Tag Archives: Grassroots Conspiracy

Caught Off Guard by Being Caught Off Guard

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I’m constantly caught off guard by being caught off guard. It strikes me at the most surprising times and in the most mundane ways. I remember early on in my post surgery recovery being surprised when a character on a TV show or movie would get up and walk without a limp. My mind would automatically place on these fictional characters my own limitations (this was much earlier in my ‘learning to walk again’ phase). Not only was it shocking that they didn’t limp it was surprising to find myself making these unconscious awkward assumptions.

Even still today I often feel a similar twinge of shock. While I walk pretty normal (I do right?) and function quite highly (right?) I’m occasionally caught off guard by things that I can’t do. It’s not that I think that I CAN do them only to be disappointed when I can’t, it’s that I’m randomly faced with little things that I had forgotten I’d lost. Skipping for example. I didn’t skip much prior to surgery, it wasn’t really a big part of my life…but to know that I can’t even physically accomplish such a task is a strange thing. And it’s not that I sit around and think “Hey, I can’t skip”–it’s that I’ll see someone skipping and then instantly be faced with a thought that hadn’t crossed my mind before: “Hey, I can’t skip!”

Even further, I am shocked when I realize how quickly everything has moved. Doing our taxes brought a wave of emotion as I looked at my calendar from 2011. I was in school still. I was a part of a small group that had been gathering for many years. I was engaged in daily morning prayers with housemates. Those things feel like forever ago! I feel a twinge of…of…something. It’s just so shocking to see the changes that surprisingly occurred in a short amount of time. They were so unexpected, so unanticipated, and it feels like two completely different worlds, it feels like so long ago. But it wasn’t a long time ago.

Even more, while at the tax office we were reminded that it was exactly a year ago that Jess and I made the decision to NOT opt out of social security (clergy have the option to do so if they can justify it on certain specific grounds). We wanted to opt out because we felt as though we’d never use it ’cause it wouldn’t be around when we were old, but we felt like we could not justify opting out based on the stipulated conditions. So we stayed in. But who would have thought that only a few months later (ok, the money didn’t start coming in ’till December) we’d be partially living off of a social security disability check?! When we made that decision we absolutely did not think we’d ever need it nor be able to use it…and now look at us. So surprising. So unanticipated.

Some surprises are good: birthday parties, trips to Hawaii (leaving on Tuesday!), new friendships. Some surprises are rough: do I really need to list any more here? But surprises are a part of being human. Even further, surprises are a part of being a follower of God. My wife has always said that the two most surprising things in existence is the Spirit of God and humanity. Those two things never do what you expect, they’re always surprising you. So why would we think that when those two things blend together (church, life, neighborhood, relationships, etc.) we’ll have any ability to imagine what might be?! Why do we think that we can create bullet points for how God and humanity blend?

Our life is teaching us to expect surprises. Grassroots Conspiracy is an extension of this–it is our attempt to capture the localized story of the Spirit of God coming together amongst a specific people. God and humanity…so so surprising.

How to Start a Church…maybe

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I said it on accident a few months ago at our first Grassroots gathering of co-conspirators.

With intentionality comes inevitability.

And I think I mean it.

As a small handful of people who are committing to a way of life together, a way of life marked by what the early church called the good news have started gathering once a month. It’s not a worship service, we’re not a church, we’re a developing community of Christ-followers who are experimenting with a hunch.

A hunch that with intentionality comes inevitability.

Essentially the experiment is that if we live a certain way with intentionality it will inevitably lead to a new reality in our lives and our neighborhood.

Intentionally gathering together once a month as co-conspirators will help to propel us toward a greater commitment to a Jesus life where we live, work, and play.

Intentionally and radically living a gospel life (another way of saying living the Jesus way) where we live, work, and play will lead to the inevitability of gatherings. If and when people meet Jesus we suspect that there will be a need to gather together to explore such radical ideas and ways of living (’cause following Jesus really is a radical thing to do)

Intentionally gathering in living rooms, eating a meal together, and talking about Jesus stuff will inevitably lead to the need for even smaller gatherings of four, five, or six people where you are more deeply apprenticed into the ways of Jesus. Some things can only be learned through purposeful learning and experiences.

Intentionally gathering once a month in an effort to propel each other into mission, intentionally committing to a Jesus way of life in your world, intentionally gathering in living rooms to talk Jesus stuff and to learn the story, intentionally gathering in smaller groups to apprentice each other into the ways of Jesus will inevitably lead to the public gathering that we so often mistakenly refer to as church. As people move closer to the life of Jesus the need to publicly tell the story (both the ancient and present story) is absolutely necessary.

Each piece is not one of progression towards an end, there isn’t a conclusion once a “church service” is happening. It’s not about an end but about necessity. Each phase is an inevitable reality if lived with intentionality and each next phase is a necessity as transformation and movement is occurring.

Because with intentionality comes inevitability.

The hunch could be wrong. The pieces could be wrong too. That’s why this is called an experiment. We’re learning as we go, we’re learning as we get to know people, we’re learning as we better get to know the Spirit of God. We’re learning as we better get to know ourselves.

But I’m beginning to believe that when a group of people chooses to intentionally live a certain way a church is inevitable. Church isn’t a goal it’s an outcome. Church happens when people fall in love with Jesus so much that they’d rather die to their own desires and needs for the sake of others…I think.

Grassroots Conspiracy

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I haven’t blogged much about the Grassroots Conspiracy much. Partially I think it’s because I write about it in my Downtown Dispatches and don’t want to be redundant. Partially I think it’s because it’s been a constant work in progress, something that at times has felt so fragile in its inception that to speak too much of it would actually cause damage. Partially I think it’s because I want it to be a movement that is defined not by what I say about it but by how its practiced amongst people within a neighborhood.

Regardless it’s time we start telling the story. Over. And over. And over again. In different ways, from different angles, starting from different moments in time what we’ve decided to call Grassroots Conspiracy is synthesis of the story God has been telling through Jessica and I, the story God is developing amongst the people of the downtown Vancouver neighborhoods (as best we can discern), and the story that God is telling in Scripture (as best we’ve been able to discern). GC is a developing collection of people who are choosing to do a way of life together that is marked by a gathered and scattered set of rhythms. Traditionally the church has done the gathered part well. We’ve inundated ourselves with gatherings. Hmm…pie socials, worship services, potlucks, Sunday school, youth group, retreats, all nighters, prayer nights, committee meetings, elders meetings, budget meetings, meetings, etc. I’m not saying these are good or valuable things (who doesn’t like a pie social?) but we’ve lost the balance between the gathered church (1 Corinthians 14:26) and the scattered church (Matthew 26:16-20).

And so.

We gather once a month as co-conspirators, as people on mission together, as partners in this messy journey. The purpose of this gathering isn’t to worship (per se), it’s not to replicate the traditional Sunday gathering, its purpose is to encourage, tell stories, pray, challenge, and equip (I don’t like using that word) each other to lean more heavily into the Jesus invitation to a holistic gospel life. The hope and belief is that if a community of people band together and commit to a radically gospel centered life it will make a difference in a neighborhood. We don’t see ourselves as people who have to proselytize or  convince neighbors of the truth of Jesus’ claims  (because, lets be honest, they’re pretty audacious claims) rather we are attempting to be a community of people who are inviting people onto ‘blind dates’ with this man Jesus. It’s up to him to woo them, it’s up to them to choose to love, and it’s up to us to represent him well.

“Oh Jesus? Yeah you’d probably really like him. He’s really nice, he’d do anything for you, and he makes great wine. Why don’t the four of us double date sometime and you can get to know him?”

There are other rhythms that shape the Grassroots movement–but this first one, the once a month gathering of co-conspirators is where we start. Because to follow Jesus is to choose to live differently. It is to choose to forgo the values that this world has to offer: wealth, illusions of security, power through control, popularity…and instead pursue a way of life marked by the kingdom of God: simplicity, power through poverty, death to self, security in identity…To choose to live differently demands a cohort of people to invite you into deeper oddities–deeper ways of living differently–because being weird is only fun when your with other weirdos right? (at least that’s what my mom kept telling me all through Jr. High)