Being a Borderland Church

I'm reading Gary Nelson's book Borderland Churches A Congregation's Introduction to Missional Living (Chalice, 2008). I'll give a complete review when I'm finished reading the book, but I wanted to think out on the idea of being a borderland church. Nelson talks about the need to embrace inconvenience if we're to not only be missional but live on the border. The church growth models of yesteryear presupposed a "come to" model of church life. You built a building, created programs, and made yourself attractive, and the seeker will find you and join in. What we've discovered is that this model no longer works. The seekers aren't seeking their spiritual sustenance in churches or programs. And so the alternative is to embrace a "go to model." That requires that we embrace inconvenience, because to live on the border, indeed to cross the border means leaving behind the safety of our Christian community. It means engaging the world around us.

Ultimately it means living into the community, the neighborhood, which isn't always that "religious."


The idea of the church living into the community is captivating churches. Conversations with clergy and laity alike have drastically changed. Studying culture is not enough. They want to engage it, to move beyond being simply seeker-sensitive or relevant to postmoderns in their ministry. They want to become communities of faith genuinely encountering people not inclined to church. They want to struggle and be personally challenged by living their faith in the borderlands where "Christian faith, other faiths, and unfaith intersect." We have much to learn, but we are on a journey. This is not just another model; it is a way of visioning the church and its mission. In truth, it is recapturing a fundamental belief about church. (Borderland Churches, p. 7)


And such churches require leaders comfortable living on the border. That is my challenge --to be "able to live and thrive in the borderlands . . . comfortable in their cultural contexts and able to relate genuinely to the 'unfaithed'" (p. 9). That will require that leaders become involved in the community, which requires churches to give their leaders the freedom to spend time in the neighborhood. That will, of course take time and energy away from tending to the faithful. That requires, some inconvenience on everyone's part.

The purpose in all of this is not simply to build and grow churches, but to participate in God's of transformation in the world!

Comments

Anonymous said…
not only to grow but to participate amazing that is beautiful
vanesa said…
not only to grow but to participate amazing that is beautiful

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