The oldest man in the world lives in Japan and is 114 years old, but seven out of the next ten live in Italy. So, the obvious ensuing question is: Why is this? How is it that Sardinia can have seven times per capita more centenarians than almost all of the rest of Western society?
If you were to ask the Melis siblings, all nine of them who live on Sardinia and have an average age of 90 - the oldest is 105 and the 'youngest' is 78 - they would chalk up the ability to survive and thrive to an assortment of things: clean living, a glass of red wine and goats cheese at night, working outdoors and staying healthy by walking, but another factor was brought up. These siblings, along with many other Sardinians, feel that because they are in close connection as family units, constant interaction with the younger generations, often revered for (not revolted by) their age, they are connected and have a will to live and enjoy life.
This story got me thinking: How can the contemporary Church continue to enjoy a long age but also new growth in it's 21st century and beyond?
In thinking about these things and speaking with some other people, here are four things that are not programs and cost no money whatsoever, but hopefully can sustain Church life and growth.
1. Find Unity
When Jesus proclaims that he is going to prepare a place for us - His Father's house which has many rooms, but one house, he's giving us a model. So it is here on earth - one Church with many rooms. Unfortunately, much of contemporary Christianity still has a mindset of Many Churches and One God. I may alienate myself with this, but planting churches, although good, seems to be somewhat short-sighted. When Jesus speaks of making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:20) he doesn't specify that a building is included (or even needed). His command is 'Go!'
I think as members of the body of Christ and members of local congregations, we can, and should, feel free to worship in any room (church building) that is nearby. Unified in Christ, we connect with others, made holy through God's power, and find unity in movement. Church membership seems to almost inhibit the mobility of the Great Commission. As a member of a local congregation, all of my energy and resources generally are about the one Room, but as we move and support each other, we find that we evangelise along the way.
We are connected by love, not location. (Jesus' prayer before his arrest is unsurprisingly not about planting churches.)
John 17:20-23
'My prayer is not for (the disciples) alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you love me.'
2. Find the 'We'
One of my favourite passages of scripture comes from Romans 5:1-11, 6:1-14. In these two passages, the word 'We' is used thirty times. We encounter the plural, a soldering of 'you' and 'I' into the 'we' and 'us', to our great benefit. No greater is this spelled out than 6:4,5;
'We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.'
In Greek, the word for 'I' is ego. Of course we see this in psychological circles everywhere, the ego is the centre of who we are in our own personal universe. From a worldly perspective it regulates all that we think and do. The ego controls what I find most important in life and who I find most important in life.
But Paul draws the line and says that the Ego, the I, must be drowned in baptism - killed - and in the subsequent explosion from the Waters of Life, we find new life in the We. In essence, the Ego is shed and the 'We-go' arises.
How do we do this?
Maybe it begins in the core of our spiritual practices? Perhaps we begin in worship where the songs that we sing are much more about Christ and including the We, than it is about making sure I am shoring up my own shortcomings and making sure that 'Me and Jesus are okay.' Corporately, we find unity; individually we may encounter the loneliness of solely a personal relationship with Jesus. In our prayers, can we look to the outer rather than inner? As much as I want God to 'Jabez' me (from Bruce Wilkinson's Book The Prayer of Jabez, where the author postulates that if you pray like Jabez - 1 Chronicles 4:9,10 - you will get whatever you desire, blessing, territory, no harm and free from pain), I know that in the broad scope of things, the desperate prayer of the faithful is to be unified in the territory that we are given, in the difficulties of life and the associate pain of being connected as parts of One Body.
Tomorrow (hopefully) we'll look at the last two ideas and then, perhaps, we can start discussing in our local chat-rooms (congregations) how to start moving together.
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