Missional Community - Week 7
WOW! Can you believe it’s already been two of the five months of the Winnipeg DTS of 2007? As we serve, grow, and love more, a time comes when we as students need to address questions about us as a group and how we can be moving and forming a community that would be representative of Jesus. In light of this revelation, the topic of Missional Community was guided by the intellectually sparkling (which is probably a good thing since he’s one of the directors of our school…tee hee hee) Jamie Arpin-Ricci. Jamie emphasized such questions as “What is the Gospel?”, “What are the stages of community?”, “What qualities should a community should poses, and how does/should a community grow?”.
We began by brainstorming ideas of what we the students felt the Gospel (aka Good News) was? A wide variety of ideas were presented, which we then discussed thoroughly. We came to a conclusion that not only is the Good News the fact that Jesus lived, died, and rose that we may be forgiven and have eternal life, but that as is best explained by the following quote,”The Gospel is the work of the Trinitarian God to reconcile every person to union with God, to communion with others, to fullness with self, and to harmony with Creation, in the context of community for the glory of God and the good of all.”
Imagine a beautiful country scene with a nice car winding down a smoothly paved road. Now picture in the middle of all this serenity a creepy person/thing (whatever is was) popping up and saying “Wake up and get back to work!.” HAHAHA….Yep…that’s how Jamie used a joke video clip to start off one of our lectures about missional community. We think we’re getting some sweet media to convey his ideas but instead we get the life scared out of us. Good stuff. After the shock of it all (hee hee) we began talking about the journey that true community has taken through the Bible and how it represents the growth of community in general.
The stages can be best described as The Garden of Eden (hidden nakedness, i.e false community, the one we generally tend to begin with), The Cross (the point where differences in others are brought to light, where chaos, pain, and revelation of our inadequacies are revealed), The Tomb (when emptiness of a self-seeking attitude occurs, when the right to be angry or manipulative are relinquished), The Resurrection ( when we are reborn and gathered together), and lastly Pentecost (meaning that the Holy Spirit is empowering us to serve Christ and love others fully).
Another thought provoking teaching occurred when Jamie presented a slide show of art portraying Jesus. There were images that shocked, awed, horrified, inspired, and even confused us. We then shared what each thought of the artwork, with Jamie hitting right on the mark inside us with the question, “What kind of Jesus does the world see when they look at you?” I could feel the sting of disappointment wrapped around my heart as he spoke this (by the way, I know this question was not meant as a guilt trip, but God was showing me that I needed to fully live out what I admired about His Son). Many of us had never considered the fact that we spoke of Christ one way, but then conveyed His character completely different with our lifestyles. After all, we are reflections of Christ, not radios for Christ…
As students, we experienced a tremendous amount of breakthrough concerning the intensity and intimacy of our relationships with one another. Jamie’s questions brought about discussions such as how can we could promote the depth and breadth of our relationships, and what we should do to bless the community around us. In the pursuit of answers, we were left to reflect and ponder for some time. At one point, we were completely left alone by the staff to begin preparation for a community outreach that incorporated and embraced the strengths/talents of every individual in the group. This was an agonizing and pivotal moment. Students who were more prone to dominance seemed frustrated with the lack of input from some, while the more reserved students found themselves overwhelmed by the situation. Eventually the group had a breaking point, which required us all to stop, listen to each other, and pray. It was a very emotional time. It was hard, emotionally messy, and scary, but honestly, I know it was one of the most crucial points of the school. We are really beginning to become a strong, unified team that will be able to serve Christ wholeheartedly with deep love and trust in one another. This is very, very good!
Overall, this week was rich in knowledge and Scripture. As staff and students, we are continually working towards creating a beautiful and intimate community around us. We realize that Jesus is Lord, and that this is the core, the center, the most important thing to know. We desire to train others( and ourselves of course) to serve Christ, and to not just wait around for someone to ask for help, but rather, live out what Jesus preached and go into the world looking for the marginalized, hurting, and afraid. We are growing organically, spreading Christ’s love like a weed, not mechanically or with a cold and business like mentality. Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful week, and remember….love God and love others as yourself…and hey…you may be entertaining angels and feeding the Savior of the world. Peace!
Always your sister in Christ,
Stacie J.
