Yesterday we had our first Slow Church conversation (over chapter 2). It was a fairly wide ranging discussion but in the end we honed in on God's call to simply be.
The book has a quote from Kyle Childress which framed our conversation quite nicely. Childress says "Slow Church is about taking time with God, with one another, and with yourself - and not only taking the time, but taking time over time. That makes a big difference."
To simply be is perhaps one of the most difficult callings in our culture.
We are always wanting to fix things. Ourselves, others, and the church. You name it, we want to control and fix. But more often than not our efforts to fix and control things - especially when we can't - leave us dealing with shame, guilt, despair, and feelings of inadequacy.
During our discussion we found ourselves throwing out ideas to solve certain problems we had identified with the community and with the church. It's such a common thing to do when you get a group of people together who love their church and want to see it thrive.
Thank God for the person who stopped us in the midst of all that and said, "Wait! This is making me feel anxious." It was a Spirit-led moment where we could all say, "Let's slow down. That's not what this was about!" and focus ourselves instead on God's call to simply be.
The book has a quote from Kyle Childress which framed our conversation quite nicely. Childress says "Slow Church is about taking time with God, with one another, and with yourself - and not only taking the time, but taking time over time. That makes a big difference."
To simply be is perhaps one of the most difficult callings in our culture.
We are always wanting to fix things. Ourselves, others, and the church. You name it, we want to control and fix. But more often than not our efforts to fix and control things - especially when we can't - leave us dealing with shame, guilt, despair, and feelings of inadequacy.
During our discussion we found ourselves throwing out ideas to solve certain problems we had identified with the community and with the church. It's such a common thing to do when you get a group of people together who love their church and want to see it thrive.
Thank God for the person who stopped us in the midst of all that and said, "Wait! This is making me feel anxious." It was a Spirit-led moment where we could all say, "Let's slow down. That's not what this was about!" and focus ourselves instead on God's call to simply be.
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