Total Church

I can't remember how in the world I came across this book, but man, am I ever thankful that the Lord saw fit to get it in my hands, and I'm not even finished with it yet! Total Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis has revolutionized my thinking on "Community" and specifically how the Gospel and Community should be intertwined.

In this book, they articulate that "the church exists both through the Gospel and for the Gospel and that as a result we should be asking questions like these:

• "We ask, 'Where does God fit into the story of my life?', when the real question is, 'Where does my little life fit into this great story of God's Mission?"
• "We want to be driven by a purpose that has been tailored just right for our own individual lives, when we should be seeing the purpose of all life, including our own, wrapped up in the great mission of God for the whole of creation."
• "We talk about 'applying the Bible to our lives." What would it mean to apply our lives to the Bible instead, assuming the Bible to be the reality- the real story- to which we are called to conform ourselves?"
• "I may wonder what kind of mission God has for me, when I should be asking what kind of me God wants for his mission."

They discuss that within our America context, we compartmentalize all of our responsibilities with "Christianity" being one of those many responsibilities, but not different in functionality than any of the others. As a result, we see being a Christian the same as we see being an employee. We check in and check out when our daily/weekly responsibilities are complete. In other words, we're a "Christian" during our church event time and then we are who we "really are" when we leave for "our" time. On contrary, however, they argue that Christianity is our very identity. It is who we are. As a result, we don't hang up our "Christianity" when we leave church events, however we are "Christian" in the roles that God has given us as an employee, father, husband, church member, co-worker, friend, etc. They state, "The vast majority of Christians have not been helped to see that who they are and what they do every day in schools, workplaces, or clubs is significant to God, nor that the people they spend time with in those everyday contexts are the people God is calling them to pray for, bless and witness to."

I was blessed to learn that being "Christian" is our very identity from one of my professors in school and I've been trying my best to teach that within my current context, however what blew my mind was how this related to "Community". They rightly articulate that the people of God are just that, "a people", called by God for a purpose greater than themselves. They state, "We are not saved individually and then choose to join the church as if it were some club or support group, but rather Christ dies for His people, and we are saved when by faith we become a part of that people for whom Christ died...My being in Christ means being in Christ with those who are in Christ... To fail to live out our corporate identity in Christ is analogous with the act of adultery."

Whoa! I don't know about you, but that quickly snapped my head back! You see, naturally and what many folks don't realize about me, is that I'm an introverted person and so my tendency is to move away from people rather than toward people, unless we're talking about the Gospel. As a result, I tend to want to be around people when "it's time to be around people" ie during church events and/or when I'm working, etc. but then I don't want to be around people when "it's not time to be around people." Now, I would not express this in my theology of the church, however in functionality this way of thinking leads to a reality of life with the same end as the compartmentalization of our lives into categories of responsibility and as a result, a lack of true biblical community which God intends for His people and me as an individual of that people.

Now, there's another element to this as well and that's the management of my energy which I've got to be very careful to keep in check. As an introvert, people drain me of that energy. Now, don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that I don't love people, because I do truly love people, however being around people naturally drains me of my energy rather than fueling me. So the question for myself and for other introverts out there is, "How do we open our lives up to true biblical community where being "Christian" is our identity every moment of our lives and still maintain personal energy levels so that we can dynamically invest in God's people with the gifts that He's given us to do so?" This is a tough question, because people are everywhere we go and I don't think there is a quick fix solution that I can offer here other than to say we must plan to refuel. Whether that's a day trip to the mountains or ocean, a hike into the woods, or a run where it's just us, God, and the pavement, we must plan to refuel. If we do not, then Satan will use a good thing, ministering to people, to run us into the ground and keep us from the best thing, energetically, passionately, and dynamically making authentic disciples of Jesus who make authentic disciples Jesus with all that we are and all that we have to the glory of God.

For all you introverts out there, how do you believe we can keep the two components of the question above in check? I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, successes.

In Christ,
JR