DWELL Missional Church of Burlington, Vermont - A Vermont Church Seeking to be missional in all areas of life.

When I was a kid, I went to Cape Canaveral, FL, and the Kennedy Space Center, to worship at the shrine of all things NASA. I had an overall fascination with space, pretty much like any 80's kid would have, immersed as we were in the kid-culture of Return of the Jedi, Space Camp, and ALF.

(For the record, I wanted to go to space camp so dang bad.)

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When I woke up this morning I had a feeling of dis-belief. I kept thinking about how amazing our community is and how awe-struck I am at the goodness of God. I love you all and hope these pictures from our recent gathering on 01/10/10 (taken by Dweller Redmond Deck) will encourage you to think on the unique and important part that you play in this amazing community called Dwell.

"..from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Ephesians 4:16

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This is a post from my dad's blog MissionNow, and something he shared in our call to worship this week. It impacts me everytime I read it! So here it is, from Jim Hoag...

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I want to throw out some thoughts on a "worshiping community." Worship is huge. And it includes coming together as community to recalibrate around Jesus. To me it's equivalent to an event- a transforming God encounter. As I said last week, I have an increasingly greater appreciation for community. I also mentioned a kind of early intuition that 2010 was going to be a radical year for Dwell Missional Church. I believe the genuine "ethos" or life force of this community - the timely and necessary distinction this community brings to the mix - will continue to unfold and fill out more of its sphere of influence. And all of it flowing out from relationship with Jesus under the influence of His grace. Here is where Jesus is shaping community. How incredible is it that the church, unleashed as community, is the means of grace by which God chooses to express Himself (Eph.3:10)? I mean, even after you leave a community gathering, there is this profound, unbreakable, and mysterious continuity of it by which Christ is present (Eph.5:32). Dwell then becomes community in the greater community; a community testifying not of itself but as the Message Bible says, "opening up our lives to others, prompting people to open up to God..."

As we approach 2010, I believe greater understanding is coming about the way in which we inhabit community and move out from it; that is, understanding about the way of living in and out of the reality that God is forming - "which is His body." I love the body metaphor because with it you get a picture of this radical, living, anatomical connectedness. Though sometimes messy, there is this relational supply between the parts. It's this uncanny interaction between strengths and weaknesses. It's not the externalized or mandated "love of the brethren" stuff of religion, but the outflow of relationship with God that in some way actually accomplishes the work of grace.

As I said awhile back, we come together as community in worship to "reboot" - getting our "software" in sync with the "hardware" of God's Word and in fellowship with one another. This re-orientation around Jesus changes everything and empowers our witness. Why? Because "in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and all the riches of spiritual knowledge."

Lastly, Paul tells us,"Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it" and that we "are parts of His body-of His flesh and of His bones." I don't want to "time-share" in that, where I retreat now and then when life is getting a bit hectic. No, I want to live in that "body" reality, drenched in the Gospel, under His divine influence. See, in community, the grace Jesus brings to His followers and what they become by it is incredible! Between the Son of God "made flesh" and His Church, there is, again, this profound, unbreakable and mysterious connection by which He is present. This presence of Jesus (not just some vague "presence") is the reason for our joy. What better reason to gather in community and worship Him as community?

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Enjoy these photos from one of our recent gatherings. It's so amazing to see what the Lord has done.

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Covenant Season begins in October. I'd love to see you there!

To give you a quick preview, here is an outline for our first night of study:

I. The Structure of Scripture is Covenant (a.k.a., The Story of Scripture is Covenant)

Scripture is a story about God's covenants with man
OT covenants
The "old covenant"
The "new covenant"
Different phases, one covenant
Why dispensationalism sucks (mostly)

II. The Why of Covenant

God is a relational God: Trinity
We are relational beings: Imago Dei
Christ's relational ministry: Incarnation

III. The How of Covenant

Covenant and our faith
Covenant and our baptism
Covenant and our address (the utter importance of place)
Covenant and intention
Conclusion

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By now most of you guys know that Dwell is moving into a new space starting this Sunday, July 4th. The space is on 266 South Champlain St. and our first gathering will be with our sister church, Mosaic.

Something you might not know is why the blog has been a bit dormant of late. It's definitely because of general busyness, but it's also because we are gearing up for a new approach to blogging at Dwell, a community approach.

Pretty soon, several folks at Dwell will be posting to this Tumblr blog: The Daily Missioner. And posts from that blog will be fed directly to the Dwell site. 

And I think that there is something significant about these things, taken together. That something is simply that we are in a time of newness, a season wherein God is highlighting that this Dwell community is a part of the BIG NEW THING that God is doing in the world in general, a new thing called new creation.

Understanding new creation is easiest when you trace it back from it's fulfillment. At the conclusion of the Story, John the Revelator says this:

Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

That final city, that final earth, that final dwelling place for God and his people, is already being created now, only to be finished then. New space, new blog, new Dwell - all of these small things are signs of the big thing, that we are God's people, newly created by the resurrected and ascended King in the power of his Spirit. We are his new people, and he dwells in the world through us, filling every thing in every way.

Indeed, making everything new, in Burlington and beyond.

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