A few people have asked questions about the church we've been attending--not on my blog, but through e-mail and over the phone. So I thought I'd take a moment and post what I know so far.
Two things really stand out about our first visit to Small boat. First, they had been painting the meeting hall and so they had drop cloths all over the floor. One of the really cool things about drop cloths is that you can kind of surf on them if they are on a slick wooden floor. And it really was a fun ride until I ended up flat on my rear looking up at a room full of strangers.
The other was a talk by Mike Frost. He said that corporate worship existed to encourage the saints and edify the body. It isn't something that exists for our own fulfillment. Nor, does it exist for God's benefit since worship is, well, should be a 24/7 thing. The take home message? We should all spend time in prayer and reflection, determining what it is that we have to offer during the time of corporate worship for that week. We might not come up with anything, but at least we went through the exercise.
Someone asked me about my church's mission's opportunities. We are still relatively new in the church, so I'm not sure I know them all. But there are some ties to the Forge Mission Training Network.
The church provides a playgroup for the community that meets three times a week. There are snacks provided for the adults and the kids are allowed to play both outside and in. The last half hour is morning tea, storytime and songs.
And there is this coming up in September.
Our camp theme was on spiritual direction. And the church asked Sister Ann Morrison of the Sisters of St Joseph to facilitate. Catholics have a tradition of offering one-on-one spiritual direction. My friend Paul illustrated the difference between counseling and spiritual direction by saying that if you told a spiritual director about a difficult trial you experienced as a youth, the director (most likely a catholic) would ask, "How did you pray during that time?" Now I know, there are theological differences between the Catholic faith and my own, but at the camp the differences we encountered really were simply a matter of semantics. The other thing I found interesting is that while she offers spiritual direction on an individual basis, she also trains lay people within the Catholic church to do so within the public school setting. Evidently, different faiths are allowed to have a presence on campus and actually teach elective courses in the schools. In the area of spiritual direction--which I might refer to as an intense form of discipleship--we might do well to learn from our Catholic brothers and sisters. I think there is definitely a need for intense discipleship, the kind that can only exist between nonpeers, within Evangelical churches.
Glad to hear youre finding your way around there, not just directionally but also socially. Wish I could have seen the floor sailing; it's interesting your comments on theological differences vs. similarities. I've heard in several sermons, let's focus on what we have in common, not what divides us. We're likely not 100% right and they can't be 100% wrong. Good perspective to learn from the best of each other's views/stands.
Posted by: Bev | August 03, 2006 at 01:17 AM