Mars Hill

So recently I decided to look into the churches my friends attend in the Seattle area. Since I am moving over there in the next few months, and I figured that it would take a million years to find a church home, it seemed to make sense to start early.
As anyone might know from reading my blog, I have not been feeling super spiritual lately, and am pretty burnt out from church. I wasn't really expecting to become too interested in anywhere.

The first church I actually checked out online has turned out to also be the last. One of my friends goes to Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and I knew absolutely jack about them so I thought I'd just go read their statement of faith and their doctrine. Not only did I find it solid, and inline with my own, I was also particularly struck by what they said about spiritual gifts. The reason this stands out to me is probably because I come from a charismatic background and there are just way too many christians who are ready to haul you back into the baptismal in their zeal for you to speak in tongues. They just can't seem to let it go, and it becomes this huge issue. Pretty soon you start to doubt yourself; Is something wrong with me? The bible doesn't say anywhere that you have to speak in tongues to be spirit filled, and it's nice to read right upfront in the church doctrine that they acknowledge that and noone there is going to cram it down your throat or try to drown you in annointing oil. =) (Because I wouldn't like that very much!)

So then I discovered that the pastor had a blog and I read a few entries, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After that I discovered that there was a book he had written discussing missiology and the journey of starting the church along with subsequent stages of growth.
Now, lately anything sounding "christianese" has turned me off completely. I wasn't sure if I would get into it right away, but I totally did. It was funny, it was engaging, and it was relevant. In fact, in the beginning I laughed so hard that tears streamed down my face, and then later on when it got a little more serious I was moved almost to tears again, but this time not by humor, by the statement of mission.

Lance and Phil (two old friends and leaders of mine) used to tell us all the time; "Make a mission statement!" I remember that early on I didn't really know how to go about doing that. I was young, and I wasn't sure what exactly my mission was.
Over time I have learned over and over what my mission definitely is not.
My mission is definitely not to hang out in church all the time. My mission is not to attend as many prayer meetings at possible. My mission is not to become perfect and expect other people to live up to my own unreasonable expectations.
I have learned that certain things have become important to me, more than they were before.
1. Being real. We all sin. We all suck. We are all broken and battered and imperfect, and this is the reality of our condition, so why am I trying to act otherwise?
2. Being relevant. Since we ALL share this condition, that means that whatever Jesus has to say to me, He also has to say to everyone else. I may hang out in a church, but everyone else does not, and they still need to be exposed to the truth of what I know. How is that going to happen if me, and people like me, are all stowed away in some dank church basement?
Of course, some would argue that simply being out in the work force somewhere is evangelical enough, but I have worked at jobs where I barely got to know the people I worked with, until our supervisor invited everyone out to have a beer. I went. There was no drunkeness or anything like that. It was just a chill time of me getting to know people in a place where they felt comfortable, which was not our job, and was not my church.
I have never been able to rationalize how that could be wrong, and believe me, I have tried, because that is what I was being told time and time again.
3. You gotta move. This is essentially just an extension of #2. You have to be willing to go to where people are. You can't keep sitting in your pew expecting them to come to you. They won't. They aren't saved!!! Unsaved people don't typically hang out in church. Go figure.

I have never witnessed to someone in church. Maybe you have, I don't know. I have witnessed to people that I knew from work that I was hanging out with after hours. I have witnessed to people I had in college classes who I was spending time with studying and whatnot....In other words, people that I spent time with, and not just because I had to.
I learned through church that I don't find life without these opportunities. I don't see people as numbers. I make friends with them, and then I see them as friends who I break my heart over. Sharing the gospel comes out of this. Loving God, and knowing and loving people.
So I want to make friends and hang out with them. At their house where they have a lot of pornos, or at the bar, or wandering around in the park at night. (Of course, my desire to do this kind of freaked out some of my previous leadership. It didn't go over so well. Especially the bar part. Bars are evil and should be avoided at all costs.)

That was a long ramble (as usual) to say that the mission of this church is to reach people. Not to play church. Not to have Bible studies only for ourselves (although those are nice too) Not to sugar coat every sermon because we are too tender to deal with reality (Which is still bombarding us through media everyday). To be real. To be raw. To be relevant.
Lots of churches say they want to be, but they keep doing the same old musty traditions days after day. They just keep talking, and the church just keeps dying. Sometimes you have to be willing to shake things up a bit, and that is the kind of christian I want to be.

I wasn't expecting this to happen at all, but I have been moved despite myself. I feel like somebody is saying what I have been feeling all this time. I feel....empowered by it, and convicted by it. Today I listened to a whole podcast sermon about Idolatry, and I wasn't at all turned off by any of it. I was convicted. It hit me where I live. That is what I want.
I don't want to be bored in church. I want my gut to wrench. I don't want to take a nap. I want to be challenged.

As usual I could go on and on, but instead let me end by saying that I am pretty excited about this church, although it is all sudden and amazes me. I guess you just never know what might be waiting around the bend. For me it might just be that home in Seattle after all.