"The Accidental Organic Church" - By Alan Knox

In January of this year my good friend Alan Knox penned a short essay that was published in House2House magazine. It is entitled The Accidental Organic Church.

Alan Knox and I became good friends while in seminary together. We were also part of the same church family, which Alan describes in the first part of his post. Those were fascinating days as we as a church body searched the scriptures together, trying to see how God desired that we function. I think I learned more from my time with Alan and the others than I did during my seminary classes.

Alan and I do not get to see each other much anymore. However, we remain close friends and fellow bloggers (although his has gone cold for now). I'm excited that Alan is a contributor to Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity. His chapter is entitled, "A Church That Knows Leaders Are Servants." It is one of the strongest chapters in the book.

I encourage you to read The Accidental Organic Church. It will be five minutes of your life well spent.

Alan Knox and Me at Seminary Graduation 2006

I was looking through some old photos the other day when I came across these two. In the first, I'm hanging with my good friends Alan Knox (the famous blogger) and Roy Sams. This is taken just a little while after the ceremony.

In the second picture I'm receiving my diploma from President Akin of SEBTS.

As I think back on that time I continue to have such mixed emotions. I suppose that will never go away.

I made great friends, learned a lot about scripture, and got to travel to the other side of the world while in seminary. However, seminaries are not necessary for the church (only for the institution). The existence of seminaries actually perpetuates the clergy-laity divide.

In the end, I'm really glad for the friends I made while at SEBTS. I just wish seminaries didn't have the institutional side effects that they automatically do.

Why Are Campouts Great? Community

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go on a campout with a group of other Christian families. Some we know pretty well, while others were new to us. We all have daughters in the American Heritage Girls.

The campout took place at beautiful Magnolia Springs State Park, which is about two hours from here. We all stayed at a pioneer campsite, which means sleeping in tents, cooking over outdoor stoves, sitting around the fire, and using a scary outhouse. It was real camping (as opposed to staying in some sort of cottage with electricity. O.K. I admit to having done that before).

We enjoyed fishing, going on hikes through the woods, playing games, eating lots of good food, watching the animals, etc. Personally, it was great just to breathe in a lot of fresh air (I work in a construction equipment factory with less than the best air quality).

As I think back on the campout, it is clear what made it great. It was the community. Campouts like this provide the rare opportunity to spend many hours with friends away from the distractions of everyday life. While group camping, all the tents are within a few feet of each other. Most electronic distractions are a non-issue. There isn't much to do but hang out and talk. This may involve taking hikes and playing games, or it might just mean sitting in chairs in a circle. Regardless, it provides something that is difficult to come by most of the time: a lot of time to talk and simply be together.

It strikes me that the church would benefit from functioning much like folks at a campout. We would spend a lot of time together, hanging out, eating, playing games, and talking a lot. We would share our lives together for bulks of time (this, of course, is not all the church would do.)

We can learn a lot from campouts. I hope we are able to go on another one soon.

Homecoming

Yesterday our family returned to Chevis Oaks Baptist Church for their annual Homecoming celebration. Chevis Oaks is where I served as pastor for about 2.5 years before resigning in October of last year. Although we had previously been back, this was our first worship service attendance since leaving.

For those of you not from the South of the USA, Homecoming is a tradition where former members are invited back to the church for a sort of reunion. It gives everybody an opportunity to catch up on life together.

I'm happy to say that we had a very nice time. Although we now differ in various aspects of church practice from our friends at Chevis Oaks, the key is that we are still friends. More than that, we are one in Jesus Christ. We are brothers and sisters with God as our Father. We are part of the same spiritual family.

The best part of the time was the talking we were able to do after the worship service. I purposely downed my food quickly so that I could walk around and get reacquainted with different folks. Our family was welcomed back very nicely. Even though I had departed the church over ecclesiological differences, there are no hard feelings over this.

I'm reminded once again that Christ and His gospel are of first importance. Church practice, while critical in the life of the Christian, is secondary. Our oneness in Christ binds us together. Because of this, we can and should strive to remain as one even if what we think about church differs significantly.

I'm glad we went to Homecoming. I'm glad for these friends of mine. We are still one in Christ and will forever be so.

A Great Conversation

Yesterday I met three friends for lunch. The food was pretty good. Since I got a salad (trying to "be healthy"), it by default wasn't anything spectacular.

Despite the mediocrity of the food (next time I'm getting a burger), the conversation was great. These three friends of mine serve as full-time pastors at Ferguson Avenue Baptist Church here in Savannah. I must admit that it is refreshing that we all agree on issues related to salvation; we are all Reformed.

However, we disagree on many things related to the church and the role of the pastor/elder/overseer. For about two hours yesterday we discussed these things. It was not an argument. Rather, it was a healthy dialog about what the church should be. I was reminded that although we disagree on substantive issues, we actually agree on more than we don't. I really appreciated that one of the men said, "You can speak openly here." He said it with a smile on his face as if to tell me not to worry. They weren't prepared with some sort of attack.

I believe I brought up some things that will make them think. They brought up some things that I am pondering today (such as the impact of the synagogue on early Christian gatherings). It is good to be challenged in a gracious manner. They did this for me.

I wish I could say that all my interactions - whether by e-mail, phone, or letter - have been of this kind. They have not.

Back to yesterday. It was terrific. I'm so glad for men of this kind who are willing to just sit down and have a solid and fun conversation about important things. What a relief it was to know that no one was going to get angry and stomp out of the room! As followers of Christ, we should all be able to converse about important things without losing our tempers. That's what the world does. We ought to be different.

I'm thankful to the Lord for yesterday. It was a wonderful reminder of the unity of the church even when we disagree on some things. I hope to have many more conversations of this sort.

A New Blog Worth Looking At...

My friend Bobby Auner has begun blogging at Deconstructing Neverland. I enjoy Bobby because he asks hard questions and is willing to follow through with the answers. If his writing is anything like his living, he will not leave you comfortable (that's a good thing). Take a look.

Edification at Waffle House

I'll be honest: Waffle House used to scare me. I'm not sure what it was about those restaurants, but there always seemed to be something a bit frightening about them.

Regardless, I've changed my mind. Yes, most of the food can lead to heart attacks, but if you choose carefully you can manage to leave with just a bad case of heartburn. The key is self-control.

To the topic at hand. Today I had a great breakfast with a good friend of mine. We ate at Waffle House. I found that edification can take place even at a restaurant like this. We talked for about an hour and a half while we consumed our breakfasts. I'm pleased to say that I made it home safely. I'm not sure about my friend, but as far as I know his heart is still O.K.

Seriously, we had a great time together. We could have had fun talking about sports, politics, etc. I appreciate this friend because although he will talk about cultural things, he mainly wants to discuss how we can live more fully for Jesus Christ. He is humble and readily admits his faults. He looks to scripture to inform every aspect of his life. He challenges me because he is willing to defy cultural norms and even American church norms in order to be more biblical.

I was glad to be able to encourage him in some areas of struggle/difficulty in his life. He did the same for me. We also exhorted one another to live out what we read in scripture. Much of this particular discussion dealt with how to speak the truth in love.

My hope is that we were living out Hebrews 10:24, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." I think we did. I know I came away from our time together feeling both edified and challenged.

So this thing we call edification can take place anywhere - even at Waffle House. I encourage you to take advantage of any time you have with other believers to edify one another. This is the primary reason for the gathering of the church. Let's strive to make edification be a natural, normal part of our lives.

When we are with non-Christians, let's love them and share the gospel with them. When with brothers and sisters in Christ, let's spend our precious time helping each other strive toward maturity in Christ.

May we grow so close to Jesus that edification becomes a natural activity that is part of our daily routines.

Visiting with the Knox Family

We are still on vacation - at least for one more day.

We are thrilled to be spending the day with our friends, the Knox family (Alan, Margaret, Jeremy, and Miranda). Ever since we moved away from Wake Forest, NC in 2006, we have not been able to see our seminary friends very much. This has been a great reunion.

Alan and I have been able to discuss a wide variety of things, including (not surprisingly) the church. It is refreshing to talk about what the church should be based on biblical commands and the biblical model. I appreciate Alan's desire to follow the scriptures as they relate to the gathering of the church.

We thank God for friends. We look forward to seeing more friends as we return to Georgia tomorrow.