"Adullam"

In the last couple years this passage has become dear.  It is my testimony. 1 Sam. 22:1-2,

David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.  And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him.  So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

David was a fugitive.  He never could remain in Jerusalem long so he became a nomad.  For a long time he was alone except for one friend.  And then all of a sudden one day, people saw it for something more and they became a family.

1658, Claude, Landscape with David at the Cave of Adullum

If Sundays and Wednesdays at church are Jerusalem, the remainder of the week is the cave of Adullam.

Life Beyond Jerusalem

I haven't been satisfied by inviting friends to church.  It isn't enough.  When a person responds, "yes I'll come," sometimes they have come and never heard the gospel.  Sometimes they may have heard it but they seemed not sure why they should think the gospel was significant to them.  I refused to just "let them go."  If they didn't want to come to church, I told them the gospel.  Sometimes while standing on the sidewalk outside our home, or wherever else was convenient.  I wanted them to understand this invitation He gives to see Him as real in our life.

Sometimes they would say, "Yes I believe that," but they didn't seem to respond at the level of their soul.  I could have just let them go, again, but my concern that they understand what Jesus has done, and it moved me to try to invite-in the wonder of God.

Finally, some started seeing Jesus for themselves.  Which was wonderful!  And yet I should not be surprised!  "So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God."  But they would come to church and feel weirded out by one aspect or another.  They think that they can't be Christians unless they do everything we do.  Which is just not true.

So I have ended up showing people how to live for the Kingdom, or at least doing my best to testify about that, inviting them the way Jesus invites me daily.  To not worry about whether they understand worship music, and not worry about bible studies which are overwhelming like homework, or not worry about why their clothes are different than most everyone else.

If anyone's leading, they lead me.  I want to know as much as they do how to see a viable Jesus outside of Sundays and Wednesdays.  These unchurched Christians are largely available and interested to play around with what following Jesus looks like outside of those structured times.

I like them better than I like myself.  They know how to take care of people like a real family.  They know what freedom ought to smell and look like.  Most of all they are SERIOUS about lavishing grace on broken people even if they have to do it in an earthly manner till they meet the means of grace in the person of Jesus.

They aren't bogged down by years of thinking about church like I do and so they bring an awareness of life with the King that I would never have noticed otherwise.  In fact there has been such success in seeing the King outside of Sundays and Wednesdays that now several longtime churched Christians, and even the de-churched, are purposely joining the rest-of-the-week band.  The harvest is plentiful.  Where?   Perhaps for Americans, the question isn't where but WHEN.  The harvest is plentiful during the rest-of-the-week, when people are eager to see the King, come, in their very existence.

This is my testimony: It is possible to follow Jesus and not fit into the typical experiences of going to church as we know it.

Indeed: THERE ARE MANY MORE WHO CAN FOLLOW JESUS THAN THOSE WHO CAN UNDERSTAND OUR WAYS OF DOING CHURCH, than we could have dreamed.  They just need someone to help them seek the Kingdom with vitality, in their own way of living life!  All their sin issues can be and are being conquered by the same Holy Spirit.

The "unchurched" have a King, too.  This King is the same as everyone else's.  He leads them with the same vitality as He leads those who attend Sundays and Wednesdays.  My passion is still, that the unchurched would come to church.  Some may be able to bridge that gap to perceive their place in a regular church service, eventually, while some never will and that's ok.

Why do I suggest that there is some invisible wall forcing me to juggle life between the unchurched and the churched?  Only because of one reason: I invite people to come to church, and they don't see Jesus right away, for some strange reason.

This is a challenge to develop myself as missionary.  The problem isn't who I've invited, the problem isn't my church.  It's that they need someone who will be a gap-stander.

Perhaps that what the discontented saw in David: a true ruler over the City, yet one who had legitimacy in life as an outsider.

I myself love church on Sundays and Wednesdays, but I cannot get myself to forget those who do not.  As David one day finally rested, I pray too that I and the people who I share life with can come and experience the joy of being gathered together with other saints.  There is one body, one baptism, and Jesus has took the dividing wall and abolished it through His body.

I long for those reading here to meet some of these.


Note: 'Adullam' is the name of the church started by Matt Smay and Hugh Halter.  I became familiar with the story of their church.  Recently I attended their pre-conference track in Texas.  Then recently I revisited this passage and that name, 'Adullam,' popped right out in my attention.  "Yeah!" I thought with a twinge of jealousy - they are experiencing a similar movement for God, as they found their namesake in this passage.