During the week God showed me a picture (in my ‘mind’s eye’), and He spoke to my heart about its meaning and significance for Lifeway. The image was of a white van with a bunch of people (a big family I suppose?) all spilling out of the open side door. The words that accompanied the picture in my mind were “Van-life may be a great adventure, but it is not multi-generational”. [Note: God will ‘speak’ through your imagination and the ability He has given us to “see things” in our thoughts (see Job 33:14-18).]
Here in Australia we have a lot of people who do life on the road, exploring our amazing country, sight-seeing, and living a minimalist lifestyle. Young pack-packers and older grey nomads enjoy the freedom and adventure that comes with #vanlife. Doing van-life is low maintenance, low-cost, low-needs and low-commitment. But it is also has severe limitations. You can’t raise a family in a van, or even if you can do it for a season (as a family in a caravan, for example), it has massive limitations and is not sustainable or beneficial in the long term. Neither can a church be a multi-generational community with a lasting influence unless there is a commitment to one another, to God’s purposes for us, and to the surrounding community in which He has planted us.