A few weeks ago (December 4th) we celebrated two birthdays. The first was my 26th. We went to a local Peruvian restaraunt called "Machu Pichu" for an intimate dinner with some close friends, and then headed to a little Psuedo-Irish pub called "The Cladagh" for a less intimate, but equally enjoyable time with more folks from our little church. The second was the anniversary of our return from Northern Ireland. (Some of you may remember my birthday party last year--we were still pretty jet-lagged) I thought maybe this would be a good time to give a little update.
We are going back. We're not sure if it will six months from now or six years, but when it's time we believe that God will make a way. As we've prayed about it, one of the things that we began to ask for was for a group of local people who would already wanting to do what we want to do, and who would want us to come over and help them in a pastoral role. Well that bit seems like it might be falling into place.
There was a Northern Irish guy named Cambell Miller who just spent six months at Muncie Alliance Church (our "parent church") and really loved it. He and his friends are mostly from Catholic or mixed-marriage backgrounds, but don't feel accepted or at home in any church there. For one, they've come to believe in Jesus in a more "evangelical" way that makes them uncomfortable in the Catholic church, but their heritage and political views make it difficult to be accepted in most protestant churches.
We want to start a Bible study that would be a "non-church." We would meet on any day but Sunday, probably in a coffee shop or neutral venue. We wouldn't try to get anyone to quit going to mass or church and join our group, but just worship Jesus, study the Bible together, and try to live out Christian community in practical ways. Ideally, Ange and I could get jobs or run a business or something normal people do and be as "un-missionary-like" as possible. Ideally, we could believe in people and help them step into their gifts and God's mission and "work ourselves out of a job," so to speak. At some point, this might involve starting an intensive ministry training program like the Internship at MAC. Who knows?
Or it's possible that we have the whole thing wrong and we'll fall on our face. You never know. Our plan is to go for a week or two in March to meet Cambell's friends. If that goes well, we'll look to move as soon as we can get visa/job/living arrangements worked out (which could be a while, realistically). We don't need any financial support right now, but we *really* need people to pray with us. If you'd be willing to commit to regularly praying for this endevour, please shoot us an e-mail, phone call, or just post a comment.
In other news, I never got around to finishing my theological treatise of last month. I should know by now that saying things like "I'll post more in a few days..." is setting myself up for a bold-faced lie. We love you guys.
Mark + Ange = Guinns
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3 comments:
Hey, my name is Jessica and I came to find your site from the Freeman's blog. I've met you twice this past summer as I worked for Luke at Camp Wesley. I wanted to let you know that I will be praying for you two. I understand needing prayer concerning deciphering God's will, as I have recently decided (after the end of the summer at camp and finally realizing God was calling me to do this) that I've changed my major from nursing to ministry. I know the power of having others praying for you, so I am offering you my prayers. God Bless!
Jessica - Thanks. We really appreciate that. May God bless your new adventure.
Exciting stuff! I talked with Guy and Heath at the Midwest district conference (meeting them for the first time), and they told me that you're thinking of starting a church. I'm excited. My wife tells me that I've told her three times already and my dad twice. :)
Do you have any updates that you could send/post? (By the way, Bruce set up a way to "email" when there's a new post... any chance you could set up something like that?)
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