Simple Church Journal

I probably don’t have this quite right (someone can straighten me out), but I understand that one of the questions that Lou Holtz (former coack of Notre Dame) would ask people who would be part of his team or staff is: "Are you only interested in what I can do for you, or are you interested in being concerned about me as a person?"

I think this is a reality for check in everything that we are doing.  Are we interested in developing our program, or our house church, or our ministry, or our agenda?  Or have we genuinely developed a concern for people?  Just people!

I have discovered that motivation is everything!  If my concern is not genuinely about the welfare and interests of individual people, then I am already headed down the road of control or manipulation.  I will use people for my interests rather than be availabe for whatever is of most value to them.

The church, of course, is traditionally guilty of asserting the corporate vision and then assuming that what is in the best interest of each person is to help fulfill that corporate vision.  In the process, we miss the individual beauty and uniqueness of each of God’s children.  We marginalize those who do not quite fit the "mold" of what "our church" values or esteems.

However, lest we throw stones, I do not want to assert the new "house church vision" and miss the point.  It’s not about starting house churches, developing a network of churches, or planting yet more house churches.  It’s about people.  A person, whoever he or she is, that I am called to minister to.  Whatever is best for that person’s calling and community life is what God is into.  Not my agenda but His agenda in and through that person.

Church communities do develop in order to support people in what God is doing in and through them.  These communities and gatherings are important and necessary.  But our motivation in our approach to these communities is everything.  Are we building communities, churches, or house churches?  Or are we laying down our life to build people.  Maybe just one person.  Because that one person matters!

Are we interested in people because of how they might facilitate our vision?  Or are we simply, genuinely interested in people?

From John White at House Church Chronicles:

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)

The cloud = the physical manifestation of the presence of God (see Mt. 17:5)

The Tent = the Tent of Meeting. The place where the people assembled to meet God. (Consider 1 Cor. 14:26: "When you come together…" or "When you assemble…")

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.

Sounds un-American, doesn’t it? 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). He is building it and we are not (although He does let us help out some times).

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.

In an earlier post (over a year ago) I mentioned a simple church that met in a pub.  Recently I received this comment:

You might be interested in Christ Church Brighton, we have a meeting in a pub every Sunday evening.

The following website provides more information: http://www.christchurchbrighton.org.

Additionally, if you receive the Friday Fax (weekly from Wolfgang Simson-click here if you would like to subscribe), then you saw his article about simple churches being planted on college campuses and an evangelistic event that took place on the campus of UCLA:

This past Wednesday at UCLA we experienced a taste of heaven on earth, but it came with a cost. As we walked up onto campus there were thousands of students walking up and down Bruin Walk. Normally, we would sit at the patch of grass where there were not many onlookers (free speech area), but on Wednesday the main steps at the top of Bruin Walk were open – we took it by faith. As we sat on the steps we began to pray…

Has not God made the wisdom of this world foolishness, and doesn’t he use apparently foolish things to confound the wise? So we stood there worshipping God, not so that the students would hear us, but so that God would hear us. It was difficult. We were distracted by all sorts of thoughts, and one of us felt sick. Despite that, we sang for two hours, until we sensed that the time had come to preach…

My voice threatened to fail me, but I sensed that God was there. More and more students stopped to listen – a group here, a group of Asian students there, another group of African American students who had been listening to music from their boom boxes only moments before. They all listened as I preached the Gospel; at least 120 students, for almost half an hour…

Read the full story here as well as other stories taking place on college campuses.  You might also take a look at the rest of Jaeson Ma’s website which is chock full of simple church principles along with an apostolic vision to reach his generation (13-30 year-olds) and plant churches throughout college campuses!

Thailand just had their first ever House Church (slash) Church Planting Movement Conference.  It was wonderful to be able to have a part in this conference that, at least for some of the Thai leaders, provided a breath of fresh air and hope for their country.

It is fascinating (and worrisome) to see a country, relatively new to Christianity, that is bogged down with a traditional model of church-life that is neither relevant to their culture nor effectively reaching people for Christ.  Out of a nation of 60 million people there are only 300,000 Christians.  Yet, to start a new church requires (naturally) a building, sound system, instruments, and a seminary-trained pastor.  This concept of church is so well engrained that most Thai leaders were not interested in a conference that presents a different church model.

Nevertheless, over 100 did attend and it was clearly the beginning of doors opening to new paradigms!

Highlights of the conference:

• Dr. Paitoom, head of the evangelical association in Thailand and pastor of a larger traditional church, shared that at 68 years of age he had become quite discouraged by the progress of the Gospel in his country.  But now, he has a new vision of what God will be able to do through simple/house churches and believes that he will live to see great changes in his country as a result.  He closed the conference with prayer and, though I could not understand the words, his faith and excitement was clearly communicated.
• One young brother, who has been serving as an associate pastor in a church, has already planted a house church and is seeing the potential for this movement.  He does, however, face opposition from his senior pastor and will likely have to sever relationships with his supporting church in order to go forward.

Church Planting Movement:

Brad Beaman shared from the research and experiences of the IMB’s Church Planting Movement research.  David Garrison’s book on this subject is an excellent read.  They are suggesting a basic paradigm shift for mission that has come out of studying rapid church planting movements in various countries.

The old paradigm for mission:

1. Each person share his/her faith-story with others.
2. That person then follows up on those who make a decision for Christ.
3. That person disciples the new believers and encourages them to share their faith-story with others.
4. That person invites the new believers to attend a church in their area.

The new paradigm shift is the same for the first three points:

1. Each person share his/her faith-story with others.
2. That person does follow up on those who make a decision for Christ.
3. That person disciples new believers and encourages them to share their faith-story with others. 
   But– now, instead of inviting them to a church…
4. That person helps the new believers to start a church…  teaching them to do the same among their friends: reach, follow-up, disciple, and start churches.

There are rapid church planting movements taking place (i.e. India, Nepal) in which this is exactly what is happening.  By the very nature of the process, most of the churches started are simple, participatory, easily-reproducible house churches.

Thailand is at a crossroads that is not unlike much of the western Christian world…  I pray that they will be able to break out of the box and give birth to new church expressions that are simple, indiginous, Spirit-directed and that facilitate a movement of Jesus’ presence in their nation.

Other highlights from the trip:

• My first elephant ride in a jungle.
• My first ride on a tuk-tuk (a three-wheel taxi type vehicle).
• Learning to get around Bangkok on their SkyTrain (above-ground rapid transit) and by express boat on the canal.
• Getting lost in Chiang Mai.
• Getting "unlost" in Chaing Mai through the graciousness of a local woman who could see the we needed to be taken care of…  There are kind people all over this globe!!!

As I prepare for a conference in Thailand that involves presentations on Church Planting Movements (David Garrison’s staff) and House Church (my little piece), I have had my thoughts drawn back to the basics of simple/house church that I always want to keep before me:

1. It’s all about Jesus.  It’s not about how, where, when, we gather or who we gather with or what we do when we gather or if we gather or don’t gather…  It’s about a love relationship with Jesus who has called me by name, implanted His Spirit within me, transplanted me to live in heavenly places, and allowed me the joy and privilege to have just a few minutes here on this earth to serve Him with my life.  He is awesome, and He is the centerpoint, and He is life, and He is the only reason, and it really, really does not have to get complicated… He is!
2. Knowing Jesus means we get to live in partnership with Him everyday.  We live by His power, under His guidance, motivated by love for Him as we are sent into a world that needs to encounter Him.  He works through me, in a very unique way, every single day and every single moment.  I am the church–a called out one–with His presence in me and with me every day and in every moment.  The adventure is not about "going to church" (an impossibility) but being the church–His beloved who lives in His presence–always.
3. I get to gather with others who love Jesus.  By his grace, I frequently get to gather with people I consider to be family: fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters in Christ who know me, support me and who are part of that mutual encouragement that takes place when the Body of Christ fellowships.  What a privilege and joy (even when it gets messy).  These gatherings are no more "church" than my everyday life… but I do commit myself, best I can, to love those Christians whom I gather with regularly as well as to bless anyone in the Body of Christ that I am given the opportunity to bless and/or build up.

There is really not much more to it.  Everytime I try to complicate it, God has to remind me that it’s always about simple, simple, simple (when it comes to "church" life, i.e living-with-God life).  We can dialogue about many things– many good things– but, for me, most of the rest of the story is about how to live without religious baggage or anything else that hinders the basic life-love story that we are called to.

I enjoy the many conversations that we have on these subjects… so I’m not just trying to provide a trite little summary.  I just find it helps me, regularly, to keep my eyes on the heart of the heart of the matter.  This post is for me…

Bill Reed has been working with house churches for the last couple of years in a neighboring community in the Central Coast of California.  He recently sent out the following reminders to some of those he gathers with which I thought was some good food to pass along to all of us:

1. Personal time with Jesus away from the gatherings/meetings.  Time by yourself, with your spouse, or with your family reading God’s word and praying is the backbone of what we are doing.  You need to take time during the week to contemplate and meditate on the things of God. (His Word, His Creation, His Character)  Jenny and I encourage you to do this not just by yourself but with your spouse and/or your family.  If you have no family or spouse, grab a close friend.  Our home calls this time “JAM Time”.  (Jesus And Me Time)  Our strength lies in our daily “personal relationship” with our Creator, Jesus Christ.  He is the backbone of our gatherings.  He is the grand architect for our meetings.  He knows where to place each living stone. (First Peter Chapter 2)  We must stay in constant fellowship with Jesus Christ in order for our gatherings to come to have life and meaning.
2. Bring something to share to each gathering/meeting.  It could be as simple as a word of encouragement, a song, a verse from the Bible, or a testimony of how God is working in and through your life.  Meetings are only awkward when we have not come prepared to build each other up and encourage one another.  When we come prepared to share what God is teaching us, we come full of life, ready to give it away.  There are times when we have nothing to share because we are just exhausted or have been distracted throughout our week.  Come prepared to share just that… “I am exhausted and I have nothing to share, would you please pray for me to get through this time.”  You see, there is always something to share!
3. During our times of open worship (Times that we sing, pray, read the word), quiet your heart before God and ask Him to speak to your heart.  Listen for the “still small voice”(Ps. 46:10;83:10;95:6-11).  He, the Holy Spirit, may remind you of God’s faithfulness to you during the week, and if so then share it.  He may remind you of un-confessed sin, if so then share it with Him and if you feel led with the group.  He may ask you to share something with the group from the Bible, make sure that you do so.  Jesus is the head of the church and He will guide our meetings, if we come prepared to share and to listen.
4. Prayer…Prayer…and more Prayer!  Pray without ceasing.  We must learn to bring everything to God in prayer.  He does hear us!
5. Gather outside the gatherings as “brothers and sisters” in the household of Jesus Christ.  Get together to watch movies, have game nights, etc.  The Body of Christ (those who are believers) need to learn the art of “fun” and “joy”.  For some reason, it was lost over the last century.
6. Engage our community… Get involved in our communities and make a difference.  Build bridges of relationship with those outside of the Christian community.  Let the light of Jesus shine brightly in the world in which we live. Pray and ask the Lord to lead you into some sort of community involvement that puts you in touch with people who do not know Jesus Christ.  This will give you an opportunity to “shine brightly” as a follower of Jesus Christ.
7. Lastly, remember that how we act throughout our day is worship.  We are in the presence of God 24/7 whether we want to admit it or not.  Being a Christian is something that you are… not something that you do once or twice a week.

Bill blogs here.

The last two posts have brought up the tension between being missional and building effective community.  I am continuing this discussion by mentioning an excellent article by Mark Van S in the new NextWave:

You are church before you do church. This is one of the fueling insights of the missional church movement. This isn’t a new idea…but it is pretty provocative, especially when one considers its implications. If we take Jesus at his word when he says (as recorded in John 20:21) “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” then we realize that our being sent is the basis of our “doing” church. In other words, missiology precedes ecclesiology…

Mark goes on to describe 6 incarnational practices to help engage your neighborhoods missionally.  This is excellent material.

I have debated with others as to whether or not one can be missional and build effective community all at the same time.  Some would say that the mission must be the core reason for the existence of the community (thus Mark’s comment: "missiology precedes ecclesiology").  I would tend to say that "being community" is also a core reason for existing (love one another and build up one another) however the community must still be a missional community at the DNA level.

Either way (perhaps it’s just semantics) I know that the challenge for all of us is to sustain our sending mission in a world that calls us to comfortable, passive, remote-control-tv living.

I find myself often caught between the two tensions of being missional while developing community life.  Both are vital.  Both are part of the calling of Christian living.  Neither one is mutually exclusive of the other.  I firmly believe that if we can balance these two we will see a unique synergism that will draw people to Him by our love.

My last post reflected on the essential of being outward focused.  So… to sustain the aforementioned tension, I want to quote from a traditional pastor of a traditional church (Peter Marty) who has some excellent input to give on community life:

"What life have you if you have not life together?" Words of T. S. Eliot from his 1934 play The Rock point to the power of receiving life and nurturing life within the context of relating to other human beings. "There is no life that is not in community. And no community not lived in praise to God," wrote Eliot. When people become aware of the limitations of individualistic thinking and the drawbacks of disengagement from their neighbors, they hunger for alternatives. They yearn for something beyond themselves…

Surprisingly, a richly textured communal spirit is absent in many congregations. There may be experiences aplenty of social togetherness. And friendliness may be an abundant part of all these experiences. But this is not the same as participating in and being deeply entwined with a spiritually grounded community. The two should not be confused. Inhabiting the same ecclesiastical space for an hour on Sunday morning is not the same as belonging to a community where your presence truly matters to others and their presence truly matters to you…

A communal spirit blooms where people are deeply in touch with one another, thriving because of the faithful interaction with one another…

Holiness is born out of communities, not solitary lives…

Uniformity does not constitute biblical community. If anything, it threatens it. Henri Nouwen coined the all-important definition of community as "that place where the person you least want to live with always lives." A resurrection-minded community will not emerge so long as individuals are busy surrounding themselves with only those people with whom they wish to live…

One of the apostle Paul’s determinative moves was to take the diversity of the church and, through hard work and grace, form a spirited community. This was how he believed the wisdom of God would get through to the world: "That through the church," he noted, "the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known" (Eph. 3:10). It is the rareness of such a body that captures the attention of the world. The manner with which this body or organism begins to move together has more than eye-catching appeal. It is also happens to be the church’s most effective way for transforming the world.

Peter Marty wrote these words to help pastors give shape to the community life of their local congregations.  I believe his challenges are worth considering for our own simple communities where we desire to see "intimate bands of allies" form for the purpose of both growth and effective mission.  May we not gather in homes and still discover that the "communal spirit is absent."  May we not become so independent (in our quest to not be part of organizational Christianity) that we lose sight of the importance of interdependence whereby we belong to a community in which our "presence truly matters to others and their presence truly matters to [us]."

Can we be rich in community life AND missionally effective?

The question about house churches being inward and not reaching out came up in some recent comments that I wanted to bring to the forefront.

My friend, Mark, commented:

When reading Dan Kimball’s post and the comments, he makes a very valid point about the necessity of house churches reaching the lost. How has your experiences been in this regard? Dan seems to have a pretty jaded view of house churches as being inward and non growing. Is this a pretty valid perspective?

Here is the response that I offered Mark… and I would love to hear comments from others as well:

Hi Mark… Good to hear from you.

In regards to house churches reaching the lost… I continue to learn myself… but I would like to say that churches do not reach the lost. Followers of Jesus reach the lost. Whether we gather in churches or in buildings, the gatherings themselves are not the focal point for outreach (in my opinion). I doubt if few unbelievers were reached, in the New Testament, while the believers were sharing meals house to house. However, MANY unbelievers were reached when the believers took the love and power of the Gospel out into the world.

So, yes, our house churches can easily become inward… if we are merely transplanting Christians from church buildings to house buildings. For me, the challenge is not to do church differently, but to learn, as Christians, what it means to BE the church all day, every day, taking Kingdom life, love, and power wherever we go. House churches, hopefully, are just a simple way to facilitate community life for those going-Kingdom-minded Christians.

Is that happening for us? Yes and no. No, not as much as I would love to see. Yes, it is happening to some extent and growing. I always start with myself… Am I reaching out the way that I want and feel called to be? That is the first question. Let me consider it… I currently go to a small restaurant that locals hang out at in which I am well known and through which God gives me opportunities to minister to the lost. I have recently been invited to join an "investment group" (long story–believe me, I am not some major "investor") through which I am building relationships and sharing my spiritual story. I am also, currently, praying about the next Person of Peace that God will show me to start a new church alongside. In fact, I realized today that one of those guys in that investment group could well be a person of peace.

So… that’s my input on the subject of reaching out. Like I said, we are still learning… and I love to hear others tell their stories of living kingdom in the marketplace. This is really the heart of BEING the church, much more so than how or where we gather.

Here is an excerpt from Barna’s pre-manuscript called "Revolution":

As we journey together, I want to show you what our research has uncovered regarding a growing sub-nation of people, already well over 20 million strong, who are what we call Revolutionaries.

What "established systems" are they seeking to "overthow or repudiate" and "thoroughly replace," in Webster’s words?

They have no use for churches that play religious games, whether those games are worship services that drone on without the presence of God or ministry programs that bear no spiritual fruit.  Revolutionaries eschew ministries that compromise or soft sell our sinful nature to expand organizational turf.  They refuse to follow people in ministry in leadership positions who cast a personal vision rather than God’s, or who seek popularity rather than the proclamation of truth in their public statements, or who are more concerned about their own legacy than that of Jesus Christ.  They refuse to donate one more dollar to man-made monuments that mark their own achievements and guarantee their place in history.  The are unimpressed by accredited degrees and endowed chairs in Christian colleges and seminaries that produce young people incapable of defending the Bible or unwilling to devote their life to serving others.  And Revolutionaries are embarrassed by language that promises Christian love and holiness but turns out to be all sizzle and no substance.

In fact, many Revolutionaries have been active in good churches that have biblical preaching, people coming to Christ and being baptized, a full roster of interesting classes and programs, and a congregation packed with nice people.  There is nothing overtly wrong with anything taking place at such churches.  But Revolutionaries innately realize that it is just not enough to go with the flow.  The experience provided through their church, although better than average, still seems flat.  They are seeking a faith experience that is more robust and awe-inspiring, a spiritual journey that prioritizes transformation at every turn, something worthy of the Creator whom their faith reflects…

Revolutionaries zealously pursue an intimate relationship with God, which Jesus Christ promised we could have through Him…

In this book I will describe what The Barna Group has learned about this under-the-radar but seminal renaissance of faith that will remake the religious contours of this country over the coming quarter-century.

Barna goes on to predict the complete re-shaping of the way people experience "church" in America:

Whereas "Christian community" has generally been limited to the relationships facilitated within a congregation, the Revolution is bursting open the walls of the worldwide Church to birth a truly international network of relationships…

The U.S. will see a reduction in the number of churches, as presently configured (i.e. congregational-formatted ministries).  Church service attendance will drop…  Donations to churches will drop…  Churches’ already limited political and cultural influence will diminish even further at the same time that Christians will exert greater influence through more disparate mechanisms.  Fewer church programs will be sustained in favor of more communal experiences among Christians…

To some, this will sound like the Great Fall of the Church.  To Revolutionaries, it will be the Great Reawakening of the Church.  New scenarios do not mean mayhem and dissipation.  In this case, they represent a new day in which the Church can truly be the Church–different than what we know today, but more responsive to and reflective of God.

When I consider how widely read Barna is by traditional church leaders, I predict this book (due out in October) will rock some worlds.