31 Flavors

"If you understand something in only one way, than you scarcely understand it at all." - Marvin Minsky

Last night we took the family for a nice stroll in the tourist-trappy town we're staying in. We managed to get out of the beach shops with only a mere rubber bouncy ball. Imagine that. (Although I must confess that a t-shirt with a pink Floyd the barber from Andy Griffith... sporting the simple words below: "Pink Floyd"... caught my eye.)

Outside the confines of t-shirt heaven, we spotted an ice cream shop that seem to be the gathering spot for several other gullible northerners with burnt feet. In unison, the kids all said, "Dad, we gotta get some ice cream." It was, I suppose, an unavoidable stop. I had actually spotted the place several minutes before anyone starting noticing the wafting scent of waffle cones.

What intrigued me was how each Scott ordered very different flavors of ice cream. Brooklynn touted "birthday cake." Lauren went for cookie dough. Morgan ordered up some chocolate, fudge brownie. Michael had something called "Superman." Sherry dove into some peanut butter chocolate. I satisfied my bend for Starbucks with a single dip of coffee ice cream. I'm quite curious if there are unique personality traits and meaning attached to each Scott and their particular flavor of ice cream.

It seems to really understand my family, one scoop of vanilla would just never do.

To really understand what's happening in our churches, one scoop of vanilla will never do.

Many are asking, "What will the church look like in the future?" I loved how Francis Chan recently told his church, "I don't know what our church will look like in the future." Chan boldly told the church he serves how gathering on Sundays was a good thing, but it wasn't necessarily church in the purest, Biblical sense devoid of our preconceptions. Wow.

Though thousands may still be going through attractional church doors, the days of Willow, Saddleback, and Northpoint models seem to be fading. Attractional, Propositional, and Colonized (or Attendance, Buildings, & Cash) churches have stopped infiltrating culture and transforming lost people into disciples of Jesus. This might seem threatening to some, and we might see a valiant scramble to reincarnate past success (and God DID use these models), instead of doing whatever it takes to experience a fresh incarnate Jesus.

It's extremely interesting for me to look back at last year's study break blogs. I was reading, praying, thinking, and writing about how off track the westernized, one-flavor, vanilla, American Church was. I remember one good friend needing the balm of IHOP to help him tell me that I'm just so negative about the Church. I was seeing it as half-empty. I was a real downer, apparently. But as Sweet suggests, you really only have the right to criticize what you love if you truly love what you criticize. I so love the Church.

So far on this glorious study break, my time has been pointing to answers, hope, and the future. I believe God has glorious intentions for his bride that move way beyond my upbringing and preconceptions. That's not threatening, that's exciting. God promised to do more than we can ask or imagine... even if we've been stuck in the one flavor of "sameness" for decades.

I believe "church" will, in the near future, be very local, organic, messy, quirky, and unique. Excellence will no longer be how tight the band is, but rather how original art, and song, and poetry, and the stories are. Some of this might even include Sunday mornings. Franchising, attendance bragging, building sizes, the word "mega," and target audiences (that one has split many leadership teams) will give way to missional living, relational lifestyles, and the resulting incarnation of Jesus again in us... the Church. Some of this might even include Sunday mornings. I would bet the ranch (if I had one) you'll be hearing about MRI churches (missional, relational, incarnational) the way we were indoctrinated with "seeker-targeted" churches. I can only pray that MRI would remain something of an alive organism without falling into the box of a lifeless organization.

We, the Church, will grow and become a better bride as we missionally learn the character and personality quirks of people who prefer 31 or more flavors of ice cream... and not just plain vanilla. Who knew how the more we begin to rub shoulders with non-vanilla people to be Jesus to them... the more they become Jesus to us.

Charles Peguy penned these words as from God: "If there were no Frenchmen, some things I do would not be seen."

I would say, if there were no "birthday cake" ice cream... no chocolate fudge brownie... no "Superman"... no cookie dough... no peanut butter chocolate... or no coffee ice cream --- you just wouldn't be able to enjoy and understand my family as the unique and wonderful creatures we are. Why would anyone attempt to force these wonderfully made people into vanilla, single-dip, regular cones? Maybe you could sell a lot more vanilla ice cream, but you would sure miss something deeper and better.

Maybe we've built bigger, efficient churches, but we seem to have missed something deeper and better.