Commander's Intent & Service Worship at Phos Hilaron Church

When we started dreaming Phos Hilaron Church into existence in 2007 we studied the 25 Most Innovative Churches in America as ranked by Outreach Magazine and we dug into Scripture. We focused a ton on what Jesus had to say to His early followers and to how the first church in the book of Acts lived out her fresh mission. And, we studied the Newbigin Triangle that suggests that for a church to truly be on mission she has to touch 3 sides of a 'triangle'--Gospel is the first side, culture is the second, and 'Ecclesia' (church itself) is the third. Mark Driscoll does a great job in the early part of 'Reformission' describing the Newbigin triangle and what happens if you fail to touch a side of the triangle. For example, if a church only touches the 'church' side of the triangle it's possible to arrive at a place where mission is lost and the body turns inward & focuses only on itself and self-preservation. If a church fails to touch the 'culture' side of the triangle she looses her 'light-ness' and 'salt-ness' - she fails to engage the real world and slides into irrelevance. If a church fails to keep the Gospel edge in play she becomes a country-club with programs that may be culturally relevant but don't deliver any God breathed passion or power. (Having a form of Godliness, but denying the full power of the Gospel. See 2 Timothy 3:4)

I asked that little core of wanna-be revolutionaries to study a ton, to pray a lot and to re-imagine what Church might be.

We talked a lot about 'Commander's Intent' related to what Jesus' desire was for this missional movement (ecclesia) that started with a rag-tag bunch of tax collectors, fisherman, recovering demoniacs and reformed scoundrels. We wondered if what most of us had experienced in our churches growing up in America had much to do with 'Commander's Intent' and we concluded that most of time there was a huge canyon between His intent and our execution of His mission for the world. So, we wondered how we might re-imagineer 'church' so that we might be closer to His imagination for this movement we're a part of .

Out of our re-imagineering of 'church' and 'worship' we arrived at the concept of 'Service Worship' where we take one Sunday each month and partner with an existing organization to meet needs in our local community (Mission at 2 Degrees) So far these 'worship' bandwidth stretching excursions have taken us Apple Patch Community, Salvatation Army Angel Tree Warehouse, Jefferson Street Homeless Shelter, Oldham County Middle School and yesterday we worked with the team at Good News Homes in LaGrange, Kentucky.

Be careful where your head and heart go now just because we're introducing worship as you've not experienced it before. Check out these 2 places where the word 'worship' is mentioned in the Bible and then come back to tell me if you don't agree with us that the church in America has too narrowly defined worship as teaching/preaching & singing of some sort. Or, in most cases when an American Christian uses the word 'worship' most likely he/she is talking about the 'music' that helps them enter into the presence of God. So, go to Romans 12:1-2 & Genesis 22:5 and then come back to this blog and tell me if you don't agree that your definition of worship has little to do with what the Bible calls worship. It includes service to the King and sacrifice of what we hold most dear.

Phos Hilaron Church constantly explores what Commander's Intent is for us as a body and for the church in America and around the world. One of my greatest hopes is that we'll have the courage to dance on the missional edge, keep expanding the band-width on 'worship' and re-imagineering 'church' so that we live close to 'Commander's Intent'.

Because of Commander's Intent....We are passionate about pursuing M.I.A.s -- those missing from God's mission and P.O.W.s -- those held captive by circumstances & sometimes decisions that keep them bound and distanced from experiencing God's love. (the reality is that God loves us and desires deep, meaningful relationship with us even when we've gone a long way from Him and botched the deal badly. So, when we are 'P.O.W.' He hasn't quit loving we've just been wrapped up in chains of happenstance or strong willed rebellion)

Every church must constantly re-visit 'commander's intent' for their body of believers and then have the courage to re-imagineer fresh ways to execute the plays in God's dream for that church.

Not only do people perish where there is no vision, but a church can loose her soul if the leadership is gutless and fails to lead people into God's mission.

This goes for our individual lives as well!

See ya,
Jeff Fuson

p.s. Just for fun you might like to see some of the videos we've posted at Phos Hilaron church