Open Heaven at 15 Years Old: Growing Up

This summer, Open Heaven turned 15 years old. We’re no longer just getting going; we’re growing up, looking different and feeling different. For the first 10 years of Open Heaven we were a fairly homogenous group, spanning just a couple of life stages of student and graduate, and our felt needs, desires, preferences and challenges were similar to each other.

However, at 15 years old we are encountering our greatest period of change to date. There’s a much greater breadth of life stages, each now with very different and very specific needs, passions and callings. The fascinating thing is that this change will accelerate more over the next five years than at any other point since we started. It’s part of us growing up - some are growing up and staying single, some are growing up and getting married, some are growing up and having children. Each path presents its unique challenges, joys, pains and opportunities.

The change in our demographics from being predominantly young adult to embracing dozens and dozens of children, represents the largest change of all. In 5 years time we are likely to have 100 children under ten. We need to know now that we will look and feel very different! It will impact us more than going into two expressions or developing St. Peters. These secondary changes are a response to the growing up and diversifying in Open Heaven that is taking place, and are fuelled by the commitment to create more access points for those still unmoved by the love of God.

Much of what is happening in the season we are in now, is about God growing us on the inside, stretching us, positioning us, helping us shoulder more responsibility in his work. It feels uncomfortable. It can feel a little scary and awkward at times. However, these are the signs we have come to recognise when God’s hand is resting a little heavier than normal on us. It may seem from some life stages that parts of the church are settling. They are not, but they are changing.

There is no longer ‘one size that fits all’. There is a re-thinking needed, a re-shaping of how we do things together. We all need grace, understanding and a willingness to not just tolerate difference but celebrate difference, really celebrate it! We need to explore what it looks like to stay passionate and not settle in each life stage, recognising it will look very different at 8 years old, 18 years old and 38 years old.

We need greater self awareness that our expectations for what church should provide for us must change as we grow up. For the first three years of being part of Open Heaven as a student, it is an incredibly stimulating, fresh and spiritually provoking place to be. This ties in with research done across the globe that is revealing there is a direct correlation between church activities and spiritual growth for those discovering Christ and growing in Christ. However, for those fully surrendered to and stable in Christ, spiritual formation is no longer so dependent on church activities. Research shows that those who keep growing in their love for Christ and love for others do so because of the ‘bread and butter’ activities of regular time alone with God, personal rhythms of prayer and worship and serving others.

Church isn’t there so much to be the primary fuel of new, fresh, spiritual stimulation, but the place to give to others, be connected to something bigger than ourselves and remember the great God we serve. The cause of Christ compels us and reminds us why we are his community. Let’s enjoy this next season as the adventure of Open Heaven explores new things.

Posted by: Rich Wilson on Wednesday Oct 1st, 2008

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