There was a women's conference this past weekend at the facility here and 24 women came to spend two days.  That does not sound like a big deal, but you must understand the culture. This was the first time that one of the women had been away from her family or husband in 16 years.  That was an amazing, but not altogether foreign event. How many of our grandparents experienced the same?  Many never experienced that until a severe illness and insistent children forced them into a hospital for a protracted visit.

The weather has been marvelous to say the least for February in Romania. I did some work outside during the conference and was in shirtsleeves before it was over. This coming week should also contain warmer than usual temperatures and some much needed precipitation.

I met an interesting man named Daniel on Saturday whose wife was one our guest speakers.  She is a physician practicing nearby and they both also work in translating biblical material for Logos. Daniel is Romanian and works as a teacher at a school in Iasi that also prepares people for ministry.  They focus on college students that are already present at the university and others who have at least a high school education.

Daniel shared with me some inside information about a movement that he characterized as the emerging church movement here in Romania.  Groups are beginning to congregate external to buildings in private homes.  This allows them to always be exempt to any type of restriction that the government places upon religious organizations outside of the Orthodox Church. Of course, there is a lot more to the movement such as the capacity to meet needs and share beyond the traditions established by churches themselves.

Perhaps this trip has been a continuation of my education in the development of a personal ecclesiology, or in English, what it means to be the church. Throw away the building and see who will continue to meet with one another. Dispose of the programs designed to feed the full and see who shows up.  I thought (because I was repeatedly told) that this paradigm was not appropriate for Romania.  Reasons cited ranged from people being too jealous to the need for a building in a culture that reveres and identifies the church buildings. I should have known better because it was the people in the churches that were telling me this. It seems the same the world over. 

The truth is that we need all kinds of wineskins to hold the new wine.  The problem continues though when we put the new wine into old containers and those containers burst and the contents spill in all directions and some never notice. The question then emerges: Is the church relevant to your life, or is it simply a container meant to preserve traditions, some of which have no basis in Scripture?

Does the church exist as an instrument of God designed to reveal Himself to the world in terms of truth and grace? Or is it just another organization to which we have become affiliated through some rites of initiation? Our churches may have experienced the Reformation, but in practice many do not recognize much that happens outside of their walls as beneficial. They seem to think they hold the only keys to the abundant life.  A guy named Jesus would beg to differ.  He came to light up this place so that those who would follow him would have the life to match the abundance of His love.

Remember that the people are the church.  They are given a unique purpose to reveal in practical and culturally appropriate terms the love of Jesus to those around them.  So, how is your local body doing? Spending more on the upkeep of places or lives of people? Has God placed you with a local body of believers or have you placed yourself?

For the Truth, For the Church, For the Glory of God

jp