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Links: Seeing the other side - A statement of purpose The things we think but do not say - Jerry Maguire's mission statement Missionary, why Christianity is still western imperialism. Yet amidst the cultural destruction, there is message of hope. 30 years West, 30 years
east. - Living on the other side of the ocean, to
create balance. Reasons - My own thoughts on what I might want to do with my life. What not to do. More ponderings on the missions movement. Religious Imperialism - An article about Christianity CCFC - The church I currently Attend |
contact me at:
justin (@) deepdrift dot com
GyozaQuest is a non profitable site,
Organized
Religion
It's my church - Yet I do now own it.
By default, I'm one of the older members - but I'm not an elder.
People look to me for leadership, - but I'm not a leader.
Although we were founded only six years ago, and we have a lot of young people - we're not a young church.
People come and go, - yet I seem to stay around.Our goal is Multiplication - but we seem not to be growing.
Our goal is Multiculturalism - but we're neither multicultural, nor are we diverse (2/3 Asian, 2/3 Female, 2/3 Students, 2/3 under 25yrs old)
Our goal is Mobilization - yet the further we go, the more we stay in place.
Core beliefs
Community - We're committed to our community, we've seen it change and we're a part of it. And yeah, we're part of the gentrification, if not one of the outward signs of it. Thus we're as much part of the community, as we are a community unto ourselves.
Social Justice - We hear about it, racial reconciliation. And the paradox is that we minister to a community, where few of us can afford to live. We're mostly middle class, we're very highly educated, and for the most part removed from issues of injustice.
Urban Ministry - We're committed to the city. For better or worse, even though we've all grown up in the suburbs, and most of the people we influence will eventually return there.
World Missions - We're committed to sending people overseas.We're mostly a conservative church, so it's difficult to relate the social dynamics.
The paradox is that, as a church the thing we do best is minister to the students. Yet somehow ministering to college students from Harvard, MIT and Wellesley, seems to be antithetical to the goal of being both part of the community
1) Students are notorious for NOT being integrated with the community, they seem to operated outside greater society, they live in their own little world. If graduation is viewed as entry into the real world, then consequently their lives in college can only be seen as sheltered and separated from the world.
2) Ministering to the poor, starving students be darned, these students aren't poor by any stretch, the income potential alone vested within their educations amounts to an economic injustice.
3) We may indeed develop a core group of people, willing to stay, but are constantly struggling with the forces that pull people apart. Since most of our congregation has no roots here, they are easily swayed, by needs of family, for work, or for further schooling. A lot of them do mature and move to the suburbs from which they came.
Update
All churches wax and wane in their influence, and this one is no different. The Senior pastor who inspired me to come back to christ is now gone, off to pursue where God is calling him.
Those who have replaced
updated 08.27.03