Why?

-Rev. Melissa Fain-

There are certain truths about Fig Tree Christian as we work through our process:

1. We believe that God can be anywhere, and with anyone. We choose to intentionally be with God at a special time and place. We call that time and place, worship. During worship we bring nothing except our focus on God. (Nothing before God's eyes.)
2. We believe God is our greatest want, and to live into that greatest want, we need to do what God wants of us.
3. Because we believe God is our greatest want, we want to learn what that means. Therefore we attempt to educate ourselves on how God has already revealed God's self in the world.
4. Because we believe God is our greatest want, we attempt to communicate with God through honest prayer.

We have separated "church" into four quadrants: "relationship," "education," "worship," and "community." The first three, we work on weekly. The last one we haven't even touched. Why?

There are two required aspects to mission and evangelism:

First: We must know the community we are engaging, and how God is already present. I've said this before, and I'll say it a million more times. Evangelism over the past three decades have been putting out a really nice welcome mat, the people choosing the welcome mat they want to cross. That's not evangelism. When we are ready, we will go out, not invite people in. BUT....

Second: We must know what we are inviting people into. These weeks where we introduce one aspect of worship, or learn about something specific about church are not for nothing. We are not a traditional plant. We are different. Because we are so radically different, we need to solidly define that before we go out into the community.

Also, I can't believe how many have figured out what we are without coming to a live event or reading any of our content. "No," has become a healthy word for our group. There are those so quick to shuffle us into the classic church plant. All one has to do is read the points above and realize we are anything but "classic." Therefore, I need warriors ready to defend this. The easiest way to do that? Invite! Have them go to a livecast, either in person or online. Have them see what we are and how radically different it is.