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Intangible

You areinvited

Compared to 3 million people in

Denver, the number of people in

Adullam is silly to mention.

The goal isn’t to attract Christian

people to a worship service but

to be the faithful church in small

pockets throughout the city.

Go. Create places of inclusive

community where God’s

alternative Kingdom can

be experienced.

hope & despairIf you’re like us, you’ve gone down with a

ship or two trying to make the Kingdom story tangible. Maybe you’ve abandoned

the boat and are treading water, hoping a rescue vessel will appear. Or, you’re already

sitting up on the rocks, sopping wet, staring off into theological oblivion, wondering

how much of the the ancient story can really be true for today. Maybe you’ve

captained one of these ships and, without knowing it, found yourself sailing toward

irrelevance. You have people on board, but they seem to have lost their heart.

Our story is simple: as a bunch of friends living in

Denver who were committed to live out ancient ways

in a modern context of community, communion,

and mission, we suddenly found ourselves in the

company of followers, most of whom did not come

from a meaningful church background or any church

background at all.

Our purpose is simple: we want to talk to you about the church.

We want to let you know that the unsettling feelings you are

experiencing are ones that hundreds of thousands

of people are also working through. We also want to give

you hope and a real-life picture of a preferred future.

THE CALL OF THE CHURCH

To Find and Help Others Find God’s Beautiful City

Creating Incarnational

CommunityTHE POSTURE AND PRACTICES OF ANCIENT CHURCH NOW

Things we have:1. good friends

2. good food3. good times

Things we don’t have:1. all the answers

Things we care about:1. becoming a part

of God’s people2. Living out the Gospel3. Being more like Jesus

Things we don’t care about:1. bigger buildings

2. bigger crowds3. bigger budgets

These two words together describe an orientation toward the ancient faith communities described in the Book of Acts and throughout history, who lived a

countercultural, communal experience that always influenced the cultures in which they found themselves.

These missional/incarnational communities were therefore the natural framework God’s church was and must still be built upon if we are to continue their rich legacy of making apprentices of Jesus worldwide. Although small and unsanctioned, these

early communities were powerful and authoritative. Although they were on the run and decentralized, they were organized and strategic. Although they didn’t

know much about starting or growing churches, they did both naturally. Church just happened, and it was deeply meaningful.

MissionalIncarnational

Each evening after the church planting training sessions, we headed out to grab dinner and ended up frequenting an Irish pub in Queens. Over several

nights we got to know a few of the waitresses and some of their stories about growing up in Ireland.

One young waitress, Fiona, shared about her religious upbringing in Northern Ireland. As you can imagine, she seemed to have some faith in

God, but she wasn’t too fond of Protestants, Catholics, or the church.

The Yankees were in the playoffs, and the place was packed. I walked in and headed toward the bar looking for a seat. As I made my way deeper

into the crowd, I heard Fiona calling two bartenders over to meet me. “This is the guy I was telling you about,” she said. “You’ve got to hear how

he talks about God.”

Suffice it to say, you don’t get that type of enthusiasm from most church members. At that introduction, the room split to make room for me.

Over the course of the next few hours, I got to share a bit of my story and listen to theirs.

As the bar thinned out, the bartenders invited me to help them clean up. Eventually, everyone was gone except Fiona, a few other waitresses,

bartenders, and the owner. We all sat around one table as they asked one question after another.

Their questions were so sincere, their anger so justified. Yes, they were jaded, too, but their intrigue with me seemed honest and open.

I knew I couldn’t talk about church. I knew I couldn’t share the four spiritual laws or

tell them I was a pastor. I just talked about the only thing I knew they might like: Jesus and the

alternative world he called the “Kingdom of God.”

It was just before 6:00 a.m. as I opened the heavy pub door to head back to my hotel. The sun was

just starting to creep out above the buildings.

As soon as the door slammed behind me, I met God again.

I began to cry. Harder than I’ve ever cried. Heaving tears, shaking uncontrollably. I had to sit down on the dirty curb and put my hands over my head so no one would see me. I’m sure I looked like a drunk puking in the street. I suddenly knew what God was doing.

I knew he was saying I could trust him again with my son’s health, that I could trust him with our finances again, that he’d just been in that pub with me, and therefore, there was no better place for me to be.

The call was clear.

The Twin Towers had just gone down; the world seemed fragile at best. Golf, fishing, the comfort of my custom home, perfectly popped popcorn,

and shifting the burden of people onto someone else seemed like luxuries I would gladly give up for this feeling of being fully alive and fully engaged.

The call was to get back in the game. To enter the tension again!

The voice was about his church again.

Today was Sunday, and the day began with our Adullam gathering at a local community center...

About 10:00 a.m., more friends started to show up. Some brought other friends, some brought food to share, and some just came in.

Our collective community is a strange mix of rednecks, professional athletes, Bronco cheerleaders, seminary students, young suburban

couples, a herd of kids and babies, many single urbanites, and a handful of empty nesters who keep us in check For the first 25

minutes, nobody sat down. Everyone just enjoyed waking up together with coffee, conversation, and the sound of our kids running all over.

Then we shared some scripture, song, and communion, and one of our young interns told us about a mission to Zimbabwe and another to Nicaragua that we’ve all been drawn into.

Thanks to the magic of TiVo and the leading of the Holy Spirit, I was able to leave the British Open and head off with Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of bikers to the thunderous sound of six Hogs...they in their black leather and bandanas, and me in my church shorts and flip flops.

I left with a sense that everyone was glad they had been together. I went home to watch the last round of the British Open. As I settled into what I thought would be a five-hour

‘‘nap-golf extravaganza,’’ the doorbell rang.

Now, I don’t want you to miss this picture. Lenny and his friends, half of whom were women, have enough ink in their collective tattoos to overflow the printer cartridges for two hundred HP Office Jets. They all look like a cross between ZZ Top and Howard Stern, and that includes the ladies!

As we sat outside in our garage, some played with the puppies and the other ones looked over my Harley. Toward the end of our time, I got the invitation that I’d been asking God about for the past six months. They asked me to ride with them! Finally.

It was Biker lenny, asking if his friends (a local gang of pirates)

could see our puppies.

What we’re learning is that God’s church can be natural, and it will emerge anywhere an incarnational community exists.

People will always be drawn to people who look, smell, and behave like Jesus,

and if you’re committed to caring for people who move toward Christ

through you, church will become a labor of love for you, as well. Fresh faces, new

stories, and a web of relationships will witness to the tangible world Jesus

called his Kingdom.

This day sums up our hope for you. This day was just

life as usual, and yet it was filled to the brim with

beautiful expressions of God’s Tangible Kingdom.

Very little was planned, and the best parts came as

divine interruptions to my normally self-focused life.

After the ride, thinking that my day was over, I headed to my local think spot, only to be interrupted by a phone call from a couple who used to live next door to us. One of their daughters wanted to be baptized outside, and they couldn’t find a church that would do this. Her mother had remembered us from a couple years back and found my number. I told her I’d be honored to baptize her daughter and invited them to our lakeside baptism gathering to be held a few weeks later.

to find out more & join our story go to www.TangibleKingdom.com

to order the TK Primer group study go to www.TangibleKingdom.com/primer

to download videos, resources or fact sheets go to www.Missio.us/training

©2010 M

issio Pub

lishin

g

The tangibleKingdoM

REMIX

HUGH HALTER MATT SMAY

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