"Creating Culture"

I love the United States, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to live in this country.  In many ways, though, I am a product of the culture in which I have grown up, and, unfortunately, this culture has not always been all together positive or godly.  Every day, I see just how much I have been fashioned by and in the image of the cultural conglomerate that, largely, sets the tone for how I and most of my family and friends pursue and live life.  The uneasiness I feel about all of this has prompted me to seek the Mind and Heart of Christ.

In my spirit, I have been feeling God birth within me the desire to be a part of a small family of people who desire to create culture—a missional culture, that is both Spirit-filled and Spirit-led—together, rather than continue to be created by the culture of our day.  This missional culture will, I believe, create itself from the inside out—for our Creator still creates!—as we TOGETHER (and this is the KEY!!) submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, submit to each other, and seek fervently the Mind and Heart of Christ.  What I see with my spirit’s eye is a culture defined by the Holy Spirit’s powers of grace, truth, and loving-kindness, where all of us are devoted to God and to each other MISSIONALLY:  and that is, to reaching out to the lost, separated, and marginalized; to teaching and inspiring those within (and those who are drawn into) our midst to pursue an intimate and authentic relationship with Jesus Christ and with each other; and to releasing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, who will go and do likewise.  This devotion will, in large part, be expressed in and through the following seven arenas of life:

1. Spending time and having fun together and inviting all whom we encounter to come join us;
2. "Breaking bread” together;
3. Working together;
4. Studying and contemplating the scriptures and other spiritual texts together;
5. Praying and worshiping together;
6. Actively getting “to know” each other, NOT shying from the messy details of each other’s lives, and receiving the healing and freedom that such intimacy brings; and
7. Serving together wherever God wishes for us to join Him in His work.