[ first things first ]

At DCF we believe the history of humanity is constantly playing itself out in a story. Part of this story includes the crazy, messy, sinful disruption that has inevitably scarred us all. A rather infamous song by The Eagles ("Hotel California") sums it up, "We are all prisoners here of our own device." And yet, we also believe God is deeply invested in human history, and there is a particular hope for us.

Partially, our hope lies in this reality: that every human being somehow bears the image of God. We have taken this hope as our starting point for beginning to lay out a basic theology of community, which - we pray - will begin to give specific direction and shape to our House Churches as they express church.

[ images of a practiced community ]

Our House Churches are spiritually guided by three words (metaphors) that leave a lot to the imagination: story, family and table. These image-words are sourced in the history of humanity as revealed in the Scriptures. We truly desire that these words actually become us (in our flesh and bones) as we image Christ in our relationships to other Christians and to those who would not consider themselves Christ-disciples. We pray that Christ's example of "restless hospitality" (graciously inviting us in) will always lead us further into true community.

story > community

The story of community is at the heart of God's vision for restoring us - through Christ. This story itself is the central storyline. Community is his way of restoring what has been disrupted in that crazy, messy, sinful way: namely, his image on all of humanity. At the end of the day, the image of God is the reason our deepest needs and desires as human beings are bent toward relating to each other and toward searching for community, in the first place. There is a beauty and a tragedy to it all.

Community is essentially in God's DNA and is the best way he knows to communicate. According to the story of the Scriptures, God's own essence is relational (three persons existing in one: the Trinity), and God's supreme way of revealing himself was personal (Jesus Christ, the God-Man).

Ultimately, community is God's quest - through Christ - to get humanity back and to get his image back. It's a lost-and-found story for the ages. And this lost-and-found story is the story we invite others into as we express church through our House Churches.

family > community

Family is such a raw metaphor. It speaks dramatically to our individual human experience. Yet as it speaks, it seems a photo-contradiction (like the above image): closeness and distance. The word "family" itself holds so much promise and potential, but also so much disappointment and dysfunction. We all know it, we all have felt it, we all have hoped for more.

According to the story of the Scriptures, there is a mystery and reality of family that only comes from the relationship we experience with Christ and through Christ. So, Christian community is the family we've been looking for all our lives. At least, sometimes it's the family we've been looking for all our lives. There's still quite a bit of disappointment and dysfunction, as well as plenty of craziness, messiness and sinfulness to go around. The difference is: we now relate to each other through Christ, in the shadows of his gracious forgiveness, and in the context of his relationship with us. This is Christ-type community.

Through our House Churches, we are seeking to recover this particular family-image of community. We are committed to pursuing what Christ-type community looks like, as well as continuing to ask what it demands from each of us. Along the way, we pray that the picture of church-as-family will begin to emerge in our House Churches more clearly and more fully.

table > community

There is quite a loud scene in the film I Heart Huckabees (2004) where two would-be wanderers, in the middle of severe personal crises and big-time philosophical questions, happen upon a "Christian" home and are invited inside for dinner. What follows next around the dinner-table is a heated conversation about the stuff of life, including the social realities of living on this ol' earth.

Anyway, perhaps the most telling effect of the film scene is the response of those two wanderers as they abruptly leave the dinner-table and exit the house. Perplexed and exasperated, one of them says to the other, "What's going on in there?" In other words, what's happening around that table? What's not happening around that table?

The question is also provocative with respect to our House Churches: What's going on in there? Because of the gospel-story and its re-telling through the Communion experience (The Lord's Table), table-images should frequently flood our hearts and minds as Christ-followers. We are connected to the one who gathers us in community around his Table, who identifies us through his Table, and who graciously invites people to his Table: to be with him, to share a meal and to share life. This imagery of table - among other things - suggests an intense community experience, helps us continue to recall our sense of identity, and should then inspire our Jesus-like mission of openly extending ourselves (true hospitality) for the sake of those in need.

Through our House Churches, we desire to become Christ-type communities that genuinely offer Christ to each other and to any would-be wanderers - by reflecting his Table, in all its dimensions. The more we reflect his Table, the more we powerfully participate in the gospel-story by witnessing to Christ and interpreting who he is and what he is about in very earthy ways.