20/20 Vision, Part 2
2020. A year of shifting, shaking, stripping and intensive challenge. As life came to a grinding halt last Spring under a nationwide shut down, churches scrambled to find new ways to minister and engage the body – without the use of a building, without the ability to gather. Leaders found their thinking stretched in every way, their jobs and ministries evolving and “normal” an increasingly distant memory. Nothing about this season has been easy, but some of the results have been extraordinarily good. While many churches have begun to re-open buildings, COVID-19 has forced a profound shift in the overall approach of “doing church” that will shape our ministry of the future. One church, KC Underground, which models itself off the early Acts 2 house church design found itself in a unique position this year.
KC Underground describes itself as “an innovative, yet ancient form of church pursuing Jesus’ mission in Kansas City.” They “seek to create a network of reproducing disciples, leaders, micro-churches, and congregations that will saturate Kansas City with the good news, justice and beauty.” We recently asked Rob Wegner, who helped found KC Underground in 2019, to provide insight into how they’ve adapted in the midst of the challenges produced by 2020. His perspective offers another look at Church beyond the building, and offers encouragement to all churches, no matter their structure, that God is still in control and at work during this time:
WITC: Leading up to 2020, many churches and individuals prayed for 20/20 vision. 2020 has brought many unexpected changes and shifts, and has challenged and stretched the Christian community. How has KC Underground’s approach to church and ministry been able to shift alongside the challenges that have arisen over the past few months?
Wegner: We’ve all been blindsided by the Coronavirus.
Churches navigating the Coronavirus pandemic are looking at the possibility of not being able to have full public services for months and months. That’s a sobering situation, which may feel like an existential threat.
When the Coronavirus hit, by God’s grace we were able to pivot quickly. I knew I needed to write a letter to our microchurch leaders and the faithful missionaries in our movement to keep them abreast on our response to this crisis. As I wrote that letter, I realized that the form of church we equip for, the microchurch, is perfectly positioned for this type of culture moment.
Less of a warning about what we “can’t do” anymore, the letter was more of a rallying cry for things we “can do” as a movement of microchurches. We quickly gave free access to a video conferencing platform to all our microchurches. All the microchurches leaned in, dramatically increasing both frequency of community touches and community depth, as they rallied as spiritual extended families.
The [transitional space] of the crisis catalyzed creativity and new initiatives through our microchurch leaders as they shared their ideas. They don’t need us to tell them what to do.
WITC: Can you give us an example of how KC Underground has actually benefited during the COVID crisis?
A number of our missionaries immediately launched new online Discovery Bible Studies, inviting new people from their neighborhoods and networks to join them to find community and comfort in the storm. New disciples of Jesus have begun to emerge immediately. We’ve seen four new microchurches emerge from this! This is actually accelerating us in mission. In the pandemic, the generosity in the network of microchurches has increased. As we invested more in feeding the hungry and caring for the poor locally, as well as and investing more in disciple-making movements among unreached people groups in Africa, who are suffering dramatically in this crisis, God’s people rose to the challenge with even more generosity.
WITC: The Lord has certainly given us the opportunity to see His story with new eyes over the past few months (with COVID, racial tensions, and on and on), but many of us are uncomfortable with the ways in which He is working. How has KC Underground allowed for the Spirit to lead amidst discomfort/the unexpected?
Wegner: Alan Hirsch shares a really helpful chess analogy that is so pertinent today. If you want to learn how to play chess, you should start by removing your own queen. Once you’ve mastered the game without the most powerful piece, then put the queen back in and see how good you are! Alan says, for the church, the Sunday service in a building is our queen. We’ve been relying on it too much. Now that the queen has been taken off the board it’s time to rediscover what all the other pieces can do.
In addition, it’s a time of great shaking in our culture. The Lord is working in and through that shaking to address the “principalities and powers” in our culture; things like structural racism and nationalism as a civil religion. The church has often been complicit in both of these powers. Now, is time to listen, learn, pray, and repent.
WITC: How has 2020 shaped your understanding of God’s character?
Wegner: Two big reminders.
Reminder #1: Our God is Unchanging. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Heaven is not panicked, neither should we be. Jesus is seated on His throne. He’s not up pacing back and forth. He is seated on His throne and because of that our foundation is joy and shalom. He will lead us through this together, as we listen to His voice and obey. So, begin with prayer, fasting, and repentance. May we will only go forward as fast as we can on our knees, in totally God-dependency. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first, breathe in the Gospel and quiet yourself in His presence.
Reminder #2: Our mission is Unchanging. Make disciples who make disciples. This crisis environment is actually a richer environment for disciple-making because people are living with a real awareness of eternal realities. For example, we are always hanging on a thread between life and death. But most of the time we can ignore it. Not anymore. Most of time, we live with the illusion of control. Not anymore. Most of the time, we can distract ourselves and keep ourselves busy, but no longer. The desperate need for authentic community is so palpable when you are in lockdown.
I saw a picture on Instagram of a pastor who was going to buy supplies. Of course, half the shelves were empty. But you know what he else he noticed? He had posted a picture of the book section of Walmart where the Bibles are. All of them were gone. Not one left. That reveals the unparalleled hunger for spiritual truth during this pandemic. Thus far, this is the most potent opportunity for disciple-making in our lifetime! So, how do we leverage this opportunity?
Indeed, Rob states the challenge in one concise question: How will we leverage this opportunity? 2020 came as no surprise to our Creator. His plan prevails and we, as Christ followers have the privilege of learning to shift our vision in faith. So we ask the question, how are we learning to see 2020 with gospel-informed clarity and allowing the Lord to work even beyond our expectations or plans?
