We started the Thingy (the missional church Wendy and I belong to) with the desire of redefining “church.”  We hoped to move away from a program-centric understanding of church to a lifestyle-centric understanding.  We wanted membership in the church to be more about how we lived in our communities than what we did when we gathered.

As the team planned I studied other groups with lifestyle driven models of discipleship – specifically recovery programs like AA, monastic practices, and creative churches around the world.  I found that discipleship in these systems centered on lists of activities the followers routinely tried to accomplish.  AA for example has a 12 step program each member is sponsored through; or there is a church in Austraila (I think) I read about that encourages each member to “ring the B.E.L.L.S” each week (Bless three people, Eat together, Learn, Listen, and Spend time).   Building on these examples I thought the Thingy would end up developing the same type of system – a pattern of steps or daily/weekly steps that would define our character.

We started off by sharing our favorite Gospel stories with one another.  We used each story to build a “core principle” by asking the question, “How should Jesus in this story change our behavior?”  From this we developed a six part lifestyle we agreed to live together.

Over the last two years we’ve tried lots of different ways to encourage one another to focus on the lifestyle.  We did some “in-your-face” things like routine weekly readings or intense accountability moments.   We tried less direct methods of rehearsal: talking about one principle a week or praying through them to start our meetings.  We even tried long term stuff such as quarterly evaluations of our individual progress together.  While all these things were good.  None of them were great.  None of them ever really clicked with the group.  They always felt extra.

That feeling of “extra” has troubled me over the last year.  If this is to be the root of our life together, why does it feel like it is an add on to where the Spirit is working?  Why is it that the more I feel like I’m trying to force the Spirit to move in a specific way?

Recently something dawned on me.

What I and my team find value in is the journey of discovery.  We connect with the Spirit through the investigation of how Scripture should shape us.  Solidifying the discovery, stagnating the process of searching to stand on certain pieces, limits what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives instead of empowering Him.

As I step back from our two years together I realize we have had three Core Principles in operation in our group:

1. Reading Scripture together and learning from one another – like a big Spiritual pot luck supper.
2. Seeking to imitate Jesus in the world by loving as He loved.
3. Living in humility by cherishing and accepting all people as loved creations of God.

I will break down each one of these in more detail over the coming weeks.

More specific rules for life may work for other groups, but this is what seems to click for us.   The Thingy will be investigating this more over the coming months as a team.