What Are We Doing Here? PLAYING

Remember when everyone got to play? Ability or willingness didn't matter back in elementary school. Everyone took their turn at the plate in kickball. We all grabbed an instrument from the bucket in music class. The art teacher gave everybody a lump of modeling clay. Aaahhh....the good old days. What if we could recreate them in our church communities? What if everyone got to participate? That seems to be the idea from the descriptions of church in the Bible. God has this funny idea that every person in a church community has a part to play. But how?

SHARING OUR ABILITIES
Diversity is a beautiful thing- and not just when it comes to skin tones. God designed church communities so that each of us brings something valuable to the table. Each person has different gifts, abilities and experiences. If we don't use them, then the community is missing something. One struggle some of us have with this idea is that we don't see how our skill set works on Sunday mornings. What about those of us who don't like kids, aren't musical and don't do public speaking? When and how do we get to play?

Important questions. A couple of thoughts. First, don't reduce the church community what happens on Sunday mornings or in our meeting space. Since we are the church, our participation in the community happens wherever we go. Second, if you are unsure how you can use your abilities for God- start asking. Ask God. Ask those around you. And get ready when the answer comes.

SHARING OUR RESOURCES
When it comes to money and possessions, there's a trend that starts in the beginning of the Bible and carries through to the end: God tells people to give away some of what they get. Not only does the pooling of our resources allow us to accomplish more collectively than we can on our own, but it gives each of us the ability to feel included and be invested in our church community. And if Jesus is right that our hearts are where our money is, then that's a good thing.

SHARING OUR STORIES
Ever noticed that "in church" one person- usually the pastor- does all the talking? Isn't that weird? In a group of 50, 500 or 5000 people, we only hear one voice. Yet, God is at work in the life of every person. Each of us is learning, questioning, changing. And our stories need to be told so that we can learn from each other and grow together. No, every person isn't meant to teach- or won't want to do the public speaking thing. But, we can share our stories all the same. On a blog. Via email. With friends in smaller groups.

SHARING OUR PASSIONS
One of my favorite artists wears this tattoo on his forearm. What do you notice about it? Probably what's missing. Although the piece has structure (the outline and boxes) and content (the imagery), it isn't quite finished yet. There's room for something else. The tattoo won't be complete until some future inspiration occurs. Sounds a lot like our church community to me.

Although we have a strong sense of overall vision (structure) and some ministries in place (content), we're choosing to leave some things blank. Why? Because we've got a strong sense that God has dreams for our community that we aren't aware of yet. Opportunities that we haven't imagined. And when they come, we want to make sure there's room.

And how will they come? Brace yourself. Maybe through you. Although we can't take on everything, we want to pay attention to the dreams and passions that God gives the members of our community. For example, our involvement with a mission in Haiti and a ministry to the homeless in downtown Raleigh came as a result of the dreams and passions of folks in our body. Our leaders didn't try to figure out how to start those things. We simply paid attention to the people God brought into our midst and the passions they had. So, speak up and dream out loud. Every passion may not get expressed as a formal ministry of CNX (and doesn't need to), but we'll do our best to journey alongside you.

REFLECT:
Q: In your past experiences with churches, did they "let you play"? If so, what did that look like? If not, why not?

Q: There's a stat in churches that says 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Why do you think that is? Whose fault is it? How could we shift those numbers?

Q: Do you have a sense of what your spiritual gifts might be? If so, how did you discover them? What other skills, abilities and resources has God given you to "play" with?

Q: What part do you think God has for you to play in our community as we try to connect with Him, each other and our world? Are you playing this part right now? If not, how could you get started?

Q: Do you have any recurring dreams, passions or burdens that might be from God? Have you told anyone about them?