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jim
mefford
senior
pastor at bay marin community church (bmcc)
1.
we ask this of everyone - how do you
define the postmodern movement?
We’ve not really tried to craft a
definition of the postmodern movement,
but we have tried to identify the
characteristic mindsets that mark the
newly evolving culture around us.
Being a church established before
“postmodernism” became a topic of
much discussion, we have focused on
being casual, relevant, genuine and
friendly. These are the things that
people tell us have attracted them to
us, so these are evidently part of the
mix.
2.
building and maintaining community is
central to a postmodern community of
faith. what does BMCC do to help develop
that community?
It’s fascinating to see the variety of
ways that people approach community,
with its balance of opportunity and
risk. Sometimes those who are most
satisfied with their community are those
least eager to welcome others into it,
lest the newcomers disrupt things. Our
basic approach is to start with a
variety of ways for people to
“connect” during and following the
Sunday worship experience, then
motivate them to deeper involvement in
small groups and ministries. Yet a
survey we took at the first of the year
showed that 1 in 5 people found it hard
to connect with us. But of the others,
85% had done so through small groups and
ministry teams. One thing that has
worked for us recently is broadening
ministry team time beyond the tasks at
hand to include sharing and praying
together. This has created more sense of
community for those who tend to be task
oriented.
3.
barna says that 40% of evangelicals do
not experience God in worship. what
elements do you feel are required for a
positive worship experience?
Fortunately there are others at our
church more gifted in worship leadership
than I am. My experiences, though,
suggest that a distraction-free
environment, a focus on God himself,
opportunities for a variety of
individual expressions, and gifted,
energetic leadership are the most
significant factors.
4.
it has been said, "postmodern
is a date book, not a checkbook way of
life" (by me) meaning, we give of
out time before we will give of our
money - how does BMCC develop people for
a life of service and servanthood?
This may be the hardest thing we try to
accomplish in our affluent community
where most families are two-income and
highly recreational. We find many of our
people more willing to give their money
than their time. Those things that do
motivate people to act tend to be ones
that enable them to meet, see and
“touch” those who benefit from the
effort. Examples would include our Angel
Tree ministry (from Prison Fellowship),
and the Gilead House, a local home for
single moms in transition which people
from our church began two years ago.
5.
we need to get out of the church and
help people find God, what does MBCC do
to introduce people to a lasting
relationship with Jesus Christ?
Since we worship in a local auditorium,
we actually begin “out of the
church.” The
Sunday morning worship experience
continues to be our main point of
contact with pre-followers of Christ.
Our newer attendees, who can sometimes
be the most motivated, find it easier to
invite their friends to a worship
service that’s not
“Churchy”
than to try to tell them about the life
in Christ that they are just starting to
experience themselves. It’s like
Philip simply telling Nathaniel, “Come
and see!”
We then try to provide an
experience that is relevant to their
lives, while giving them the time and
space to process the message of Christ
in their own time. It has become a
priority for us to use personal
testimonies in our service in order to
help people see how the “theology of
Christ” translates into a
“relationship with Christ.”
6. given the current world tensions,
how do we preach a message of
forgiveness in an environment of
revenge?
One of the key distinctions to make in
the current world situation is between
forgiveness and accountability.
Forgiveness is an individual choice to
be made by those personally wronged if
the wrongdoer confesses and repents (1
John 1:8-10). Civil authorities,
however, have a responsibility before
God to hold individuals accountable for
their actions (Romans 13:1-4). It is
important for Christians to lead the way
in communicating and demonstrating a
desire for reconciliation and to resist
attitudes that seek to “get even”
with an entire nation or class of
people. It’s an opportunity to reach
out to people of other faiths,
especially Islam, and demonstrate our
lack of animosity and vindictiveness.
7.
what do you see are the most important
qualities of a postmodern community of
faith?
I suppose that the *most*
important qualities of any community of
Christian faith, postmodern or
otherwise, will be much the same. Some
things, however, are getting a greater
emphasis right now. We must stay
open-minded about how following Jesus
will look for different people. Jesus
seldom responded to the people he
encountered in the way they expected and
we should anticipate that he would
continue to surprise us. Striving for an
“other-centeredness” that enables us
to find joy and motivation in serving
others is also a priority. The great
challenge, of course, will be to develop
these new community styles while
avoiding a message that our style is the
“right” style and other ones are
“wrong.”
Arrogant postmodernism should be
a self-contradictory term.
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