"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."  Albert Einstein

We started over on September 7, 2008.  A group of 17 people gathered together to start as near as I can call it, a fellowship.  We don't want to call it a "church" since we believe in the church universal and we are a part of that body.  We don't want it to be wrapped up in the language of any form of Christianity, since we want to be followers of Jesus.  We want there to be true, authentic community that is marked by love for one another.  So, we started over.  And so far, we have met twice for our time of fellowship and it has been sweet.

I am not going to say that we have the world by the tail and we are right.  In fact, if the truth be told, we are just a bunch of all too human people who want to be in a place where we are loved.  We have all been injured by the organized church and it has left us wanting something that is not there.  Yesterday, having pointed that out, I was remiss in not saying to the group that we can do better than that.  We all come from the church institutional where it is an accepted reality that people will be injured by the body.  And we all can quote the old saying, "The church is the only organization that shoots its wounded."  I have been around enough to know that this is not true....the world shoots its wounded too.  What I am saying here is that we should know better than the world and take the time to make sure that we neither wound or in cases where it is inevitable, we nurture and restore.  It truly does take courage to move away from standard operating procedures in this case.

I believe that the two most detrimental things that happen today are that we do not communicate well and we use this as a conflict avoidance technique.  We do not want to hear what another person is thinking if it is not in alignment with our own thoughts.  This leads us to stop hearing.  We shut the door on others who have differences in thought and belief.  This helps us to successfully avoid conflict but it also helps us justify doing precise surgery on the body to remove the problem.  And what is worse about it is that we make surgical decisions without the people who are most affected in our presence.  We like to say that we have to be able to "talk freely about the person or persons."  What does that mean?  Look, if I have something to say that I can't say to another person's face, then I shouldn't be saying it and more than that, I shouldn't be making a decision that affects them. 

So, we started over.  We are trying to build a place that is devoid of hierarchy, power, and the world's model of doing things.  Instead, we are creating a body that will be organic, small, and sensitive to one another's needs.  And when we grow to be of such size that we can no longer be mindful of one another, we will split....like any organic cell would do.  We won't grow into a large mass that may or may not be healthy.  We choose to remain community for the sake of community and we will be exactly that.  We have taken to calling ourselves, "El Camino" which is habla español for "the road or way."  Like the early followers of Jesus in the first century, we want to be known by our love.  We are in tune with Acts 2:42-47 which says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

I close with "the list" of things that are driving us.  These may or may not work for you.  All I know is that we could no longer do it the way it was being done.  Use these as your own if you wish or modify them for your own purposes.  Anyway you look at it, my hope is that others will catch the Spirit of this revolution.  God bless!

1.  Prayer - self-evident
 
2.  Freedom - to serve, to be, to love, to live, in Christ, with each other in this world.
 
3.  Everyone has a voice - from the youngest to the oldest, the most staid and proper to the wildest....we all sit at the table together as equals.
 
4.  Every gift is represented and available for service.
 
5.  Money use is open for all to see and consensus is the order of the day.
 
6.  The marketplace of ideas is open - critical thinking/discernment is encouraged.
 
7.  No hierarchy/no offices - everyone has a voice, a meeting of the "elders" will be an open invitation, the gifts will be represented (Ephesians 4 - Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers).
 
8.  Small groups/cell groups - community within community is important.
 
9.  We will grow to between 50-100 and then split each time this happens.....we value the intimacy of community that comes only when you have less than 70 people (preferably 50).
 
10.  Diversity and tolerance will be embraced and celebrated - no left wing conspiracy here....just wanting to break through the "most segregated hour of the week" syndrome.
 
11.  When we gather, it will be multi-faceted and unpredictable - we will not imitate the arenas that we have all grown up in....we will let the Spirit direct us.
 
12.  Meal sharing/love feast - I am convinced that the best fellowship is found around the table and we would like to re-institute the "love feast" as it was originally celebrated integrated into the meal.