The Issue
We hear it all the time. “Where’s your AWANA program?”
That question is code for, “Are you a real church?” Real churches have programs like AWANA to teach children to follow God and memorize His Word, all within a circle within a square on the floor where all the action happens. We are fans. But really? Real churches have programs. You’re not really real without real programs!
“Okay, maybe you do not yet have an AWANA program, but do you at least have a church constitution and 501(c)(3) tax designation?”
Um… no.
“Do you have a doctrinal statement?”
Um… Does the Bible count?
“Do you have a building?”
No.
“Organ? Guitar? Worship band?”
Well, we do sing.
“So, you have a worship leader?”
Does Spotify count?
What makes us real church, “real?”
Notice that I said “real church,” not “a real church.” We often confuse the gathering of Jesus’ followers with the organized congregation they frequently create. We confuse the building with the people or the gathered congregation with the church as the people of Jesus. We think we go to church but forget we are the church.
#1 We follow Jesus
We follow Jesus and focus on His Word, by His Spirit in prayer, and wrapped in love and grace.
#2 We did not join the church—it joined us
We don’t do church hopping or church shopping. We don’t do membership. We do discipleship. We did not join the church; it joined us. That is what 1 Corinthians 12:13-14 means when it says:
“For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”
When we chose to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit put us all into the one real church.
#3 We are in each other’s lives and, if necessary, each other’s faces
People who come together in “Clusters” (John 15 vine metaphor, meaning people who are committed to one another in Jesus) are in each other’s lives. We love one another, work together, grow together, help each other, and if necessary, help each other process all the garbage of life to heal in a very attractive environment of love—not fake love, but love that tells the truth and always looks for healing and restoration no matter what.
#4 We sing and pray. We read and live the Bible, love, and often eat together.
We love being together. It’s community the way it was intended to be. It’s home.
Because we love Jesus, we cannot help but talk about Him, speak with our Heavenly Father, and hear Him by His Spirit and His Book. We sing together, pray together, serve together, and love each other, warts and all. We spend a lot of time together (because we want to), and we often eat together or run, or hike.
Bottom Line
We are not a new church. We are the old first-century New Testament church with a new way of being together in the twenty-first century. We showcase God’s love and tell others that Jesus loves them and wants them to follow Him.
Cluster Life
We gather in “Clusters” mainly because every other label for the “church” is somehow too easily misunderstood. So, we found a term that reminds us of clusters of grapes, all growing in the vine of Jesus and interconnected to each other and to other Clusters worldwide.
But we don’t have an AWANA program unless someone wants to make one. If you do, we will bring the pizza and sing along with Spotify.