I recently read an article in Patrol Magazine that I think fits rather nicely with our discussions about community. Stephen Simpson is a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and asks the question, “Why is church so dull?” and I don’t think his answers are what you would expect. Here’s an excerpt:

As much as postmodern evangelicals bandy about the word “community,” our gatherings have changed very little. Stylistic alterations might add some hipster flair, but the focal point of the liturgical week remains theater. A dozen or so people perform for a few hundred that sit, stand, kneel, pray, and sing on command. We squeeze real community into the gaps, between events with a hierarchical structure. Not only is this a long way from Biblical models of the early Christian church, it’s a breeding ground for messy group dynamics. And, again, it’s boring.

The issues he raises are exactly what we’re wrestling with. I’m not saying you should agree with everything he says, but please take some time to read the whole article by clicking here, then come back and share your thoughts.

So far I’ve said that everything we do is spiritual, therefore everything we do is worship. When it comes to discipleship, or “spiritual formation,” that means every realm of life is open to spirituality – and that spiritual training should involve every realm of life.

But some will object that doing so will lead to religious legalism.

Nobody wants to be in a legalistic church, where people judging themselves and others according to petty and meaningless external behaviors. This is already the case! According to studies of Christian character the Western Church by-and-large already produces an insincere form of religious legalism - it just happens to be a shallow form. But shallow religiosity is still religiosity. Setting a low bar of expectations has not saved us from the error of the Judaizers, it has only created a modern, secularized form of it. We’ve pressed the lessons of Luther and Calvin to the point of complete absurdity, making salvation nothing more than a matter of pure motives and approved doctrines. Now, instead of suffering under the blight of a works-based righteousness, we suffer under the blight of an information-based unrighteousness.

Yesterday I said everything we do is spiritual, which is why Paul says that true Christian “worship” is not a visit to the temple or time spent in prayer, singing to God, or reading scripture, but rather the sacrifice of one’s whole life to God:

Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom 12:1).

Worship is not merely the religious acts we commit at religious times. Worship is the natural act of devoting ourselves to something in which we find value or worth (worth-ship). Remember, whatever we do with our bodies is always the result of our spirit. Always. We always act in accordance with the deep values and beliefs that direct our decision-making. We simply can’t help it. We may be motivated by faith or fear, we may even have competing beliefs that cause bizarre, erratic, or contradictory behavior, but our spirit – however fragmented and compartmentalized – dictates our actions nonetheless.

Another thing we discussed Sunday night was how we could look to Christ as the example of how we might live our our faith as a community. I other words, how would we see church differently if we viewed Jesus Christ as the prototype of the Church?

Theologian Chris Wright says Jesus is the “hermeneutical coherence” through which all disciples must read the texts that “lead up to” and “on from” Christ. In our case, this means developing a prophetic imagination that is able to grab hold of Christ’s example to be a foundation for our own gathered lives as missional pilgrims in 21st century America.

Not surprisingly, examples of Christ acting as a missionary to his own culture are everywhere in the gospel narratives, but I’ve chosen a specific passage to highlight because I believe it reveals so much about Christ’s overall posture toward the people of God, the world, and the gospel itself: John 5:1-30.

This past Sunday, several of us gathered to discuss the vision and formation of Ikon Community. Over the next few weeks I’ll post a variety of notes, ideas, video clips, links to other communities of faith, etc. to give us a central place to foster discussion. Please take some time to chip in your thoughts.

One of the main things we discussed last Sunday night was how in a culture dominated by entertainment and consumerism church tends to slip into a performer/spectator and producer/consumer mode of existence. Being a Christian comes to mean buying into the right beliefs, or wearing the right kind of clothes, or reading the right kind of bible. Going to church means driving to an impressive facility, hearing good sermons, and enjoying good worship. Everything is receptive – just like our culture.

This tends to create passive consumer Christians who become serial critics of sermons, worship bands, and church programs, and are content to accumulate knowledge and religious accessories rather than radically follow Christ by infiltrating our culture with the gospel.

Consequently at Ikon our aim, as Alan Roxbourgh has stated, is to create:

“A place where members learn to function as cross-cultural missionaries rather than be a gathering where people come to receive religious goods and services.”

This is the shift in perspective we are looking for at Ikon Community. Let’s start with a simple question: What about this appeals to you and what doesn’t?

This weekend we did things a little differently at Ikon Community. Normally we gather every Sunday night at someone’s home for a meal, the Eucharist, some reflection and discussion of scripture, and prayer. But this Sunday was the weekend for the local Stand Up Against Poverty event, organized by ONE San Diego in support of the Millenium Development Goals.

So, we decided to show up there for “church” instead.