The Church and Independence

Here is another excerpt from Tim Conder’s book, “The Church in Transition”.

Somtimes our churches resemble me and my chainsaw.  The chainsaw is high on my hierarchy of personal tools.  It’s convenient, efficient, and kind of fun to use.  I feel strong and in control when I use a chainsaw.  But each of the seven homes located on our circle owns a chainsaw–and none of us uses this tool more than once or twice a year.  Why do we have so many chainsaws?  Ignoring our affluence for the moment, part of the answer lies in the suburban “holy grail” of independence.  We want to be able to use the chainsaw at the precise moment we choose, and we don’t want to depend on anyone else’s graciousness to tend to our little corner of creation.  It’s our way of being adam in the garden and saying to Eve, “I don’t need you!”

An abbreviated list of “chainsaws” in the tool sheds of many churches could include our children’s programs, youth programs, support groups, mission endeavros, facilities, and vehicles.  These can all be necessities, but often they are redunancies created in competition with other churches.  Missional proximity and missional dependence are closely related.  When congregations have a stronger sense of missional proximity, it will diminish redundancies and increase their dependence on one another.

I would love to see more churches working together, and less churches competing.  Anyone have any idea on how to foster these types of relationships?