Virtual Faith?

On my other blog I've posted some thoughts about virtual faith but I won't repeat those here. In this year of living faithfully, I cannot help but wonder at times how real my own faith is. There are times when I feel like a "virtual Christian"; times like last Sunday morning where I wonder if I'm really doing the right thing. Especially when I think about my family. What views on Christian faith are my boys developing? How about my wife? She's "stuck" at home all week homeschooling our children. When we were part of a brick and mortar church she had some social outlets. For a while we met with another family but that arrangement did not work out. Perhaps we gave up on it too easily, but our visions and doctrinal views were too divergent. Maybe being part of the Body of Christ and living authentic faith means making those differences work, even in the most impossible seeming circumstances. (NOTE: I am not saying that there was a huge schism in our brief fellowship, just that we felt led to go in separate and different directions.)

On that same Sunday, I found myself in conversations with several other parents and their children discussing the matter of faith. I encountered people from all across the spectrum. Strong, secure Christians who were faithful church members. People who occassionally attend church. And people who have no part of church for a variety of reasons, usually relating to a lack of belief. When conversations would turn to my current situation (they all know that I used to pastor a church), I felt awkward, ineffective, and doubtful in what I had to say. Did I have a real faith?

This past week that view began to turn around. Initially the week reinforced my doubts. I know that some of my colleagues look at me dubiously because their perspective on ministry and a life of faith is relegated soley to the brick and mortar church. As opportunities to live and act faithfully presented itself (as it does every week), my doubts faded. The real need for a real faith demonstrated to real people with real problems is ever present.

As I was catching up on my blogreading, I came across the following quote on Brian Russell's blog. It is by Leslie Newbigin, a missionary from the UK to Asia. He has written some very challenging pieces on how we do church in the western world. He said,

"How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come
to believe that the power, which has the last word in human affairs is
represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer,
the only hermeneutic of the gospel, is a congregation of men and women who
believe it and live by it. I am, of course, not denying the importance of many
activities by which we seek to challenge public life with the gospel's
evangelistic campaigns, distribution of Bibles and Christian literature,
conferences, and even books such as this one. But I am saying that these are all
secondary, and that they have power to accomplish their purposes only as they
are rooted in and lead back to a believing community"

Newbigin refers to a congregation as the intended believing community. I believe he meant a congregation that was the flesh and bones of a brick and mortar church, although he speaks against the program driven nature of most churches. I think the believing community might exist more effectively outside of those boundaries. That's why I'm on this particular journey. However, as long as my journey only includes my family, it will remain a virtual faith journey.