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Boiler Rooms
A
Personal Perspective
Malc
Peirce – October 2004
Member
of the Management Team of Reading Boiler Room 2001 - 2004
The following document in no way represents a
consensus view held by the Core Team of Reading Boiler Room
It is what it says, a personal perspective
Background
Reading Boiler Room
Prayer
Rooms
Boiler Rooms as Prayer Rooms
A
Youth movement?
Prayer or “Intercession”
Church
plant – some challenges
Unity
Can
a Boiler Room be a Church?
What size and nature does a City
need to be?
Sustainability
of 24-7 365?
Evangelism?
Finance
Missional
Communities?
Community
Living
in Community – a personal perspective
Urban
Friars - of Rings and things
Of
Kings and Things
Urban
Monasteries / Friaries
Fathers
Boiler
Rooms - An alternative view
As I set out to commit my thoughts to paper I realize that only a few people will even know who I am, let alone why I should feel that I have anything to offer worth reading. However having lived with a Boiler Room for three years now I hope you will indulge me in sharing a few insights. I write just after the 2004 Roundtable in Barcelona and having not attended feel perhaps that I missed a significant weekend, since people have passed me copies of papers, sent me emails, telephoned and “skyped” me. For the reader’s sake I have endeavoured to be brief and you will have to read between the lines a great deal to make sense of some of my fairly skeletal paragraphs. If anyone wants me to expand any points, or challenge my thinking, then just email me on Email
I
have seen new ideas come and go, ministries rise,
and
once influential leaders disappear
into oblivion,
often
in disillusionment, burnout, even bitterness
In
the following pages I hope in a very modest way to address a number of major
challenges currently facing the 24-7 prayer movement. In particular Boiler Rooms
and the questions of church-planting and monastic vow and order.
I
have read with more than a passing interest the present round of articles by
various people. This piece is primarily prompted by “Principles and Practices
of Church Planting” (Floyd
McClung). Where I have quoted from
books or papers I have used a blue font. I also include a measure of response to
Pete Greig’s proposals regarding the “Order of the Mustard Seed”, as far
as I have understood what is being said.
Throughout
I will generally use the word congregation rather than church when
referring to a locally based gathering of God’s people under a name and with a
pastor, pastoral team or leadership of some sort. I will attempt to articulate
why I do not believe that Boiler Rooms can or should be “churches” or
“congregations” and look at some of the challenges related to the monastic
vision.
I hope that you will find this at least thought-provoking. I am fully expecting that people will beg to differ with my stance and also am fully aware that five years from now I will read this and have questions myself! I feel some responsibility toward all those who have caught the vision for Boiler Rooms, since if we had not pressed in and pushed through (to use the jargon!) others might never have even begun to dream of creating Boiler Rooms. If history recalls that this was a brief and passing phase, or worse still does not recall it at all, then I hope we can be forgiven for raising false hopes and expectations, of making it sound feasible when it wasn’t.
As
a founding member of the core team of Reading Boiler Room I have been involved
with 24-7 here from the beginning. As a Christian of some 40+ years I have seen
new ideas come and go, ministries rise, and once influential leaders disappear
into oblivion, often in disillusionment, burnout, even bitterness. Some I have
seen lose their faith altogether in the process.
My
wife Penny and I come from a mixed denominational background. I was born into a
Salvationist family, had a “brush” with Methodism and an Independent Free
Church. Penny spent her early teens in the Anglican Church. We were married in
Elim, spent some years in the Apostolic Church (Pentecostal). In our mid
twenties Penny and I left our local Baptist Church to start a “House Church”
in a shared community house, where we could express a new freedom in worship,
prayer, depth of fellowship and exercise the gifts of the Spirit unhindered by
tradition and learn how to live in a community over a period of four years. We
have tracked the “decline” or at least “development” of the House Church
movement and its transformation into effectively ‘just another
denomination’. I would venture to suggest that much of the current debate
within 24-7 has large amounts of the same “feel” and “issues” that the
emergent House-Church movement faced. Were they truly churches? (Most used the
term fellowship in an attempt to avoid the question).
Many
of our contemporaries have however continued to pioneer and fight the temptation
to compromise and settle down. For my own part, there has been a continual
challenge to concepts of church. Over the past decade I have been led to mix
with intercessors and prayer leaders, and had the privilege to travel with
prophetic men and women and more recently some younger prayer
leaders/visionaries. In the process, God has placed on my heart not just a
passion for the rising generation but a desire to see Europe evangelized. More
specifically still, to see Germany and Sweden released in prayer and mission.
My
wife (Penny of Chapter 19 fame! – Red Moon Rising*) and I parented the work
among the young ‘Skaters’, ‘Moshers’ and ‘Goths’ in Reading town
centre. Thus for us the coming together of prayer and youth in 24-7 has been a
natural process. God gave us the vision and home for Reading Boiler Room at just
the right time. It was an organic thing, the response of a small group of
people, having found something of God in 24-7 prayer, wanting more of him.
Penny
has worked in Social Services, the Health Service, the Youth Service and in the
Commercial Sector. My background is a mix of office administration and
education, having taught in Primary Schools for seventeen years. We have three
adult children although the youngest lives at home since she is mentally
handicapped. We now foster through a national agency, having spent three years
with “CARE Remand” fostering young men on remand arrested for criminal
activity or alleged crime.
“Clearing
up sarah’s vomit a few minutes later
Penny
reflected that this was not quite what any of them
had
anticipated when they first imagined a 24-7 house of prayer”
Red
Moon Rising – Pete Greig 2004 (1)
For
readers of ‘Red Moon Rising’, we can vouch that,
although there is much myth that has grown up around what happened Saturday by
Saturday, what is described in Chapter 19 pretty much did happen, though not all
in one afternoon. In the words of the late Eric Morcambe “All
the right notes, not necessarily in the right order.” I was amused as I read
it by the thought that Pete Greig’s ability to momentarily climb into my
wife’s brain was a little disturbing! But, seriously, Pete has written a
wonderful account in a way which none of us could possibly have done,
interweaving disparate events into a superb prose which captures the heart of
those days. In one sense the following pages add a little more insight into what
lies behind that chapter.
I
can safely say that the Reading Boiler Room evolved through a process of
“wishing”, “dreaming”, “doing”, “being”, “praying”,
“debating” and “weeping”! It has not been an easy journey. We have been
conscious that we were part of a defining process. Living it, not talking or
writing about it. People were able to come and see what God had done. Now I hear
new terms such as “missional communities” and wonder what on earth they are!
Is this thinking coming out of Boiler Room or being overlaid on it?
Over
the two years and a bit that Reading Boiler Room 1 existed there was an ongoing
discussion of a number of topics
First
some scriptures, then a little introductory overview.
1 Cor 12:12
For just as the
body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many,
are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all made to
drink of one Spirit. (NRSV)
14 Indeed, the body does not
consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not
a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part
of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not
belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If
the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were
hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the
members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single
member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one
body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again
the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the
members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those
members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor,
and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas
our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body,
giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no
dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one
another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is
honored, all rejoice together with it.
27
Now you are the body of
Christ and individually members of it.
Eph 1:22
And he has put all
things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the
church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
It’s
the Shekinah Glory
“Draw
close to God and He will draw close to you.”
We
do well to remember that 24-7 was and is first and foremost about prayer. It’s
success I would suggest is down to two main things. Firstly it was God inspired
and we owe a debt to Pete Greig and others for listening and responding to God
and for praying and inspiring others to pray. Secondly Father, Holy Spirit and
Jesus responded heart to heart with the hundreds, now thousands, who set aside
serious time, often when they could have been sleeping or out clubbing or
whatever, to draw near to Him.
It
will have come as no surprise that when Reading opened an ongoing 24-7 prayer
room, God seemed to be pleased. One pastor said to me “It’s the presence of
God. I can’t keep my people away.” An elderly intercessor smiled and said,
“It’s wonderful, it’s the Shekinah Glory. He’s here.” Many times
people commented on the way the air felt “thicker” or “heavier” in one
prayer room or another. There was even one particular spot in our “Nations
Prayer Room” which would often instantly cause me to do that bend over and nod
thing which some are accustomed to, even when if I wasn’t actually in there to
pray.
Boiler
Rooms undeniably take 24-7 prayer
to
a deeper level because of sustained prayer
We
like to think of 24-7 as a youth prayer movement. However Reading would never
have survived if it wasn’t for the fact that it quickly attracted pray-ers of
all ages. Those who one might call “serious intercessors” were drawn to it
and made what we were more sustainable. It made us more valued by the church.
Indeed over time the numbers of young people reduced as initial enthusiasm
waned. I will state now, although the theme will re-occur, that for me it is a
vital part of the changes that will happen in the Church as we move into these
“last days”, that ”the hearts of the fathers will be turned to the
children” …… in other words, the church will come to value all its
members, no matter what age, sex or cultural/racial background. This horrid,
ungodly, worldly obsession with the notion that only young people can pioneer,
be radical and bring about change, will die. Long live the Calebs!
Prayer
or “Intercession”
I
will only flag up here that I am not unaware that many would say that
there are levels of prayer – “ongoing”, “strategic”,
“intercessory”, “prophetic”. Here is not the time or place to get into
that in any depth, but it needed mentioning. We have all experienced a 24-7
prayer room beginning to hear from God prophetically. Sometimes He has given an
individual or a group of people some direction for themselves, their City or
their congregation. Boiler Rooms
undeniably take 24-7 prayer to a deeper level because of sustained prayer.
It does mean that we need to begin to be more responsible for what people think
God may be saying. In Reading we began to get more interested in “spiritual
mapping”, etc. If we pray, will God speak? When He speaks, does he expect us
to listen and act? If He speaks about the City, the Church or the Nation, where
do we go with that.
I
do believe that Boiler Rooms can have a role in corporately “standing in the
gap” for their town, city, nation, etc. The challenge is how we integrate our
“standing” with others called do the same in different ways. Where, as in
Reading, a Network of Pastors have established Prayer and intercessory meetings
and networks or where perhaps there is an appointed prayer co-ordinator, there
are challenges in linking together the various elements. In Reading we have
developed links with prayer leaders and ministries, with for example “Sowing
Seeds” and “Connect UK/Europe” and with visits to the Northumberland
Community, among others. We have actively supported and encouraged those
elsewhere in establishing Boiler Rooms for their cities and nations.
It
is my conviction that a city prayer room has the potential to be the most
significant element in praying transformation into being. It has the major
advantage over any church-based prayer movement of looking Satan in the eye and
declaring unity of the body. Note though that I say a “City Prayer Room”. By
that I am intending to imply that I do not believe that having a sign outside
which reads “Boiler Room” has any intrinsic value, other than indicating to
a visitor what s/he might expect to find inside. A “Boiler Room” has no more
value than any other cross-church, multi-denominational prayer room which God
might inspire a town to create. Indeed I would now have to begin to argue that
there is an intrinsic danger in attempting to franchise
prayer.
“One
Church – Many Congregations”
Personally
I have come to the conclusion that Boiler Rooms have to be accepted as
“church” (Ekklesia) since, where two or three Christians gather (Ekklesia?)
He has promised to be “in the midst”. However that does not make us “A
Church”. In my current thinking there can be no such thing as a “local
church” although there can be “church in a locality”. A group of people
who gather (Ekklesia) together in a structured way and with a purpose, to me is
a congregation which is in turn part of the church in the town or city. I
am amused, if not incensed, when I hear pastors/leaders speak of “my church”
and “my people”, as if they owned them.
I
understand scripture to indicate that The Church, as the Bride of Christ,
is One Body, universal, including both living and dead saints (believers). That
is to say that there is only the “One Holy and Apostolic Church” which
encompasses all believers alive on this planet. That said, the book of
Revelation tells us that each City has a Church, as in “To the Angel of the
Church in ……. write”. John says Church not “churches”.
We
might speculate that God sees ‘Church’ in a Continent and maybe ‘Church’
in a National sense. However increasingly we are seeing that the old concept of
a Church as a group of people with shared(ish) beliefs that meet in a specific
building, in an area of town, possibly even commuting for miles, is not a New
Testament view of Church, albeit that it qualifies as a congregation or
gathering.
If
anyone has followed the progression of teaching from the likes of Ed Silvoso you
will be aware of the changing mindset toward “One Church – Many
Congregations” (www.readingchurches.org.uk).
The train of thought leads to City Eldership across gathered congregations and
spheres of influence such as council, businesses, the health service etc. In
fact in other cultures and languages the confusion about the word “church”
does not exist at all, as say in Portuguese there is a different word for church
in the sense of the building to the one used for the people (congregation) and
another for the Church in the sense of the wider people of God.
I would propose that straight away we abandon
any concept of a Boiler Room being
“a Church”
Andrew
Jones refers to people today “experiencing church
in a modular rather than singular fashion”. (2) That is exactly
what regulars at the Boiler Room have been demonstrating - perhaps ‘church’
on Sunday, maybe a bit of ‘God Channel’, a couple of visits to the Boiler
Room, discussions with people from other churches, a CD, a tape, an exchange on
MSN or by email, time spent on the wailing wall, chatroom, etc.
It
is no longer adequate to think of one place or group of people as fulfilling all
of a person’s spiritual needs in the way perhaps “chapel” once did. I have
for a long time now been speaking of every person having their own individual,
personalised church, they may share some elements in common with others around
them but their church is individual to them. The Boiler Room feels a little like
a ‘supermarket church’ – open all hours, self-service, pick and mix –
but definitely only a part of a person’s church experience. It is just that
availability which is attractive to unchurched people. Boiler Rooms are
definitely a seeker-friendly environment!
We
are seen to represent the whole church,
not
to be doing our own thing
Church
plant – some challenges
I
need to pick up on something which Floyd Mclung says, “we
could mistakenly give away our spiritual children by encouraging them to join
existing local churches.”
(3) This
is a very telling point. Floyd is coming at the subject from an experience of a
para-church evangelism organization. He is rightly seeing that YWAM can be so
much more successful if prayer is given a greater place. However I believe that
to view Boiler Rooms as church plants is a grave error.
Over
the two years and more of the Reading Boiler Room, we saw a number of young
people become Christians. We took initial responsibility for them, tried forming
a cell, ran the odd “gathering” but most in due course joined local churches
through friends they made at the Boiler Room. Possibly the major reason Reading
Boiler Room worked was that Reading has a high level of unity among the pastors
and has had so for about seven years, much due to Ed Silvoso by the way. They in
turn were approving, supportive ( some financially so ) of the Boiler Room since
they saw it as part of the fabric of the “One Church in Reading”, trusted
that “their people” would benefit from coming and crucially, that we
were not a church plant likely to “steal their sheep”.
We
had long discussions as to whether we could start a church “alongside” the
Boiler Room. Permissions were sought of 24-7 National and of the local pastors
in Reading. Both seemed happy with the proposal that Penny and I pastor such a
“church”. However as we talked through the implications we concluded that
we’d probably have to find other premises to “do church” in, so as to not
have the effect I’ve outlined above. But in planting a church some people
would have come to us from “local churches” and the damage would be done.
Pastors would discourage their flocks from coming to the Boiler Room, prayer and
financial support would decline.
Pastors
would discourage their flocks from coming to the Boiler Room, prayer and
financial support would decline.
In
respect of prayer and other "Christian" gatherings within the
building, the Boiler Room has to be considered to be part of the Church in
Reading, if only because we are acknowledged as existing by local churches and
church leaders. The use of the building by various groups, such as youth leaders
and Kidzchurch validates us as part of the wider church. However do we
qualify as a “church” in the sense of a local congregation?
Unity
Floyd
writes: “Unity is not the ultimate goal of
a missional community. Attempting to build unity with local churches can
actually hinder true unity.”
(3)
Unity
may not be the ultimate goal, but to not actively work toward unity is
unbiblical and for us not an option.
·
“… that they may be one”
·
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations
…….. ”
·
“By this shall all men know that you are my disciples …… ”
A Boiler Room is totally about unity. Not unity of doctrine and belief, since you can’t get that along one pew! But unity in the spirit, as in Jesus’ “That they may be one, even as we are one” and Paul’s “bearing with one another, make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3). A Boiler Room has to be open to all, it is in the city, for the city, by the city in the sense of being in the church, for the church, by the church.
If we begin to use Boiler Rooms as a form of church plant in their own right we risk destroying their very purpose in being. To me the primary function of a Boiler Room is to take 24-7 prayer to the next level by providing a “House of Prayer” for the City, Nation, Continent and the World.
In the words of a local pastor, having read a draft of this, “I would add ‘not unity as in denominational mergers’ because I believe most church leaders sigh with relief when they can do something genuinely spiritually unifying without having to consider the church-political ramifications; hence the strength of Boiler Room 1”
I
would like to offer a living example of why I believe a Boiler Room would not
work if it was a “church” in its own right.
A
Boiler Room as a congregation
is
a contradiction
Can
a Boiler Room be a Church?
Charisma
Center Stockholm, a small “case study”.
My
Swedish friends may have a fuller and more accurate account to offer, but this
is what I have been led to understand.
Some
years ago the Stockholm City Council met with major church leaders to offer them
a partnership in the central Stockholm theatre and arts centre. It was proposed
that the ‘churches’ provide a spiritual input. What was a possibility was a
café and a prayer room, an arts workshop, in fact a variety of possibilities to
be explored. In the course of preliminary discussions the question was asked,
“If people become Christians in this new place, which church would they go
to?” The pastors could not come to agreement on that and so could not pursue
the matter. Inevitably the whole plan fell through.
Some
of the more enthusiastic younger church leaders were so appalled at this that
they decided to go it alone with a vision for 24 hour church to include a prayer
room, drop-in etc. This has come about. People left existing congregations to
pursue this new vision. The building is known as “The Dream Centre” and the
‘church’ is called “Charisma”. So we now have something which looks
pretty much like a Boiler Room, but it is a “church” (congregation). No-one
from other congregations goes there to pray. The other churches despise it for
having its roots in discontent and independence. They in turn don’t think too
highly of the other leaders for their disunity and failure to grasp such a
wonderful opportunity. They have grown into a large, active,
predominantly young, and flourishing “church”.
Despite
the positive aspects and the zeal of its founders, I see Charisma both as an
opportunity missed and a warning to us.
What
size and nature does a City need to be to sustain a Boiler Room?
In
all that I have read and listened to about Boiler Rooms I have never noticed
this question being addressed by anyone.
What
few people will know is just how difficult it has been to keep Reading Boiler
Room afloat. The things which are generally written and spoken are for obvious
reasons all very positive and the underlying realities are left unspoken.
The
people who sustained the prayer
came
of course from congregations
in
and around the town
Reading
was once allegedly said by George Otis Jr. to be the City in the U.K. most
likely to see transformation. Whether he ever said that is in dispute, but the
reason given, why he thought that, was the size of the Christian population in
the town. We apparently have an above average per capita born-again population.
How much above I do not know, neither how that was calculated. But it could
account for the support we have had.
I
would suggest that for a Boiler Room to survive there needs to be a certain, as
it were, “critical mass” of people with a heart to pray. I was tempted to
say “or a lunatic few on a suicide mission!” but that would not square with
what I am arguing.
Sustainability
of 24-7 365?
We’ve
run under the banner of 24-7-365, however it is a sobering fact that after the
first couple of months 24-7 prayer stopped at Reading Boiler Room and we had to
look at models described as “Patterns of Prayer” or “Rhythms of Prayer”
which were sustainable. Night-time prayer occurred once a week, thanks to the
University students, plus very occasional other sessions or part sessions.
My
estimate would be that we had active prayer happening for probably 10, maybe a
little more, hours per day on average. At times that would be several people in
different rooms of the building. Lunchtime was always popular. We did not keep
any statistics on that so the point may be debated. The people who sustained the
prayer came of course from congregations in and around the town, boosted by
pilgrims, staff and ‘Geese’ (year-outers, for those not with the jargon).
the Boiler Room became what I would describe
as
a “Harvesting Machine”
Penny
and I had worked among the young people in the Forbury Gardens for a number of
years before God gave us the Forbury Vaults in 2001. The proximity of the
building, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and our acceptance of these young
people despite their dress, lifestyle and colourful language, led to the results
which we saw. Many Christians of course struggled with seeing and hearing them
in a House of Prayer on the lines of “You have turned it into a den of
……….. !”
Our
experience has been that the Boiler Room became what I would describe as a “Harvesting
Machine”. God was able to attract, affect and change people’s lives
through the building and the community in and around it. For once “Church”
became accessible theoretically 24-7 rather than church doors being closed most
of the time. Some of those people became Christians.
Discipling
them was an issue. Most joined local churches. The effect of that was to raise
our esteem in the eyes of local pastors! We were seen to not be grasping hold of
these new Christians but passing them on to local congregations who could
nurture and grow them. Pastors loved that! We were seen and are still seen as a
‘good thing’ because of that. Support from congregations has increased over
time, and is still increasing, perhaps because of that. We are seen to represent
the whole church, not to be doing our own thing. It is here primarily that I
believe Floyd McLung to be so mistaken in his arguments.
Reading
Boiler Room has always struggled. Every so many months we would have a crisis
meeting in which the team discussed having to close since we could not cover
utilities bills. Salaries have always been a bone of contention since over the
first year we tried to pay staff salaries that reflected, as best we could,
commercial rates. We took the unusual decision to pay according to need rather
than by job description. People outside usually expressed surprise at how much
it cost per month to sustain the Boiler Room and even now few people know the
actual cost. Despite there being no rent to pay it was still touch and go. Our
bottom line was that most support came from individuals and only a little from
local churches.
Missional
Communities?
Prayer will motivate people to mission, to become
‘the answers to their own prayers’ ……. You can’t lay on the floor of a
nice warm prayer room in the middle of winter and not be moved with compassion
for those living on the street outside. I would propose that straight away we
abandon any concept of a Boiler Room being “a Church”.
That said, it doesn’t preclude it from being a
“Community”. I would offer the premise that “Monasteries, Abbeys,
Nunneries and Friaries, etc. are communities at a level that “churches”
rarely if ever achieve. Confused?
Quoting
Floyd again,
“To gather is to be community, to be
connected in heart and mind. To gather is to build deep friendships,
invest in one another's lives, and grow together in grace and obedience to
Christ's commands.” (3)
I am surprised that Floyd has been around so long yet has not perceived that it is actually possible to gather yet not be a community. Equally you don’t have to “gather” as a “church congregation” to be a community! We are in great danger of confusing our terminology. So far Reading Boiler Room has not been a place of “gathering” in the sense of “congregation”. At times when “gatherings” occurred they were by groups coming in from a congregation or a “meeting” run by the ‘Church in Reading’ in one way shape or form.
We have generally continued the 24-7 model of prayer.
Yet few would deny us a sense of "community" - in a variety of ways.
As
I have read and listened to what is being said about “The Order of the Mustard
Seed” I have at one and the same time felt an excitement and a concern. 24-7
has developed very quickly in its short few years, from Prayer rooms, to Mission
teams, to Boiler Rooms and soon it seems to an order of Friars. Is it the right
step? Is it a step to far or at least too soon?
a monastic community seeks
to affect the world around it
whilst not seeking to grow by addition
Two
related things seem to be being proposed. The one is the ‘Missional
Community’ which would have residents and to one degree or another train and
send people out. The other appears to be an order to which anyone can sign up
irrespective of denomination or primary church allegiance. It would be something
which operated at a different level to” local church”.
Of
the latter I have insufficient information thus far to comment at length, but
have two major concerns from what I have heard. First for those people who
finding it hard to commit to a local congregation excuse themselves from any
accountability by saying that they owe allegiance to the order. The second
reservation has to be that such an apparently secret order could so easily
corrupt over time into something completely unintended now. What I can comment
on with more understanding and experience is the “Missional Community”
aspect.
We
use the word community to cover many different aspects of society. Examples are
the “local community”, the “school community”, the “business
community”, a “monastic community”. One can also speak of “living in
community”, which in itself can have a variety of meanings describing people
living together in different degrees of mutual dependency and sharing of
accommodation, wealth and possessions.
If we look at the scriptures we have something of a problem since the word does
not occur that often, if indeed at all. In the old and new testaments the
writers tend to use the term “brethren”. Sexist I know, but there we are!
Where it does it refers to the people of a whole locality it refers to (brothers
- brethren) as in Deut 15:7
If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community (brothers)
in any of your towns within the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do
not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbour. (NRSV) or
John
21:23 So the rumor spread in the community that
this disciple would not die. (NRSV)
Acts:6:2
And the twelve called together the whole community of the
disciples ..........
Acts: 6:5
What they said pleased the whole community, and
they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with
Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of
Antioch. 6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid
their hands on them. (NRSV)
This has value for our understanding in that the
disciples were clearly not being dictatorial in their leadership, but shared
what they believed God was saying and opened it to democratic approval. There is
clear suggestion that meals were at least sometimes shared, but no strong
evidence that people were living together other than as extended families as was
the tradition.
Ephesians:6:23 Peace be to the whole community, and love with
faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who
have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ. (NRSV)
Again a reference to the whole community of believers
(all the brethren), reflecting the biblical view of each place having only the
one church, with no place for denominational gatherings calling themselves
churches.
We can cheat a bit by using
The Message which does
employ the word community as in Phil 2:1 If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his
love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community
(koinonia - fellowship) of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care-then
do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.
Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put
yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your
own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
(The Message)
Similarly
Peterson says through James 3:18
that "You
can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and
enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other,
treating each other with dignity and honor.
" (The Message)
That
is a very simple exhortation to live in community in a general sense of
“fellowship” not shared household. It still
doesn't
justify separating out a particular group into what we today might mean when
referring to "living in community" or "being a community”. A
good pastor friend of mine commented something to the effect that “monasteries
cannot be found in the New Testament, but then neither can light bulbs and I
don’t think God has a problem with light bulbs.”
Living
in Community – a personal perspective
I
will digress for a few paragraphs to describe our personal experience of living
in a “community” house, as I believe there are insights to be gained. In
1976 Penny and I bought a house on a joint mortgage shared with another
Christian couple, Paul and Janet, from the Baptist “Church” of which we were
members. I should say immediately that 25 years or so on we are still the best
of friends, indeed they are part of our “personal support group” (accountability
group). It was the culmination of many hours of thinking and praying. The
house was a large three-storey Victorian terraced house. It was a huge step, but
we felt it was right. From virtually day one we had lodgers, usually three, for
some time another couple lived with us. We were all in our early twenties,
freshly Baptized in the Holy Spirit, beginning to operate in the Gifts of the
Spirit and wanting to live our lives for God.
We
were to learn a lot about living with others, relationships, personal space,
caring for single people, protecting marriages, parenting other people’s
children and a myriad of other things. At the outset we made some serious and in
hindsight, valuable and sensible decisions. Firstly we set a “contract” for
four years, with the default that we would sell up and separate. Making a
relatively short-term commitment gave us the security to go for it unreservedly,
knowing that there was an end in sight if we needed it. We moved in with just
one child, ours. By the time we parted four years later there were five children
and a sixth on the way. We had indeed outgrown community!
when I hear people talking or writing enthusiastically about
“missional community” I find
myself asking,
“Have you any idea
what you are proposing?”.
Each
couple had their own bedroom. We had a child’s bedroom. Two other rooms
provided accommodation for three lodgers, one room being set up as a bed-sit. We
all shared a lounge, playroom, bathroom and kitchen. We divided the kitchen into
two mirrored copies so that each couple (in reality guys, the girls!) had their
own cooking space. We cooked communally, the girls taking it in turns to cook
first course and second course. This provided the first real benefit of communal
life, a healthy competitiveness ever striving for greater culinary excellence!
Housework was rota’d. Other domestic arrangements were worked out as we went
along.
Both
couples agree that we would never actively encourage people to live in a
“community” situation as it does put huge stresses on relationships. Many
readers will have shared student accommodation and be, probably painfully, aware
of what I am talking about. Forget married couple’s quarrels over where to
squeeze the toothpaste tube, this is something else! Things like dress code,
keeping bedroom doors closed, locking the bathroom door, someone else eating the
last piece of cake I was saving for later, someone else’s baby throwing up
over our settee!
Seriously
though, as in marriage, there has to be a lot of give and take, coping with each
other’s little foibles. It is only too easy for relationships to go sour or
get complicated when living for a long period together.
So
when I hear people talking or writing enthusiastically about “missional
community” I find myself asking, “Have you any idea what you are
proposing?”.
“Real
Monks!”
I
was recently recommended a book called “Community and Growth” by Jean Vanier
(4). Jean founded a community called l’Arche which is dedicated to the care of
those with ‘Mental Handicap’. I was much taken with the community because we
have a special needs daughter ourselves. The community have given themselves to
the fulltime care of those who cannot care for themselves. It is a book I would
highly recommend to anyone interested in what a “Monastic style Community”
is really like.
I
refer to this book as an accessible discussion of what we might be asking of
people if we went down the route of making Boiler Rooms into genuine 3rd
Millennium Monasteries. I also refer to it because it speaks of the seriousness
of making covenant for life and covenant beyond that of marriage and of
commitment to Christ, of covenants with others, to a community or movement.
As a taster, or for those who won’t buy the book
(4), here are some quotes which jumped out at me. I will purposely not comment
on them, rather they can speak for themselves.
“To
be covenanted to others is to be earthed with them…….. If we begin to live
in covenant as we enter community, it is sealed at a particular moment, maybe a
very solemn one.”
“Monastic
stability means accepting this particular community, this place and these
people, this and no other, as the way to God. ( sub quote of Esther de Waal –
“Seeking God )”
“There
is always a temptation, because of the need for security, to plan a community
beforehand, in all its details. Ideas then precede life and want to govern it.
But that is not usually the way the spirit works.”
“Many
want community and a feeling of being together, but refuse the demands of
community life. They want both freedom and community; freedom to do just what
they want when they want, and community, which implies certain structures and
values. It’s like wanting the cake and eating it too!”
“From
time to time I meet people who want to create a community. After twenty five
years’ experience …..
I
wouldn’t advise anyone to do so of their own accord”
“Every
community seems to need regular visits from someone who listens and asks the
right questions about their life in community, and to whom all its members feel
they can talk”
“We
are far from the ideal of the Gospel and this causes a latent anguish and guilt
which sap our creative energies and can lead to sadness and despair”
“At
a time when so many new communities are being born, which are sometimes
clamorous in their songs, youth and excitement, we should not forget the old
communities, which have worked the earth and lived peacefully, in prayer,
silence, worship and forgiveness, and whose traditions go back centuries.”
(4)
The core values of 24-7 are negotiable
Values
“The
difference between a vision dreamed and a vision fulfilled is a well worked
through set of core values that are lived and taught and made central to the
vision of the community.” (3)
I
pretty much go along completely with all that Floyd McLung says about values. He
sums up very well the need for both vision and values. However he states that,
“The core values of 24-7 are our non-negotiables”
(3). That’s an interesting statement both because if it were true then we
would have sadly set out in the beginning to produce no more than a fossil, or
rather God would now be guilty of having led us ‘by accident’ to create one!
In fact of course it isn’t true since the values have changed (remember “raw
and subversive”?) since the beginning and will continue to evolve. So although
it is a direct contradiction I have to suggest that the core values of 24-7 are
negotiable.
In
the case of the Boiler Rooms, Reading set out with five values and now has six.
We took from the Benedictine heritage which included “Serving the Poor”.
That quickly proved inadequate and evolved into two streams of Poverty
and Justice issues. The monks in Reading would not have recognised
“Justice” at all as part of their calling. Indeed they were content to
exclude non-vowed from their monastery and it appears, even segregate the
standing poor from seated rich in the church outside. Increasingly we are
looking to the Franciscans as an open order model.
I
am so thankful that we are value-based; that we have not tried to be a church,
but rather have endeavoured to live out Christ from a foundation of prayer.
Urban
Friars - of rings and things
When
I heard of “The Order of the Mustard Seed” (5) I was reminded that when
Penny and I were married we exchanged rings on the inside of which we had
engraved “God First”.
It expressed our desire that within the covenant we were making there was a
higher overarching covenant with God. In 2002 we celebrated our 30th
Wedding anniversary and such is the effect of middle age we both had outgrown
our rings. We chose new matching rings, Celtic in design of course(!) and in a
ceremony conducted in the Boiler Room we renewed our vows.
As
I said at the outset, as a couple we have seen new ideas come and go, ministries
rise and fall, and once influential leaders disappear into oblivion, often in
disillusionment, burnout, even bitterness. Some I have seen lose their faith
altogether in the process. The early days of the House Church movement was a
time when the word Covenant was much in vogue. People committed themselves to
each other and submitted their lives to leaders in ways which we would now shy
away from. This became known as “heavy shepherding”. Many people were deeply
hurt as they entrusted decisions to others. It might just be that the
“Cymbrogi” concept could go much the same way. Whilst being excited that
there might be a wave of greater commitment to the call of God we would voice
caution about making covenants for life other than marriage and to God,
traditionally symbolized by Baptism.
Phil
2:2 make my joy
complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in
full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but
in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not
to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
(NRSV)
Reading
Abbey to me is a mixed heritage for the Boiler Room. I love the values that we
have extracted. However we should remember that monasteries were not 100 per
cent wonderful God-given institutions. We tend to have romantic notions of what
they stood for and how they lived. At best it was a harsh life for the average
monk, a life of late and broken nights, early mornings and no cable TV. We love
to think of all the prayer that went up to God, of the alms given to the poor,
of the meditation and contemplative lifestyle.
The
reality though was that in many ways Reading Abbey was downright parasitic. It
cost millions, in today’s equivalent, to build and maintain. The very stone
was extravagantly quarried and imported from France. Excavations have recently
shown that the floor was relaid at least three times over time in ornate
mosaic-styled tile. The Abbot lived in conditions fit for a King and was indeed
able to entertain Royalty. He was incredibly powerful. The majority of the land
in and around Reading was his, or Battle Abbey’s. The Abbey sucked the land
dry. The townsfolk lived in varying degrees of poverty. Its very foundation was
tainted in that the King invested a huge amount in it so as to pay penance for
his sins and gain salvation.
The
long established Cluniac Benedictine’s were none too pleased in due course
when the Franciscans arrived! The Abbey, as a closed order wanted little to do
with the people of the town except to eat their produce and take their taxes.
Franciscans (GreyFriars) were genuinely “missional”, an open order, probably
pretty evangelical! The arrival of the Franciscans threatened to undermine the
perception and role of God, the Church and the Abbey. So the Abbot gave the
Friars a small plot of marshy land down by the river. The resulting Friary sank
into the ground.
When
the Abbey was ‘dissolved’ few townsfolk would have shed a tear. Those
actively fighting for religious freedom would have cheered. We forget our
history at our peril. The Reformation was a “Protest” against much that was
terribly wrong under Papal rule. Reading Abbey became the King’s “Holiday
Inn” for a while. Later Cromwell’s men showed it no quarter and cannonballs
tore it apart, this symbol of papacy. In the years following this edifice became
no more than the town’s stone quarry. Bits of it can be found in buildings all
over Reading. Maybe it was the only way God could “take the Abbey into the
City”!
The
Civil War, was a religious war. It was a war for the freedom of people to
worship God the way they wanted too, without human Mediators, without penances,
without indulgencies. I am by nature a pacifist, but I suspect my forebears
declared for Parliament! We come full circle to the House Church movement again!
A rejection of religiosity, of pomp, of ceremony, of ‘irrelevant’ religious
acts. Many people during the Cromwellian era left the parish churches, since if
“the earth was the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” it was tantamount to
sin to try to worship him in buildings full of statues and idolatrous images. If
“the temple curtain had been torn in two”, it was wrong to have an altar and
a priest between you and your God. This was the result of the scriptures coming
into print so that any man could read their teachings. The “Church” had lost
its grip on the people.
However
both the Abbey and the Friary serve to show us that a monastic community seeks
to affect the world around it whilst not seeking to grow by addition in the way
that a “Church” would expect to do. In short, a monastery does not function
as a “Church”. But no-one would deny they are a “Community”! Membership
of the Community was restricted and the vows acted as a filter of a novice’s
determination to follow Christ in a very specific way.
My
own take on “Urban Monasteries” is that they would be, first off, “open”
communities. Some “monks/friars” might have day jobs. They might take
“year outs” or “decade outs” of specific commitment. They would probably
remain mixed sex. They might contain married couples. In other words, they would
be very different from our traditional view of monks and nuns. I think it is
important that we clarify what it is we are proposing that “3rd
millennium” monks or friars, monasteries or friaries might be. To set us
thinking what they might or might not be ……..
Traditional
monasteries were mainly foundations from “mother” abbeys, e.g. Reading from
Cluny. They had strict accountability, e.g. Reading under Chichester. There was
a definite hierarchy and very strict rules, not least celibacy. They cost huge
sums of money raised from ordinary people, many poor!
It
seriously worries me that we tend to talk as if we are running when we haven’t
yet stood up. It sounds as if we have already established “Urban
Monasteries”, which we are looking to multiply. In fact we have a few
experimental loosely structured and fairly fragile entities which are working
out what they are and how they are going to function. We mustn’t mistake hype
for hope.
Reading
Boiler Room’s experience is that there is a health in going for local
accountability to the Church in the City in which the Boiler Room is based. We
are currently looking to set up as a Charity in our own right, which would mean
we were accountable to a local board of Trustees. As the movement grows there
could come a temptation for the “Order” to be centrally supervised with a
resultant hierarchy.
I
strongly believe that all Boiler Rooms will share similar core values and
facets, but that locality will dictate different emphases. Boiler Rooms will
have different strengths or giftings which reflect the place in which they are
founded and the personalities of those involved.
You have many teachers,
but few fathers
Fathers
The
24-7 movement has grown so fast that we are seeing young leaders beginning to
burn out. It appears that St. Paul’s words were only too true – “You have
many teachers, but few fathers”. Who are the fathers of the 24-7 movement? Who
will help this “young child” to grow?
I
love what Floyd McLung has to say …….
“Leadership
in God's kingdom is influence through serving.
“
“Investing in a person’s life by imparting
values and then helping them cultivate and nurture these values is at the heart
of raising up a spiritual family, of being a missional community. If 24-7 is to
be a movement with a lasting impact, it will take 4-5 generations of spiritual
sons and daughters to turn it into a movement. One generation of leaders a
movement is not.”
We
need to learn from the mistakes of the past, if we possibly can, and older heads
often carry experience and sometimes wisdom. In ten to twenty years time the
young men of today will be the grey hairs, with the wisdom of time and the scars
of experience. For now however this still ‘toddler’ movement could do with
dads being around. As a “Caleb” (okay I’m not that old!) I am determined
to run with the rising generation, or at least keep up for as long as I can. It
grieves me, as it must all of us, to see relatively young adults becoming tired
and overstretched.
With
regard to both prayer and finance I would suggest that a Boiler Room needs the
support of the Church in the City, to enable and encourage the members of
congregations to come to pray and pay. A Boiler Room therefore needs to have an
image of being a place of prayer in the city, for the city, by the city. If we
are perceived to be adding value to the Kingdom of God in the city, we can
expect, almost demand, support from the church in the city. That support will be
both in pray-ers coming and in finance being forthcoming.
I
would suggest that for a Boiler Room to exist in a town or city, that place
needs to have a certain minimum Christian population, a church leadership, or at
least a church population, which has caught a vision that their city, and
nation, can only be transformed through a foundation of prayer.
With
regard to Evangelism, if our hearts are right before God, it does appear from
our experience that, provided a Boiler Room has certain facilities, the right
position, ethos, staffing, etc. …….
and God ….. then, “If we
build it, they will come”! A
truly spiritual place has an appeal. God is attractive. The Holy Spirit is real.
The above has huge implications for the proposition of developing Boiler
Rooms as self-standing monastic entities.
We are at a stage when wisdom and experience is at a premium within the
movement.
Thank you for reading,
“Malcolm
in the Midst!”
Malc Peirce
1)
“Red Moon Rising”
Pete Greig
ISBN 1-84291-095-7
2)
24-7 & Church Planting – a briefing paper
Ian Nicholson, Roger Ellis, Andrew Jones
3)
“Principles and Practices of Church Planting”
Floyd
McClung
4) “Community and Growth”
Jean Vanier
ISBN 0-232-51814-9
5)
“An invitation – Genesis”
Pete Greig