Dan Kimball is on staff at Vintage Faith Church, a church in Santa Cruz, CA planted in 2004. He is the author of books including They Like Jesus, But Not The Church, The Emerging Church, Emerging Worship, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, and Sacred Space: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Multisensory Worship Experiences for Youth Ministry (with Lilly Lewin). Dan currently serves as an Adjunct Faculty Mentor at George Fox Seminary where he is also pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree.
When Dan first walked into a Christian gathering he noticed lots of pastel colors and the music sounded like commercial jingles. His 2nd experience was very formal with a pastor wearing robes like Hugh Hefner speaking in hushed tones. Not sure why they were supposed to be kneeling at the front and not sure what they were supposed to say when passing the communion cup. Dan’s friend passed the cup saying: “the cup of wonder.” So much of what we do doesn’t make sense to someone who is new!
Three things we must be communicating:
1. If we love Jesus , we must love the church despite our messiness. Too often we have unrealistic expectations. Leaders are people too. We need to create space for people to ask questions.
2. We can hold the church’s historical view of sexuality and not be a fundamentalist or hateful. Do the people we serve understand how to interpret and apply the Scriptures (rather than quoting verses out of context)? We should be teaching about difficult issues proactively.
3. When we think the Gospel can be expressed with deeds and social action, we miss the power of proclaiming the good news with our words. Do the people we serve know how to help someone they know follow Jesus? The Gospel is “good news” about the Kingdom life now and in the life to come. “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” -St. Francis of Assisi. Don’t forget that St. Francis gave speeches too! Too many of us avoid reaching out in the very way we were reached.
How are you addressing these three issues? Are there other issues we need to be addressing better?