Simple Church Journal

Consider how God goes about changing a nation (taken from this op-ed in Newsweek) and what we can learn from this for our own local contexts?

Something religiously astonishing is taking place in Iran, where an Islamist government has ruled since 1979: Christianity is flourishing. The implications are potentially profound.

David Yeghnazar of Elam Ministries stated in 2018 that "Iranians have become the most open people to the gospel." The Christian Broadcast Network found, also in 2018, that "Christianity is growing faster in the Islamic Republic of Iran than in any other country." Shay Khatiri of Johns Hopkins University wrote last year about Iran that "Islam is the fastest shrinking religion there, while Christianity is growing the fastest."

Notice the shape and focus of the church in Iran that is producing this transformation:

As a clandestine phenomenon, the practice of what are sometimes called Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) lacks clergy and church buildings, but instead consists of self-starting disciples and tiny house churches of four to five members each, with either hushed singing or none at all. Its lay leadership, in striking contrast to the mullahs who rule Iran, consists mainly of women.

Notice also that such a transformation of a nation is not taking place within an environment that is friendly to Christianity:

Iranian authorities routinely arrest and jail MBBs, often for extended periods; for example, the United Nations reported in 2013 on "more than 300 Christians" who were arrested in the prior three years, mostly for vague security-related offenses. An inquiry found that "those arrested have been subjected to intensive and often abusive interrogation."

Finally, note how extensive this ‘revolution’ might become:

Indeed Lela Gilbert and Arielle Del Turco argue that the [Khameini] regime considers Christianity "an existential threat." And it should, notes Reza Safa, the Iranian-born founder of Nejat TV ("ministering to Muslims living in Farsi-speaking nations"), who titled a book The Coming Fall of Islam in Iran. He sees Iran's Christians as "an army of God" who are bringing Iran to "the brink of another revolution, this time orchestrated" by a Christian spirit.

Possible lessons to be learned?

• The church and its influence is shaped by the power of the Gospel and the disciples of Jesus committed to its cause, not by governmental or political powers-that-be.
• The church can and often does flourish in environments that are not welcoming to its message.
• The church is not defined by clergy or buildings, but by ‘self-starting disciples.’
• God is still in the business of transforming nations.

His revolution continues…

Once upon a time there was a beautiful church building filled with beautiful people who loved to come together. Fellowship was wonderful, music was brilliant, and small groups were meaningful and helpful for living peaceful lives. People loved to come to the building, see each other, smile and make friendly talk, and pray.

But one day something happened. Everyone came to the building on a Sunday morning and the door was locked. This was quite confusing, but the people thought about it and said, “We can still meet right here just outside the building.” So they did. They still had music and fellowship and discussions about why they were locked out of the building. But not much changed as they continued their activities outside the walls of the beautiful building.

Until one day. Someone wondered what it would be like to experience their faith-walk in a new way. This person went out and took ‘church’ into the streets and into the homes of people who did not know God. This person sought out those who had not gone to church yet and those who had become disillusioned with God. Shortly, though this person missed his church-building experiences, he began to experience something richer, and deeper, and even more meaningful.

With excitement, this person returned to the folks-outside-the-building church and began to share what he had experienced. Sadly, he found few that were interested. Instead, they insisted that the building would open again and all would be like it once was.

But the person who went out realized that for him it would never be the same. He had found something new that he would never give up. Sometimes lonely, but never with regret, he has discovered a new way to ‘be church’ in the world where the adventure of faith has come alive.

Surely, though perhaps only a small army, there are those who have come alive to a Jesus-adventure during this past year who will never go back to how life was before.

Who is the hero in the story?

As humans, we love heroes. We want to create heroes. We even want to be heroes.

Our heroes are slightly more than human. They are important. They are politicians. Or people of great giftedness. Or people in important positions. They are doctors. Or they are religious leaders. Or they are ‘our pastors’ or 'our priests.' They are people with influence in the world and whom people follow. They are people that we believe are speaking for God. We look to them and often revere them. We view them as world-changers.

Who is the hero in the story?

Often the hero is someone other than ourselves. We are ordinary and heroes are extra-ordinary. We are everyday people while heroes are people with special gifts or positions of influence within our world and society.

Sometimes we seek to be the hero ourselves.

But we need to ask this important question. Who is really the hero in the story?

A person going about his business was robbed and beaten and left along the side of the road desperately needing medical care. The typical heroes walked by him. These were the people with titles and influence. They were revered as those with special gifts and positions. And they passed by the person in need of mercy.

Who is the hero in the story?

The ordinary person, considered an outcast by many, walked by and saw the man on the side of the road with a need. He went out of his way to help the injured person and provide mercy. He took him to the hospital, cared for his needs, and even paid his medical bill.

Jesus tells this story in order to turn our human perceptions upside down. I wonder if we are listening. The hero is the everyday person, even the person considered less-than, who does an act of love for someone in need of mercy. No, this is not just a sappy story. This is a declaration of the way it is in the Kingdom of God. Those we humanly revere are not important, or highlighted, or lifted up in the economy of God’s Kingdom– the eternal rule of God throughout eternity. No, the Kingdom of God is not built upon those who are naturally acclaimed by this world. Instead, God’s Kingdom is built upon the simple everyday acts of mercy that every follower of Jesus does by sowing the love of God into a lost and broken world. Simple, yet profound, acts of Kingdom love. And, these are the truly important actions that take place daily by everyday followers, who then are the true and real heroes of the story.

The only true hero in God’s story is the one who, today, sows an act of Kingdom love simply and in obedient love for God. Collectively, these acts become the mustard seeds that bring the Kingdom of God to earth in abundant fruitfulness declaring Jesus as King and establishing his reign forever. There is nothing more heroic or fundamentally significant in this world and in the world to come.

My practice of simple/organic/house church is simply an outcome of my longing to be amongst such heroes and to encourage such acts.

You can now register for the upcoming “Simple/House Church Revolution Online Course.”

Beginning date is March 2.

NOTE, you can register immediately as there are only 8 spaces remaining 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.

• It’s interactive with lots of opportunity to share and hear from others who are on a similar journey.
• It provides a lot of great material that challenges our perspectives and paradigms in order to help us shape our own non-traditional journey.
• It can be life-changing as it sets our course as pursuers of Jesus in the context of simple church life.

Who is this course for?  It’s ideal for those who are newly exploring simple/house churches or who are in the process of starting simple/house churches or networks of simple/house churches.

This course helps move us from head knowledge to the practice of principles that can release the DNA of living, reproductive, Jesus-led, simple-house churches that are making disciples who make disciples.  

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."

Read more of the description and register here.  Look forward to this journey together!

The excellent magazine, Mission Frontiers, has devoted an entire issue (available online) to movements in western contexts, specifically the USA. Some of the articles are good for sparking ideas and dreams of what can happen as God releases his church ‘out of the building’ and into the process of making disciples and gathering simply. And, isn’t it interesting how many traditional worshipers are, in fact, out of their buildings at this time!

The lead editorial is titled: “Movements Can Happen Here Too, If We Are Willing to Work for Them.” Here are a couple of highlights:

The model of ministry pursued by most churches in the U.S. where we go to a big building once a week, sing a few songs, listen to a sermon, go home, forget what was said in the sermon and then repeat this process week after week, is killing the Church in America and everywhere else it is exported. At best the Bible-believing Church in America is barely holding its own and is likely in a slow decline with an increasing number of people moving into the “no faith” category. We are losing the culture to increased secularism, biblical illiteracy and moral decline. We are also often losing our own kids to unbelief. The status quo is unacceptable.

The doing-church-as-usual crowd may be comfortable with a Christian faith that requires little of them and provides the worship experience they are looking for, but this model of doing church is leaving the great majority of lost souls untouched and the surrounding culture unchanged.

Employing an attractional approach to ministry in the hope that the unsaved will come in the door of your church, hear the gospel and be saved is at best a passive approach to ministry that leaves most of the unchurched, untouched. According to Barna research, two-thirds of the unchurched have been to church and do not wish to return. Creating all sorts of new programs in the hope of attracting them will not work. We need a new strategy.

Instead of asking the unchurched to come, why not equip your church members to go and make disciples of their friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances? People who will not darken the door of your church will very likely respond positively to an invitation to dinner at a friend’s home where the gospel may be sensitively shared. They may even respond well to an invitation to see what the Bible says about God.

This, for me, captures the heart of what I refer to as “simple church.” Not a different way to 'do church’ but a lifestyle that is primarily outside the confines of buildings and traditions where believers are interacting with, loving, and reaching those who are far from God. It is not so much a strategy as a Jesus way-of-life. Simple, reproducible, engaging organically with people, gathering for growth and accountability, and motivated to join the Jesus-mission of doing the same with others.

Many of the articles are worth a look.

Jeff Christopherson writes an article in Christianity Today that is pointing in the right direction. You can read the full article here: When Culture Tilts Away from your Church.

Here are some highlights:

Thinking differently can be difficult. Our ruts testify to our staggering preferences for the familiar. Even if they slow us down to a creeping clamber, they’re ‘our ruts,’ and we prefer what we know.

But at some point, in our crawl, some of us look up and around and ask, “Is this familiar path that I’m traveling taking me where I need to go?”

…Few among us believe that we are still in the “golden age” of church growth, yet many of our systems are still calibrated with methodologies designed for a previous era. We prioritize launching worship experiences which bake in the preeminent consumeristic value of excellence with the principal metric of attendance…

When culture is tilted toward the church, we instinctively know what to do. We position ourselves as a preferred, or at least viable alternative. We welcome them in with a warm and sincere greeting. Hand them a nice gift bag with a quality T-shirt and a mug. Invite them to a casual meet and greet with the pastor. And get them to sign up for the new member’s class.

Its muscle memory for most of us.

But what happens when the culture is tilted away from the church? What do we do when there are only social disadvantages to our evangelical ties? What do we do when our golden era techniques no longer have an attraction?

Make no mistake, this is the current reality of our mission field.

But to that difficult question, there is some very good news. Much of the disciple-making within the majority world, and numerous immigrant and inner-city churches within North America, and the entirety of the book of Acts embodies three priorities that appear to be alien to our “golden-age” thinking – but serves as living proof to the Jesus-way of his community.

From here, Christopherson outlines three priorities the first of which is this:

We need a different kind of church. Rather than a hyper-focus on the gathering, we must prioritize equipping people for a disciple-making movement. Disciple-making is the goal, not a hopeful byproduct of the gathering. By decreasing our focus on the gatherings as an end, we now have the margin to increase our effort to make disciples who live vibrantly sent lives. We are no longer a church of the intentionally gathered and unintentionally scattered – but of the gathered and intentionally deployed.

Amen. This paragraph alone is worth reading the article for. Again, you can read the entire article here.

After a 10 year hiatus, it is very exciting to see the House2House website running again. Tony and Felicity Dale, along with others, first started a print magazine in 2000. Their subsequent website, books, and training have had a tremendous impact on our own simple/house church journey through the years. The current website has many invaluable resources!

From the website:

This is being written as we are in the middle of the crisis, and everything has been closed down, including church buildings. Many people are having church online. Although things will slowly begin to return to normal, the likelihood is that churches will not be able to reopen as they were for months, if not years. It therefore seemed expedient to make available the best of the resources that House2House has produced over the years, again to be a resource for those who are meeting in homes or online. The dynamics of a small group are very different to those of a large meeting with its professional musicians and pastors. Obviously, the majority of the materials were produced in pre-Covid days, but are easily adaptable to the current situation.

Take a look here!

I recently ran across this quote from Alan Hirsch:

"It is LOVE that is the final defense of the faith. Jesus actually expected no other kind of apologetic when he said that it is by our love that the world will know we are his disciples (Johns 13:34-35). Love is therefore the defining mark of authenticity."

One of the transformations that the church is going through is the metamorphosis into a new creation that has the motivation and ability to love with no strings attached.

Let’s be honest here, while Jesus said that his followers would be known by his love, this is frequently NOT the case.

Someone wise said:

Christians are re-discovering that the heart of the Jesus-way-of-life is not church attendance and a smug attitude toward others, rather it is truly embodying the love of Christ—anywhere and everywhere—in a world that is desperately in need of this love.  It is a type of reaching out that is marked by authentic concern for people. (Okay, I wrote this myself in Simple/House Church Revolution).

When Jesus-followers are known by their outbreaks of love towards a world in need, along with a clear Gospel message, we will again find a fertile environment for making disciples and our gatherings will be filled with vitality and excitement.

Easy to say. But it does require a transformation of our inner heart that can only happen by His grace and powerful love creating this ability and motivation in each of us.