Keys to missional community: 1. Go get’em. 2. People of Peace. 3. Living Kingdom lives.
One of the hallmarks of the house church movement is that it seeks to be what the church, in fact, is: missional. Jesus went everywhere proclaiming and demonstrating the reality, love, and power of the Kingdom (healing the brokenhearted, setting captives free, proclaiming God’s acceptance, etc.) The church (the people of God) goes and does the same.
This means that church, first of all, needs to transition from being a “come and see” place to a “go and be with the lost” movement.
From Reggie McNeal’s book (The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church):
The Pharisees’ evangelism strategy sounds eerily familar. Their approach to sharing God was, “Come and get it!”…Jesus’ evangelism strategy directly challenged the Pharisees’ approach. Instead of “Come and get it!” it was “Go get’em!” p. 28
Jesus’ strategy was to go where people were already hanging out. This is why he went to weddings, parties, and religious feast day celebrations…Taking the gospel to the streets means we need church where people are already hanging out. We need a church in every mall, every Wal-Mart supercenter, every Barnes and Noble. p. 35
Bottom line: we’ve got to take the gospel to the streets. This is the only appropriate missional response to the collapse of the church culture. I am not talking about short forays into port off of the cruise ship. I am speaking of an intentional 24/7 church presence in the community, not tied to church real estate: (rather) office building, malls, school campuses, sports complexes, storefronts, homes, apartment buildings, and community centers. We need to go where people are already hanging out and be prepared to have conversations with them about the great love of our lives. This will require our shifting our efforts from growing churches into transforming communities.
They’re not coming to us. We’ve got to go to them.
This reminds me of the “church in the pub” that many of you are familiar with. If not, be sure to read about it here.
One of the fundamental potentials of the house church movement: churches can go where the people are, churches can start quickly anywhere and reproduce rapidly. In this way, the church becomes what it is meant to be: a “going” movement.
In our own churches we work hard to make sure that reproduction is in the DNA of each house church that we start. That means that they fully expect to grow and reproduce another house church within a year (at most). We want it to be a “going out” thing. But we are still too new at this to see if we are reproducing churches that are reproducing churches that are reproducing churches which is the key to true multiplication.
Secondly, we are trying to keep our focus on the “Person of Peace” principle. We believe this is vital. This means asking God to show us people of influence, whom He is working in, who will become gatherers for Him.
If you want to know more about this, Carol Davis’ article is excellent.
Also the Dales (house2house) put on a Luke 10 Conference each year on the subject.
Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, is the realization that we are meant to live and be the church in every situation, in every part of life, in every way. We take Jesus where we go and we live Kingdom lives because it’s who we are.
Kingdom living includes demonstrating care for the poor, the needy, the brokenhearted, the sick… It means washing the feet of others… It means living upside down lives from the values of the culture… It means loving the least… It means letting God creatively and uniquely work through us (according to how He made us) in every situation we are in… It means relating and loving wherever we go.
Darren, at the Living Room, has an excellent article about two or more “Kingdom Christians” inviting a non-Christian into relationship: loving someone intentionally as a “collective group” of two or three. Good stuff to reflect on.
I’m writing all of this and my old tapes are screaming, “But there has to be more. There has to be a program, a plan, a strategy that will call the masses to recognize their deep need for a Savior and Lover and bring them into an awesome encounter.”
My “new” mind knows all the right answers to this: true kingdom disciples are developed through relationships not programs; a little leaven will leaven the whole loaf as God’s Kingdom works through sphere after sphere of influence.
But are we really on track with this? Is this enough? What are we missing?
Comments
7 responses to “House Church Basics — Pt. 3: Missional Church”
Another great article. The person of peace thing is an awesome concept, and it’s even better when you see it happen. I took a shot at planting an “emergent church” a few years ago with my family and some very good friends, and once we got down to the basics of things and into our primary intentions we began to see the person(s) of peace popping up and becoming opening up their home(s) to their sphere of friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers.
The only problem I think we had was our lack of knowledge and experience, or perhaps at that point in our lives, we were very young in thought when it came to “house church” and so we really didn’t know or understand where to “go” with it all. But it is awesome to see it happen, nonetheless. To see people just start coming from places we didn’t even know about and see their exposure to Christ really open them up and begin to transform their lives.
I especially key in on the line about Jesus calling us to make disciples, not plant churches. I know in the IC, I struggled to get the point across that inviting people to come to church and “inviting” people to come to Jesus are two totally different things.
I think in the West, our biggest problem is our mentalities. If we could re-think, as Romans 12:1&2 puts it, be transformed by the renewing of our minds, it would almost automatically flow over into our lifestyle and the way we do things. God let this happen!
this is radical, but biblical! I hope in the near future, that people will be led of God, or sent out to communitys, as missional endevors. to live there and start a gathering of believers there. And that would be there mission. To live and eat and proclaim the Gospel to the sorounding communitys in that area. Not only do people hear the Word, but they see it lived out. That would be so awesome! God is seeking relationships, even in my personal relationship with God, it has grown deeper, matured through the Holy Spirit. We , as belivers have to be open to hear from God through His Spirit when we pray, and read. Let us all open our ears to hear what God is saying, Beacause he is talking and moving like never before…. “Lets really Glorify God”
The second coming of God is at hand. Take heed and make note. God has returned. He has come to dismantel a broken down split-up disfunctional Church. He is going to strike out the words of the Romans and rebuild the Church in his own words. Start by opening your bible to the title page that reads “New Testament”. Strike out the words New Testament and retitle this page “Roman Mythology”. You have now completed the first step in rebuilding Gods Church. Don’t toss your bible out, Gods word is mixed in with the word of man. God is going to tell you what is his and what belongs to the Romans.
In the Spring of 2006 God sent a message. It is about the meaning of First is Last and Last is First. The meaning is this:
In the morning I go to Heaven. In the afternoon I live my life. In the evening I die, death.
What does this mean? It means that Birth is Last and Last is Birth. God also gives an example so that you can understand this better. Example: Mike Douglas died on his birthday. (NOte: Mike Douglas and Michael Douglas are two different people.)
In 2007, God sent this message: “We each die in succession, then we are born on the same day”.
“God has returned”. He came in by land, not in the clouds for everyone to see. The Romans have deceived you with their words. Don’t believe the words of the Romans. God is a spirit, he can’t be seen. He can be heard. God has spoken.
Correction: To the meaning of First is Last and Last is First. It means that Birth is Last and Birth is First. Sorry for the error. God talks in symbols and opposites at times so it takes time to figure out what he is saying. Some of his messages are clearer than others, plus they have multiple meanings.