Simple Church Journal

I have so much to write, having returned from the House Church conference in Denver, and so little time right now.  One highlight was Thom Black, from the Barna Research Group, who shared some incredible facts about what is happening in the church of America.  I will quote from Wolfgang Simson (who was at the conference) who summarized this information in his Friday Fax:

"Revolution", George Barna’s new book, will be published in September. Barna leads a church research institute, and is currently the most-quoted person in the Christian church in the USA because of his statistical work. To summarize the book’s most important conclusions:

    * The number of Christians attending local church in the USA is declining
      rapidly. Today, 70% of Christians attend traditional churches, but this
      will sink to 30-35% in 20 years;
    * The number of followers of Jesus who do not attend a local church will
      grow from 30% to 70% in the next 20 years;
    * Alternative fellowship forms (house church/simple church, post-modern
      churches etc.), currently home for 5% of USA Christians, will grow to
      make up 30-35%; another 30-35% will live out their faith in the fields
      of media, arts and culture; the remaining 5% of Christians attending
      non-traditional forms of church will have a family-based spiritual life;
    * Conclusion: a minority group presently not even noticed by many will
      become the mainstream of North American Christianity in only two
      decades.

We received a pre-manuscript of this book and it will rock the church world.  Barna describes this growing group of Christians that no longer attend traditional churches as "revolutionaries."  He goes on to describe them in a very positive light.  I will follow with more quotes when I have the chance.

My friend, Bill Reed, is blogging session-by-session from the Denver House Church Conference.  He set up a blogsite just for this purpose.  Stay tuned to it here.

I’m off, tomorrow, for the House Church conference in Denver.  Hope to see many of you there… will miss those of you who can’t be present.

I’m looking forward to both Rolland Baker and Wolfgang Simson.  Will try to keep you posted here a bit as to how the week goes.

Appreciate the prayers.  My little bit is a "how to" workshop on doing regional conferences.  This is not exactly something that causes my passions to well up, but this is what I was asked to do and I am more than willing to do my part.

Most importantly is the opportunity to network with others, bless and be blessed by others who are on somewhat parallel journeys, enjoy old friends and new friends, and take in a bit of Denver (their "Taste of Colorado" festival is taking place right next door).

If you can still hang out with us… the information on the conference is here.

Newsweek has quite an article on the current upurge in spirituality in America:

A major poll, commissioned jointly with Beliefnet.com, reveals a breadth of tolerance and curiosity virtually across the religious spectrum.  And everywhere we looked, a flowering of spirituality: in the hollering, swooning, foot-stomping services of the new wave of Pentecostals; in Catholic churches where worshipers pass the small hours of the night alone contemplating the eucharist, and among Jews who are seeking God in the mystical thickets of Kabbalah. Also, in the rebirth of Pagan religions that look for God in the wonders of the natural world; in Zen and innumerable other threads of Buddhism, whose followers seek enlightenment through meditation and prayer, and in the efforts of American Muslims to achieve a more God-centered Islam. And, for that matter, at the Church of the Holy Communion, described by the Rev. Gary Jones as "a proper Episcopal church in one of the wealthiest parts of Memphis," where increasingly "personal experience is at the heart of much of what we do…"

The NEWSWEEK/Beliefnet Poll found that more Americans, especially those younger than 60, described themselves as "spiritual" (79 percent) than "religious" (64 percent). Almost two thirds of Americans say they pray every day, and nearly a third meditate.

But, guess what?  Big surprise!  This does not mean that more people are attending church:

Whatever is going on here, it’s not an explosion of people going to church. The great public manifestations of religiosity in America today—the megachurches seating 8,000 worshipers at one service, the emergence of evangelical preachers as political power brokers—haven’t been reflected in increased attendance at services. Of 1,004 respondents to the NEWSWEEK/Beliefnet Poll, 45 percent said they attend worship services weekly, virtually identical to the figure (44 percent) in a Gallup poll cited by Time in 1966. Then as now, however, there is probably a fair amount of wishful thinking in those figures; researchers who have done actual head counts in churches think the figure is probably more like 20 percent.

The article goes on to say that "the impulse to seek communion with the Divine, is thriving…"  People are hungry for God…

Dan Kimball offers an interesting "Reality Check" on his blog, Vintage Faith, that describes 10 stages from traditional church to house church back to traditional church.  It’s a bit of a downer (perhaps that’s what a reality check is about) but it provides some useful insight and markers.  For example, he describes this "house church stage" reality check:

Eventually we find the same disappointments in the smaller house church that we did in the bigger programmed church, but at a different level. We get even more disillusioned, as we realize that even the key leaders (including ourselves) and the people of the house church are just as messed up as the big church leaders and people in those churches.

He goes on to suggest that we may find ourselves going from house church to no church back to some acceptance of traditional church life.  I have no problem if people walk through all of these stages, but I certainly do not believe that the cycle back to traditional church is natural nor inevitable.

Now WAIT.  If you DO head off right now to read the rest of Kimball’s article, I want to encourage you to come back here.

Why?

Because I want to mention an article written by Alan Creech called "Even Though."  He expresses my heart (and, I think, an important perspective) very well when he says:

"Even though it’s not totally what it should be, I’m not willing to give up on it" – referring to our community, our "church" Vine & Branches…

So, I could look at the experience of the people involved in our community, including my own, and say something like, "we still don’t have the level of ‘community’ we need to have" or "are we still just ‘going to church’ but on Tuesday nights?" Many of you probably know what I mean. I think we get weary of this. And I think we sometimes want to buckle under to the weight of the weariness and shut it down and either start over or go back to something else. I was saying to my friend that I see all this, but that I’m willing to live with the tension. I’m willing to live with the tension of what I see that we could or should be as opposed to what we are. No, we’re not what I fully envisioned us being. Sometimes that’s deeply disappointing to me and very discouraging. I said that I was, and I am, willing to live with that, because it is, for all it’s flaws, better than anything else I’ve experienced. I speak for myself…

So, I will keep doing this.

And that is where I am at.  Even though my experience with house churches and networks are not causing me to shout "We have made it," and even though we constantly deal with all of the relationship stuff, the messy stuff, the grungy stuff that goes with smaller community life, for me personally, it’s still better than the alternatives.  I will also keep doing this.

There is nothing like hanging out with brand new life in the Vine.  This past couple of weeks, I have found it to be invigorating… but also very, very challenging to my own spiritual journey.

Three weeks ago new life was birthed in Rick–age 40-something–married, successful in the world, two kids, lots of toys… but something missing in his life.

He was sitting in a restaurant with my friend, Dave, when the conversation turned to spiritual things.  In Rick’s own words: "Within one minute of that conversation starting, the other 10 people we were sitting with got up and left the restaurant.  People who were sitting around us at other tables seemed to disappear.  We were left alone for a solid hour while I made the decision to place my full trust in Christ."

It was a divine appointment set up by the Holy Spirit to reach into Rick’s heart.

Rick admitted that, over the years, his intellectual arguments kept God at arms length.  He would talk to God in passing but placed no confidence in Him.  For many reasons, this was the right time, the right place, the right person and Rick made one of those head long dives into a new life trust. 

For the past two weeks he has been sitting in one of our church gatherings talking about all of the changes taking place in his life: "The job and toys never satisfied.  Once you achieved or got something it became empty because you wanted something else or something better.  I always knew something was missing, but I didn’t know my heart could be changed like this.  I look at my wife now and I see her differently.  My heart is alive.  I look at my life and I can’t believe the way I see God working through everything."  He has one of those looks on his face that says, "I can’t even put it into words… I just want to explode with the joy of what’s happening in me."

It just happened to be Rick’s birthday last week so we asked him one of our typical questions: "What are your hopes for the coming year?"

He said, "Oh, this is going to be my best year ever.  I just feel like there is this great big bread basket [of spiritual treasures] that I get to feast on."

All of us who sat in the room with Rick were stirred up as we remembered the new life that God has brought each of us into.  It often takes hanging out with that new life to remind us of the glory of our own new life.

But his last statement really challenged us.  He is so excited and so looking forward to all that God has for him in the coming year.  As we listened to him share, many of us actually felt envy.  "Wouldn’t it be awesome to be looking forward to all those new treasures that God opens up to the newly birthed."  Then we thought, wait a minute… God is not finished with any of us.  Don’t we all have new life, new treasures, new transformations, new measures of faith to look forward to if our expectations are in the right place?  Why do we put a lid on our Christian lives?

I am challenged to take Rick’s eyes and look at my own life through them.  Yes, I have been through a lot: beaten down, built back up, trials, testings, failures, redemptions, hurts, healings, disappointments, restorations, deaths, and resurrections… enough to fill books.  But that does not mean I have even began to walk in what God has for me in the coming year.  It’s so easy to think– been there, done that.  I have experienced God through thick and thin, I am a veteran!  In so doing, perhaps we put a ceiling on what God has next for us.  The truth is, for each of us, He is only just begun.  I want to put on Rick’s new eyes, and say, "God, I can’t wait for what you will reveal to me that I don’t know, show me that I haven’t seen, impart to me that I haven’t received.  I can’t wait to unwrap the spiritual treasures that you long to pour out into my life in the coming year."

I want to walk in new life alongside my new friend, Rick.

Van S and other blogging friends pointed out this post by Hamo on Incarnational vs Attractional Mission.  It goes to the heart of the paradigm shift that simple/house churches are about.  Here is some of what Hamo wrote:

If Jesus were alive today and his mission was still to ‘seek out and save the lost’ what might he do?…

Would he hire a building, set up a sound system, develop a music team, drama team, and then do local letterbox drops advising people that they could come and be part of his church on Sunday? Frankly I don’t believe this approach to mission would rate a blip on his strategic radar. The so called ‘attractional’ mode of mission centres its focus on the church service and is dedicated to producing an event that pagans will want to come to. The theory goes that the more professional the service is, the funkier the music, the better the coffee, and so on… the more likely the punters will come, hence the term ‘attractional’. As such the success of mission in this mode is almost always measured by the number who attend on Sunday. While a small minority of larger churches do experience some success with this approach, the overwhelming majority of smaller churches attempting to be Hillsong clones continue to haemorrhage members every week because they cannot offer the same quality of music, preaching or other services that their mega-mall comrades down the road are able to provide. ..

Was it ever Jesus’ intention that non-Christians should seek us and desire to attend our worship events? Or didn’t he say quite clearly that it was his calling, and now ours to ‘seek out and save the lost’ to ‘go’ to their world and enculturate the gospel there. Little Bo Peep evangelism (leave em alone and they’ll come home) is fast running out of steam as the Christian story ceases to be the dominant framework for Australian people to interpret their spirituality.

By contrast the incarnational approach to mission is refreshingly simple. It requires us to live amongst the people in our communities, love them, share the good news of the kingdom both in action and in speech and then as people become followers of Christ to form up indigenous communities of faith that reflect the specific context. This requires no great resources or buildings, no slick marketing plans and no highly talented people. In incarnational mission the gatherings exist to support the believers as they move out in mission rather than being seen as the place to bring people to. While attractional churches will continue to dominate the landscape of the Christian world, I strongly believe that hope for the future lies increasingly with an incarnational approach to mission that takes both gospel and context seriously and sends Christians out as missionaries rather than calling pagans to come and attend church.

If we do "church in the house" but do not become incarnational ("sent ones") amongst those around us…  we have done nothing but free up some real estate.

Some excellent quotes on leadership and their primary work… from Leadership Journal via Dying Church:

Pastors need to redefine success. The popular model of success involves the ABCs – attendance, buildings, and cash. Instead of counting Christians, we need to weigh them. We weigh them by focusing on the most important kind of growth – love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and so on – fruit in keeping with the Gospel and the kingdom. (Dallas Willard)

Soul cultivation goes before institution building…The forming of the soul that it might be a dwelling place for God is the primary work of the Christian leader. This is not an add-on, an option, or a third-level priority. Without this core activity, one almost guarantees that he/she will not last in leadership for a lifetime or what work is accomplished will become less and less reflective of God’s honor and God’s purposes. (Gordon MacDonald)

The way of a Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which the world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross…It is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest. (Henri Nouwen)

I am delighted to point out a new blog with John White and Tim Pynes called House Church Chronicles.  I have been on John’s house church email list for a couple of years now and always, always find his writing to be relevant, insightful, and on-the-mark.

Both John and Tim are involved in house churches and networks in Colorado and both are involved in DAWN ministries which supports simple church movements all over the world.

Take a look!

My desire is to be part of community life that is both authentic/supportive AND missional.  Mike Lyon, of Organic Connection, sent out this email on "Breaking Camp."  I thought it was so important that I would quote it here in its entirety:

Every so often, you have to break camp.

I think the act of spiritually "breaking camp" is essential to the health, growth and depth of you and your church.

What do I mean by breaking camp?

In camping it’s what you have to do to move on. Any real camper knows the objective is not to stay in one place. It’s an adventure, and there is a lot to experience out there. When it’s time to move on in the journey, you pack everything, throw out the waste, rearrange your load, and head out to the next destination.

It grieves me to see and hear about Christians who are fruitless or house churches that are struggling because they don’t want to, or are afraid to, "break camp." Could it be that some of us don’t yet realize that we HAVE TO break camp to follow a moving Jesus?

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced this concept to our church. The reactions ranged from excitement to fear. No matter how much you love the people in your church, someone eventually has to break camp.  Sometimes it’s gradual; sometimes it’s sudden. But without it, eventually you’ll implode, dry up, get bored or just become a group of friends.

Let’s not forget it should be in the DNA of every church to become a discipleship movement that by itself, given enough time, could reach the entire world.

My house church is amazing. Seasoned, mature and solid. They are really a group of elders. I look at our community and I see the potential of four churches. It’s time to break camp. At least that’s my opinion. It’s up to the Holy Spirit to reveal to the others what that means for them.

I guess I raised a few eyebrows when I brought up the topic, but it was a very good thing. From my experience, if your group has been together for a significant period of time (6 months to a year) without any significant change, it may be time to ask God His plans for you and your church.

I’m convinced of one thing. The church is to be a force of discipleship – growing, reproducing, equipping and releasing…and doing so quickly! Our call is to GO. Apostles and Prophets be faithful in laying the foundation, moving out of the way of the Teachers, Shepherds, and Evangelists to then build His moving church.

Keep moving. Time is short. It’s a whole lot more exciting when you’re on the move!