I spent yesterday with an old friend named Nick. We drove North a few hours to visit with a student that is very close to both of our hearts. As we conversed and drove through a rainy Northern California day we shared with one another some of our dreams. After the day finished I knew that I needed to dream more. I concluded that I should write some of my dreams out to help. This Blog will probably consist of dozens of updates and parts as my dreams evolve and mutate, and thats ok. If only one or two of these dreams get accomplished in my lifetime, so be it. My hope is to mark my moments of dreaming by writing about them as a way of keeping those moments alive and fusing them into my life. My quest is to reach deep into my soul and draw forth what's internal and imagined and connect it to physical and existing .
Dream #1: Church
I'd like to see church change. Don't hear me wrong, I love church. I love the community, the message, the support, the ministry, the care, the inspiration, and the force for good that the church is in its current form. I just long to see it grow into its FULL potential. To me the church is like an academic, athletic, and artistic genius in high-school that's doing the bare minimum to get by. It gets all the necessary homework done, passes with B and C grades, and obeys the voices of authority as any good student should. This high-school kid's goal is to slip under the radar of the world while always living beneath its full levels of influence. The church has become an institution trying to survive and fit into a world of institutions and organizations while it could be a movement of individuals serving, giving, loving, and enhancing the world.
I dream of a church in such high demand in cities and communities for the redemptive work it engages in that people move to places where churches are whether they are people of faith or not. How refreshing would it be if people said to one another, "I wish there was a church in our city!" or "We really need the help of the church". I dream of a church that is first and foremost known for its work with the poor, oppressed, widowed, downcast, and lowly, not for a backwards agenda of winning more converts.
I dream of a church that isn't focused a program, but people. What if some of the money that was spent on lights, set design, computers, buildings, pamphlets, etc was spent on people and communities? What if we spent more time at homes and in public places and less time in our cement and steal buildings filled with expensive and unnecessary gadgets? What if the world saw a group of people giving on their own accord to a cause worthy of attention like hunger or third world infrastructure instead of projectors or a new sound-system? I absolutely see the value of having a place to meet and gather as a community and don't think that this is wrong, I just think we have put our focus on us and our buildings when it should have been on the broken, hurting, needy world.
I dream of a church that unleashes and awakens people. How awesome would it be if the church was known for people who changed history? What if the most influential musicians, doctors, artists, writers, scientists, teachers, and police officers were birthed by the church? What if this was the goal of the church? Not to get people to attend the service, but to awaken the divinely creative heart inside every individual.
I dream of a church that people take seriously. One of the problems in modern church culture is that people have accepted the state of church. Millions experience church as a place you go on Sunday mornings instead of a counter culture movement to engage in. What if everyone who was connected to the church was personally invested in the vision of being a redemptive force? What if the church valued the contributions of its parishioners instead of just keeping track of attendance? What if each member had a role and a stake in the church? What if church wasn't seen as an hour on Sundays, but as something to be lived out every single day by being transformed and transforming the world?
I could write pages and pages of descriptions of the church in my dreams, but what I really want is for this church to be. I long for us to step out of the mundane average life we have been leading and into the exciting calling of becoming the hands and feet of Jesus on Earth. Basically I dream of a church that can actually give the God of the Bible a name He's worthy of; His hope, compassion, justice, mercy, and abundant love. See I believe the church is the greatest hope in the world, capable of endless healing, reconciliation, and peace-making. We're just not there yet. I find myself often caught up imagining a how it could be and dreaming about when it will be. The question that remains is whether we can reform our current churches, or if we are being called to create a brand new church, the one so many dream of.
