Theophilus – A Christian Community
Theophilus
came about through A.J. and Quinn Swoboda’s deep passion for the Hawthorne
District of Portland. It began for them while sitting at a coffee house on SE
Belmont St. A.J. stated, “It was like being at home.” When describing the
people represented at the coffee house he talked about the tattoos, rings and
piercings. For A.J. and Quinn this was not a new cultural experience, but a
very familiar cultural environment due to their experiences in Eugene, Oregon.
A.J. and Quinn were the campus pastors for the Onyx House[1]
at the University of Oregon. It is an extension ministry of the youth ministry
of Eugene Faith Center.
The
vision for Theophilus was shared with those in the community in Eugene to begin
a church plant in the Hawthorne District. Theophilus was an intentional church
plant amid a largely non-religious, but highly spiritual community.[2]
When sharing about the plan for the creation of Theophilus, A.J. indicated that
the considerations included some very specific activities that reflect the
Positive Deviance Approach. What I gleaned from my time with A.J., as well as
spending some time amid the community and reading available website materials,
is that as an alternative missional ecclesia Theophilus falls into the
categories of indigenous and counterintuitive positive deviance. These
categories are due to their own identification with the Hawthorne District and
their ability to contextualize for a pluralistic culture as seen in this
analysis.
Describing
A.J. is an interesting challenge. He is eclectic and maybe the best way to
characterize him would be to state that he is a Geek for God. He wears his
shirts un-tucked and has an unpretentious attitude that comes through when you
talk and listen to him. He is relaxed in his approach: when preaching and does
not use a pulpit or music stand, but is down in the aisle amid the people. He
is expressive, but not over the top when he speaks. It gives a person the sense
of his openness and approachability. The sermon is not a one way conversation,
it is presented in a conversational format where the congregation is encouraged
to wrestle with the scripture and share their thoughts as well. This
conversational style gives validity to the voice of the congregation. A.J. is
not the most radical Positive Deviance Approach practitioners I have observed.
But he is authentic as a human being and Christ follower.
My reasons for
categorizing Theophilus in two categories is due to A.J. and Quinn’s
experiences living in Eugene, placing them culturally amid people they resided
amongst, and intentionally planting Theophilus amid what is considered by many
in Portland to be the most resistant to the Gospel. Since their start date,
Theophilus has experienced growth from fifteen people meeting in a home to
averaging one hundred people regularly at the writing of this paper.
The
practices and strategies of Theophilus do not follow the typical church
planting model. The demonstration of the following practices and strategies
indicate that Theophilus is engaged in ecclesial contextualization with
theological praxis empowered by the Positive Deviance Approach. In order to
facilitate understanding of the practices and strategies I will delineate them
along with an explanation. I will follow this method of reporting the critical
observations surrounding practices and strategies throughout this section of
the paper.
Theophilus Practices and Strategies:
First,
listening to A.J. it became clear that the four D’s (define, determine,
discover, and design)[3]
of positive deviance process were engaged. An exegesis of the community amid
the Hawthorne district became the road map leading Theophilus toward an
understanding of the context of the culture in the district. Their indigenous
leanings help assist in an easy assimilation into the Districts communities.
Second,
Theophilus engages the culture of the Hawthorne District from within the
culture. In the placement of Theophilus’ presence and proximity were critical
to the team. This was accomplished by locating themselves within the
neighborhoods of the district where cultural context would allow integration to
the community. The cultural connection amid the community was a primary focus
of leadership in Theophilus as they sought to follow where Christ was leading
them.
Third,
Theophilus as a community has the ability to “navigate creating its own
identity.” The existence of a top down hierarchy of the pastor being in charge
of everything and every decision is not practiced at Theophilus. Instead, the
community gathers once a term for a community forum allowing the community to
be engaged in shaping the vision of Theophilus. A collective identity is
created amid the community through the community designing its own practices;
this is a clear positive deviance practice. The collective intelligence of the
community is trusted to engage the mission of God.
Fourth, the
community of Theophilus is adaptive to internal diversity. A.J characterized
the community of Theophilus as a “contextual open society.” The contextual
openness is counterintuitive to the institutional church’s modeling of church
planting. The focus is not upon the church as an entity where people may be
considered expendable, but is focused instead upon people, because people are
not expendable. A.J.’s interview indicated the engagement of a descriptive
Christology as the ecclesia of Theophilus seeks to follow Christ in his present
activities amid humanity. He said, “We are not taking Christ to the Hawthorne
District; he is already present and active in the community.” Everyone is
welcome amid the community of Theophilus.
Concerning the
adaptive abilities of Theophilus A.J. referenced the 1987 movie Harry and the Henderson,[4]
the story of family that works to adapt to having a Bigfoot (Harry) as part of
their family, as he describes this aspect of the community of Theophilus.
Quoting A.J., “Jesus loves Harry. The church has to be uncomfortable changing
who we are for people who don’t fit.” The community reflects this level of
commitment to people.
Fifth,
Theophilus has a three main ways of expressing itself amid the culture; Tents,
Tables and Tears. Tents, has to deal with the gathering of Theophilus for
worship and expressing their spirituality. People are invited to journey along
with them without crossing a line of faith, but instead are allowed to freely
experience the reality of the spiritual life. Part of this openness involves
having an open communion table where all are welcome to partake. Tables involve
intentional focus upon food and community through eating together whenever
possible and as part of the gathering. This practice is intentionally designed
to emulate Jesus’ table fellowship. Tears involve an intuitive sense for
following Jesus Christ’s example in service amid the neighborhoods of the
Hawthorne district and beyond. They engage the house-less community of the
Hawthorne District by cooperating with Hands On Greater Portland.[5]
They encourage the practice of random acts of kindness amidst daily activities
such as mowing lawns, clearing refuse, making themselves available to transport
people, and being present to their neighbors. The community helps provide food
and clothing by participating in and with the local food banks. It is a
purposeful theological praxis of engaging the missio Christi, the mission of Christ.
This
is a basic overview of the practices and strategies of Theophilus – A Christian
Community. The information available through the interview and my personal
observations are plentiful enough to make Theophilus the sole focus of this
paper, but due to space being as concise as possible is important. With that said,
the community of Theophilus and its leadership demonstrate the Positive
Deviance Approach amid a marginalized people according to the criteria
established for Positive Deviance process.
The
evidence of the effects of Theophilus following a Positive Deviance Approach is
witnessed in a blog review called Year of
Sundays: we go to church so you don’t have to. It is written by Amanda P.
Westmont and her partner Joel Gunz.[6]
Amanda and Joel are self proclaimed agnostics, but have engaged in this unique
project of attending church every Sunday for a year and blogging about their
experience as guests. Amanda reflected about her experience at Theophilus,
I’ll be honest: part of me hoped
this church would suck, just so I could call it THEAWFULEST, but there was nothing
awful about it. In fact, y’all’ll have to excuse me while I gush a bit because
I genuinely adored this church, its steeple and how when you opened it up,
inside were real people.[7]
Amanda’s and Joel’s blog has not
been kind to the many churches that they have visited in Portland, but one
thing is evident through their blogging about Theophilus is that anyone would
be able to join in the community of Theophilus and know they are genuinely
accepted. Amanda’s experience at Theophilus was profound. So much so she
expressed in the blog that she had experienced her first authentic spiritual
experience. Amanda and Joel’s blog gives credibility to the Positive Deviance
Approach engaged at Theophilus as successfully creating an ecclesial
contextualization amid a marginalized district of Portland.
Theophilus
purposefully positioned itself amid a community that resembled their own
indigenous culture. They provide counterintuitive community through a
contextually open community that welcomes everyone as they are to experience
their spirituality. In their practices they engage their community through an
intuitive following the Holy Spirit’s activities amid the people of the
Hawthorne District by the means of service and unconditional acceptance of
others. Theophilus demonstrates the essential traits of Positive Deviance
Approach. It makes me feel blessed to call A.J. a friend and fellow PD practitioner.
[1] http://www.eugenefaithcenter.org/youth/college/college-group/
[2]
Driving through the Hawthorne District a person will observe displays of
spirituality from Buddhist prayer flags, chakra symbols, Dharma gods and
goddesses, displays of neo-paganism, Wicca and neo-druidism.
[3] Pascale
et al., The Power of Positive Deviance, 195.
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_and_the_Hendersons.
[5] http://www.handsonportland.org/
[6]
The author introduction descriptions state, “Amanda P. Westmont is a
lifelong church-phobic agnostic who woke up one day and decided it was time to
see how (and why!) the other half was living and Joel Gunz's past as a
sexually-repressed non-Christmas-celebrating Jehovah's Witness uniquely
qualifies him to sit in the back pew and shoot spit wads at the choir,” http://blog.beliefnet.com/yearofsundays/.
[7] Amanda
P. Westmont and Joel Gunz, http://blog.beliefnet.com/yearofsundays/2011/05/theophilus-church-foursquare-done-right.html.
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