I want to pick up where we left off with the last post. To a world in ever-deepening darkness, God speaks to his people saying, "...nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." - Isaiah 60:3

My question is: "What do we have in place that our light shines through so brilliantly that people will come to the brightness?"

I ask this question in light of a comment that was made as several of us were sharing last week about the direction we are moving in the formation of a community. John, who works with those coming out of prison and rehab said that he is asked where they can get involved with a spiritual group. He said that he now refuses to recommend they become involved with a church after the negative experiences that were encountered by those who followed his church recommendations. Therefore, John finds himself at a loss to suggest a community where these spiritual babes can experience the kind of fellowship that will encourage and strengthen them in the maturing process.

Through John, we were confronted with the fact that we who have disengaged from regular involvement in the institutional church have nothing to offer those who are seeking to participate in a spiritual community. House churches that meet once a week aren't much different than the institutional church they left. Healthy relationships cannot develop through a once-a-week meeting with little or no contact apart from the meeting.

We're discovering just how counter-cultural genuine community is in an individualistic society. As messy and uncomfortable as it is, we really don't have a choice if we want to provide a viable alternative to institutionalized Christianity. It will entail becoming other-focused in a way we have never known before. But this is the very thing that will release the light of the Lord in us that will make Isaiah 60:3 a reality.