For awhile now, the
leadership team at AIM has wanted to see people launched into a new paradigm of
relating to God and His people. A new way of walking out faith that looks
radical and sacrificial and surrendered to the will of God. My generation has rejected the model of
traditional church, but is struggling to replace it with anything of
value. They are crying out for a new
body, a new church. I believe what we
are hungering for isn’t a new way, but an ancient one. The first church we read about in the book of
Acts went from a gathering of a few hundred people on the day of Pentecost to bringing the most powerful empire to its knees less than
three hundred years later. They had fervor,
a power that is lacking in most of the body today. Even secular historians couldn’t help but
write about the way they loved each other and the people around them. So, what did they have that we are missing?
They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was
filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the
apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling
their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they
continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their
homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying
the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who
were being saved. Acts 2: 42-47
ComLife exists to
provide space and opportunity for young people to try and figure this question
out together. Our desire is to bring
people to a lifestyle, not a program, but as we base our community off this
Acts 2 model, it translates something like this:
- Community Living-We share rooms, we share
groceries, we put some of our money in a household account and live life
together. We pray and sing together every morning. We have
bible studies and we have fun. We’re going to try this out and hope
we’re all alive at the end. We’re going to learn about grace.
- Mentorship-Let’s face it, we didn’t move to
Gainesville for the landscape. We came to have some life and wisdom
poured into us by the amazing families and missionaries that make up
AIM. We want what they have and honestly want to learn how to be
like them when we grow up.
- Internship-We’re going to work in the office
at AIM part-time. We’ll get a behind the scenes look at what it
takes to run a missions agency and we’ll give back. We’ll work in
the office because that’s what serving is and we want to learn how to
serve another person’s dream.
- Leadership/Training-Some amazing teachers pass
through the doors at AIM and we’re going to be here to glean from them all
we can. Our Friday mornings are devoted to teaching times and we’re
excited to grow through the wisdom of others.
- Ministry-We’re going to get involved in the
community of Gainesville, which conveniently has a population of over
80,000 Hispanics. We’ll practice our Spanish, love on some children,
and share the love of Christ. We’ve met some awesome ministries in
this area and we’re going to seek to be a light to this place because we
believe that we’re supposed to be missionaries everywhere we go.
ComLife varies from being a member of the house and doing life alongside the
rest of the community, to overseeing the ministry outreach portion of our
lifestyle, to being an overall visionary and voice for the movement. I am excited to see the plans God has for
this little experiment and covet your prayers as we step out in faith.
How odd would it seem to have been one of the members of
the early church, shepherded by Paul or Peter, and to come forward a
thousand years to see people standing in line or sitting quietly in a
large building that looked like a schoolroom or movie theater, to take
Communion.How different it would seem from the way they did it, sitting around
somebody’s living room table, grabbing a hunk of bread and holding
their own glass of wine, exchanging stories about Christ, perhaps
laughing, perhaps crying, consoling each other, telling one another
that the Person who had exploded into their hearts was indeed the Son
of God, their Bridegroom, come to tell them who they were, come to mend
the broken relationships, come to marry them in a spiritual union more
beautiful, more intimate than anything they could know on earth.-Donald Miller
i didn’t really read your blog…but don’t really have to b/c i wrote half of it. 🙂 heh.
love your face chica. and i love that you’re folding clothes in the next room. community…i love it!
I thought of you when I read this… I know the circumstances are substantially different but it’s still pretty funny.
http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/08/371-dude-that-drinks-water-and-gets.html
Missing you guys already. Can’t wait to get back and do this thing.
I gotta tell you I love that pic! Amanda is doing the race semi jumping pose….!