Anything You Can do I Can do Meta

May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
Ephesians 3:17-18

In the Middle Ages the Vikings shook the foundation of Europe with a ferocious invasion. I love to read and study about the Vikings. My heritage is Scottish and Irish but my wife Jackie’s forefathers were the Vikings. In the Tri-cities there was a character known to everyone as Swede. His name was Svangren and he was actually from the disputed territory between Sweden and Denmark. I married his beautiful grand daughter Jackie. So while I do not have much direct Viking heritage my children do. The Viking invasion during the Middle Ages was almost unstoppable because it was a meta invasion. It was not based on one king or centralized government but in those days those of Norwegian ancestry who ran a farm and had a community of workers and who owned a long boat was a Viking king. Every little village and monastery throughout Europe lived in fear of seeing the Viking long boat show up for a mini-invasion. The word meta means outside the box, in a church growth it refers to a church that is bigger than its membership, or its buildings. It is a movement more than an organization. Every lay pastor who leads a Tiny Little Church is a king. And the Tiny Little Church is the long boat. Of course in our church every TLC is a force for the kingdom of God: 1) every TLC has a hands on good Samaritan project helping the less fortunate, 2)every TLC leads people very far from God into a personal relationship with Jesus, 3) every TLC prays and sees God work miraculously, 4) every TLC grows people up into the strength of maturity, 5) every TLC makes each other stronger by being a part of a greater meta church. These TLC’s take the form of health groups, Bible study groups, teenage discipleship groups, athletic groups, single parent groups, exercise groups, business groups, etc. etc. Every leader is working collaboratively to build the body of Christ and put God’s will above their own. All that we require of TLC leaders is that they are a member of Washington Cathedral worshiping regularly with us. Second we ask that TLC leaders do some regular training so we can stay on the same page. Thirdly we ask that our TLC pastors do not to put down the church but work as a team with all the other ministries.

I love the book of Ephesians because it emphasizes a God who is out of the box. And how I long for each of us to know how wide, how long, how high and how deep is the love of God. And for our world to experience the power of his mighty love that goes way beyond the traditional boundaries of a church. Someday we will have thousands of TLC’s around the Puget Sound area each making a little mini invasion with kindness, respect and a servants heart like that of Jesus. Each person will be an incarnational (Jesus Christ working through our bodies) presence of Jesus to their family, neighborhood, school, workplace and community. If you are interested in finding a TLC group or if you would like to become a TLC pastor then contact Bill or Elaine Brammer who are the overseers of TLC’s.

Your friend for the rest of my life,
Tim White