You’re invited to a picnic at the tree of life!
Our story begins (Gen 2:9), rebegins (Gal 3:13), and continues eternally at the tree (Rev 22:2).
The tree reveals the heart of a dumpster-diving God, who doesn’t waste anything. In a culture obsessed with brand-spanking newness, God’s way of making new is resurrection. Resurrection is a force of remix, infusing the disposed with new life.
Many churches are being crushed in the Iron Maiden of either/or. We need emerging forms of church, but we need not leave traditional forms in the rearview. New life is found by harnessing the power of one little word… “and.”
New creation is about “andness,” the old/new, both/and tree story.
Existing congregations planting fresh expressions of church are experiencing revitalization.
The blended ecology way is vintage and fresh modes of church working together in life-giving synergy. Declining churches enter a process of death, self-donation, and ultimately resurrection by releasing the priesthood of believers to engage the greatest missional opportunity in US history.
This bite-sized appetizer helps local churches cultivate the blended ecology.
Check it out!
Rev. Michael Beck is South Atlantic Coordinator Fresh Expressions US, Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the North Central District, and a Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Michael serves as co-pastor of Wildwood UMC with his wife Jill, where they helped transition an inherited church of less than a dozen older christians to a network of more 15 (and counting) Fresh Expressions.
