The New Circuit Riders...

I don't hear directly from the Lord in any vocal sense nor do I claim to be a prophet or the son of a prophet. Remember that as I share with you a vision that has been laying claim to my heart and robbing me of sleep for some time now and which I am acting on at last.

How do we get the message of Jesus outside of church walls? [and I am using "church" in its modern day sense of buildings, structures, and programs. I'm aware that isn't its meaning in Scripture so put the keyboards down...] I am calling for a new breed of circuit riders. Let me give you two examples of these people who I am seeking in our congregation and who are stepping up to answer the call.

At our third service, called Mosaic [but which I call "church for people who don't like church"] we have some of the tattooed, pierced, and spiked sitting together on one or two rows near the back. They are delightful people who love the Lord -- and whom I love -- but they don't fit in with the rest of the group. While Mosaic is filled with all kinds of people, there aren't many of "their people" who would walk into a large church building with them. My heart aches for those like these brothers and sisters who love Jesus but who will always feel alone in our churches. So I decided it was time to do something about that. I went to each of our "scruffy" brethren [their name for themselves, not mine!] and told them "I have a mission for you; a calling. We need to talk very soon." And we did.

With the full blessing of this church, each of these, male and female, are being called into ministry. We are wanting them to find ways to reach their friends and we are willing to train and mentor them. They have taken the name "The Scruffy Church" to describe themselves as they speak of Jesus to their friends during jam sessions or at work or at coffeehouses. They still meet with us on Sunday mornings -- their choice -- but they are free to be creative in spreading the good news about our Messiah and they are assured of our love and blessing as they do so. They are new traveling minstrels, wandering friars, a new form of religious order, new circuit riders.

There's also a group in our congregation who understand and appreciate the importance of prayer. Over the years they have experienced great frustration in trying to get the rest of the church to see and know what they see and know. They've tried setting up prayer groups, getting in a speaker on prayer, etc. but it has never "hit" as they wished it would. Rather than let them stew and die in disappointment I felt called to go to them and ask them to become a new religious order, a People of Prayer. Their job would be to fulfill their calling outside of the church's walls. Briefly -- and I'm leaving out a great deal -- they would be called upon to meet together and pray and then to separate and enter the world as prayer warriors, spreading the good news of Jesus one prayer at a time. They would enter a mall with the intention of praying for people and situations they see there [not confronting people or praying audibly with hands outstretched. This isn't for show]. If given the opportunity, they would ask someone if they could pray for them. People almost never refuse a quiet, simple, short prayer of blessing or a prayer for healing and help. The People of Prayer would then gather and encourage each other with their stories, pray for more opportunities, and go out once again.

On Sundays, we intend our worship services to be broken into time and again with stories of how God is working in these new circuit riders' lives. As we see more talent and more calling in our members we will commission them and send them outside the church walls to fulfill their calling. And if those they reach will not come here? Start a church with them "out there" and multiply the faithful in any way possible.

Scary? Not really. What if Jerusalem had decided it was too risky to send out those who were called to ministry? What if they decided they needed to convert Jerusalem first, or sort out the Jerusalem congregation first? If they had thought that way there would still, in 2006, only be one congregation of the faithful worldwide.

Risky? Sure. But Jesus told us to pick up a cross and follow Him. A cross! Something tells me everything about Christianity is supposed to be risky. What new religious orders could we form; not in the old sense of rules and regulations but in a new sense of developing and sending our members to reach the lost, using their talents and passions? For example -- have you seen the Jesus Painter? What would happen if you sent out a dozen Jesus painters to use their gifts in your community to draw attention to, and foment interest in, Jesus?

I believe the called and commissioned are already among us. Loose them and let them go. While we will never convince all the religious consumerists in our congregations to do Kingdom work, many will see the exciting, life changing things going on around them and want to be a part of this new work. Let's risk it. To God be the glory.