vertigo 2007

vertigo comes out via email once a month to subscribers. each issue of vertigo is another slice of sharing some of our hopes and dreams for the “church” and our belief that some hopes and dreams don’t have to just be dreams--they can become reality.

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.

most often we talk about the culture of church and faith and how to live out the life of Jesus that we want but seem so unable to do well. we also struggle, because while we are enamored with Jesus, we are often put off by some of His friends. Recently, some of His friends (another church) felt like we were not really His friends and they were mean to us. we asked the smallest favor that would have required nothing but permission, yet because we do not look like many churches, they chose to be mean and selfish. in the name of Jesus they were mean and selfish. it gave us new resolve to not be a normal church.