Jason Evans recently posted a thought-provoking article over at the Ecclesia Collective, Church as a co-op. I love the idea of searching out new analogies that help us delve deeper into what it means to be the called out people of God in community. After all, even the familiar concepts of the Church as the body of Christ and the family of God are also analogies.

“Organic” has become an increasingly popular analogy for the church (The Organic God, Organic Community and Organic Church to name a few recent books), I believe, out of this desire to reclaim the idea that the Church is not a static, artificial monument but rather a dynamic, real movement.

Of course, any language we choose to use runs the risk of being misunderstood, overused or rendered virtually meaningless because of conflicting ideas and preconceived notions. The emerging/emergent church movement and corresponding controversy come to mind. For more information about the emerging church, DJ Chuang has posted a great article to help you navigate the many kinds of emerging church. Here is another post that might help you understand the relationship between Emergent and the emerging church (including insightful comments from Scot McKnight and Jamie Arpin-Ricci).

I’m looking forward to hearing more of Jason’s thoughts. As a huge believer in the priesthood of all believers (God has called all of us into ministry, whether that’s our professional vocation or not) I whole-heartedly agree with the idea, “To be the Church is to choose unity with those that also choose the way of the Kingdom through Jesus.”