You’ve probably seen the trend toward the “nones” – people who answer “none” when asked what religious group they identify with. Adjacent to the “nones” – and also trending – are the “dones” – those who identify as Christian but have left traditional church structures. A subset of the “dones” are the “nomads,” the subject of Terry Walling’s book Unlikely Nomads: In Search of the New Church and our first podcast in this series.
Walling describes these searchers this way:
They have left.
They were formerly known as “the committed ones.”
The faithful. The leaders. The volunteers.
They were there—every Sunday.
….
They stayed until they could stay no longer.
….
And yet, they have not left Jesus.
Nor have they given up on the Church.
….
Early in their wrestling, they thought they were the problem.
The Jesus they wanted to follow was far too often missing in the Sunday equation.
They are on the road now, seeking to return their life back to him and his life.
They are not wandering. They are in pursuit of Jesus, and the life he lived.
They now travel the back roads, encountering others on a similar journey.
They are the pilgrims in search of the new church.
In our most recent podcast, part of our series on Unlikely Nomads, Jim talked with Melissa Emerson about her experience with Mosaic Church. In many ways, her experience as a pastor of a nomadic church lines up with the postures that Walling describes. Here we can look together at Melissa’s experience and some questions for us to consider together as we reflect on our own spiritual journeys:
Interruption
In Melissa’s case, the interruption was devastating – the unexpected death of her father who was also the founding pastor of the church. All nomads, however, experience the interruption of business-as-usual and the grief that comes with loss.
- What is interrupting your life right now?*
- How can you surrender yourself to being interrupted by God?
- What are you being asked to let go of? What losses are part of this interruption?
Stillness
Melissa said that the first thing that the church did in response to the interruption of grief and change was to slow things down intentionally. She said that she began to shepherd in a different way, guiding the church in listening for God.
- Stillness means less activity, less activity, less noise. What happens in you when you move toward stillness?
- In time, stillness increases our ability to hear. What do you hear when you get still?
Unlearning
Jim and Melissa noted that we resist change, even good change. Unlearning old ways of doing church, including embracing the equality of women and racial justice, led Mosaic to new ways of understanding God’s direction. Melissa referred to the need to “let go of expectations we hold too tightly.”
- As an adult, you will definitely have to unlearn some things that you once knew with confidence. Do you know yet what some of those things are?
- You may feel, “I’m ready to learn new ways of being . . . if only I could _____.” What is in that blank for you? How does it stand in the way of new learning?
Integration
Melissa described the commitment to “preach a whole gospel, doing life together.” They approached the stillness by asking God, “What do you want for us and our lives together in this part of the world?” Integration moves us away from compartmentalization and toward wholeness of life.
- Imagine that you are dividing your life up into the different roles and interests you have, such as family, work, church, golf, etc. Is Jesus one of those segments? Or does the presence of Jesus permeate all the other parts of your life?
- How much does your life intersect with the real needs and experiences of the other people in the place where you live?
Interdependence
Mosaic’s community committed to “not to just show up on Sundays but to serve our community.” They began by looking at their context and found ways to show up, making themselves accountable to their community and to their mission partners.
- Who do you “do life with?” Who do you need in order to love God and love your neighbor more fully? Who needs you?
- Whose preferences are you willing to place before your own?
- Who are you accountable to? Who is accountable to you? How do you embrace or resist this kind of mutual accountability?
We invite you now to listen to the conversation between Jim and Melissa or to get your own copy of Unlikely Nomads and consider your own journey. Are you a nomad?
*All of these questions are offered for our own reflection. Each of them can also be changed from the individual to the collective; in other words, “who is interrupting our lives right now?” and “How can we surrender ourselves . . .?”
