So this is it.  The public launch of Connexus
Barrie, soon to be followed next weekend by the public launch of our
Orillia campus.  In so many ways, everything changes this weekend.  But
let me tell you how it’s changing most for me.

It’s changing most because people I know who have given up on church
or who have never been to church are coming. Like you, I invited
people.  For me, as a church leader, that changes everything.
Everything I process as we head into the weekend is not about my
experience or my engagement, but about the engagement of my friends and
how they will relate to God , and how we can create an irresistible,
relevant environments that lead people into a growing relationship with
Jesus.

I just know how important this Jesus thing really is — not just for
me, but for everybody. And as so many of us have invited friends to
join us over these next few weekends, think about what’s at stake.

I think first of all that most people really do want to know God.
They’re pretty sure He’s real — they just want to know Him. They’re
hoping we can help a post-modern, cynical culture engage in hope.
They’re also wondering what to do with all their "stuff".  Will they be
judged by how they look?  Judged for what’s going on in their lives and
thoughts?  Will they be respected?  Loved? Accepted?  Not just by God,
but by us?

Will they find a home for their doubts and fears?  A place where
they can be real?  Will their relationships that are dangling by a
thread be rekindled?  Will their hearts come alive again?  Will their
family find life? Will they begin to hope again?

Will we respect those who don’t want to be engaged because they are
amazed that the walls are still standing now that they’re in ‘church?"
Will we welcome those who want a real greeting with a smile and an open
heart?  Will we respect where people are at and let God make a deep
connection?

The church isn’t for us.  It’s for the world.  It’s for everybody.
And I’m glad that day is finally approaching. I’m glad that
everything’s changing.   I’ll be praying for my friends, and your
friends — for everybody.

There’s so much happening this week.  I hope you get a chance to get over to www.connexuscommunity.com today to check out the new web site for the church I pastor, Connexus Community Church.  It went live this morning.  It will tell you all about what our whole team (staff and volunteer) have been working on for the last few months…launching Connexus.

It’s been a huge amount of work, and it’s by no means over yet.  Even as we go into three days of lock-down to get all the final preparations done for Sunday morning, we still have weeks more stuff post launch that has to be attended to.

But I’ve been asking myself — are we ready?  In every sense?  Am I ready for the launch?

Sadly, I haven’t been able to shake this bug, and it’s been seven days, so I finally went to the hospital today to get my problem checked out. 

The nurse who was looking after me, a young woman in her 20s, said "have you missed work because of your illness?"

I said, "I kind of don’t have that luxury quite right now." 

She said "What do you do?"

I didn’t want to tell her what I did (I don’t like telling people I’m a pastor — it’s just too weird), but she asked me point blank and I know its a sin to lie.  So I said, "Well, I’m a pastor and we’re actually  launching a church this weekend."

"Oh", she replied, "Are you the guy from that church,  Conn…"

"Connexus?"

"Yeah!  Connexus.  That’s the one in the movie theater, right? That’s so cool. My friend’s been telling me about that.  Yeah…that sounds so great.  What a neat idea…."

She actually sounded like she might attend.

I thought it was amazing that even in an ER ward at 7 a.m., hoping to be anonymous (it’s not nice to have a persistent flu bug that makes mincemeat out of your stomach and digestive tract), God was already at work.

He’s got so many people ready for this…over the next few weeks, and I’m sure months and years.

I’m going to live, by the way (sorry to disappoint you).  They’ve got me on a pill that should make me well by Sunday.   And even so, I’m not that bad. 

So I’m getting my body strong, praying a lot, getting rest (yes, I am getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night!), and working my brains off.  But most of all, under it all, I want to remind myself daily, hourly, minute by minute, that without God, nothing happens.  We need Him.  We love Him.  He’s the whole deal.  Without Him, nobody’s life gets changed.  Doesn’t matter how perfectly everything runs.

But it’s nice to see at 7 a.m. in an emergency ward, God’s already working in hearts and lives of people you and I have never met.  Because He’s got way more invested in the mission of His church than we ever will.  And for that, as we head into launch, I’m so grateful.

Had a call from a friend and colleague last night at home…a church leader who mentored me in my early years as a pastor and who provided all kinds of good counsel. 

He’s probably 10-15 years my senior, and we were chatting about his church (a big building campaign in their future), and he had lots of questions about Connexus.  He happens to be Presbyterian — my former denomination — and we were talking about what the church would be like in the future.

I have a hard time answering that.  I know things are changing even as we speak.  In the comments on my last post, Allen talks about being just on the edge of the Gen X/Buster generation, like I am (I’m 42).  I sense the differences (and the similarities) between me and the next generation.  Hey, I’m old enough to be the father of the youngest staff member of the Connexus staff (yikes), and I don’t think of myself as that old.  But still, I see the generational differences coming.

What will the church of the future look like?  I told him I didn’t want to race into a big building campaign because I don’t want to build some huge cathedral for this generation that will be vacant when the next generation arrives.  I like portable church right now, because it is so flexible.  I imagine a network of many, smaller gathering spaces (maybe under 1000 seats each) closer to where people actually live, then some huge 5000 seat auditorium in some central place we ask everyone and their cousin to drive to on Sunday morning.

Qualitatively, I see the church as being far more

• Relational.  If it really is about loving God and loving others, let’s get on with it.  Community groups are the heart of congregational life.

• Authentic.  Dump the masks and the suits. All of us are screwed up.  Let’s just admit it and make room for lots more broken people.  There’s a word for people who think they have their morality sewn up: Pharisee.

• Missional.  Gone are the days when the church is about satisfying the needs of its members.  We just grow fat and inactive when that happens. Most Christians are 2000 bible verses overweight, and most of what those who are "learning" need to learn can be gleaned through beginning personal study, community groups and weekend services.  It’s not hard to find the basics of Christianity.  The challenge is to live them out.  The church, as an outward focused organization, finds its life when we focus not on ourselves, but on others.  And in that is the mystery of life — that when we lose our lives, we find them — when we give our lives away, we gain them.

Thanks to my friend and colleague Terry, for some great conversation. 

What do you think?