Present Church: Ecclesial Adolescence in the Twenty-First Century and Annual Re-Appraisal at Northland Village Church

The goal of this study was to consider a small worshipping community, Northland Village Church (NVC), as it enters its second decade, and whether and how it can pursue a commitment to reconciliation in the US in the twenty-first century. NVC’s seed verses, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, claim that God has reconciled and is reconciling the world to Godself through Christ. Within the ongoing nature of that work, a worshipping community is given the ministry of reconciliation whereby to participate in, and be subject to, God’s activity in Christ through the guidance of the Spirit. In order to do this with integrity and coherence, this study outlines a theology of being present, such that a worshipping community, in a spatial, temporal, physical, and relational sense, is present with God, neighbor, and the worshipping community itself. Furthermore, it argues that being present requires a continuously reforming posture, wherein the worshipping community is attentive and responsive to the impact of being present with those three entities. A theology of being present is the way by which a reconciling community can allow itself to be reconciled, and, therefore, this transitional existence is both the means and the goal of faithful commitment to the role of God’s people. Approaching this with attention to the needs of the community specifically and humanity generally and a Spirit-led liberative and creatively disruptive hermeneutic of Scripture ensures that the progression will be in keeping with God’s Kingdom’s advance. This study concludes that a reconciling worshipping community will allow its understanding of itself, its neighbor, and God, as well as its actions and principles, to be continuously subject to God’s work of reconciliation. A regular re-appraisal session for NVC is thus proposed and included