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The Refuge in Denver

By Jeremy Myers
20 Comments

The Refuge in Denver

the refuge communityIn a previous post, I mentioned that I visited The Refuge in Denver, CO. They describe it as aย home for spiritual orphans, a place to gather hope.

Here is some of what I learned about “how” they do things at The Refuge. I don’t share this with you so you can copy it in your context, but simply to show you what others are doing around the country.

Main Meeting

Their “main meeting” is on Saturday night at a grange hall which they rent. The building is rather run down, but that is okay with everyone, since following Jesus isn’t about having nice buildings.

Since I was not able to attend one of their main meetings, I asked what they were like. Everybody told me that they were never the same. Sometimes they sat in rows. Sometimes in chairs around tables. Sometimes they sang songs, but not always. Sometimes there was a sermon, other times a group discussion.

One thing they do every meeting is communion. But even this is out of the ordinary. Those who come take turns providing the “elements.” In most churches, the elements consist of grape juice (or wine) and an unleavened wafer. But at the Refuge, the elements can be anything. They have used coffee and donuts,coke and pretzels, chips and salsa, and milk and brownies.

Frequently, after the meeting, many of the people get together for a meal, but I didn’t get any details on how this works.

Weekday Houses of Refuge

They currently have two Houses of Refuge, which function like a house church.

Kind of…

They meet in a home, and consist of a meal and some sort of group activity or discussion. The night I was there, we hadย lasagna. There was also coffee and dessert.

After about an hour of eating and chatting, we moved to the living room and sat on couches where we introduced ourselves (for the several new people that were there), and then discussed that the way of following Jesus was not upward mobility, but downward mobility, into the muck and messiness of life.

The discussion wasย facilitatedย by Kathy Escobar, but she is not always the facilitator. As with most everything else at the Refuge, leadership is shared. I was told that they often pick a theme to discuss, and then take turns over the next several weeks or months leading the discussions.

Near the end of the discussion, Kathy also passed around a sign-up sheet for people to bring food for the future gatherings.

Leadership at The Refuge

Currently, there are four co-pastors at The Refuge. They do not believe that there should ever be a single “senior pastor.” These four co-pastors do receive a tiny, tiny income, but nothing that anyone could live off of. I don’t know amounts, but I doubt it comes to much more than an average honorarium.

And the co-pastors are not “pastors” in the way most churches think of them. They seem to be closer to organizers or administrators of the church. When someone has a need, rather than call around asking everyone for it, they call a pastor, and the pastor organizes a way to help meet that need. Certainly, they also provide vision and spiritual direction to the church, but they are not the only ones who speak, or do ministry in the church.

Ministry at The Refuge

Many of the people I talked to spoke of the community they have fond at The Refuge. Most have never experienced any sort of community like what they have found here. I saw this first hand and sensed it as I watched them interact. In many ways, they are family. They are not perfect, but love each other anyway. They laugh together, cry together, and live life together.

As such, this is their ministry, and it is a compelling ministry for those who see it. I know I was drawn to it.

They also provide opportunities to reach out with love to other hurting people in the wider community. I heard some people talk about a service opportunity in a low-income apartment complex, and a few other things, but ultimately, their ministry seems to be each other.

When you are real with each other, as the people of The Refuge seem to be, this ministry is more than enough, and also draws other people in who are longing for communal love like this.

What do you think about all of this? Is it still too “churchy” for you? Are they not “churchy” enough? What do you think about how they have communion and co-pastors? Are there any other questions you might have?ย 

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Church planting, Kathy Escobar, ministry, mission, The Refuge, Theology of the Church

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The Refuge in Denver

By Jeremy Myers
7 Comments

The Refuge in Denver
House of Refuge in Denver
The House of Refuge occasionally offers dinners to the community.

I got to hang out at a The Refuge last week in Denver, CO. It consists of people who gather together to live life, and help each other through the messiness and pain of life.

The night I was there, some people from The Refuge met at the house of Jose and Kathy Escobar. After eating a meal, we sat around the living room and talked. The topic for the night was that most of us try to improve ourselves by climbing the moral ladder, but to really experience community with God and each other, we need to climb down the ladder back into the failures and stinkiness of life.ย The mess of life is where God meets us, where we meet ourselves, and where life really begins.

Kathy recently wrote a book about this, which explains what it means to follow Jesus on the downward path into pain, doubt, and darkness. Her book is titled,ย Down we Go,ย and I recommend you read it.

One of the amazing things for me about the group is not just the fact that people were there from a variety of backgrounds and beliefs, but that some of the people had moved from other parts of the country just to participate in a community like this.

People are starving for community, and it is not often found in the traditional church setting. There are most likely people who hunger and thirst for relationships right in your own neighborhood. This is one of the reasons it is so important to get to know our neighborsย (as Sam Riviera has been pointing out — and who previously wrote about The Refuge).

We are trying to do this sort of thing in the neighborhood we recently moved into, and hopefully, as we get to know our neighbors, we can build relationships with them that will allow us to help them (and be helped) through the messiness and stinkiness of life.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Kathy Escobar, life, ministry, mission, The Refuge, Theology of the Church

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What if there were no churches?

By Jeremy Myers
15 Comments

What if there were no churches?

Brandon ChaseThis is a guest post Brandon Chase. Brandon is a baseball player at heart; a practicing Crossfitter, golfer,ย hoopster and guitarist; fueled by meat,ย cappuccinos and chocolate. He writes about learning to Live by the Life of Jesus Christ on his blog Zลฤ“ Perissos. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Marie, and has two daughters McKinley and Delaney. They live in Fort Worth, TX.

Likeย Zลฤ“ Perissos on Facebookย or follow Brandon on Facebook,ย or Twitter.

If you would like to write a Guest Post for the Till He Comes Blog, begin by reading the Guest Blogger Guidelines.

Do you remember doing Science Fair projects in school? You know, the ones where you did an experiment in order to answer a question, solve a problem, or explore a โ€œwhat if?โ€

Iโ€™m certainly glad Iโ€™m not in 7th grade anymore, and donโ€™t have to whip out my tri-panel display board and fret over whether the Judges are going to like my project. But, I do have an experiment, while hypothetical, that Iโ€™d love to see tested:

What would happen to the Church โ€“ the Body of Christ, if it were forced to exist without:

  • Officially designated church buildings or offices
  • Paid, full-time vocational ministers
  • Institutional or otherwise officially organized groups or factions
  • Tithes, Budgets or Ministry Plans

As I stated, I realize this experiment is an anecdotal exercise. Truly, it would take an extreme set of circumstances (orโ€ฆ a magnificent move of God) to arrange a new playing field such as this.

But what if?

What would you do if you woke up one morning, and suddenly, as if in an alternate reality, you learned that following your Lord, practicing and growing in your faith – being a Christian โ€“ had to be done differentlyโ€ฆ

What if…

what if there were no churches?What if there were no โ€œchurchesโ€ to โ€œgo to?โ€

What if there were no buildings where Christians gathered once or twice per week?

What if there were no โ€œMinisters?โ€ No โ€œPastors?โ€ No โ€œPreachers?โ€ No โ€œLeaders?โ€

What if there were no denominations? No groups of like-minded people who practice the same theological or doctrinal expression and traditions?

What if there were no institutions to which you would tithe or give? There were no tax deductions? No budgets directing the allocation of funds or mission statements or plans dictating ministry form?

You would have prayer, the Bible, and people โ€“ but none of the above.

What would you do? How would you move forward? What would happen to the Church?

What would happen to the world?

Hypothesis: Revival

I am giddy as I fantasize about this query.

Can you imagine? The Body of Christ being released into the wilderness โ€“ amongst the darkness and danger and wolves of the world โ€“ with no โ€œchurchโ€ building to retreat to on Sunday, no โ€œPastorโ€ to listen to week after week, no tribe to look for answers in tradition and no tax motivation or direction on where to give money?

To many, this sounds like chaos.

To me, this sounds like Heaven on earth. This sounds like the Ekklesia. This sounds like the Body under the Head. This sounds like the Bride in radiant Oneness with Her Groom. This sounds like the Family of God. This sounds like a dwelling place for the Lord.

This sounds like Jesus.

It was He in fact who said He was sending us out like sheep amongst the wolves. He said just as He is Light, so too are we, shining in the darkness. He said that the world was dangerous, but that He had already overcome it, and that we were the real dangerous ones in Him.

He also said He was the Head of His Body, the Church. He would lead; we would be equal, united and mutually beneficial members to each other, and the Body as a whole.

He said that as sheep, we listen to His voice and hear Him, as He leads us, and we follow.

He said there was no room for division or faction โ€“ only Him.

He said nothing about giving a certain percentage. He asked for everything. He did not direct ministry. Ministry is His Life โ€“ and It is to be taken everywhere, all the time, as He directs.

These were the simple, but profound instructions a small group of followers received from their Lord. They didn’t have buildings they erected and gathered in. They didn’t place titles on certain people or create offices around them. They knew nothing of denominations. They were not given percentage of giving or mission plan guidelines.

Instead, they gathered with each other, two or more at a time, at varying points in the day, every day, in as many varying forms and expressions as possible.

When they gathered, Christ, by the Holy Spirit, โ€œleadโ€ the meeting. He set the agenda. He was the agenda. He was expressed and His Life was given, and out of that expression and Life came mission direction and action โ€“ always in the form of humility, service and Love. Money and possessions and resources were given freely, generously, spontaneously and continuously โ€“ with no thought to percentage or personal benefit. Ministry was organic, dynamic, and viral.

Their simple, but powerfully obedient response to their Lordโ€™s commission, changed the world.

The early Christians did not have anything that we do not have today. In fact, they had so much less. But the advancement of the Kingdom and the Life of Jesus was so much more explosive in their time.

This begs the question:

How did the early church do so much with so little? And… How are we doing so little with so much more?

And these are indeed good questions. But they are not the best question, which is:

What do we have now, that they didnโ€™t have, that may be hindering the Kingdom?

While the answers to that question cannot be fully treated in one article, might I submit that in part, they include:

  • The modern day church building as the form and function of what we believe to be โ€œchurch;โ€ and if โ€œgone to,โ€ the primary function and practice of Christians.
  • The submission to, and sometimes idolatry of those in the position of โ€œPastorโ€ or others in โ€œLeadership,โ€ to the point where, under the clergy/laity caste, the Priesthood of all Believers, and the identification of and free functioning in Spiritual gifts is retarded.
  • The division of the Body of Christ into many thousands of dis-unified parts, many of which give no more than lip service to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head.
  • The oftentimes abused teaching of tithing, and the door that it closes to creative opportunities to be generous in giving and serving and loving outside of a corporate bank account and budget.

God is not hindering His work in our age. He has not designed that this time be marked with less power and wonder and expansion of His Kingdom.

No, man has done that.

Maybe, just maybe, this little experiment should not be anecdotal or hypothetical at all.

Maybe, weโ€™ve always had the prescribed steps, ingredients and answers to this all along?

We have Him. He is all we need.

Maybe He is calling His children to get ourselves – our stuff and our ideas, out of the wayโ€ฆ

โ€ฆand follow.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: be the church, church, church growth, guest post, organic church, revival, Theology of the Church

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The Church of Isaiah 53

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

The Church of Isaiah 53

Jesus serving - our modelYesterday I mentioned Isaiah 53:1-3 in a post about Models for Christ, and in a previous post I talked about various popular church models. It occurred to me that a good church model is found in ย Isaiah 53:1-5.

Here are the bullet points:

  • No beauty that is desired
  • It is despised and rejected by men
  • Full of sorrows and acquainted with grief
  • Wounded and bruised for the sins of others
  • Brings healing to all

Yes, this passage isn’t about the church. It’s about Jesus. Butย as the body of Christ, we cannot do much better than take Him as our model.

Rather than model our church after Hollywood models, let us model the church after Jesus Christ, whose name and image we bear.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: church model, Isaiah 53, Theology of the Church

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Why Christian Events Fail

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

Why Christian Events Fail

church is boringHave you ever been to a Christian event like a party or concert and been bored stiff? Have you ever looked around and thought, “What in the world is going on here?” You recognize all the parts of the event — the food, the music, the people, the activities — but the Christian event just seems… odd?

Why is this?

When the Church Follows Worldly Cues

I think part of it is that we are taking our cues from the world.

We look at the world to see what they do for fun, then we take out everything we perceive as “sinful” and then try to do this stripped down version as a “Christian event.” We hope that if we do things that the world enjoys, maybe they will come join us.

These Christianized versions of worldly events are pitiful attempts to attract unbelievers to Christ.

Of course, what we fail to realize, is that for mostย unbelievers, the things that make the event “fun” are the sinful things we have stripped out — the alcohol, the sexuality, the secular music, and other such elements.

The world is not fooled by Christian attempts to copy the world. They wonder why we even bother.

The choices then are two, and I actually think we see Jesus doing both.

If the Church Can’t Beat Them…

First, rather than compete with the worldly events, we can just join them.

Rather than have our own party, minus the alcohol, sexuality, dancing, and secular music, why not just go attend theirs?

That’s right: Go to the bar. Go to the club. Go hang out where the smoke is thick and the language is course.

Being there doesn’t mean you have to participate in all the activities, and besides,ย going to where the people are is more incarnational than asking them to come to where you are.

The Church that Leads the World

Second, any Christian events that we host should be in areas where we don’t have to copy the world, but can lead the world.

Our Christian events should focus on issues of justice, compassion, mercy, generosity, kindness, forgiveness, grace, and sacrifice. The world has these things as well, but there is often an element of greed and power mixed in.

So these are the Christian events the church can host, and show the world how to do it right. Of course, we would then have to give up our aspirations for money and power… but that is another topic.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: christian events, church, Discipleship, evangelism, outreach, Theology of the Church

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