This is the fifth post on my emotional journey of leaving church-as-I-knew-it to become a missionary-as-a-way-of-life in Los Angeles.  To read the first post click here.  Second post, click here.  Third, here.  Fourth, here. Thanks for reading…

“Something’s crossed over in me…  I can’t go back.”
- Thelma & Louise the movie

PART 2: RAVENOUS

Section B: Trying to feeding this hunger for God.

It’s amazing how ravenous those of us in Way of Life Village became when we found ourselves without the usual mechanisms in place to ‘connect’ with God and his Word. Here are some of our attempts to feed this hunger.

(This is not a check list of ‘things to do’.  It’s a description of what’s been happening to those of us in Way of Life Village.  I’m sure in a year from now we’ll have better ideas.  Despite my rebellious spirit and failures to surrender to his will, I am in awe of God who meets me in my wilderness.  He finds ways to meet my needs when I am feeling hungry and desperate for his intervention, which is about all the time now.  These are our cries for his help.)

Without weekly sermons, Bible classes, and small group Bible studies, we felt compelled to read.  We started gobbling up scripture as if we had just read it for the first time.  This is still going on.  We read it not just for more spiritual information, but for spiritual transformation.  We wanted to be changed, so we made a commitment to obey and share the truths we discover from scripture right away.  We refused to be educated ourselves beyond our obedience!

Without some of the old support systems in place we devoured prayer, carving out time and seeking the Lord with a growing intensity.  In this blog I’ve written about the role prayer is playing in this ministry.  We are becoming a people on our knees.

Without worship services (as we had known them), we devoured each day as an opportunity to worship God as a way of life.  This one is really cool because God has given me a new kind of worship experience that comes as a byproduct of obeying him and sharing his love and message with others.  When I’m weak and disobedient, oh do I miss that experience!  We have focused times of worship with new disciples, but spending alone in awe and reverence of Him has also been worship.  Spending time with His missing ones in the community can be worship when I am reflecting his image.  Surrendering to King Jesus is worship.  More often than not, now the “worship experience” for me comes not from a dynamic and well-orchestrated worship service but from recommitting myself to obedience and from watching peoples’ lives being touched and transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.  It’s hard to top that.  I’m so hungry to see more evidence that God has been active in the world. I want to join Him in this! But being fruitful means a call back to obedience. It is challenging, beautiful, and possible.

We’re ravenous for our kids’ sake, too. Without a Sunday School program our tiny community of faith started taking more responsibility for shaping our children’s spiritual formation, and teaching other families to do the same.  Now instead of leaving a church gathering and asking our children, “What did you learn in Bible class today?” our goal is to arrive at church gatherings ready to share and celebrate what we and our kids learned from God and how we applied it together during the week.  For example, we make use of everyday happenings and turn them into teaching moments.  A woman in our first house church was pained when she saw someone in desperation on the street.  She and her kids who are familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan chose to be “good Samaritans” and help the woman.  This became a teaching moment for her kids, and also a way to worship as a way of life.  When we have taken our boys on nature hikes at Griffith Park, we have asked them to share parts of creation they are thankful for and we sung songs to express our appreciation to our Creator.  I started a new tradition of telling a Bible story to my children each morning and asking them to retell it in their own words, and tell me what they will do to apply and share that story.

This is not unlike the approach we have been taking with adults we’re discipling.  Our hunger is for Jesus Christ.  We are ravenous for God’s loving reign on earth as it is in heaven.  And it is this, not our loyalty to our Christian culture, that we want to pass on to others.

To pass this on, though, we don’t just give up the bad things.  Jesus-followers must also learn to go without some good things, too, when they could serve as distractions to us or the people we’re reaching.  Sometimes (not always) we must let go of time-honored traditions that are dear to us (see previous post).  Especially if we are to connect with our families and communities in ways that are reproducible by them, and lead them to the abundant life in God’s kingdom (John 10:10).  Mysteriously, abundance and sacrifice are both part of the message.

For Tuesday: Part 3 – Wildly Free

Categories: the why
1 Comment »