This week marks six months since we launched Story Church. I'm thrilled at where we find ourselves today. In many ways, it's completely different than I thought it would be, but I couldn't be happier with our progress. Yesterday I had the opportunity to reflect with our church on what God has done these first six months, and to begin to dream about the kind of community we can still become.
In just six months, we've seen incredible impact on people's lives. Many of the people in our church were completely detached from God just six months ago. Today they find themselves not only regularly attending our services, but more importantly they are finding a community where they belong. They are connecting relationally with others who are seeking to live like Jesus. Together, we've been able to serve our school where we meet. We've blessed the teachers, we've volunteered hours at the school, and currently we're in the middle of a backpack drive for the new school year. We've had global impact as well - giving so that a community in the Central African Republic now has a clean water well where they once had none. We also saw our community step up and give sacrificially toward Haiti relief when the earthquake hit.
More and more we are seeing our mission take shape - to help people embrace the story they are meant to live.
On Sunday we began to dream together about a different kind of community. One where authenticity was the rule, not the exception. We are beginning to take the risks to be open, honest, and real with each other. I don't want to be part of a community where all of a sudden we hear about a divorce. I want to be the kind of community where two years before that happens, he is able to share with someone about his struggle with pornography. There's too much at stake in our marriages, in our families, and in our communities to pretend we have it all together. We have to be willing to be real with each other and "carry each other's burdens" as it says in Galatians 6.
This kind of authenticity starts with me. It starts with you. And I think we're off to a great start. But the reality is that future generations of Story Churchers will be deeply impacted by the kind of community we shape and form here in this first year or so. I hope and pray that we have the courage to not only talk about it, but that we will be willing to get beyond the fear of becoming vulnerable with each other, and to engage in deep, authentic community.
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