AND - Some Initial Observations, part 1

I am reading a book entitled AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church.  I don't think much of the title, but the subtitle explains it.  When finished I will post a review.  In the meantime, I will post from two rare nuggets that intrigued me, and they come from the same chapter.  Today, part one from pages 179-180 has the authors, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, allowing others to describe their fellowship.

What are we like? Well it's difficult to communicate the intangible aspects of our life together, but I'll give it a try.  These are just a few statements that describe what various people have said about our corporate gatherings, and they also serve as a helpful description of the key elements we find in churches that have found a way to gather together without compromising their sending impulse or capitulating to the gravity of consumerism:

→ Relationship first, presentation second
→ Whimsical
→ Everyone's messed up, therefore everyone's safe to be there regardless of their level of faith or doubt
→ Communion table is central, intimate, open, participatory, and the glue that holds the people together
→ Not polished, not excellent, but proficient
→ Sermons as opposed to abstract teaching
→ Children integrated with the adults while augmented with simple programs
→ Outside at least every eight weeks at a park (probably won't work in Iceland in December)
→ Food, lots of food!
→ Simple worship without hype or pretense
→ Leaders who lead through vision and hold the community to higher purposes
→ Orderly, but everyone feels safe to raise a hand, share a thought, or ask a question
→ Sacrilegious, but reverent
→ No "greeters" but everyone friendly
→ No offering but people give
→ No altar calls but people come as part of their conversion process
→ No service teams but everyone lends a hand

That "sacrilegious" creeps me out, and I question "leading through vision" unless what they see comes directly from Scripture.  But the rest makes me want to stand and cheer that a church acts like what the apostles set up in the beginning.