We'll have more on the DSC conference that gathered in Charlottesville this past weekend--but for now, here is more along the vein of Jon's thoughts last week. (Be sure to read the previous post to get the flow of what he is talking about).
If the Dandelion Seed Company is an incubator, what's been growing in it?
A person who studied (and now practices) meditation -- and in the process came to love Jesus more.
A microchurch made up of people learning to follow Jesus in a way that's different than how they grew up.
Several bands that play in bars and coffeehouses.
Several small businesses that value creativity and helping others.
Some interesting projects bringing together artists and churches.
Lots of conversations about what following Jesus means.
Prayers.
Visions and dreams.
So what is the Dandelion Seed Company?
It is a group of people God is bringing together. It is a dream of living life creatively, in community, with meaning and awe and the presence of God. It is an alternative way of being together with each other and God.
What will the Dandelion Seed Company become?
Who knows but God? No one.
But it may become a resource and a meeting place for all kinds of people, people who are settling into a new culture, people who are looking to build friendships, homes and families with the help and direction of the Holy Spirit, the teachings of Jesus, and the wisdom and love of God.
It may become a home for people: creative people, depressed people, artists, leaders, misfits, business people, lonely people, practical get-it-done people, scientists, theologians, and chimney sweeps, loners without friends, and networkers without a center.
It may become a network of individuals, microchurches, and businesses who are committed to follow Jesus creatively in this new culture.
This is currently how we have describe our vision and mission:
Vision: Our goal is a revitalized culture that is creatively engaged, emotionally aware, spiritually alive, relationally secure and socially responsible.
Mission: Our Mission is to provide tools, training, a context and accountability to individuals and organizations committed to
revitalizing culture through the arts; intentional, committed relationships; and Jesus-centered spirituality.
What do you think about all this? What has the DSC been to you? What do you think it may become? What would you like it to become?
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- Dandelion Seed Co.
- Vision Statement: Our goal is a revitalized culture that is creatively engaged, emotionally aware, spiritually alive, relationally secure and socially responsible.
Mission Statement: Our Mission is to provide tools, training, a context and accountability to individuals and organizations committed to revitalizing culture through the arts, intentional, committed relationships and Jesus-centered spirituality.
Our three part focus: grow community, cultivate creativity, follow Jesus.
4 comments:
"It is important ... to distinguish between centered sets and bounded sets .... The attractional church is a bounded set. That is, it is a set of people clearly marked off from those who do not belong to it. Churches thus mark themselves in a variety of ways. Having a church membership roll is an obvious one. This mechanism determines who's in and who's out. The missional-incarnational church, though, is a centered set. This means that rather than drawing a border to determine who belongs and who doesn't, a centered set is defined by its core values, and people are not seen as in or out, but as closer or further away from the center. In that sense, everyone is in and no one is out. Though some people are close to the center and others far from it, everyone is potentially part of the community in its broadest sense.
"A useful illustration is to think of the difference between wells and fences. In some farming communities, the farmer might build fences around their properties to keep their livestock in and the livestock of neighboring farms out. This is a bounded set. But in rural communities where farms or ranches cover an enormous geographic area, fencing the property is out of the question. In our home of Australia, ranches (called stations) are so vast that fences are superfluous. Under these conditions a farmer has to sink a bore and create a well, a precious water supply in the Outback. It is assumed that livestock, though they will stray, will never roam too far from the well, lest they die. This is a centered set. As long as there is a supply of clean water, the livestock will remain close by."
-Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch in "The Shaping of Things to Come"
What if the Dandelion Seed Company were to becomes a well for well diggers?
I like that, "a well for well diggers".
Because one of the things that has always attracted me to the DSC are all of the other forward moving people. The relationships I have here with other people who are also pressing forward towards their own dreams, who are about something, have been incredibly encouraging for me, as well as just world expanding.
Jesus talks about our bellies bursting forth with rivers of living water (John 7:38). That's what all of this "well" talk evokes for me. Gotta love that Jesus.
And when I think of the DSC and how it has impacted and is impacting me, that's what comes to mind. The LORD has planted something inside me (and each one of us) that the World and Religion have capped and covered over. The DSC is one of those precious few places where I start to believe that it's there and it's good and that I feel I can let it all bust out.
I like the well imagery, but I think it's that much more powerful when we recognize that the wells and the fountains are inside us. And that's especially relevant in that we understand that He has called us to be co-creators with Him.
Yes, yes and yes.
I still wrestle with the idea that commitments are good and worthwhile, even (or especially) when it comes to believers walking together. How does that happen without being forced or exclusive? In a lot of ways I think the centered sets and bounded sets thing is a great image with corrective properties embedded in it for where most of the north american church sits (out in it's little subculture corners separated from life), but I think perhaps life and health exists somewhere in the tension between this image and the image of the body with many parts (you're either a part of it or not -- it's just a mystery who is and who isn't) and the call to commitment not only to Christ but to each other -- commitments that are real, specific, time sensitive and to some degree concrete.
Of course it's simpler if there is no tension and it's all about becoming missional-incarnational and becoming a centered set. And maybe it is that -- and FOR SURE we've got to embrace that metaphor and live into it.
I just tend to think that the deeper truths have at least several seemingly contradicting edges pulling open the space within them to live in the Kingdom of God...
Hmmm.
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