Saturday, January 8, 2011

Outside looking up

Our family has stopped going to church. If you know me well enough, this isn't a surprise. If this is a surprise, well then hear me out. I am more intrigued by Scripture today than ever before in my life. In my current circumstance I find that Scripture to be true and absolutely relevant. Nevertheless, within the pages of Scripture, I cannot find church as I have known it. Consequently, as a matter of faith, I no longer participate in traditional church meetings.

My paradigm shift is simply this: I no longer seek Scriptural truth from an ecclesiastical institution, but rather I seek ecclesiastical truth from Scripture. Where this will lead, we don't yet know, but our growing understanding of ekklesia from the pages of the New Testament is, at the same time, exhilarating and frightening. We're hoping to understand what it is to "pour new wine into new wineskins."

As an adult, I have never officially been a member of a church. When I was a young man, God told me that I never would. When our family attended traditional churches, it seemed we were always the ones outside looking in.

Now we're outside looking up.