; it’s the Philippians 2 kind. We enter the life we are meant to live in humility for the sake of others, and we find ourselves living a greater story. There are many others who will only get to live their greater stories when we live ours, living as only we can so that the gospel may enter the lives of others.

Richard Rohr (‘Adam’s Return’) writes of five elemental truths that are found in many cultures around the world when it comes to children moving into adulthood – (forming responsible and contributing humans). They are:
1. Life is hard
2. You’re not as important as you think
3. Your life is not about you
4. You are not in control
5. You are going to die

These five statements are true enough, but Jesus completes them: you might like to have a go at finishing each one off: Life is hard BUT …, etc.

A FEW QUESTIONS
Here are some questions to explore that which is already in you, needing to be brought out if we are to be forces of nature:
• How do you find yourself connecting with God, and how can you zoom this relationship?
• What are your amazing talents and abilities that energize you, formed and shaped throughout your lives?
• What are your dreams for making the world more human?
• The Holy Spirit has given you gifts to focus your life in service; what are yours?

What do you think?