Simple Church Journal

I asked some friends to help me compile the resources that
were most helpful to them when they were first learning about simple/organic
church life.  Some of them were kind
enough to mention this blog as well as my book. 
But this list represents ten other key resources mentioned in no
particular order.

Books:

1. Pagan Christianity by George Barna and Frank Viola

An in-depth look at many of our
current church practices and traditions with a prophetic call to move from the
business organizational model back to the living organism that church was meant
to be.

2. Organic Church by Neil Cole

A groundbreaking description of the
living, reproductive church that motivates readers to go and be the church in
the smoking sections of life instead of being satisfied with Sunday morning
church attendance.

3. Houses that Change the World by Wolfgang Simson

I have seen this book open people’s
eyes time and time again as Wolfgang challenges readers to break free from the
church structures of the past in order to bring the church to the people.  You will find it difficult to go back to
‘church as usual’ after reading this.

4. The Naked Church by Wayne Jacobsen

From the cover: “This compelling
book will challenge you to look beyond the externals of contemporary church
life with its glittering buildings, extensive programs, beloved celebrities and
political muscle and find a relationship with God that will bring his powerful,
life-changing presence into everyday circumstances.”

5. The Rabbit and the Elephant (and other titles) by Tony
and Felicity Dale

How evangelism along with
micro-church planting can change our world… literally.  This book is simple, to the point, and filled
with a refreshing look at how the world can be reached through the power of the
small.

Online Resources

6. House2House

A plethora of resources, articles,
videos, and links to other materials that you don’t want to miss.

7. The Verge Network

Everything missional, including
lots of good video, all in one place.

8. What Is Simple Church – a video

            A great
overview and insight into the world of simple church.

9. Tidal Wave – a video

An excellent foundation on the why and how of organic/house
church.

10. Simple Church on a Napkin – a video

            Short and
to the point.  It can be drawn on a
napkin!

Other Key Mentions:

Reimagining Church by Frank Viola

An Army of Ordinary People by Felicity Dale

Organic Leadership by Neil Cole

So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore by Wayne Jacobsen

Lk10.com – Connecting and equipping house church leaders
around the world.

I know I have missed many great resources.  Feel free to use the comments to add your own
favorites.

Church gatherings arise out of the work of ministry, not the
other way around.

The old way: Gather a core group to start a church, then
mobilize the church to go and reach out among friends and neighbors.  Finally, invite those you reach back to ‘the
church.’

The new way: Invest in building relationships with friends,
co-workers, or neighbors and let the expression of the church-gathering
(simple, of course) arise naturally out of those connections. From this, those
who have been reached learn how to go, reach, and gather others.

______

The old way: Start a ministry for recovering addicts, reach
them, and then find a church for them to go to.

The new way: Start a ministry for recovering addicts, reach
them, and equip them to be the church and to be church planters among others in
recovery.

______

The old way: Start a ministry among international students, reach
them, and then find a church for them to go to.

The new way: Start a ministry among international students,
reach them, teach them to be the church and to become church planters among
those they return home to.

______

The old way: Start a ministry for broken marriages and get
those people involved in your church.

The new way: Start a ministry for broken marriages, help
them find healing within a small community setting (church gathering), then
equip them to reach others in the same way.

______

The old way: Start a social business or a business as
mission (here or abroad), use it to reach people and help them to find churches
to belong to.

The new way: Start a social business or a business as
mission, use it to reach people, gather them into simple communities to grow
in, and equip them to go do the same.

______

The old way: Go to a mission field, build a school/orphanage
for children, and send them to a church.

The new way: Go to a mission field, build a school/orphanage
for children, and equip them to be church/ministry planters.

______

The old way: Help a needy community (at home or in a mission
field) to identify the ways it can help itself (development).  In the midst of this process, present the
Gospel and help them find churches to worship in.

The new way: Begin disciplemaking movements within a needy
community that gather into simple church gatherings as disciples are made, and
equip them to use these small-group discipleship communities to better their
lives while reaching others who do the same. 
(My personal experience in this is here).

______

The old way: Reach some M**lims and get them into your
church.

The new way: Reach some M**lims, teach them that they are
the church and can gather as church in their homes looking very much like M**lims while continuing to reach others who will do the same.

______

The reason we need more apostolic-type, entrepreneurial,
ministry catalyzers and starters is because the more we creatively invade the
world with Kingdom ministries, the more we will see an explosion of churches
arise out of that.  Not… the other way
around!

“The most exciting time in my life was when I was part of an apostolic team serving God in a Middle Eastern country with others.”  My missionary friend was lamenting that, now that his assignment brought him back to the U.S., he no longer has that sense of being part of an apostolic team—and it was a big loss for him.

I believe we are all feeling this loss, but we often don’t recognize it.

The primary reason that we, as followers of Jesus, have lost the sense of adventure is this: the church has institutionalized itself around the pastoral/teaching gifts.  We have neglected the apostolic and we carry this dysfunction into all areas—whether we are in or out of traditional, institutional churches.

Now, let me hasten to mention that we define ‘apostolic’ far too narrowly. 

The apostolic is not just missions to other lands.  It’s not just ‘missional living.’  It’s far more than just evangelism.

The apostolic is the shape the church takes when it is going, influencing the world, and making new inroads.

Let me repeat myself.  This is not just another word for ‘missional’ or ‘evangelistic.’  We need new words to give us new ways to understand original meanings.

I prefer to think of apostolic in terms like: entrepreneurial, adventure-taking, change-agents, movers and shakers, ministry catalyzers, initiators.  It brings to mind both Jesus’ and Paul’s compulsions to see the power of the Good News touch every person in every segment of society in ways that are relevant and need-meeting through both words and actions.

I believe this apostolic shape is meant to take many different forms throughout our neighborhoods, workplaces, and contexts around the world.  I believe we have not even begun to see the creative ways the apostolic is meant to be expressed.

But this shape is essential.  The church is built on the ‘foundation of the apostles and prophets.’  Therefore it is designed to listen to God and move out to influence the world in many, varied, powerful Kingdom ways.  This is what keeps the church truly alive and on the edge of the Holy Spirit’s power.  This does not diminish the need for the other gifts to operate, but it creates a shape, a foundation, around which all of the gifts are organized.

Apostolic Teams

“But, I’m not entrepreneurial, catalytic, or an initiator.  What then?”

Then, we bring our gifts alongside those who are so that, together, apostolic teams are formed that are changing the world.

Two things are needed:

1. Those who are more clearly apostolic and entrepreneurial and catalytic need to step up with confidence and initiate new ventures, dream new dreams, and go for it.

2. Those who are less adept at being initiators need to come alongside to help create fully functional apostolic teams.  It takes a team!

As these two things happen, the new, and original, shape of ‘church’ will again emerge: fruitful, impacting, simple, organic, powerful, and relevant.

Your thoughts?

Someone said: It’s one thing to get the person out of the institution, it’s another thing to get the institution out of the person.  It is difficult to get religious thinking out of our inner system. 

But I want to work at this with the same fervency as Jesus who said: Don’t be like those religious people who are focused on externals thus missing the real, internal encounter with the living God.  Don’t do it!

So, here are some of the tendencies that I still find lurking in my heart that pull me back into religious, institutional ways:

• Give me a structure and a plan to follow, not just a Person to cling to.
• Give me a comfortable program to do, preferably with other believers, not a mission and purpose that propels me out into the brokenness of the world.
• In fact, give me safety and routines over an adventure most days of the week.
• How about just a few rules to follow, or unique doctrines to believe, that allow me to feel assured that I am part of the ‘right’ group and that I am ‘in’ with God. 
• And maybe a spiritual leader to please would be good.  God’s approval is, well, hard to feel sometimes, but a little bit of man’s approval can go a long way.
• And can’t I just ‘go’ to church (even a house church) as my primary form of worship?  That’s so much easier than acknowledging that I ‘am’ the church and where I go, the life and presence of Jesus goes. Do I really want to walk in that reality, as powerful as it is, on a daily basis?

There are many boxes that I find myself drawn back toward and they all pull me away from the dynamic and enthralling life that Jesus calls me to live with Him.  May I find greater freedom!

What boxes call to you?

Someone recently pointed out to me that it was others, not
Jesus, who referred to him as a “friend of sinners.”  He never used those kinds of labels in
referring to the people-in-need that he hung out with.

In fact, Jesus did not classify them at all, except perhaps
when he called them ‘sheep without a shepherd.’ 
To him they were just people who needed to be cared about, cared for,
and loved while living among.  He had
dinner with them, hung out with them, and naturally experienced life in their
midst.

In many ways, the people that others classified as ‘sinners’
were simply Jesus’ peops whom he deeply loved. 
Maybe that’s why he had such an impact on them.  And maybe we would have more peops to hang
out with if we didn’t have our own labels and classifications that are often
barriers to simple, raw love.

Who are your peops?

Note: the Urban Dictionary defines peops as “a common abbreviation
of the plural term ‘people’; i.e., peoples; i.e., peops (phonetically ‘peeps’).

Comments?

Videos and More

Running around Africa earlier this month, I ran into some of
the people from I Am Second who are regularly doing good things in the least
likely places.

If you are not familiar with their videos and materials,
this stuff is good and useful in every context for reaching, discipling, and
gathering people into groups that equip themselves to go do the same.

Here is just one of many video-testimonies of a changed life
by putting Jesus first and becoming ‘second.’

Good Blog Reading

My friend, Michael Hutcheson, blogs here and I enjoy his
writings.  Here is a great article on
community and discipleship that starts within our own heart and closest sphere
from which it spreads to others.

Challenging Book

Stetzer and Rankin have authored the book Spiritual Warfare and Missions that challenges every believer to understand his role
in the mission field throughout the world.  They call out Satan’s ongoing strategy to convince Christians that the Great
Commission is optional. "Through deceit, he is eroding the authoritative mandate
of Scripture, leading believers to tell themselves that international
discipleship is a task better left to denomination and mission agencies—not the
sort of kingdom work that every believer can do."

Discipleship is critical. Discipleship is the means by which it all happens. Unless we get discipleship right, whatever we intend to achieve through the rest of what we achieve in missional movement is never going to happen. If we fail in discipleship, it fails”Alan Hirsch.

Defined correctly, I would even go further: Discipleship is the core functionality of what church is designed to be. Fail in discipleship and, ultimately, the church itself fails. To transform our world, the church must grasp the natural development of discipleship chains.

But, to back up this statement, we must work at a clear understanding of disciplemaking. It is a relationship rather than a program. Yet it is intentional rather than happenstance.

Discipling another means to assist them to become more like Jesus by showing them how to listen, love, and surrender to His purposes for their life. It is centered on helping that person know and follow Jesus through His Word and by His Spirit. Finally, it is helping that person to assist (disciple) others in the same way thus becoming a disciplemaker.

For me, simple/house church is a natural progression that comes out of disciplemaking because disciples gather, worship, pray, and learn from the word and Spirit in simple, participatory ways.

We focus too much on how to get ‘the gathering’ to work right, and not enough on what it means to see discipleship and discipleship chains formed in the context we are serving in.

How are you experiencing this where you hang?

Imagine all of the creative energy that has gone into developing church programs and presentations over the past 30 years: music, dramatic presentations, video clips and movies, stadium events, amazing venues, stunning programs, and much more.

Now, imagine that we take all of that creative, entrepreneurial energy and turn it loose outward on the needs of our communities and Jesus’ passion to see the least and the most marginalized reached. What could happen?

Perhaps something amazing.

Simple/house churches may get us out of the building, but as we also reclaim the apostolic nature of the church that is meant to be a going, sending church, perhaps this creative energy will, indeed, spill out into the streets where it is needed most!

I recently received an email asking one of the most commonly asked questions about simple/organic/house church: “What about children?”

This reminded me that the basics are the basics and it’s good to keep addressing them.

I wrote some good, older posts on this topic here and here.

Today, it is heartwarming to be able to reflect on several youth I know that began house church while quite young.  As they grew emotionally and spiritually it was great to see the way they took on more and more ownership of their church family and the gatherings themselves.  Today, as high-schoolers (and even junior-highers) they are very engaged in worship and discussions of the Word with the adults in their group with confidence and conviction.  It appears to me, from my very partial perspective, that many of them are uniquely articulate in their faith and are spiritual leaders among their peers. 

No setting is perfect and nothing can replace the centrality of the nuclear family in imparting spiritual life, but the organic church family does seem to provide a natural support for this process.

In fairness, I must also say that transitioning children who are already older (from late primary grades through high school) is often not easy since they are already accustomed to more traditional settings.  In these cases, we have no difficulty encouraging these young people to attend youth groups, if they want, while letting them engage in the house church setting at a pace they are comfortable with.

This is a great topic and I hope we will continue to explore together how to see our children loving and engaging with Jesus as maturing disciples—a trend that is taking place less and less in many of our cultures!

Share your experiences!

Yes, I wrote the title, in part, to get your attention.  But there is an aspect of truth to this
statement that I want to draw out.

My contention is not that we need fewer leaders, rather it
is that we need every member of the Body of Christ to step fully into his/her ‘priesthood’
of influence.  One of the benefits that
occurred when I accepted the role of ‘senior pastor’ is that I was expected to
fully engage in ministry.  The result was
that I challenged myself to overcome my insecurities, doubts, and other lack of
faith in order to step fully into my place as a functional minister.  I was forced to see myself, as God sees all
of us, as one called to “show forth the goodness of God” by exercising
spiritual gifts that are “given to all” in order to “do the work of ministry.”

Now, granted, I believe that assigning someone the role of ‘pastor’
within an institutional system creates many problems including demoting
everyone else within that system to ‘lay person.’

But, that is an aside to the point I am making.

Because I was given this position, I pushed past my
insecurities and doubts about who I was and whether or not I was capable and
gifted and was forced to accept that I was called to step into ministry
functions.  So, I just did it.

My concern is that too many times we do NOT push past our
insecurities and doubts about who we are in order to step into our role as a minister,
a shepherd, an apostle, a teacher, a helper, an evangelist, an encourager, or a
prophet.  The result is that the world
does not see Christ as He is meant to be seen—through every member of His Body
fully functioning with confidence in all that we have been called to do.

Therefore… the body of Christ does not shine in a world that
needs His life because too many of His ambassadors are simply too insecure.

It’s simply not enough to get rid of the priest/laity
divide.  Rather, we must internalize,
each of us, that we are ‘royal priests’ and expect to function in all that this
implies.  He has gifted and called… you.  This is a key ingredient for unleashing the church out of the four walls and into its organic, viral nature that will ultimately transform every segment of our world.