“Deconstruction is like being dragged through a knot hole backwards.”

One of my friends described the process of leaving his well-worn patterns of church life with this painful image.  He can’t help talking that way, he’s planting a church and his wife has a gift with word pictures.  When he ruminates about his pain and confusion, she translates.

Together along with a lot of other friends we’re beginning to see some patterns and talk about church planting in some categories that help us.  In an attempt to continue the conversation I thought I’d throw out some concrete examples of what I mean when I talk about Submerging.  This is an initiation to join us as we consider new categories for how faith communities emerge out of culture.

In the last article I wrote on a Missional life cycle of church, I alluded to three, somewhat overlapping phases of development I called Submerging, Emerging and Converging.  In a nutshell, here’s what I said... Submerging is about knowing and becoming known in our culture.  Emerging is about rising with culture and Converging involves sustaining mission while in tension.

Having said that, one of the realities of Submerging is what I’ve already mentioned, suffering.  I don’t think it’s possible to submerge without pain.  And the deeper we go, the further we get from the safety of what we hung onto for comfort.  Likewise, the more intentional we become in Submerging the greater the likelihood of backlash from those who thought they knew us and could count on us to act in certain ways.  If you’re feeling a need for prayer about this time, you may want to skip to the end of this article for some inspiration from John Wesley.

Some real life stories of Submerging...

Let me start with the discovery one church planter made while starting a new church in Vancouver, Canada.  He began by contacting other Churches and Christian leaders in their part of the city.  This was not a frivolous activity; an aspect of Submerging involves knowing the spiritual resources available in our neighborhoods. So he began praying with and meeting others seeking to bring blessing their city.

At a local prayer gathering of pastors he told the group that he wanted to meet and seek their guidance for establishing a new church in a nearby neighborhood which he identified by the major cross-streets.  When he mentioned the particular intersection one of the pastors began weeping, he explained “we’ve been praying that God would send someone to minister in that area for 12 years.  You are an answer to prayer.”

The church planter was indeed humbled to be drawn to the very neighborhood that had so obviously been prepared through prayer.  He himself continued to drive through and walk the streets to pray and seek God’s wisdom for next steps in the neighborhood.  One day on his excursions he found an old church building set on a hill, at nearly the highest point in the neighborhood.  It was completely surrounded by houses, shadowed by blossoming trees and well off the beaten track.  While he considered his discovery he heard the Lord speak to his heart saying… “This is where I want you to plant, this neighborhood, this place, this intersection... for these people.”

Later it was discovered that the church had been a significant source of blessing in the city during the 70’s when it led the way in renewal for their denomination and neighbors surrounding the building. In recent times however, attendance declined and the membership began praying for new direction. 

Meanwhile, the new church continued to form in homes and left the notion of meeting in a building until much later when some remarkable circumstances led them to open a conversation with the congregation “on the hill” about the possibility of sharing their building.  To make a long story short the new church now rents space and began holding meetings there this month.

While Submerging they made several important discoveries.  First, their initial plan to hold most of their meetings in homes bumped up against the perception that these meetings were too intimate for the casual relationships they had formed in their neighborhood.  (If you’re familiar with “Pride and Prejudice” and Jane Austen; you’ll have a metaphor for what they’re running into.)  They’re continuing with hospitality and meeting in homes, but more on an individual or family to family basis.

Second, they concluded that the space they needed for a larger, neutral gathering was not readily available.  A community center would work, but there wasn’t one in their neighborhood.  That left them with businesses and restaurants which were appealing, but presented certain limitations.  The church building, then, seemed like a space for connecting relationally and spiritually with people, so they began pursuing that option.  When they did, God opened a door for ministry there.  Now, they’re hoping that the church building might become something of a community meeting space for other activities besides “church”. 

Thirdly, they discovered that God had already initiated a spiritual thread connecting His resources with the call He placed on their hearts.  Submerging involves knowing and discovering the spiritual resources of the city as well as connecting relationally with people who share common values with one another.  In this story, these two dynamics came together with the church on the hill.

Another example of Submerging and some legal lessons...

In our neighborhood, just north of Seattle our family discovered that in the mosaic of households established in the 40’s and 50’s, there were also patches of younger families.  They were harder to find than in our previous “master planned community”, but easily identified by toys dotting the landscape and rope swings dangling from tree branches.  We also found families through our involvement in the neighborhood school. 

Shortly after our kids started going to school we began having a burden for the children in their classes.  We didn’t have a specific long-term game plan, so we simply started.  We submerged.  Our first attempt at bringing kids together involved a “Happy Birthday Jesus” party.  We started by inviting some of our kids friends over to our house for a Christmas party that also honored Jesus. The idea was well received, parents and kids showed up and we played games, made an ornament and told the story of Jesus coming as a baby.

As far as we could tell only two of the families had a definite connection with a church home and yet, the parents and kids were very positive about the values and stories we shared at the party so we planned another and another and another.  For the most recent gathering we held a “Sports Party” at the neighborhood school.  We explored the legalities of using the school property for one of our parties.  No one seemed to mind if we operated unofficially.  So we checked with the district about who else was scheduled on the fields, cleared the activity with the school secretary and moved on with our plans. 

We discovered, however, that we could not invite the kids with an invitation handed out during school hours so we honored the request of the teachers and administrators to mail out the invitations.  We also acquired the help of a local sports ministry that suggested we use a standard disclaimer on our invitations to deflect any criticism the school might receive for allowing the event to happen. 

As it turned out no one had a problem with the activity, which involved over 40 kids and a dozen parents.  Our intention has been to bring together kids and parents around values that we could all support.  We didn’t offer an altar call or opportunity to “receive Christ”, but we did invite kids to discover God’s love for them and practice encouraging each other while we played some pretty aggressive games.

While Submerging in our neighborhood we discovered a substantial network of very active parents who embraced the value of developing character in their children.  Again few of these families are active in a church, but building character and practicing the art of friendship was something they could embrace.  So we’re continuing to dream up more parties.  It’s even possible that someday we’ll decide to become official so that we can navigate the legal requirements set up by the school district.  Sometimes obtaining legal permission opens more doors and gains additional allies in the process of being a blessing in our neighborhoods.

We learned that Submerging involves discovering active networks of relationships in our neighborhood and navigating legal issues.  Developing an eye for values that connect people helps bring groups together more naturally.  We also learned in the process that paying attention to legal requirements can become a way to build credibility and tap into other networks of relationships.

And now for a final story involving coffee in Seattle...

The church planter I mentioned in the introduction, the one dragged through a knot hole, he discovered that they could bring college students together around the theme of music and coffee.  They started by asking college students if they would be interested in concerts presented by Seattle area street musicians and if so, what would they call the gathering.  In one day they gathered nearly 100 email addresses and made plans to hold their first “Acoustic Café”.

The church initially sponsored the event and paid for the activities out of their own budget.  This turned out to be a substantial expense for the new church and so they started looking for creative ways to advertise, promote and still expand their network of friendships.  They stumbled on the idea of finding sponsors who would pay for space on the posters distributed on college campuses and local hangouts.  They also found that selling tickets was a way to increase participation and add value to their event.  While neither of these ideas occurred to the church when they first started the gathering they discovered that neither one hindered their primary purpose of building relationships and it allowed them to spend more $ on the party... i.e. lighting, espresso, art, etc.   Working through their financial challenge actually increased participation in the event by the sponsors and the musicians who liked the opportunity to connect with their audience in a quality atmosphere.  The event now breaks even.

This example of a public event shows what happens when a church submerges, discovers an opportunity, gathers a following and begins to emerge publicly.  They are rising with their culture, communicating the Good news on the wings of culture rather than the backs of burned out saints.  More, on Emerging later...

Do you have a story of Submerging to share?  I’m collecting.  Let’s keep the conversation alive for those of us who are looking for new ways of being the church in our neighborhoods.  I can be reached at ntibbott@yahoo.com.  You may also want to respond to this article on the web site.

I might add... I purposely didn’t include stories about my personal friends who are starting the journey with us.  Perhaps someday the stories will become public when we can tell them together.  Until then, I’ll cherish what our journey means to us privately.

A summary of Submerging...

A prayer expressing the heart of one who submerges...

John Wesley's "Covenant Prayer"

"I am no longer my own, but Yours.

Put me to what You will,
Rank me with whoever You will.

Put me to doing...
Put me to suffering.

Let me be employed for You, Or laid aside for You.

Exalted for You, or  Brought low for You.

Let me be full
Let me be empty.
Let me have all things,
Let me have nothing!

And now, O Father,
You are mine and I am Yours.

So be it.

And the covenant I am making on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

(I snagged this off Leonard Sweets website, so thanks Len.  He has other ways of looking at the spiritual walk that applies to Submerging.)