A longer answer: pray a lot, and dive in if you believe the Spirit is leading you there. Ok, there’s a little more. I’m speaking now of the North Twin Cities Metro area, centered in Blaine, MN. I’m starting to talk to some people up here about the idea of beginning an organic community. We aren’t necessarily close geographically, but close enough to start having the discussion. I’m also putting out some feelers on Facebook and Twitter, and right here.

If you are reading this, and you know people in the North Twin Cities metro who would be interested in forming a community of Christians looking to form Jesus-shaped disciples, discerning how their mission might be accomplished by patterning themselves after a Celtic abbey, and drawing on the best of what the church has offered throughout its history (See Robert Webber’s Ancient-Future series for more information), then comment here, contact me, write on our Twitter feed, whatever you need to do.

It’s not that I don’t like Church… far from it. I’m just cynical. I’ve seen too many self-help movements masquerading as church. I’ve seen too many believers being hurt by church because they don’t fit in with the standard of “a good christian”. I’ve seen too much of the Sunday morning circus to not be a bit jaded to Church growth efforts, building campaigns, new book and song trends, and the whole christian sub-culture we have all been a part of creating.

So is that what Two42 is all about, pointing a finger at the “institutional Church” and saying, “your doing it wrong! Jesus would be pissed!”?

Nope.

We love the Church. We love the people of God, even when things are done that we feel need to be re-examined in light of Jesus and his word. We care about reform, not writing the Church off.

The name Two42 is a reference to the story around Acts 2.42. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came upon the believers gathered in the upper room, and they miraculously began proclaiming the good news of Jesus in all languages. Some people who heard this scoffed, and called the 120 drunks. Peter then stood up and said, “We’re so not drunk; it’s only 9:30 in the morning! What you are witnessing is God fulfilling what he told Israel he would do: pour out his Spirit on all who will believe.” Peter then went on to explain how this was all in fulfillment of Jewish scriptures, and how it is Jesus who is the reason for what you are seeing here; the same Jesus that was put to death a few month prior… the same Jesus that then got up from the grave and broke the kingdom of God into the kingdom of the world… the same Jesus that Promised to return and set all things right, bringing once and for all rest and refreshing to all who would trust him alone for salvation.

That day there were about 3000 people that began to believe the gospel of Jesus. That day, the church got born.

What did those believers do?

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Acts 2.42-47

We want to continue in the tradition of the first church, after all WE are the Church. We want to devote ourselves to the word of God, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and sharing the table of Jesus together.

This network is not a movement to re-discover the ancient, “true” way of doing Church. It’s not about abandoning congregations in favor of individual Christianity. Then again, it’s not about growing church attendance numbers either.

The Church is wide, deep, and long. There are many ways we express our devotion to the word, fellowship, communion, and prayer. All of those ways are valid. This conversation and network is all about embracing the various forms of Church, supporting one another, and encouraging, joining, and resourcing people to go and plant churches in all their various forms.

This is a conversation for those who love church: the broken, the “successful”, the torn, the happy, the growing… even the cynics like me. We are coming together to talk hard, to ask questions, to deepen our bonds of unity in Christ, and to see the Church continue just as it has for 2000+ years.

So, where are you on the spectrum? How do you feel about Church? Where can we refocus and reform? What shape do you think the Church could take in your home town?

Saint Patrick’s Breastplate

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever,
By power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan River;
His death on cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the Cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour;
The service of the Seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the Prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, his shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death-wound and the burning
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

(Text from Wikisource)

Like the individual communities and churches we hope to work with, this site will grow organically. In addition to the blog posts that will make up what you see on the front page, we’ll be setting up some public shared locations via Google Docs, Picassa, etc. to begin sharing static content. And the vast majority of it will be published in an “open source” format, keeping it free of charge as a gift to the body of Christ.

While the goal is to be broad enough to accomodate and support churches from many backgrounds, the assumption is that they are Christian, and can affirm the statements of the Apostles’ Creed at the very least (even if not accepting creeds). In other words, when someone comes here, the assumption is that if they profess faith in Jesus of Nazareth as revealed in the Christian Bible, that profession is accepted until otherwise demonstrated.

Beyond that, each of us comes with a particular confession (Calvinist, Wesleyan, Baptist, Catholic, Orthodox, etc.), but our goal is to offer what we have for the edification of all. It is not expected that one will agree with the point of view of every participant here, but that we respect and love one another as members of the body of Christ.

The only thing that I as the site owner will enforce is disrespect of others here. Disagree vigorously, but please keep a generous, gracious, and humble spirit. In other words, love one another as Christ has loved us.

This is what I propose as a starting point. As we continue, we can refine as necessary. I encourage you to comment and add your thoughts, agreements, and disagreements. This network will grow organically, and that takes all of us to make it happen.

Two42 is “an organic network to support Jesus-shaped communities in our time and place.”

Another way of looking at it is this. If the Great Commandment is to love God and love others, and the Great Commission is to make disciples (who make disciples), flowing out of our response to the Great Commandment, then we exist to help Christian communities in that task.

The genesis of this support network came out of a brainstorming session on a Google Wave (let me know if you can’t see the original and want to check it out), bringing together a number of related ideas, from the nature of church, to missionary and evangelistic activity in our respective contexts (North American suburban and urban, though some discussion of rural contexts was considered), to finding a way to support and sustain the network in an organic way.

Drawing from George Hunter’s The Celtic Way of Evangelism, I’m drawn to the idea of a monastic community that is integrated into and supporting of a local community, rather than isolated from it. Part of the success of the Celtic model was in the establishment of a community that worked and participated in life alongside the community in which they lived. In a suburban context, people appear less likely to associate by neighborhoods as much as they do by activities. By establishing some kind of community space where the public can gather and participate, an intentional community of Christians can build a connecting point from which to sahre the Gospel as they share life. This could be through businesses (Pubs, bookstores, etc. – any business that would thrive in a storefront area would work that functions as a social gathering point.) Whether in the business space or apart from it, the community could alternately choose to make available some kind of chapel space. This is kept intentionally vague to accomodate for the network being made up of house churches, organic churches, small churches, or groups from larger churches. The local community, then, by cooperation and missionary purpose, would function similar to an abbey in the Celtic model.

This network itself is not one of the abbeys, nor is it a local worshipping community. It serves as a connecting point for those who wish to support one another in mission. It serves as a place to gather and share resources. These could be theological and study resources, music, art, or connections to provide prayer and community support for one another.

Future posts will expand on these ideas, discussing each in greater detail. The grand vision would be to see local communities planting in their communities, associating voluntarily with one another, and serving their communities as they love God, love others, and make disciples. As “abbeys” are formed in communities, they in turn may choose to contribute and share experience and wisdom with others through this network, with this site serving as a connecting hub. We’ll also maintain a presence on current popular social media connecting points. (It’s a fancy way of saying we’re on Facebook and Twitter, too, but we’re not static. As communication forms change, we adapt.)

This is only the beginning, friends. Aaron and others will be joining the conversation, and we’ll be finding ways to connect more like-minded followers of Christ. My hope and prayer is for this to become a means of helping Christians develop a deep sense of love for Christ, and in Him to reach out to others with the message of hope and reconciliation to God in Jesus’ name.

The use of the term Jesus-shaped is intentional. I’ve been a reader of the late Michael Spencer’s Internet Monk site for a long time, and participate on his group site, The Boar’s Head Tavern. Michael’s critique from within of the various problems in the evangelical subculture put words to things I struggled to articulate. Though discipled in evangelical churches, and while I love my evangelical community and have no immediate plans to leave, I identify with Michael’s idea of post-evangelical.

Through Michael, I also came to know of the Ancient-Future ideas of Robert Webber. Through his work, I regained an appreciation for much of the liturgical tradition, and made peace with my Methodist childhood. It never sat quite right with me when the church of my youth was written off as liberal and apostate by my evangelical peers. While that is certainly happening, there are also deeply committed Christian brothers and sisters in that tradition. It is also through Michael and Robert Webber that I came to have a love and appreciation for the Anglicans, to the point where I nearly made the jump to seek out and join an AMiA church.

Backing up a bit, I discovered my call to ministry while serving what was, at the time, an emerging church experiment within our evangelical community. Through serving on the leadership team with preaching, teaching, and music, what was once a desire to contemplate ministy became a passion. Prayer and the encouragement of friends and pastors brought me to the point where I am now a student at Bethel Seminary.

Church history lies among the many interests that bounce around in my head. In particular, I find much in the monastic tradition that is of value, though I don’t know that I would go so far as to embrace the Benedictine way. That, and I’m a family man, happily married to an amazing woman and father to two adorable little girls. The sense of worshipping community is compelling among the monastic traditions, though, and I have considered how those ideas might be incorporated in suburban American life.

One form of monastic life that could lend itself particularly well to this context comes from the example of Saint Patric among the Celts. Reading George Hunter’s The Celtic Way of Evangelism opened up the idea of families functioning together within a larger community as a Christian witness and presence, as a working monastery, but integrated into the life of the larger community.

All these ideas combined, and a running Twitter conversation with a blogging friend, generated an idea. And that idea is… (in my next post!)