| We just wrapped up a teaching series at Vintage Faith Church where we were talking about "church" being people and not a building. As part of the series, we had little blank white post cards in every bulletin and asked the question of everyone "What do you dream this church could be?" and then had them fill in the black on the card, "I Dream Of A Church....." and then whatever they might dream of. We are really trying to create a culture where the church is not about just the pastors dreams and hopes but the people of the church, who are the church, are the dreamers of what God could do in us and through us as a church. I got the responses and it was really amazing and humbling reading the several hundred responses that were turned in. Such as:  I DREAM OF A CHURCH...
- that reaches the broken world to bring a healing that can only come from Jesus Christ - that does not get caught up in technicalities and politics but stays focused on the Lord - that helps me understand - that is more about helping others than about us - that listens to the Holy Spirit and is bigger than man's efforts - is honest and open-minded rather than self-righteous and dogmatic OR has donuts. I will be OK with either. - who is loving and unafraid - accepts people where they are in life and not just when they have achieved a level of "spiritualness" - grows in the knowledge of God and His love for the world - lifts up Jesus and redeems things like the environment, stewardship, the arts and philosophy - that prays for one another - that serves others, feeds the hungry, visits the sick and imprisoned - lives a diversity of thoughts, opinions, ages, worship expressions and celebrates the differences - is a soft place to fall; that is a daily part of my life; that doesn't feel like a wall; that is the heartbeat of Christ - that knows me and loves me anyway  - impacts the community around them so that it can be a light for Jesus in people's lives
- that gets lost in worshiping Jesus and lingers in His presence - that is the church throughout the week and not just on Sunday - that is real and where people are not fake and has a passion to serve those in need - acts like a family, reaches out to community, accepts all people - that Jesus would be proud of - that changes lives by drawing people to Christ - whose whole heart is consumed with Christ and flows to others - that is completely outward focused and selfless - that will challenge our minds to learn God's Word and support each other in our walks with God - that doesn't isolate and separate ourselves from "this bad world" - that is my family and my home - that has a love for the untouchables of our era There are so many inspiring and wonderful cards, I am just sitting here typing in the very top of a massive pile of them. What i also noticed is about 80% of them were about others and outreach focused in bringing the love of Jesus to others and serving in our community. We taped them all up to the walls around the church for 2 weeks, but had to take them down for a wedding, but will be putting them back up somehow in a more permanent way as we want the church to reflect the dreams of God expressed through the dreams of the people in the church. If you are a pastor or a leader in a church, I would encourage you to try this and have the people write out their dreams for the church. It is really a beautiful thing.
 Dan Kimball is the author of two books, The Emerging Church and Emerging Worship; he is also the pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California.
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