I no longer try to start simple/house churches. I think house churches are great. They provide a place for people to experience participatory, everyone-matters church life. They provide a way for people to really connect into authentic, one-another community. They often provide a place for people to recover from some of the pains caused by institutional church life. But house churches are no longer the end game for me.
Jesus invited us to join him, organically, in the reproduction of life. His church is a living, thriving, reproducing organism (Mark 4) that allows life-in-the-Spirit to spread virally from one disciple to the next. His church is alive as illustrated by a seed (Mark 4) that brings forth 30, 60, or 100-fold reproduction. That is the life of the kingdom. His life in me is passed on to the life of another (2-fold) which is passed to the life of another (4-fold) which is passed to the life of another (8-fold), etc. That is the way of organic/viral life and this is what the kingdom IS. This is ultimately what Jesus invited us to become part of: discipling viral disciplers.
Kingdom life is viral, organic, and, by nature, a movement.
When I have made house churches the end game, I have discovered that they do not naturally reproduce nor become movements. In fact, house churches have a shelf life. They may serve a purpose for a season, but when that season ends (and it will) the “movement” is over. The influence of a house church is temporary.
This explains why Jesus did not ask us to go and “make gatherings or churches.” He did not ask us to go and “make house churches.” He said, “go and make disciples.” This shift from starting gatherings to making disciples (who go and make disciples) goes to the very heart of the matter. Discipling viral disciplers is the end game. This places us squarely in the midst of reproductive life that the kingdom is intrinsically about. We become movement-starters not church-starters. We release disciples who will influence the world throughout their lifetime and beyond as those they disciple disciple still others.
Now, not to confuse the issue, but often in the work of discipling viral disciplers I will be gathering people together in a manner that looks an awful lot like a simple/house church. Absolutely! But the underlying DNA makes all the difference. When I reach and disciple a viral discipler, that person is going to gather with other viral disciplers for encouragement, and then, as each of them reaches others, still more gatherings will take place. So, along the way, house churches are started. But, but rather than being the end game, they become a means to support the life that is being reproduced from one disciple to the next. The house church gatherings themselves will shift, change, morph, end, and re-establish themselves in new forms but the movement of disciples who are reproducing disciples will continue.
Sustainable kingdom-life does not take place just because of the way we gather. But it does take place when we step into the role Jesus called us to: making disciples who know how to make disciples.
As mentioned, starting house churches and discipling viral disciplers (who gather in house churches) might look very similar on the outside. But the process is very different! When we start house churches, our focus tends to be on the gathering—what to do, how to do it, what it looks like, etc. We say to ourselves that we are learning to “be” the church 24/7 (and we may even go do missional things), but often our priority remains on developing the structure/form of simple house church gatherings. When following Jesus and inviting others to follow him becomes our focus (discipling viral disciples), we will have to shift from the “gathering” mentality to the “lifestyle-going” mentality. This shift changes the processes we walk out from top to bottom. And, this shift will propel us from being church-starters to movement starters (where churches spring up along the way).
There is much more to share about the process of discipling viral disciplers, but suffice it to say that it does ask us to examine our own “followership” as a starting point. Jesus, the adventurous, undomesticated, on-the-move God invites us to join him daily where He is working. What does that look like for me today? What does it really mean for me, today, to be the church (Jesus’ follower) in the world? From that starting point, we can begin to look at and grasp a process that will “infect” others who will then “infect” others to fully follow Jesus. Ah… a movement!
More to come!
Comments
22 responses to “Discipling Viral Disciplers”
I have to agree that God is not calling us to aftificially set up “replacment churches”. In fact I sought the Lord’s call to “start” a house church for about a year. I never heard the call!
On the other hand the word tells us not to forsake the gathering! There are verses that talk about believers being woven together into a continous fabric. God doesn’t want ritual. Weekly gathering typically deteriorate into ritual. If we can be responsive inviters, doing our best to live out our call, supporting those around us, sitting down to sup with Christ and those he places in our lives.
http://thebigpicmin.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/believer-gathering-essentials/
God Bless
Glenn
I live this! I have written on my blog -www.handtotheplough.com.au – that we are so good at creating Christians in the consumer sense, and often fail at creating what Jesus called us to create – Disciples. http://www.handtotheplough.com.au/2008/10/24/we-can-create-christians-so-very-well-what-about-disciples/
I also love what Glenn has written above and will go check his site out.
I do think that we sometimes fall into swapping these consumerist meetings for house-church meetings – but the key, the reality is that disciple making which naturally is relational!
Great article – I look forward to reading more!
I agree with this, God is not building housechurches or netwrorks, He is froming Christ within people. the focus we have is tnot to build housechurches (simple churches). Our focus is to BE and SEE Christ manifest in the lives of people. That was Pauls greatest Desire, that Christ would be formed in people.
Jesus taught and preached in MANY venues, synagogue, temple, mountian, wilderness, boat, and yes….houses.
But He taught one main thing; “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is here… and that was wherever people were and were able to embrace the reality of the kingdom, (God’s rule and riegn) being in them, NOT LIMITED the the boxes we make. Many have left the IC box to place God in a smaller more organic one…
I have been doing house churches for over 9 years in the Philippines, either start them and gave them away, train and coaching leaders, build networks of house churches. For those years i realized asking the question, ‘Until when are we going to stop meeting?’ Endless meetings is all we have in house churches. Recognizing the failures, we came up fathering our next generation by doing discipleship intentionally. Check: http://intentional-discipleship.blogspot.com/
Great article Roger, I miss our time together here.
Hate to disappoint you, brother.. but Christ isn’t viral.. He’s the Lord… He’s the Mystery of God.He’s the Head of His Body, the Church, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.(The buzzwords viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses.) When Christ walked the earth as the Temple of God, before He put us in Him and we became His Body, the Temple of God, the Church hadn’t even been seen on earth yet. Don’t disregard the revelation given to our brother Paul. Christ Himself said there was more, and unless all this discipling is done by means of His Life living in us it’s a work of the flesh.
I think I know your point, Roger.. but I hear “individual ministry” there. You are not the church..you and I are individually members of the Church, His Body, called to express Him corporately. I agree ‘the making of disciples’ is key, but even that as a focus is just as wrong as a ‘house church’ focus. Jesus should always be our focus, and our lives here on earth should follow the model He left for us when He was in the flesh ( doing what He saw His Father doing, speaking His Father’s Word etc ). When Christ died and rose again Christianity became “inward”.. the Kingdom of Heaven is within us..He lives in our spirits and we are one with His Spirit. We, corporately, are Him.. individually we’re not.. individually we are not the Church.. just members of it. Our western mentality can’t see that and somehow ignores Paul’s letter to Corinth.
Good article & good point.. but we need the ekklesia to fully express Him
I think poweruser is missing the point. This is exactly what we see in scripture. We should talk sometime, I think the movement we have here might be pretty similar. The organic church misses the point and the command of reproduction. They tend to fizzle out or have little depth. Only when we reproduce disciples, walking in the spirit, not inviting the unsaved to our worship services, seeking to spread the gospel but living as a set apart people can we see the amazing work of the Holy Spirit. We have seen amazing things over here since God relieved these things to us. 🙂 I might be missing what you are saying, are you saying you never meet with the body corporately? I don’t think that is what you are saying, I think you are saying that is not the focus, as it should not be. Meeting with others rejuvenates and revitalizes, it is not the mission in and of itself.
I should have referenced this passage in my earier comment – about the early church breaking bread together:
NIV Act 2:42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
When we follow this simple blueprint, God grows his body!! The less we have to do with it, the better!!!
Most of today’s churches reject God’s power and his simple plan to grow his body.
http://thebigpicmin.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/the-church-nourished-from-the-face-of-the-serpent/
I’m still trying to better grasp Biblical Prophesy, but want to offer this (feeble effort?) for comment and consideration.
http://thebigpicmin.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/preparing-the-road-for-the-rider-on-the-white-horse/
May God Continue to Guide and Protect Us!
Glenn
Hello Roger, this is Kim. We met last year at Cebu City Philippines.
I was surprised to hear your realization where you came out boldly declaring the dangers of jumping right away into the latest fad without understanding clearly what Jesus wants us to do.
My journey with house churches started when I still in my college years in the campus ministry when I was stirred and bothered by the term introduced by Winter and Hawthore in The Perspectives’ “the Great Imbalance” wherein Christendom failed to make the main thing, the main thing as far as making disciples of the nations for Jesus. The term was derived in looking how the church as we know it has invested its resources in terms of money, manpower and biblical interpretations efforts. According to studies, barely 1% of church income went into the main thing.
Logically, the church is due for structural overhaul to become in business parlance be “cost effective.” Twentieth century business organization now is characterized by flat and team empowering small groups in order to harness productivity thus improving bottom line. However most churches are still organized and fossilized in the industrial age! House churches, organic and simple churches seems to be the key if right DNA and good modelling which comes out from understanding what Jesus wants us to do and not to do.
1. Jesus said “I will build my church.” Most people are stuck (pastoral, church planting and maybe h/c paradigms)into counting how many churches they started (for report and recognition’s sake!). Jesus says he will build his church. He did not explicitly ask for our HELP. He alone is capable of building his church!!
2. Jesus said “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Discipleship is not optional or intentional but rather a command therefore a non-negotiable thing! We become DISCIPLE MAKERS not DISCIPLERS when we lead one to Christ, baptize and teach by modelling out our obedience and love for Jesus in our natural lives (this is when materials become irrelevant). They are not our disciples but of Jesus. They should follow and listen to Jesus as we model to them how to follow and listen to the Holy Spirit. We go and make disciples (them) for Jesus and because we follow Jesus! Being in campus ministry where discipleship is one of our core competencies can be very tricky once we claim the disciples for one’s agenda. The disciples are of Jesus and for Jesus.
3. The apostle Paul said “do not forsake the assembling….” The gatherings like what you said is just a means to support the life. A simple vehicle aiding us to transfer or model out and learn from each other the life that we have with Jesus. This is optimized in a small group. The gathering is not the church but the church gathers. This is what we have learned from Housechurch 101 that we cannot attend church, we cannot do church, we are church! Simple gathering together for mutual edifications is one of the most effective non expensive and practical expressions of the body of Jesus (Sunday church service maybe being the worse!)
Thanks for your thoughts and bold realization…
Dear Roger, thanks for the thoughts in this article. They triggered a number of responses in me.
Fundamentally, the article got me thinking (yet again) about what Father’s thought is – why has He done everything that He has done to this point, and where He is going with all of this.
(Eph 1:9-10 NIV) “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, (10) to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment–to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”
…and everywhere I go in the scriptures, I see that His whole thought is bound up in Christ…He is the beginning and the end of everything….”to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ”.
(Eph 3:10-11 NIV) “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, (11) according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
…and many other similar indications of the centrality and supremacy of Christ….He IS the whole thought of Father…nothing more and nothing less !!
(Col 1:15-19 NIV) “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (16) For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. (17) He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (18) And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (19) For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,”
Why am I bringing this up? Surely we understand all this ? Your article points up the change in thinking from the goal of “starting simple/house churches”, to understanding that we are here to “join Him daily where He is working”, and you suggest this requires that we “begin to look at and grasp a process that will “infect” others who will then “infect” others to fully follow Jesus. Ah… a movement!”.
Having left the “institutional church” some time ago, it became obvious that we had spent much time in that environment “inviting God to join _us_ in all the wonderful things _we_ were planning and executing ‘for Him’ “…. highly erroneous thinking.
It would seem on the surface that “joining Him daily where He is working” is the obvious converse to the erroneous and unscriptural perspective above. However, I would suggest that we be very careful about making such assumptions – it is so easy for us to replace one form of ‘works’ for another form.
Clearly, Father’s thought is not about institutions, organisations or movements of _any_ kind. His thought is wholely and solely wrapped up in Christ. His intention is that we should become “conformed to the likeness of His Son”. How is He doing that ? It certainly isn’t by having us try harder every day to be more like Jesus, and it isn’t by us ‘joining Him in what He is doing’. Jesus clearly said that “all that the Father gives to me, will come to me. I.e. its an action of Father’s – not any action of our own. Paul makes this clear in Galations chapters 1 and 2 when he says….”God…was pleased to reveal His Son _in_ me”, and “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
The whole basis of the life we now have in Christ, is that we have given our own lives up, in exchange for Him and His Life, which now dwells within us…..if indeed we _have_ given up our very lives for Him. Rather than “joining Him daily where He is working”, Father is intent on His VERY OWN LIFE being LIVED OUT IN US DAILY. This is the whole point of Jesus’ prayer in John 17….
(John 17:20-23 NIV) “”My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, (21) that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (22) I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: (23) I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
This life is NOT about us “doing stuff for Him”…even ‘infecting others, who will infect others…etc..etc…’ …rather its about Him LIVING HIS LIFE OUT IN US. If this truly happens, then undoubtedly, others will be “infected”. Of course, that is dependent on us ‘dying every day’ as Jesus told us we would have to, if we would follow Him.
Perhaps, instead of us thinking and planning how we can “infect others for Him”, what we should simply do is to see every day as an opportunity for Him to work Jesus out in us more.
I trust that He will indeed do that in me….and you, and your readers as well.
Truly….Blessings in Him….your brother in Christ,
Gordon H
Hi Kim, perhaps two thoughts to add to your notes above ?
1. Perhaps a better translation of Matt 28:19 is “Having gone on your way, therefore, disciple…”. (i.e. wherever you may be…)
2. “we cannot attend church, we cannot do church, we are church!”. There is no doubt that the scripture talks about ‘the church, which is His body’. I wonder if a better way to say it is really that _Christ_ is the church. Where Christ is, the church is, where Christ is not, the church is not.
…Gordon H.
Hi Gordon for the input. Yes your right, the church gathers because of Christ. We gather because we have to express the body of Jesus here on earth. Without Christ being a center of that gathering will evolve into just another club or institution.
I want to thank everyone for the comments and conversation. You have given me MUCH to chew on as always which I will continue to do. I ran across this quote today which expresses, in a slightly different way, some of what I was trying to get at:
“Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us, as we follow the way of Christ.”
– Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Communities
When I use terms like “viral” and “infect” I am trying to describe a natural process rather than prescribe steps or actions to take upon others. Like I said, all of these comments are great food for thought.
Roger – linking to this post has caused a hearty dialogue to start up on my blog today, brother…
““Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us, as we follow the way of Christ.”
– Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Communities”
I like that…
I will be bringing up this post with my community when next I have the opportunity to teach (we rotate who has the lead so we all can benefit.)
AMEN & hallelujah brother Gordon. You are speaking my heart. I always get concerned that even in the organic “movement” believers can become legalistic in their non-institutionalism.
Gordon you articulated it beautifully. The only thing I would add is the way we live this life. Jesus gave us the example in Phil 2. He laid aside ALL of his rights & privileges as God and made Himself completely available to His Father & was totally surrendered to HIS will.
In the gospel of John several times Jesus said that He didn’t do ANYTHING on HIS own initiative, but rather whatever He saw the Father do, or whatever the Father told Him to say, etc. He did it.
In other words, I think it is vitally important that we learn to walk in absolute dependency minute by minute on the only one who CAN live this Christian life….and that is Jesus Himself. He will then operate THROUGH us within our giftedness & personality.
We share your vision, and include a feed from your blog on our site. Keep going!
All,
I wanted to add to Gordon H’s comment
“Perhaps, instead of us thinking and planning how we can “infect others for Him”, what we should simply do is to see every day as an opportunity for Him to work Jesus out in us more.”
I’ve tried to contrast the seeker follower with the “Presumer Performer”
http://thebigpicmin.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/are-you-a-presumer-performer/
Here’s am excerpt:
Are You A Presumer – Performer?
Martha is the Biblical example of what I call a Presumer Performer. She was so busy doing stuff that she didn’t make time to sit at Jesus’ feet. She was so busy she stopped expending the effort necessary to be a seeker – follower.
Mary had it right. The first job of the believer is not to do. Our first Job is just to sit at the master’s feet and listen! If we jump in & help out wherever it looks like God needs us, our attitude contradicts scripture.
NLT Acts 17;24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.
God never needed us! He gives us the opportunity to cooperate with, to seek, to find, and to follow him. He even promises to transform us as we grow in him. But God does not want us taking our best guess at his will and jumping in. He really wants to direct us. He want us carrying the yoke that has selected for us. We are told to seek him and to follow him, to carry our cross, to carry the burden that he places on our shoulders. This is our call! Take a look at these verses.
NLT Matt 11;28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you
…
May God Continue To Bless And Guide Us
Glenn
PS any efforts to shore up the Persumer Preformer’s weaknesses will make it harder to be the true seeker follower. We need to live in Christ – really trusting really seeking, humbly responsive.
Kim,
Roger’s article is wise and perceptive and you nicely sum up the fact we are disciples of Jesus our Savior, Lord and King. He builds His Church as each part is working properly. As disciples, God our Father created us in Christ Jesus to be to the praise of His glory (Eph 2:10, 1:12). Our very being, as new creatures, is to the the praise of our Father’s glory. “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Eph 3:21).
P.S.: Roger. May I post your article on my site?
These posts are for sharing… feel free.
Roger,
I think sometimes we make this so much more complicated than it needs to be.
I don’t worry about what I call it when we gather… is it a home church, bible study, simple church? Who cares what we call it! I also don’t worry about whether there may be certain “routines” as we gather. I’m not into rituals, but routines can free as well as bind. It’s a good thing if I have a routine of reading my bible, praying, gathering together… I’m not worried about this being legalistic as some might suggest it is. Yes, Jesus is life and you can’t script Him, but it’s foolish not to recognize that He created order, routine…sun goes up, sun goes down… not a bad thing! I’m far more worried about the Christian, who, because he wants to be “free”, sits alone week after week rather than subjecting himself to routine and “church”. When we gather there’s a mixture of routine and spontaneity and the mix is always in flux. The question for me is one of benefit. Am I and others benefiting… loving the Lord and each other more, growing? If so, I’m not going to worry too much about what you call it or how it’s done. There’s too many Christians who’ve left traditional churches who are all caught up in not getting back to that “religious bondage”, but without realizing it, their fear of structure, routine, leadership has put them in chains as strong as what they’ve left!
Roger,
This article characterized perfectly the shift our network made about 2 years ago. Brother, this is a much needed article for the movement. I applaud you.
I appreciate all the comments and Roger’s original article. In 2007 I completed my Fuller DMin thesis arguing that what was necessary was not cell churches or house churches but disciples that made disciples that made disciples … and that it was extremely difficult to keep disciple makers focused on making disciples rather than devolving into some form of an institutional church.
It’s all online for free download at http://www.disciplewalk.com for anyone who is interested. The main value, of course, is not in what I’ve written but the links in footnotes to lots of other information which I hope will enrich the discussion and that I hope people will find helpful.