Simple Church Journal

My thanks to David Watson for passing along Dave Hunt’s dissertation (Download 2009huntcpmdissertation) on church planting movements in East Africa.  There is so much of Hunt’s experiences that I relate to, albeit on a smaller scale and budget, that I am excited to see this compilation of what he has been involved in.  There are so many wonderful principles here that can be applied in any context!

Here are some of the concepts that Dave Hunt’s dissertation highlights:

1. True church planting is not the planning and implementing of programs but the natural, organic process that emerges spontaneously when the Gospel in its core essence is proclaimed and lived in word and deed.

Church planting becomes the natural and essential expression of the missional church as the gospel is proclaimed in word and deed, and believers are gathered together for fellowship, worship, and mission. What the Church needs to do according to Christian Schwarz is to “concentrate on the removal of obstacles to church growth and multiplication within churches. Then church growth can happen all by itself…

Believing that church planting is the work of God and that churches emerge spontaneously and naturally, perhaps the term catalyst best describes the human part in this process of church multiplication.

2. In many cases, the church has been hindered by the institutional model that has come from the West.

What we found in East Africa was a church of highly committed mostly “uneducated and untrained”1 workers, passionately in love with Jesus, but who were often bound within an institutional church structure that restricted rather than released and empowered their zealous witness of the gospel.

Much of this church planting strategy has to do with removing the barriers so that the church can more easily emerge. These barriers are largely those systems, structures, and demands which are added to the biblical requirements for doing church. When these are removed, people are introduced to and fall in love with Jesus. As they are discipled to obey all that He has commanded them, they will naturally want to gather together in fellowship to worship, learn, support and encourage one another and work together to spread the good news. As such, they become the continuing presence of Jesus in the dark places of the world.

3. The dynamic multiplication of churches is not dependent on education-level nor are long periods for disciples to mature needed before they can become involved in discipling others and starting new churches.

In this East Africa project the movements have been characterized by young believers still in a discipleship and maturing process themselves, passionately in love with Jesus who go from their newly established community of believers to make new disciples in a new region from which a new community of believers quickly emerges.

4. Church planting movements are fueled when believers discover Jesus as the head of the church rather than maintaining an unhealthy dependency on human leadership.

The believers are taught not to obey the church planter but rather to discover for themselves what the Word of God says and to obey the Word. The image of the church as the body helps to bring understanding to this critical element. The believer is not a member of an organization led by a pastor, but part of a body with Christ as the head. In Christ lies all the authority for the church.

5. Teaching simple obedience produces mature disciples rather than knowledgeable converts.  This is the key to replication.

Much of modern day discipleship is based on the acquisition of knowledge… Books, tapes, videos, and materials of all sorts have been produced to support the discipleship process.  Much of this leads to knowledgeable converts but does not make mature disciples.  Converts may be religious, but they may not be obedient.  What is a mature disciple?  It is one who is obeying all the commands of Jesus… and teaching others to do the same.  A mature disciple is a disciplemaker… Disciples replicate by making other disciples.

I will share more in future posts or you can download the entire dissertation for yourself here.

It's always fun to see the national media take note of house churches.  This a very well done article.  Here are a couple of excerpts:

The members of this "house church" are part of what experts say is a fundamental shift in the way U.S. Christians think about church. Skip the sermons, costly church buildings and large, faceless crowds, they say. House church is about relationships forged in small faith communities…

House church proponents claim their small groups are sort of a throwback to the early Christian church in that they have no clergy and everyone is expected to contribute to the teaching, singing and praying…

A study by the Barna Group, a firm specializing in data on religion and society, estimates that 6 million to 12 million Americans attend house churches. A survey last year by the Pew Forum found that 9% of American Protestants only attended home services…

Allen, who recently converted to Christianity from Islam, said a friend at a traditional church introduced him to the house church, which he prefers and occasionally attends because "they're more down to earth.

Read the full article here.

Our next online course is now available for registration.  We limit the course to 15 participants on a first come, first served basis.

The goal of this course is for participants to discover more fully God's story and the nature of His church in a way that fully celebrates the freedom of the Gospel and the simplicity, reproducibility, and joy of simple, participatory, 24/7 church life.

We continue to offer this course when possible because of the feedback we have received from people who have participated in the past.

"A unique and extremely insightful collection of resources, experiences, and other people who will finally let you know that you are not crazy for hoping that there is more of Jesus to be known and shared in a way that is actually simple."

"I came to the course wanting a better understanding of simple church and how to implement it… The potential impact of the course for me is life changing."

Why This Course?

It is relatively easy to acquire knowledge about new paradigms of life and ministry. However, knowledge alone does not lead to transformation. This course is one attempt to move us from head knowledge to the practice of principles that can release the DNA of living, reproductive, life-giving, Jesus-led, simple churches.

You can find more info here on the Simple/House Church Revolution Course.

One of the most significant events that my wife and I attended while transitioning into simple/house church was the house church conference sponsored by House2House in 2003.  Since then, this annual conference has continued to provide cutting edge content and fellowship.

This year, the theme is: The Necessity of Transformational Leadership.  As Tony Dale writes: "An increasing number of believers are now meeting in homes but they are bringing with them leadership patterns from their traditional church background.  The result?  Burned out and confused leaders and struggling house churches."

You can find all of the information on this conference that is taking place over Labor Day Weekend in Dallas, TX here.

Since simple church is incarnational in nature (taking the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world rather than inviting the world to come join our Christian activities) and since people in need are often the ones most receptive to the Gospel, we should not be surprised when we find ourselves, at times, serving people in varying degrees of physical need and poverty.

The question is: are we prepared for this?

To help us with this issue, I want to mention an excellent primer in empowering people in need: “When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself” by Fikkert and Corbett.

The authors share many of their own experiences and those of others that helped them realize that “when North American Christians do attempt to alleviate poverty, the methods used often do considerable harm to both the materially poor and the materially non-poor. Our concern is not just that these methods are wasting human, spiritual, financial, and organizational resources but that these methods are actually exacerbating the very problems they are trying to solve.”

The book points out very well that “one of the biggest problems in many poverty-alleviation efforts is that their design and implementation exacerbates the poverty of being of the economically rich—their god-complexes—and the poverty of being of the economically poor—their feelings of inferiority and shame. The way that we act toward the economically poor often communicates—albeit unintentionally—that we are superior and they are inferior. In the process we hurt the poor and ourselves.”

Using excellent Scriptural background Fikkert demonstrates that the goal of kingdom work is “to restore people to a full expression of humanness, to being what God created us all to be, people who glorify God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation.”

With this in mind the book outlines some key principles for serving the poor:

1. Know the difference between relief, rehabilitation, and development.  Know which one is needed in the given situation and apply it.  Providing ongoing relief (meeting critical needs in a time of crisis), for example, when community development (empowering people to help themselves) is called for will simply exacerbate the problems and helplessness of those we want to help.

2. Beware the poison of paternalism and “do not do things that people can do for themselves.”

3. Begin with assets not needs. Asset-Based Community Development:

“ABCD is consistent with the perspective that God has blessed every individual and community with a host of gifts, including such diverse things as land, social networks, knowledge, animals, savings, intelligence, schools, creativity, production equipment, etc. ABCD puts the emphasis on what materially poor people already have and asks them to consider from the outset, “What is right with you? What gifts has God given you that you can use to improve your life and that of your neighbors? How can the individuals and organizations in your community work together to improve your community?”

“In contrast, needs-based development focuses on what is lacking in the life of a community or a person. The assumption in this approach is that the solutions to poverty are dependent upon outside human and financial resources. Churches and ministries using a needs-based approach are often quick to provide food, clothes, shelter, and money to meet the perceived, immediate needs of low-income people, who are often viewed as “clients” or “beneficiaries” of the program. Pouring in outside resources is not sustainable and only exacerbates the feelings of helplessness and inferiority that limits low-income people from being better stewards of their God-given talents and resources.”

4. Use a participatory process that engages and energizes as much of the community as possible.

You can check out the book here or their website here.

Tony and Felicity Dale have been used wonderfully for many years as a catalyst in the simple/house church movement.  Felicity provides us with background on her newly re-published book, "An Army of Ordinary People," in the following interview:

Question:  What is the main message that An Army of Ordinary People seeks to communicate?

Felicity:  All around the world, God is giving His people a vision of church that is simpler—a group of friends gathered around a meal table, a vibrant community of Jesus followers reaching out to the world around them.  These groups are known as simple, organic or house churches and in many nations, movements of these churches are seeing explosive growth because of new believers.  This book explores the main principles involved in these movements using examples from here in the West.

Question:  An Army of Ordinary People is essentially a book of stories.  Why did you choose this way to communicate?

Felicity: Stories are powerful.  Jesus used them all the time to communicate truths to his followers.  There’s a saying: “The longest journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart.”  A person may be convinced intellectually, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into action.  The reverse journey from the heart to the head is way shorter.  If you can capture a person’s heart, their belief system catches up very quickly.  Stories tug at our hearts and are more likely to produce change. 
A generation is rising up for whom stories are a vital way to communicate.  They often read little, and for them, books are only associated with academic learning. If you ask them what they remember from a talk, they are more likely to remember the illustrations than the theory.  I know people who would never read a theoretical book on church planting, but have read Army in a few short days.
The principle that each story illustrates is explored more fully at the end of each chapter.

Question:  What other important principles come out in the book?

Felicity:  I describe the story of two men who started a prayer movement—any move of God has to be bathed in prayer; I look at Sam, who most people would have written off, but who reaches out to the marginalized of society.  I explore the transition process using the journey of a traditional church pastor who discovers simple church.  The story of Elizabeth shows the importance of reaching out into the community rather than asking others to come to our church.  Other chapters look at what you do when you come together, and how to meet under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Question:  Tell me about the process of writing the book?

Felicity:  My husband, Tony, and I have been involved in simple/organic churches in this country since the mid 1990s, and before that in similar groups in the U.K.  In 2000, two couples approached us and asked if we would consider helping them start a magazine for the house church movement.  We agreed, and House2House (www.house2house.com) was born.  People frequently contacted H2H with questions, and rather than trying to answer each person individually, I decided to produce a written work exploring the principles of simple/organic church.  This developed into a manual that has been used all over the world.
The stories in An Army of Ordinary People embody the principles in the manual.  Once I had decided whose stories to use, I spent a long time, often several hours, interviewing each person.  I transcribed each interview and then wrote the story.
So the book is really a “how-to” guide on discipleship and simple/organic churches but using stories as the primary means to communicate this, followed by an exploration of the principles involved.  Most of the stories are about ordinary people, not spiritual superstars, whom God has used, often in remarkable ways.  The hope is that anyone reading the book would be able to identify with one of the stories and say, “I could do that!”

Question:  This is the second version of the book to come out.  How did the Lord use the original version?

Felicity:  Tony and I self published the first version.  (We did have an offer from a major publisher who offered us “fame and fortune” for the original manuscript, but that seemed so contrary to the principles of simple/organic church that we turned them down!)  I am very grateful that this updated version is being published by Tyndale House Publishers within the Barna imprint.  Tyndale has been a pleasure to work with, and of course, George (Barna) adds huge credibility.  I deeply appreciate his integrity and input.
I am always humbled when I hear of how God uses anything I’ve written. I’ve heard of mega churches, simple/organic churches and, of course, individuals who used the older version of Army to think through the principles of simple/organic church and learn how to work more effectively with communities of not-yet-believers.  Other churches have used it to revitalize their small groups and make them more missional.  Army was written for ordinary people (rather than theologians or trained professionals) who want to follow the Lord into the harvest.

Question:  When you went back to everyone to update the book five years after originally writing their stories, what did you find?

Felicity:  To be honest, I approached this with some trepidation.  Would it invalidate what I had written if everything I described in the original book had imploded?  But I found that all but one or two of the people whose stories I told were still pressing on with the simple church journey.  God is continuing to use them.  Where relevant, I’ve included updates on their stories in the new version.

Question:  How typical are the stories you have written?

Felicity:  I could take you to literally dozens of stories that illustrate each of the principles I describe in Army.   Our other book, The Rabbit and the Elephant has a number of these stories in it.

Question:  You originally wrote this book in 2005.  What has happened to the house church movement in the United States since then?

Felicity:  Amazing growth!  According to research done by George Barna (who has written the foreword to the new book), there are now around 11 million people in this country involved in simple/house churches.   Obviously many of these people originally went to a more traditional form of church (what we like to call a legacy church), but one of the most encouraging things we are currently seeing is the number of these churches that are multiplying through new believers.

Question:  What do you see for the future?

Felicity:  Jesus is building His church, a beautiful bride.  Organic/house church is part
of the journey, but we are kidding ourselves if we think this is the only thing God is doing.  I also see other important issues developing momentum within the movement—for example, an emphasis on the Kingdom of God, another on the role of women within the Kingdom.  But what a privilege to be involved in the Kingdom at such a time as this!  We’re no longer sitting wistfully on the sidelines watching God move elsewhere in the world.  He’s working here too!  And house/simple church is one of the things He is doing.

A couple of us have been developing a new blog on World Missions and Simple Church.  The purpose?  To increase the awareness and understanding of world missions among simple/house church folk.

The need?  More contributors.

First, let me explain why I think this type of resource is valuable.

Consider what God might be doing through the simple/house/organic church movement!

• He might be providing a way for many, many leaders and missionaries to be raised up.  The core value of simple church—everyone participates—provides a platform in which everyone gets involved, everyone grows spiritually, everyone discovers his/her spiritual gifts and calling, and everyone lives a 24/7 lifestyle of following Jesus.  That sounds like a platform for developing fruitful influencers and missionaries to me!
• He might be getting ready to create a whole new thrust that could impact our entire planet through a small group of “revolutionaries” who believe that we are the church, everywhere that we go, and that every unreached people in the world is part of that thrust.

So, the potential is huge!

At the same time, many people—even wonderful, on-fire, radical, Jesus-followers—can benefit from a deeper understanding of God’s purposes around the world, how he has been at work historically through world missions, what are the key thrusts taking place today, and how to become fruitfully involved with harvesting the many, remaining unreached people of the world.

We want to provide this type of information in a quality, educational, and inspirational format.  Thus… the World Mission Impact Blog.

Now, before you evaluate it, please understand that is in the first stages of development.  The artwork is basic and the content is only a start.

To move forward, we could use a handful of contributors who are involved in simple/house/organic church and who have a heart (and hopefully some background or solid awareness) of world missions.  Obviously we are looking for people who love to write and who are able to communicate concisely.

If you would like to know more, shoot me a note here and I will send you more information.

In my series on the stages of the Simple Church Journey, it’s time to mention stage 3: renewing our life in Jesus or, as I have entitled this post, “re-booting to Jesus.”

Somewhere in the process of moving from one church paradigm to another, we find ourselves aware that this is not at all about church models, structures, or meeting in living rooms.  Rather, it’s about Jesus wooing us to himself more deeply, more intimately, more authentically, and more permanently.

After all, isn’t that what he is always about?  Continually drawing us to himself and stirring our hearts with a greater love for him?

I have an early blog post on this here.

It is impossible to do this topic justice in a single blog post because everyone will experience this renewal-of-life-in-Jesus differently depending on our background and how God is working in our own hearts.

For some, this will involve breaking down years of religious, legalistic baggage and discovering the Jesus that loves us radically and passionately for who we are and not for how well we serve him or how perfectly we keep the rules.  Sometimes we didn’t realize how much baggage we were carrying around until we stepped away from the containers and structures that helped hold the baggage together.  We often didn’t realize how much freedom we were missing!  By the way, for those who are finding that grace and freedom are at the heart of this season of renewal, you may want to take a look at the Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley.

For others, renewal involves moving out of our churchy comfort zones, re-discovering the awesome person of Jesus and the adventure of knowing and following him radically.  Being a disciple (follower) becomes much more personal, exciting, relevant, and Spirit-led than ever before.  We become more aware of Jesus as an undomesticated God and more ready to follow however he leads.  As we step into new arenas of faith with him, we encounter him more fully.  This is some of what Frost and Hirsch write about in their book that this post's title comes from: ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church.

Many discover renewal as they realize that the very heart of being a Jesus-follower is that we can personally learn to hear his voice, converse with him, and be led of him in very personal and real ways.  Sometimes it takes removing the crutches that we have relied on to hear from God (our church, our pastor, the teachers we look to, etc) in order to discover that God wants to speak personally and regularly to us.  As we do this, we discover a greater reality of 24/7 interacting with God and being led by him.  Many people who have found this to be a key renewal-point have enjoyed Mark Virkler’s materials.

Still others have found that Jesus has become more alive and intimate to them through contemplative disciplines and are finding renewal through more monastic forms of spirituality.  Andrew Jones brings a lot to this conversation which you can get a taste of here.

However it happens, at the heart and soul of ANY spiritual transformational process is that Jesus becomes nearer and dearer to us which awakens in us a greater longing to love him, give ourselves to him, and reflect the glory/beauty of who he is to the world.  Our heart becomes empowered to love him more fully and our values and priorities shift as a result.

Obviously, renewing ourselves in Jesus is more than just a “stage” in the process.  It is the central theme for those who follow a God who is radically and passionately in love with his people.

The freedom to know God, unhindered as much as possible from religious or human discoloration, is the central joy and purpose of life.  All of the rest of our journey in church-life (life with and for Jesus) is informed by our deepening friendship with God that is allowing him to be more intimately involved in our lives than ever before.

I am (slowly) making my way through seven stages that people seem to move through in their journey into simple/organic church.  I started this series here where I listed the stages as follows:

1. Letting go of old paradigms of church life.
2. Exploring New Testament gatherings.
3. Re-boot to Jesus.
4. A new missional heart and longing.
5. Fresh discovery of our own passions, spiritual gifts, and calling.
6. Integration of an organic, fruitful lifestyle with organic gatherings that support it.
7. Our kingdom influence spreads and becomes reproductive in its impact.

I already discussed stages one and two, but wanted to share one more thing on stage two.  I want to re-visit the subject of prevenience as it relates to New Testament gatherings.

This subject (prevenience) comes from John White’s writings and I have included one of his documents on this that is well worth reading.  I highlight this subject because I believe it is so crucial to grasping how God wants to be fully involved as the initiator of all that takes place “when we come together.”

So, in short, what is prevenience?  As per John White:

The word "prevenience" (rhymes with "convenience") refers to "that which goes before or precedes". The word describes an important aspect of God's character. He is prevenient. That is, He is always at work before we come onto the scene. He is always initiating. In our lives and in the church…

He is always initiating. He is always starting things. He is prevenient. 

Our part? To see what He is doing and to respond. He is the initiator. We are the responders. How we "do church" must be based on the character of our God. So, what are the implications for ministry in general and house church meetings in particular?

The "prevenience model" for church is illustrated in the Old Testament.

"Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped…Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in the camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. (Numbers 9:17,18,22)

God (represented by the cloud here) is always the Prime Mover. He is always the Initiator. He is always proactive. He is always prevenient. He is always "before".

The people of God are always the responders. Their job description is simple: "WATCH THE CLOUD. If it moves, then you move. If it doesn't move, then you don't move. No matter how long it takes – two days, a month or a year." For some of us, learning how not to move is much harder than learning how to move…

Our culture says, "Be proactive! Don't just sit there – do something! Make it happen!" And that culture is reflected in the church.  The values of the Bible are different. "WATCH THE CLOUD. Do what it does." God is God and we are not. It's His church, not ours (Mt. 16:18)…

The church that God is restoring is more than a church that meets in the home. Its a church made up of people who are getting really good at WATCHING THE CLOUD. And responding appropriately.

I hope I have whet your appetite enough to dig deeper into what John calls the “prevenience model” for gatherings rather than the “program model.”  Read his entire article here.

At the heart of simple/organic church life is the lifestyle of discipleship (following Jesus) and discipling others.

The difficulty is that we often make discipleship far too difficult.  When we see discipleship as primarily about imparting knowledge from one to another, then we need an expert (knowledgeable) who also excels at communicating knowledge to another (teaching gift).  Many people do not see themselves as qualified enough (not enough knowledge as compared to professionals or those who have attended seminary) and not gifted enough (again, comparing themselves to those with excellent teaching gifts).

The result is that we have turned discipleship over to the professional teachers (pulpiteers and well-known author/teachers) and the programs that these same people develop.  In the process we exclude 90% of the Body of Christ from being active disciplers which is exactly what Jesus asked each of us to do.

Fortunately, simple/organic church planters, and those who have studied or experienced church planting movements, have re-discovered the keys to discipleship and have given those keys back to every-day-believers where they belong.

Here are two of those keys:

1. Discipleship can and should be discovery-based.  This means that new believers can actually discover what they need to know about God by opening the Word of God themselves while the Spirit leads and teaches them.  In this case, I do not need to be highly knowledgeable nor an effective teacher to come alongside someone who is going directly to the Word to learn from God and to encounter God.

We have put far too much effort into spoon-feeding new Christians by providing milk for them to drink through our pre-digested sermons, notes, teachings, and pre-packaged lessons.  The result is that believers do not learn the basics of understanding the Word for themselves, listening to the voice of the Spirit through the Word, and applying it.  This latter is the meaning of a disciple: one who hears Jesus speak and follows him.

While teachers can play a helpful supportive role, scripture is abundantly clear that the Holy Spirit is to become the primary teacher in a believer’s life (1 John 2:27).  This takes the pressure off of the discipler if we are willing to take on a support role in a disciple’s life rather than the main role.

2. The second key is often called “obedience-based discipleship.”  However, since the word “obedience” often conjures up images of legalistic adherence to rules (which is not the same as simply obeying Jesus), I sometimes prefer the term: “active-surrender-based discipleship.”  In using this term I will quote Thomas Merton who said: “we must know the truth, we must love the truth we know and we must act according to the measure of our love.  Truth is God himself who cannot be known apart from love and cannot be loved apart from surrender to his will.”

Okay, so maybe that’s just a way to say that the way to experientially know and encounter God is to love and obey him.

But, here’s the point.  A disciple is one who loves and obeys.  Period.  Therefore obedience-based discipleship (or surrender-based discipleship) focuses on becoming one who follows, one who walks out what God has shown, one who consistently steps into the place of “your will not my will be done.”  Why does this matter?  Because, again, knowledge is not the focus here.  A new disciple will gain the knowledge that he/she needs over time if he is applying what he is hearing through obedience.

Therefore, again, an expert is not needed (nor a great teacher) in order to show the way.  Rather, simply a fellow-Jesus-follower is all that is necessary to come alongside other disciples and point the way (through his/her own walk) to an abundant, Spirit-filled, life-filled, adventure-filled, personally-transforming, world-impacting, miracle-walking, Jesus-following lifestyle.

The bottom line here is that a disciple is one who is coming to know God himself through personal experience (followership) NOT merely a bunch of knowledge ABOUT God.  The former comes through self-discovery of who God is and walking with him. 

To disciple someone, then, is nothing more than:

1. Bringing them to the Scriptures to feed.
2. Asking how God is speaking to and leading them (through the Scriptures and the Spirit).
3. Being a friend.

It really IS that simple.