How to be a new church?.... Here’s a picture of an old church. This is the baptismal font at the ancient orthodox church in Philippi. It was brand new, once. You know, being the old church is a huge responsibility sometimes. Just keeping things running smoothly takes a lot of work. Budgets have to be planned and raised, and in financially hard times it’s not easy. And even more daunting sometimes, are the spiritual responsibilities. We’re called to be examples of the love of God for the world. But sometimes it is hard to love everyone in the church, let alone the world! And some people don't make it any easier, you know!

Sometimes it seems that all of our energies are spent on just keeping our heads above water. Sometimes it seems as if the church – I mean the church at large, not just Christos – is just surviving in this world. But we’ve been called to do so much more. We know that God has given us good news about a redeemer who loves. And we’re called to spread that message of love.

And sometimes the task of being the Church of Christ seems too big. What can we do? We’re so small and our responsibilities are so huge. What makes a church a CHURCH? What is the true test of a church? In other words, what do we need to be doing to be the kind of church God desires for us to be?

I think this passage from the book of Acts – about a new church – gives us a few clues. The story’s pretty simple. Paul receives a vision in a dream, calling him to take the good news of Jesus Christ to some place far away. Anybody ever sung the old gospel hymn "Send the Light"? Starts out "There’s a call comes ringing over the restless wave," and the second verse goes "We have heard the Macedonian call today,"... Well that hymn comes to us right out of this passage that Judi read. In his dream, Paul is called to Macedonia, just north of Greece. And as always, Paul trusts the vision, and sets sail for the big city – Philippi.

Well that hymn comes to us right out of this passage that Judi read. In his dream, Paul is called to Macedonia, just north of Greece. And as always, Paul trusts the vision, and sets sail for the big city – Philippi. Now, as missionary destinations go, I doubt Philippi would have been high on anyone’s list. Philippi just wasn't the kind of place where people would want to hear about Christ. Philippi started off as a little one-horse town, but the people of Philippi had made themselves the leading city in the district by hard work. It was the Toronto of ancient Macedonia. Philippi the good. They didn’t need Paul’s God. They had plenty of gods already. So when Paul came to this city I imagine he threw his arms up and said, "What on earth can I do here?!?!"

Now, I want you to notice carefully what Paul – possibly the most famous travelling evangelist of all time – did NOT do when he got there. He didn’t buy cable TV time to do televangelism. He didn’t put up a tent to conduct a revival (even though he was a tentmaker by trade). He didn’t stand out on a street corner asking people if they’re certain they’ll go to heaven if they die tonight.

Paul the evangelist did none of the things we in our day often associate with evangelism. Instead, Paul learns that just outside the city, along the riverbank, some of the Jewish people – women, mostly – gathered on the Sabbath for prayer. They didn’t have a synagogue, but they got together to talk about God, and to pray, and to worship.

And along with the Jewish women, there’s a smattering of non-Jews too – spiritually curious gentiles – notably a local businesswoman named Lydia – a seller, we’re told, of "purple cloth." Now, we’re told only four things about Lydia. First, that she’s a spiritual seeker as evidenced by her interest in these Sabbath Day discussions "down by the riverside." Second, that when Paul adds his voice to the discussion and shares about his own experience of God’s amazing grace, God opens her heart, and she responds. Third, her response is to get baptized, and she brings along her whole household – family members and employees alike -- and then opened her home to the church. She said to Paul, "Come and stay at my house," and when Paul left Philippi a couple of weeks later, the church was meeting there.

And so the new in Philippi was born! Ever hear of the book of the Bible called Paul’s letter to the Philippians? It was written a few years later to this very church – which continued to meet in Lydia’s house – and was comprised of her family, her employees, and perhaps a handful of others. Maybe no more than fifteen or twenty people. As an aside, if you’ve ever thought Paul’s letter to the Philippians almost reads like a love letter, you might be interested to know that some scholars think that Paul was in love with Lydia! Who knows? But more importantly, this record of what Paul did to start that little church provides us with some key ingredients that every new church needs. Some key ingredients that we already have, but also need to cultivate and grow, here in Christos.

First, the church has to be a setting that embraces and encourages spiritual curiosity. Those folks who gathered at the river were looking for something. They wanted to worship God, but they also welcomed people who weren’t so sure. Who had questions.

You know, questions are OK. Sometimes it seems like the church mostly talks and teaches about things contained within a prescribed little circle of truth. And it desperately avoids open discussion about things that lay outside that circle. And yet, most of us- when you think about it - live OUTSIDE that little circle. We live in the world – it’s the only place for us to live, for now – and so we live outside that circle of certainty where we have to wrestle with questions like, – oh, I don’t know.... like "If God is good, why did I get AIDS. Why did someone I love get breast cancer? And what, if anything, can God really do for them, and me, while we all suffer? And how can I reconcile my faith with science? How can I reconcile my faith with my sexuality? Is there any divine truth to be found beyond the circle of the Christian faith? Is faith about believing something about Jesus, or actually following Jesus?" Here’s a good one: "If God answers prayer, why doesn’t God ever seem to answer mine?" Oooooh, the church doesn’t want to encourage THAT one!

I’m thinking you know the questions. The ones that come to us when we’re lying awake at night, or sitting in the emergency room, or reading a puzzling passage of scripture, or just talking with friends who think differently than we do. Most of us do live outside the circle of theological certainty. And we feel uneasy about it. Sometimes, because the church has told us that doubt’s a sign of spiritual weakness. Other times just because it’s scary when we venture beyond what we’ve always been told.

And yet, gathered there by the riverside in Philippi was a group of people that – in true rabbinical fashion – got together to talk, and ask questions, and explore. We gentiles lost something when we moved away from our Jewish roots. You see, the synagogue was never a place for mere one-sided teaching and preaching. It was a setting for dialogue, and exploration. And the result is that hearts get stirred up, and minds are provoked to think new thoughts, and people are made ready for spiritual growth! That’s part of what makes a new church! Spiritual growth.

So here in our church we need to be a community that embraces and encourages spiritual curiosity. So if you’re curious about God and life and faith – you’ve come to the right place, and we encourage you to ask the hard questions and to explore the deepest mysteries of life. We don’t promise answers... but we promise God’s companionship, and ours, on the journey.

Second, the church has to be a setting where stories of grace are told. Paul shared with the people gathered by the river about how God found him. Remember how he was knocked off his horse and blinded by a light as he travelled to Damascus to do what? To persecute Christians! And how the love of Christ embraced him, even though he had done hateful things? And the practical difference it made in his life, as he now lived for Christ and for others? We’re told that the people there were moved by Paul’s story, and because of it, many came to faith! I’m not just talking about the stories in the bible. You have stories of grace. We all have stories of grace that we need to tell.

Some of you have told me about miraculous healings in your life. About incredible experiences of forgiveness and reconciliation. Some have had experiences with angels, guiding them along an important way. Some speak of being terribly lost in life, until they were beautifully found by the grace of God. And these stories need to be told! They need to be shared! Christos has to be a place in which WE ALL tell the stories of grace, over and over again! And we can do this, and it WILL make a difference. How do I know that? Because the book of Acts makes it clear that it wasn’t simply Paul’s preaching that moved people.... it was the work of God in their hearts. That’s where the grace works wonders. We just have to keep telling the stories. God will do the rest.

Now, there’s a third reason that little church in Phillipi grew. The book of Acts tells us that Lydia brought her entire household to be baptized. In that time and place, that meant not just her immediate family, but everyone else, her servants, everyone around her, people of all genders, classes, ways of life. And in the same way, we need to bring those around us, and open our ministry to whoever will come! As a church, we need to be as all-encompassing as the love of God!

There are some churches that seem to think you have to have your faith pretty much together and in order before you can come. But that’s not how it was in the early church. They hadn’t yet built up the walls of doctrines that – when you think about it – are mainly intended to keep the chaff from getting all mixed up with the good grain. But our job as a church is not to protect ourselves from unbelievers, and not to just accumulate people who are already perfect Christians. Our job is to seek out the chaff, those who are outside the experience of the grace that we know. And welcome those who are not perfect, and to provide a space where they can be curious and ask their questions, and where they can hear the stories of grace, and grow as the Spirit leads. And then those stories will become a source of VISION, not doctrine.

Annie Lamott has written a book called, Traveling Mercies, and in it she describes a story told her by her pastor, and her reflections on that story. She says:

"When she was about seven, her best friend got lost one day. The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark. She was very frightened. Finally a policeman stopped to help her. He put her in his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, "You can let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here." And that is why – says Annie Lamott – I’ve stayed so close to mine – no matter how bad I’m feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their tawny voices, I can always find my way home." (Annie Lamott, Traveling Mercies [New York: Pantheon Books, 1999], p.55).

We sometimes think of church as home, rather than a place from which we can find our way home. We say, "This is my church home," and there’s some appeal in thinking of church as home –– at its best, church can be a place where we feel comfortable and accepted and loved –– like home OUGHT to be. Church is a place where we’re fed –– both physically, at potlucks, and spiritually, through the sacraments and the spiritual practices we engage in at church.

And yet, thinking of church as home can sometimes be problematic. It can lead to proprietary thinking, like "This church is my home, yeah, I know I should welcome others, but I have a history here, and I’ll welcome visitors to my church on my terms." Thinking of church as home can lead us to ignore the gospel imperative to go forth into a world that’s often radically different than our own and make disciples, and instead sit back and let others come to us on our terms. Thinking of church as home can fool us into thinking that what’s really important is the current institution, not the mission to God’s people out there.

That mission is to create a place where spiritual curiosity is embraced and encouraged. A setting where real-life stories of grace are shared. A community whose arms are wide open in love to any one, in any condition. Isn’t that a wonderful image of what a church should be like? We should be a setting where doors – and hearts! – are always open, where gifts are generously given, and where love is always found. Open curiosity. Shared experiences. Radical inclusiveness. So crank up your curiosity, dust off your stories, open wide your arms, and get ready to be a new church!

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