Different By Design

Will Mancini brought this to my attention. Wayfarer is a ministry with a mission statement and values worth engaging.

Mission statement: Wayfarer lives to design collisions that awaken lives to rediscover Christ.

Values:
Christ before Christianity
… because following a person is different than fitting in to an institution

Rhythm before Regimen
… because greatness must be inspired before it can be managed

Wrestle before Settle
… because easy is not always best

Go before Know
… because sometimes the Promised Land is only visible as you begin to walk

We before Me
…because I may be good but we are better

As Presbyterians, we can easily absorb the "We before Me." We do believe that we are better together, not because is sounds good but because God calls us to be in community. We are a connected church because we are better together. However being in community creates relationships that become an "institution." The Book of Order, Robert's Rules, and middle governing bodies all seek to serve Christ but wind up spending a great deal of time, money, and energy propping up an institution. So how do we transform from a community that props up institutions to a community that equips individuals to follow Jesus? I don't know how. But I am positive it begins with a desire to make the change.

How can we inspire before we manage? And how do we know how much management is enough and when to stop? I love the contrast of rhythm and regimen. I'm inspired to think hard about how to foster rhythm in my local church and not fall into the pit of committees managing a regimen.

It seems our whole denomination is struggling with the Go before Know. Statistics show that the PCUSA is not making disciples. We are not being an effective witness as a whole. Sure, there are individuals, local churches, and missionaries that are making disciples. But as a denomination we are dying. There seems to be a recognition that we need to Go into the wilderness. But leaving the known behind is hard and many are unwilling. At General Assembly, I actually heard someone say, "I will take my church to the grave before I let (that happen)." And it doesn't really matter what specific issue she was referring to. The attitude is so very scary. I rather see my church die than change. Well, that is actually happening right now.

Their mission statement is to "design collisions." I find this a little funny. Is there really a need to design collisions in peoples' lives? Just being ensures that you will experience collisions. But I understand their intention. That to be a disciple in western culture is often to be on cruise control. We need a collision to awaken our lives to rediscover Christ. I think the scary part for most is that the rediscovery will lead us to a very different community, a very different church, and a very different way of being in the world as disciples together. As Reformed Christians, we are to be always reforming.

In their words, we need to wrestle before we settle. I don't like the word settle, but it rhymes so I understand why they chose it. We are in a process as a church of wrestling with big decisions regarding ordination standards, biblical interpretation, how we relate to one another, and mission. It is good to wrestle, but not necessarily with one another. It seems to me that the wrestle needs to be with the Holy Spirit. We need to wrestle with poverty, child abuse, human trafficking, violence, and hunger. We do not need to wrestle through another series overture battles.

Great thinking from Wayfarer. Challenging and inspiring.