"It's a schemer who put you where you are. You were a schemer. You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best-I took your plan and turned it on itself. Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple bullets. Nobody panics when the expected people get killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. But when I say one little old mayor will die, everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey? It's fair" The Joker, sourced from IMDB
Two ways to have influence. One - have a plan. Two - introduce a little chaos. And with that Marcus decided to let me have the keys to his blog for a week.
In one of his recent posts Marcus considered the DNA of churches. What is it that runs through the veins of our churches? What's in our blood?
On Jesus' principle of fruit trees we should be able to discern by looking at our churches what their DNA is. Their behaviour is based on their beliefs. One of the highlights of my yearwas joining a new church, because we moved house, and finding that session 1 of the church's foundations course is on grace. That's the underlying driving principle of the church in everything. On paper. What was more joyful was that this was already evident in the previous two months of being a part of the church - from the preaching to the singing to the friendships we were developing.
The Rebulution believes change is possible. By default we presume that tomorrow will be like today. It's the scientific assumption about reality, and repetition is hardwired into the way God made the world (Ecclesiastes 1). But what if tomorrow was different. What if our lives could be a little Biblically-saturated, Spirit-empowered, Grace-motivated genetic engineering to the life of those around us, to our churches. A little intentionality. A little faith.
My instinct is that in most churches things are sort of ok. It's just that the Bible goes for a bit more than ok. The church is the glorious bride of Christ, blood-bought and being made blameless. Supernaturally made and being extended to every people group in the world with unstoppable force.
What if things didn't go according to plan, but instead the smallest seed grew big...
Posted by Dave Bish of The Blue Fish Project. Recently posted there: "I wish I was a Universalist".