A lot of people have asked what exactly we will be doing during our first year, beyond the general notions of planting missional communities, discipleship/discernment, and community development. So, the following is a type of guide to our first year living in Hawaii, in an unknown community, with diverse people, and unique cultures. Our goal is not to begin something new, but rather observe, listen, see, and join where God's movement has already begun. We believe this slower practice will bear more fruit in the long run. Our goal is to enter into the community before placing any judgments or needs over the community. The following are a few practices that will help us during our first year.
1). Healthily transition our family. I'm not sure this one can be overstated. For our family, we have been transitioning for about 3 months. When we arrive in Hawaii, we will begin the process of looking for a place to live, a car to drive, jobs to work, and new friendships to develop. But the most important is to give the intentional time to healthily establish/continue family rhythms. This isn't just important for the sake of our family. We also understand our familial existence as a witness to God's love and grace in the world. We want to model what it looks like for a healthy family to live together in peace. And that takes intentional patient everyday work.
2). Find the Third Spaces. In every city or town, there are social spaces that are nuetral gathering points: a coffee shop, a park, a beach, a basketball court, etc. These are places where people gather regularly. We want to make it a point to visit the same "third space" in an intentional effort to get to know those who also use that space. The good thing is that these can be done as a family (revert to #1) or while catching up on reading/studying/emails/etc. at a coffee shop. The idea is to be open and attentive to those around you. Observe the patterns of the culture, how people interact with one another, and don't be scared to engage. Many people visit these spaces because they want to be a part of the community.
3). Work like you're on a mission. I've covered a little bit of this in the post on bi-vocationality, but too often we enter into a work environment and treat it separately from the rest of our life. We've created compartments of interaction that we don't like to overlap. Our work places are prime social spaces for forming relationships, and we should always be attuned to when our co-workers experience joy and heartache. We should celebrate with them, cry with them, and genuinely care for their well-being.
4). Volunteer in the community. Volunteering at a local social agency is a great way to get to know the community. Many non-profits or public organizations have their fingers on the pulse of community struggle and life. But it also allows us to not force our own agenda. Many churches see a need and think they need to start a new program. Rather than put the resources into starting something new, why not join a group in the community already working at it? It puts us alongside our neighbors, gets the church working outside its walls, and forms meaningful friendships in the process.
5). Fellowship around a Meal. Eating is universal. We plan to open our home to those that live around us. There's a reason much of the interaction between Jesus and his disciples happened at a meal. And I don't think it's a coincidence that we practice a table/meal fellowship when we partake in the Eucharist. Eating connects us to each other and the earth. And out of that connection comes the possibility of sharing our lives with one another. A meal opens us up to one another in a different way than these other practices.
6). Be attentive to the gate-keepers. As we begin to inhabit the neighborhood, we will begin to notice who the gate-keepers are. Who are the voices in the community that hold sway? Who has a distinct passion for a particular social need (and the connections to go with it)? Who is it that knows everyone else in that community? These are people we want to know. They are the ones who can begin to teach you about the cultural similarities and differences. They are the ones who can introduce you to a network of relationships that extend beyond an individual's reach. Their trust also carries the social capital to work well within the neighborhood.
7). Pray. As I thought through important practices of inhabiting a neighborhood, the importance of prayer became increasingly relevant. Prayer is a discipline that aligns our will, our heart, our passions with God's. When we practice prayer, we are more readily available to our neighbors. When prayer becomes a habit, we can move through a neighborhood with an attentive mind, eye, and heart to where God has gone before us. In short, prayer is the practice that guides us into God's redemptive movement.
Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost note that a "Missional-incarnational church should be living, eating, and working closely with its surrounding community, developing strong links between Christians" and everyone those Christians meet. As these practices are carried out, our guess is that we will begin to recognize those who are open to us and possibly to God. When that recognition happens, we begin to cultivate those relationships (good food, anyone?) Our first year in Hawaii will be spent doing the above practices, as well as learning and joining the established rhythms of Kona Coast Nazarene. But again, these incarnational acts (practices that aid us in entering into a particular community) can be and should be done by everyone. Our hope is that we can help guide people into this process over the long haul.
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