Yo

Hi, Kids. Thanks again for meeting Sunday, your patience with this sometimes sputtering process known as the W. A. G., and for your gracious and honest dialogue.

Walker's thoughts have lingered with me -- about how we should stop talking and start doing!

Rachel and I were chatting about the differences between Emmaus Way and the Bible Church when it came to being 'missional', both in each community's meaning of the word and the way each community lives out mission. We concluded that E-Way is more missional at its core, as sort of a 'default', while the Bible Church is in the process of transforming into a more missional community (which requires more teaching, explanation, modelling by leadership, "debunking" of preconceptions, reassuring of skeptics, etc.). My first inclination is to blame the Bible Church for not getting "up to speed", but Rachel reminded me that tranformation is a process (duh). Also, she made this analogy: if, say, all the visual artists went and formed their own worshipping community, their corporate worship (and other) gatherings would be informed by their inherent values of art, beauty, creativity, etc. In my eyes, that characterizes Emmaus Way: as a community, they inherently value and thus apply a sense of mission in all they do (devoid of most of the "frills" that come with the modern evangelical church), while the Bible Church community is continuing to learn to value and apply some of these principles.

(Was that analogy clear at all?? Sorry if it wasn't.)

More later...