Monday, I wrote about the importance of providing concrete examples of emerging congregations. I wrote a little about Jacob's Well in my October 19 entry. Jacob's Well has been around for almost seven years and was a conscious attempt to reach people inhabiting a postmodern mindset.
I noted in one of my posts this week that postmodern influences impact those who may never have heard the word "postmodern" before. Over the past couple of years, I have had the privilege to assist a fledgling church that is more of this model. So, I thought I would tell you a little about it as an example.
Joshua Tent
Joshua Tent has existed for one year as of this week. How it came to be is an important story.
Three years ago, I met a guy named David Stanley. Dave is in his early thirties, is married, and has four boys under eleven years old. When I met Dave, he lived in Olathe, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. He had grown up in a para-church organization called YouthFront. He had worked there most of his life. Not long before I met him, he had quit that job to become the worship leader for City Church, a multi-ethnic Evangelical Covenant Church in my neighborhood. He also did some part-time youth ministry for a new organization called Urban Youth Leadership.
Dave and I struck up a friendship that quickly turned into weekly two-hour lunches at Café Rumi, a Sufi-themed restaurant near my house. Dave has a real passion for urban ministry, an 
interest I share. Amidst the consuming massive quantities of grilled chicken and humus, we talked for long hours about ministry, Church, culture, the city, theology, and other topics. We talked about ourselves, our gifts, our limitations, and our dreams. (We once discovered from a website that Dave has the temperament of Captain James T. Kirk, but without the penchant for melodrama, and I have the temperament of Captain Jean Luc Picard, but with more hair.)
Two years ago, Dave and Angie bought a new home in Rosedale (Kansas City, KS) that was part of a City Vision neighborhood fill-in housing project in a distressed neighborhood. As we talked, Dave began to sense that God was calling him to something new. He talked with Evangelical Covenant leaders about ministry, but Dave does not have a college degree, much less a seminary one. That seemed to be the standard denominational line from other tribes as well. It was clear he would be on his own if he were to start a church.
Was it necessary to go to seminary to gather a group of folks together and do ministry? Dave kept sharing his passion and asking questions. I kept asking questions right back. (Mostly because I didn't have the answers but didn't want to let on.) To make a long story short, after getting input from various people, Dave decided to pursue a variety of ministries in the Rosedale area. He networked in a variety of relationships (which he is a master at.) He envisioned developing a community of people passionate about showing Jesus' love in Rosedale.
Last fall, Dave quit his City Church job (although he later took up a part-time assignment as a worship leader at another Covenant Church.) He invited anyone interested to come to his house on Saturday evenings to sing, study, and pray.
Over the past year, ministry and community have been steadily building. Dave came into contact with a pastor named Juan from Juarez, Mexico, three months ago. Last week he and his wife Lupita flew from Juarez to Kansas City to explore joining Joshua Tent in ministry. Nothing is finalized, but there is a sense that God is at work in all of this.
The real story of Joshua Tent, though, is the people. There is Eric, who has tutored and mentored several boys from a government housing complex.
Derrick has organized basketball teams that play in competitive city leagues.
Stephanie and Edeshia are starting a support ministry for women in a government housing project. Cindy, a registered nurse, and Steve, a high school teacher, travel regularly to Haiti. She helps with a pregnancy clinic, and he has done projects with clean water delivery systems. Steve also has done some tutoring with Eric.
Michelle has come along and decided to help lead worship.
Angie organizes care for the kids. Denny, Diane, and their kids are always serving in some capacity. I know there are others I am missing that contribute in several ways, but you get the picture. This is a community of people with a common affinity for doing ministry.
Joshua Tent began renting from a Nazarene church in Dave's neighborhood for worship. (There is a discussion of partnership ministry with that body.) Right now, Joshua Tent is not affiliated with any denomination. Dave is getting support from a variety of people and churches. Currently, there is an informal relationship with the folks at Hillcrest Covenant Church. There is the possibility of a formal relationship with the Evangelical Covenant denomination. Dave began college this fall, and upon completion, more opportunities will be available to him should Joshua Tent affiliate with a denomination. Juan may come, and Dave would focus on the community ministry development. Who knows?
Dave is conversant with the Emergent scene, but except Eric, I doubt that most of the others in the ministry community know much about Emergent. Most of them have home congregations (Methodist, Baptist, Covenant, Presbyterian, etc.) that they participate in in addition to Joshua Tent. Joshua Tent is not concerned about membership and having big attractional worship services. Neighborhood people are coming to worship. People can be as much involved or as little involved as they want. Because Dave raises his support and there is no building to maintain, the overhead is minimal. The goal is to provide a conduit for ministry, and that goal is being achieved!
This is one example of the Church of the future. I see an organic postmodern 
emergence of a community with a common passion for doing ministry here. Institutional matters are backstage. While I think there is a desire by Dave and the Joshua Tent board to eventually affiliate somewhere with some broader entity (denomination, network, etc.) for accountability and support, planting a flag for some bigger entity is not even on the radar.
Joshua Tent strives to be multi-ethnic. One of the exciting aspects of Juan from Juarez is his passion for eliminating ethnic barriers. Joshua Tent welcomes women into all ministries of the church. The funding at this point is accomplished through diverse networks. Joshua Tent is more than a mission organization but not quite a church in the traditional sense, yet maybe more so in the biblical sense. What Joshua Tent is primarily an organic response to the Spirit's call to ministry.
Leave a Reply