And the two shall become one?

Just across the street from our church is another church called Black Soil that meets at the exact same time as we do. They are small like us and have a relatively similar mission. Comically, we both place signs within 50 feet of each of other along Michigan Ave inviting people to come to our perspective churches. After both pastors met and prayed they decided it would be worthwhile to explore merging the two smaller congregations with the hopes of combining our resources and creating a tipping point for growth. Last Saturday night our church attended their service and in two weeks they are invited to attend our service.

To be honest, their service is much different than ours but I enjoyed it. The service had much more liturgy than we have and the atmosphere was organic and artsy. They have the room set up in a circle with lots of candles and mismatched chairs. Granted not everything worked in terms of flow and they went overboard in trying to be different but it was a good service.

Having said that, I have a suspicion that I was one of only a few in my church who appreciated their style. Most people I spoke with were fairly critical of the service. Even though we are a new church our self, many people in our church are more traditional and resistant to change. I can appreciate that. It's nice to be in on the ground floor of a new church and have ownership. Joining with Black Soil would certainly shake that up.

But our differences are more than just style. First, we are loosely affiliated with the Baptist church and they are affiliated with the Reformed church. While we agree on an abundance of theology, whether or not to baptize infants will be a challenge to sort out. Second, while our missions are similar, Black Soil is much more committed to it than we are. We both claim to be neighborhood based but the reality is that the core of our church is not from the east side of Lansing. I am little concerned how Black Soil will incorporate people from all over the city that don't fit within their specific model.

Regardless of whether we merge, one byproduct of the process has been a broader discussion of our own church mission and vision. We are an eclectic bunch drawing from a broad range of experiences. Frankly, this diversity is what I find most appealing. But I am not sure that we have ever really worked through these differences or if we have just sort of glossed them over for the sake of unity. This discussion provides a framework to address those issues.

One thing that Noah, our pastor, shared last night was that unity does not mean complete agreement on every issue but submission of our own agenda and opinions for the sake a unified mission. This perspective takes a lot of humility and sacrifice but I believe it is a true reflection of what we should look like as the church universal. This doesn't mean we should accept all teachings and opinions as equal or valid but there has to be room to disagree over the non essentials that often divide the church.

In the end, it is unclear where this journey will take us. But like most trips, the best experience is getting there.