Katy, Katy, Katy....

I can always count on Katy to provide subject matter for me to discuss! Today she asked:

hi there Dollymama...just wanted to check in...say hi...and ask you about your church out of sheer curiosity (and the fact that hubby and I are rethinking our church right now)...did you say that you were a member of an emerging church...I have no idea what that is and am currently "collecting" people's church experiences

OK. Well, if you ever send me your email I would send you a link to my church so you could go take a look and even listen to sermons. Just so you know, I have the comments set to moderated all the time now, so you can send your email without me having to publish it for the rest of the world to see. :)

I don't know if my church would count as emerging or not. I think we share some of the same goals as some emerging church stuff, such as striving to be relevant to a culture that thinks they don't need God or Jesus. However, we have a huge emphasis on uplifting the relationship between parents and kids, so that's different from most emerging church type stuff I think. (or so says my lead pastor, when I asked him if we were "emerging" :) )

Our church was started just a couple years ago and it's structure is based on a lot of cool ideas. Many of these ideas were inspired by or modeled after Andy Stanley's church. We do KidStuf on Sundays, which is loads of fun and helps parents and kids learn together. Never before have I known what my kids were learning about in church, or had any shared experience relating to the subject matter to inspire conversations about these things. Now we do, and that works very well for us.

For us, with a growing family, it was always a struggle for us to be a part of churches that laid on tons of pressure to "be faithful" by attending every. single. event. they had going on. If they planned it, we were expected to be there. While it can be nice at first to have lots of church activities, for us it lead to burnout, and then discouragement at realizing our church structure was kind of sucking the life out of us, asking us to not do the best thing for our kids (like get them to bed at a reasonable hour--we actually heard from the pulpit at one church that when you put your child's bedtime before a church service, you are teaching your children that God is not important to you...), and making it nearly impossible for the church attenders to have real relationships with each other since they were all so busy working at church. When we realized our choice was either to have no friends, or make friends while working the "fast track" at church, we took a hike. Now we have a church that only meets on Sunday mornings. No Sunday night. No prayer meeting. No weekly youth group. No weekly Bible study. Just room. to. breathe! We do have optional small groups available, and you sign on for those for a set period of time (like a year, 18 months, etc.). After that time is up, new groups are available, so hopefully you get to know some other people too. We did a small term group (7 weeks)that met weekly, an 18 month long group that met weekly, and now are only doing youth group (which is for parents and their teens!) which only meets monthly right now which is better for our current schedule.

Is it a perfect church? Nope. There's no such thing. But it's unique and meets a lot of the needs that we have.

Here are some of the particulars from our church, since you said you were interested:

Who We Are

Our church was started, because we saw the plight of American families. Ripped by divorce, financial instability, and relational conflict, we came to see that the way we were doing church actually made it tougher on families. We were telling parents that we could give their kids everything they needed morally and spiritually in just an hour or two each week, but we never had enough resources, volunteers, or time to make it happen. We also asked families to come to church many different times throughout the week…and scatter to different parts of the building. Parents had to “pry” what their kids were being taught out of them, often unsuccessfully.

So we started asking questions. What would a church look like that assumed a supporting role in the moral and spiritual development of kids (instead of the primary role)? What would a church look like that empowered parents to do what they are uniquely positioned to do: shape the hearts and character of their own children? What would a church look like that helped single parents who are strapped for time make the most of their time in their schedule and with their children? What would a church look like that pared down its programming and scheduling to something more “synchronized” and less “schizophrenic?”
We’re not simply different because we dress casually or use guitars and drums in our corporate worship (lots of people do that today). We’re different, because we believe that the way we’ve been doing church isn’t working anymore. We’re committed to making church work.

What We Believe

If you’re familiar with the Apostle’s Creed, you’ll recognize our statement of beliefs.
We believe in: The Bible as uniquely inspired by God, without error, and the final authority in all matters of faith and conduct. One God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, His Deity, virgin birth, sinless life, vicarious death, burial and bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father and His personal return to consummate history. The sinfulness of mankind and salvation only by grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life. The resurrection of the dead; believers to everlasting life and unbelievers to everlasting judgment. The church as the body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. We believe the church is comprised of all who have trusted by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Here’s how we put that into practice: In essential beliefs, we have unity. In non-essential beliefs, we have liberty. In all our beliefs, we show charity.

Our Values

Intimacy with God – We don’t want people to be religious. We want them to be intimate with God. We believe intimacy (in any relationship) requires three things: (1) unrushed and unstructured time, (2) transparency with our feelings, (3) mutual submission.

Strategic Service – We think too many churches are doing too many things. We ask people at our church to apply their hearts and hands to the place of greatest demand (our Sunday environments). We believe everyone needs to find a place of service.

Authentic Community - We believe accountability, care, and a sense of belonging are critical to balance and progress in our spiritual journey. These three things are best achieved within the context of a small group of like-minded, relationally-connected believers. That’s why we have groups instead of classes.

Relational Evangelism – Evangelism isn’t a program that a few people do. We believe that all believers have the responsibility of living out their faith within their sphere of influence.

Biblical Authority – We believe the Bible is our authority for how to live life and how to be free. Even though no one likes to have someone else tell them what to do, we believe that freedom can only come by living one’s life under the authority of the Bible (and what it teaches).

Passionate Walk – We believe the one thing God wants, more than anything else, from a person is that person’s heart. We want to see people following Jesus by giving God everything…and holding nothing back.