What if We Stopped Inviting People to Church?

I think things are changing. I (Amy) grew up in a traditional church - in the Bible belt, no less - and many good things happened in that church. People were mostly genuine and mostly loved God. More than you can expect of an average American church, I think. I was blessed. I wasn't wounded or hurt deeply by the church like so many I know. I love the church - in all of her imperfection.

But I really think gone are the days when you just invite someone to church who isn't familiar with Jesus or church. I just don't think that's how it works anymore - maybe it never really did. But the problem with the church is that it's full of people. (Not really. This a good thing. But stay with me.) Imperfect people. People who do horrible things. People who don't do what they say they believe. People who put on a facade. People who are better at judging than they are at loving. People who are better at attending than at living out their faith. Those who don't like church look in and wonder, "Why would we want to be a part of that?"

Too many churches have tried to be perfect instead of real. Rules instead of mercy. Production instead of community. Programs instead of mission. Many churches think that the way to "grow" is to invite more people, put on more of a show, and offer more to the consumer Christian. But I think a lot of people who aren't into Jesus and church are not interested in what the church has become. So, I ask you. What if we stopped inviting people to church?

What if, instead, we reached out and got to  know those around us? What if we decide to be late to where we're going so we can talk to our neighbors in the driveway? What if we invite the other soccer family over for dinner? What if we invite the single mom at our child's school out for coffee? What if we meet the guy who always serves our coffee at a bar over beer and get to know his story? What if we get to a point with people in our lives where we talk about God over glasses of wine on our patio while the kids play in the backyard? What if we got past our own discomfort, and went out of our own way, and learned to join those people in the things that they're already doing? What if we're real with them and talk about our faults and our vulnerabilities? What if we encourage them to do the same and love them no matter their story?

What if we then invite them to a small gathering of friends where we share a meal, share our lives and talk about the Bible? What if they get to know our friends and establish friendships with them outside of the one we've started? What if they find our friends to be real and vulnerable and loving, too? What if we invite them to go serve at the local mission with us? What if we make serving a regular part of our lives and not just something we do monthly or quarterly? What if those we're reaching out to see this and want to join in? What if we love people even if some of their choices or decisions don't align with what we've decided is holy or Biblical? What if we let God handle what needs to change in their lives, and we love them where they are?

What if, after all of that, they ASK to join us at our weekly gatherings where the people they've already met will come together in a simple fashion to corporately love on their God?

After Jesus washes the feet of his disciples at the last supper, in John 13:34, he says this: A new commandment I give to you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

What if John 13:34 looks a little like that?

God Cares About Websites

So, we're working on our Fringe Church logo (our friend Kim Eloe did it, and it's so cool - you're going to LOVE it! No peeking yet!), and then our business cards and ultimately website and all that fun stuff.

I secured the domain fringechurchCO.com a while back, but neither James or I liked having the CO (for Colorado) at the end. We both it agreed it would be confusing and not intuitive. Now that we're getting serious, we searched for what was available again. We found fringe-church.com, fringechurch.net, and a few others, but those were the front runners. We noticed that fringechurch.com was taken but wasn't being used. I called a domain registry company who instructed me on how I could find out who owned it. I learned it was a church called The Fringe in Mason, Michigan, and the pastor's name and email address was listed.

Really on a whim, I emailed him and explained that we were working on a church plant and would love to get the fringechurch.com domain from him if he wasn't planning to use it. (We learned that they were using the fringechurch.org domain but weren't point the .com domain to it as you might expect.) We imagined the email was a long shot as most places would ask you to pay significant money to buy a domain off of them.

We didn't hear back for several days, so I imagined it really wasn't going to happen and was thinking we'd just get the .net one. No sooner did that thought cross my mind, than I got in the car to go exercise on Thursday morning and saw an email from the pastor saying how excited he was to hear that someone else was using the word "Fringe" and that he would "love to release fringechurch.com" to us!!!! He even added "Hope God does a great kingdom work through you in the Denver area!" I get chills again just typing this, and of course I teared up when I saw the email. GOD IS SO AMAZING!!!!

THEN, as if that weren't enough, the nice pastor deleted the domain from his account, but it wasn't showing up for me to grab. I called the registry company again, and they said they keep it on a 5 day grace hold for him before it gets released to the public. They said it would be way easier if he just called in and gave them my customer number and asked to have it transferred to me. Sounds so easy, but it mean I had to ask the guy to make a phone call for me. Felt a little wrong after he'd been so nice, but I decided to be bold.

I emailed him a note and of course thanked him and then told him what the company had said. I told him that I was already grateful and that there was no pressure whatsoever but that if he were willing to make the phone call, I'd be grateful. This time, he wrote back within an hour, had called, and instructed me with what I needed to do on my end to accept the domain in my account, and again wished us well.

So. It is official. We own fringechurch.com!!! Don't go there yet, though. Still have to actually build the website. Details.

House Hunt Update: For those of you who read my last post here about how our house in Highlands Ranch sold without listing it, you may be wondering how our house hunt is going. We have 60 days to be out of this house from when we signed. Today, that number is 53 days. We found one house that was outside of our target area (too far west), but the house was amazing. We went ahead and put in an offer on it, but so did someone else. It stretched our budget, so we weren't too sad to hear that we didn't get it. (It was beautiful, but we just weren't 100% sure.) We went and looked again today, and again - the only place we liked was on the west side. Again, the house would be perfect for our family, but it's just not where we were hoping to be. We know God has the answer - he's just not clearly telling us. We're continuing to look and pray, but at this point the right house may just not be on the market yet. We may need to wait a couple of weeks and see what else comes on the market. NOT easy to do, but we will trust! Welcome your prayers for wisdom in the decision.

Church and Culture - An Integration

This last Sunday, March 1, I got a chance to preach on the subject of church and culture. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9, talks about the choices he made to reach many different people, in various contexts, in various ways, through a variety of means, and all for the sake of the Gospel. He makes it clear that there is a way in which a careful consideration of culture is important as we look at how to integrate culture with our faith, and specifically with our call to reach outside the walls of our church!


https://app.box.com/s/kvzhomri9b4jugjq8f4p9qpe7kglp6k3

How God Moved the Wiebes to Arvada

Some of you that follow my (extremely neglected) personal blog may recall this post where I started the story of how God moved us to Denver. I noted then that the story was just beginning, and I'm sure I still don't even realize how true that is.

As you know from previous posts, we've been planning to head up north at the end of this school year and have been focused on some of our last steps in the church planting mentoring process. Our Arvada community group is going great, and we're busting at the seams of the house we meet in up there. We've been praying for God to provide a 2nd home as an option to further grow the group somehow. Be careful what you pray for!

We engaged a realtor a couple of weeks back to start looking at housing up north. We weren't in a hurry by any stretch, but we wanted to start thinking about what we could afford and which neighborhoods we were interested in. The next house is one we're hoping to stay in for a long time. Because the market in Highlands Ranch (where we live currently) is so hot, our realtor advised us, as we expected, to find the next house first. We'd plan to put in a contingent offer on the sale of our house before even putting ours on the market. Average days on the market in our neighborhood is about 7 days, so we knew it would likely go quickly. (Plus - let's be real. James and I whipped this place into lovely shape when we moved in.)

We went to look at a few homes a week and a half ago, and at the end of the trip our realtor, Kevin, said he had a nephew who was looking for a house just like ours. Kevin said he'd just started a "Coming Soon" listing and told us the starting price he'd put on it which significantly exceeded what we had thought the house was worth. He asked us if that number was ok, and of course we said it was. (And yes, for those parental types out there, we did go home and read over the comparable information to make sure we weren't crazy high or leaving money on the table.) We set up a showing for the nephew the following week.

Given that our house wasn't even listed yet, we had to be home to let the nephew in. They had their own realtor (the wife's sister), and they were right on time. Ellie met them out front and told them they should buy the house. (Thanks, Ellie.) They toured the house, asked us a few questions about the neighborhood (which we of course RAVED about - will SO miss our neighbors) and commented on how great the basement was.

We got the call two hours later that we'd have a full price offer in hand by the end of the night!!!!!

We were stunned. And overwhelmed. And humbled. And literally moved to tears. Apparently, God wants us to go plant a church up north! So much so, that he's just going to swoop in and sell our house for us months before we'd planned to. Seriously. Why do we even make plans?

God is really amazing, though. It's been an internal struggle on when to move, because things are going so well up in Arvada and are slightly hindered by our not being there yet. Not to mention, we spend a lot of quality family time in the car driving up there right now. It's a sacrifice I'm happy to make in the short term, but the sooner it ends, the better. I love that God just came in and solved that question for us!

So, now what? The original contract had a 45-day timeline, but we countered with 60 days, and they accepted. As I write this today, we have 58 days to find housing. Obviously, we're hoping and believing that God will help us find a house that will suit our family for many years to come. The thought of moving twice (again) makes me sad. BUT, we know for sure that he has a plan. Whatever it is, we will walk through it.

Also not sure what we'll do about the girls in school. We'll talk to their teachers once we know where we're going and will continue to pray and make a decision when the time comes. Commuting them back here is on the table, but we're also fans of them meeting friends there as long as the academic side isn't to their detriment.

We are definitely sad about leaving Highlands Ranch. It's a great town, our neighbors are amazing, and our church family here is also amazing. In the end, it may only be a difference of a few weeks, but it feels like a lot just because it was so unexpected.

Please be praying for us as we look for houses. It is definitely a seller's market up there also (although not quite as bad as down here). Pray that God makes it clear to me and James where we are to go. And pray for our kids and also just that all will go smoothly with the sale of this house. Off we go!