A small group of dear folks that we’ve been meeting with is feeling recently that it’s time for the group to become more deliberate about becoming a “church” (by some definition or other). We’re grappling with not being organized in the least yet, some of the group not having left their previous church, and in the mix of it all, having people from “outside” the group ask if they could start attending this church. The church that really isn’t, yet. Weird — or not.

We’re spending this week (or whatever time it takes, really) individually pondering a set of questions concerning what each of us believes God is saying to us about birthing something new, where each of our passions lie with regard to the church, the Kingdom, and our own giftings/callings. Bearing those in mind, what values this new community of faith should hold and what practical guidelines would help us in establishing it. Really, this is a lot to be considered, and we’re praying that it all becomes clear quite quickly…. it was observed at one point that “we don’t know what the [heck] we’re doing.” Good to bear in mind. I love the subtitle of Doug Pagitt’s book where he refers to an “experimental church” …I know that feeling.

In any event, I’m paying attention to threads that tie into the questions we’re asking as a group right now, so it was of interest to note this post at SpaceForGod.com about missional living… Paul Freedland says, “I am becoming more and more convinced that practicing hospitality/friendship is foundational to living missionally.” As he acknowledges in the post, doing this fully is not an easy task.