The Community of a New Creation (#450)

What if the church Jesus is building looks more like wildflowers strewn across an alpine meadow than a walled garden with manicured hedges? Wayne's back for a new podcast and after a look at the last month of his life, he reads Chapter Two of his recently-completed book, Finding Church. The church Jesus is building is the fruit of a news creation that rises out of transformed lives, not the result of human effort trying to do something for God, no matter how well-intentioned. Wayne invites the reader in to a different conversation and a different perspective of the church that humanity cannot build. We can only recognize her as she takes shape around us and participate with her as long as God gives us opportunity to do so.

Podcast Links:
Chapter 1 of Finding Church
a href="http://www.lifestream.org/blog/finding-church-now-available-pre-ordering">Wayne's Latest Blog on Finding Church
Pre-order Finding Church
Living Loved and Riding Bikes - Podcast from the archives
Kenya Update for the Outreach in West Pokot
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8 Comments

  1. Hi Wayne….. Been following the podcast since 2005….

    I was going to pre-order the book but 36$ shipping to Canada was a bit much….

    Could you please let us know on the podcast, or the blog, when the book is available on Amazon or better yet Kindle… I hope to nab a copy before returning to work Mali, West Africa in November…

    Talk about finding church….. We are working with an unreached Islamic people group – this means with NO believers in the ethnic group, and no churches of any kind in the region. You might have heard of Mali in the news since the 2012 coup, and 50% take over of the country by Al-Qaeda. In January 2013 they moved to take the rest and many people evacuated…. but we were able to remain. Anyway, can we find church in this context? The last thing we want to do is to plant western culture style churches and paradigms…lke we did in our previous works since 1995. We certainly wish to sow only Jesus, and let Him raise up Jesus followers. We certainly do not want our names associated with being the folks who planted denominationalism among an unreached people, so that they can carry on the Denominational tradition. Can they become simply Jesus followers, without a denominational name and structure? I think so, but it remains to be seen.
    Of course our greatest critics are the neighboring ethic groups were the gospel has had a little penetration….. Western churches in African skin…. My three grown sons (Recovering MK’s and PK’s) listen to the podcast with me almost every week.

    Your book might even illumine our Journey among these precious Islamic people, within a context I bet you never imagined when you wrote the book??? Looking forward to the book.

    “There are God’s people in the African bush that will never read, they can never have a bible but they know God by believing the Gospel preached to them they are inside the Gospel of Grace. These churches are so deep in the bush that not even the Pharisee can reach them. Glory to God!” (Bertie Brit)

    Anyway, I look forward to the book…
    Andy

  2. Thank you Wayne for reading the second chapter of your book. As a Canadian I ran into the same problem as the previous commenter and am hoping there will be a way to make the book a bit more financially available to us up here in the Great White North.
    This week’s pod cast reminded why I left the “congregation” I was attending, in search of the church, as my view of His church was getting smaller and smaller.
    We are gathering with a group who is seeking to learn how to live life loved. We want to encourage them to join in the conversations. My husband and I were trying to decide which of your books, He Loves Me or Authentic Relationships, to use as a springboard for those who are gathering in our home. I think our answer came in this pod-cast!! Your books have been so perfectly timed in my journey and I meet each day with anticipation of what He has for me to learn, experience and find joy in daily. I so want that freedom to be contagious for those believers who are still struggling in the human doing rather than resting in the human being. My husband and I have been journeying along but have began to realize that we don’t stop to look around us often enough to see others who may need a helping hand, an encouraging word or a good book to sink their teeth into. There are others out there that would try to convince them that they are lost and should get with “their program” but we want to reassure them that this IS a God Journey.
    Thank you.

  3. Andy and Elaine, we’ll let people know when the electronic versions are available. Unfortunately international shipping these days has become ridiculously expensive. But our shipping calculator on the Lifestream site often comes up with exorbitant charges, that’s why we ask anyone ordering from some place other than the US to write our office for a quote so we can make sure the shipping is accurate. I’m sorry for the extra hassle this causes, but we’ll do what we can to help. It also helps if others wanting the book might order with you, because we can send four books to most destinations for the same price we can send one.

  4. Wayne,

    Back in 2011 I posted a comment about heading off to seminary as a ‘non-traditional’ student (you and I are the same age). Brad and you actually mentioned my decision in the following podcast (with sympathetic warnings :>) Well I finished last May with my MDiv and it was most definitely the path Abba wanted me to take and it was wonderful. Of course now I keep getting the “well now what are you going to do.” Your opening comments therefore reminded me that this is a journey we are called along by God and not a hilltop we stake out and organize (or a job vacancy to fill). I love the fact that He is the river guide not me. However, the pressure to ‘do’ something had been weighting on me so thanks for reminding me what this walk is really about and who is leading. Blessings

  5. I can beat our Canadian friends. The shipping calculator comes out at over $50 for Australia.
    By comparison Australian postage I get offered for a book from Amazon – 12 days delivery is $10.48US
    I am sure there are cheaper rates somehow to Australia. Speed is not the issue – price is!
    Let me know what you can do.

    All the covers were Ok – it is the content that really matters!
    I liked the geese but I think you have hit on a better one.

    I’ve been rereading Paul’s letter to the folk in Ephesus and it hit me that before he ever uses that word “church” at the end of chapter 2 he describes us as “being built together into a dwelling-place of God in the Spirit” and there is the picture of Jesus building his “holy temple” He is the Cornerstone and we are being built into the living relation/kingdom family/community in Christ etc.
    I believe that Paul then uses the word “church” as shorthand for what he describes at end of that chapter.
    And I really found this fitting in so closely with what you have written. Thanks for the encouragement.
    The hardest thing is living with such a totally different meaning of the “church” word to that generally held!!!!

    Blessings

  6. Hi Wayne

    Most crazy thing happened last night. I went to a meeting with a friend of mine who struggles with who God is. He pastored for over 30 years and is now age 70. Sunday he realized how much the Father loves him. Last night after the meeting we went to the store and got some cookies. We both decided the meeting we had just attended would have been better with cookies. He took the top off and was wandering around the store giving out cookies. It was hilarious! One woman commented that if we were not old men she would have suspected we were high! (It is Oregon, after all) He was filled with love and compassion. The transformation was remarkable!

    Anyway, thanks for your good work. I am looking forward to sharing your new book with some men.

    Love wins.

    Mark

  7. I was directed to The God Journey years ago after searching Google for “sick of church”. I read So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore, and since I’ve been messed up in my thinking about “Church”. Some think that I have lost all my marbles, and I, too, have wondered the same. After serving in full-time vocational pastoral ministry for over 15 years, my faith no longer revolves around the institutional church. The struggle that I face on a daily basis is living in relationship with other believers who do not share my thoughts concerning the church. I don’t seek to get on a soapbox and prove why my views are right and others are wrong. But oftentimes this journey is lonesome, but at the same time I know and feel the Father’s love in hearing Wayne’s thoughts and words. I look forward to reading this book.

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