why we care about wineskins

"new wine must be poured into new wineskins" luke 5:38

here we are, the end of another year. in april '08 we will celebrate the 2 year anniversary of the refuge. in the past 20 months or so we have learned more than we could have imagined about what we believe about church, community, the Kingdom of God. and we also know we have barely scratched the surface. while the refuge is not a newborn infant anymore, we are still just toddlers, learning to walk. the hardest thing about our situation is in the "old way" of doing professional church we actually do know how to run, sprint, get to the finish line. we could have produced something far more pretty on the outside that looked a lot better and would have done the trick for a lot of people (and paid our bills a little easier!). but we believe this is not just about the refuge. there's a movement in the world right now, a hunger for God & community & justice & peace that has nothing to do with "church" the way most of us know it. it has to do with the movement of God being unleashed in smaller communities who are called to live out the ways of Jesus more naturally, honestly & stripped free of politics, power & man-made systems.

so what does this have to do with wineskins? the refuge is committed to creating some new wineskins, not just crushing some new grapes. we believe you can't keep replicating structures & systems that do not promote life, equality, beauty, and diffused power. putting out some cool candles & creating a hip vibe does not make something "new" when the old structures still promote corporate leadership, power & programming over people. when women, minorities & the marginalized do not have voices. when neat & tidy and squared away is valued and messiness & struggle is intolerable, especially for leaders. when church-centric behavior & building hogging is promoted & we are allowed to be insulated & self-serving. when people's giftedness & passions are squelched because they don't fit with strategic plans.

we realize creating new wineskins is way harder than making new wine. we're not saying this is a better way than others. we are just saying that for now, we are committed to experimenting with a whole new bottle, one developed from the words Jesus shared in the beatitudes from matthew 5 instead of the latest and greatest leadership book. the shape is sometimes ugly. the packaging isn't the most inviting. yeah, we know it sometimes leaks. but it seems pretty solid & functional, less breakable, stronger in some strange kind of way. we have no idea what the 2008 vintage will be but we hope what you taste is Jesus' hope in radical and beautiful ways. we're glad we're in this together.