Does Walking in Nature Count as Church?

Does walking in nature count as church? What about coffee with your buddies every week? In this episode of Reinventing Church, Derek Sanford traces what the word "church" has meant from Jesus to today, and why most of us picture a building. Then Derek and Danielle Hartland meet Amanda Maphis, the first of this season's everyday influencers. Amanda took a calling class hoping for a new direction. Her two words described what she'd been doing for five years, and she was a little disappointed. Months later, putting groceries away, she heard a news story and recognized an assignment. It led to a seat on a governor's advisory commission for people with disabilities. Your one-week experiment: name your parish, write down one person in it, and before Saturday give them one more degree of patience, listening, or kindness than you did last week. Watch Amanda Maphis's full interview:    • Amanda Maphis: The Full Interview | Reinve...   CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open: "Blindness is in the Bible" 0:44 Welcome to Season 4 1:21 Not a sleep podcast 2:59 What we can predict about each other in meetings 7:37 Today's question: what counts as church? 10:26 "Nature is my church" 11:33 Ekklesia: the church gathered and scattered 13:07 From a temple, to a person, to a people 16:00 Acts: the church that got scattered 17:16 The unnamed believers who planted Antioch 18:05 Exiles, sojourners, and the word "parish" 20:17 Hebrews 10: why we gather 21:09 House churches and an insult from Celsus 22:38 How "church" came to mean a building 23:38 The Reformation and the marks of a church 24:44 Why we never called it online church 25:09 Luther's house church that never happened 26:11 Wesley: "All the world as my parish" 26:48 What if we lost our building? 27:36 The drift 27:58 The volunteer who couldn't stand up 28:48 Seeing our parish, the crowd and the cloud 29:44 What to listen for 30:29 Meet Amanda Maphis 31:48 Amanda's missional space 34:11 "I was a little disappointed" 35:38 A calling you are already living 36:33 A light bulb on a dimmer 37:58 Bezalel, filled with the Spirit for craftsmanship 38:35 April 15th, putting groceries away 40:10 Language for your calling 40:54 The discipline of noticing 41:41 When people came after her 43:41 Thank them and keep working 44:44 When should you defend yourself? 45:32 The only view of Jesus 46:09 You don't have to be all of Jesus 47:06 The church of Erie 48:39 Stay on your knees 49:37 Your one-week experiment LINKS Amanda Maphis, the full interview:    • Amanda Maphis: The Full Interview | Reinve...   Show notes and transcript: https://dereksanford.com/what-counts-... Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2cD4Di4... Get The Ordinary Altar, Derek's weekly email: https://dereksanford.com #church #calling #discipleship