Simple Church Journal

I met Ken Eastburn a few months ago and was excited to hear his story: he was in the process of converting a traditional church into a house church network.

This is, in my estimation, braver and more daring than starting from scratch.  He has written his story up here which is worth the read– and it’s especially worth earmarking because, without a doubt, there will be more and more pioneers like Ken who are wondering if they are called to lead a church through this transition.

"All the believers met together constantly."

We have been "beta-testing" a concept this week that has promise.  We have taken 7 people from our own churches who are "computer active" people.  We suggested that, together, we create our own private blog that would allow us to interact with each other on a daily basis.  Each day of the week a different person posts their own devotional thought or shares whatever God is doing in their life.

Because it’s a blog, others in this 7-member community can read the post each day and then write comments.  In this way, we are developing a 7-person community that is interacting daily with each other.  In our world, this may be the closest thing we can come to "meeting together constantly."  In our case, we share some measure of relationship outside of this blog, but this is allowing us to deepen that through this daily interaction.

At this point, like any new community, we are a little formal and "stiff" in our writings.  But I know this will shift and I believe we have great potential for developing a reasonably safe and meaningful cyber-community.

I won’t disclose the web address for this blog, because it is meant to be a private community.  But here’s a little screenshot of what it looks like:

I was able to set up this blog through typepad in a way that allows 7 different authors to post.  I don’t know how to do this with other blogsites, but if you want info on how to do it with typepad, you can email me.

One more excellent article in Next-Wave, by Malcolm Hawker, deals with the topic of structure.  He writes:

I was reading this morning where once again someone was crying out NO STRUCTURE!

It is as if "structure" in church life is in some way restrictive and bad even to the point of being evil…all possibly true. Some say, "Because it is bad, let’s just do away with it." But we can’t. This world exists on structure and it is part of God’s design. Everything has structure without it there is nothing. Animals, insects, buildings, bridges,planes, cars, mountains,the universe, in fact everything has some structure.

While I think I understand the heart from which these "NO STRUCTURE"words are spoken, the problem with structure in Church life comes when the people end up serving the structures rather than the structures serving the people.

Malcolm raises some excellent issues here:

1. You can’t do away with structure.  Only random chaos remains without some form of structure.  I know Christians who run as soon as a second gathering time is decided on because it is starting to look like a traditionally structured church setting.  But some form of structure does support everything we do.
2. People end up serving structures… and this is always the problem.  The structures become more important than the people and take on requirements of their own.

My conclusion on this is that, first of all, simplicity is the key.  The simpler, the better… in most cases.  Simplicity means that structure remains flexible and disposable.  Simple structures are easy to change, mold, modify, or do away with when the time comes.

Secondly, structure must be re-shaped when it no longer serves its purpose.  This keeps people and relationships at the forefront and structure as a backfroungd tool that serves.  Schedule the next gathering time… or two or three…  Or plan a regular weekly time…  But be ready to change it when it no longer serves the community.

We need a new mentality to do this.  It’s amazing how often simple structures form and, before long, people begin to mindlessly accept that "that’s the way we do things."  That’s where problems begin.  We must continually challenge everything we are doing… Is it serving the community and the Spirit or are we just doing what we’ve been doing without thinking about it?

Community is almost a ruined word. I refuse to give up on it though. Just because its been misused, battered, and tattered does not mean it can’t be useful. But it needs some definition.

Community means availability. It means time spent together. Real time. Time for conversation, interaction, and a deepening of communion, of intimacy between 2 or more people. Community is never general or generic. It is always specific and definable by people spending time together. Now, time spent together does not guarentee community. There has to be a certain quality to the time spent together. Time doesn’t guarentee it but it is a pre-requisite.

Community means vulnerability. If we aren’t willing to open up our lives to others we will never experience true community. This is why mutual confession builds community. We come to the table with our strengths and our weakenesses and we lay ourselves bare, exposed to the scrutiny and more importantly the love, acceptance and forgiveness of others. This doesn’t happen overnight nor should it. It needs to be a progressive deepening. People who lay themselves bare at a first encounter scare me. There is something unhealthy in over-exposure especially as a first approach. These things take time and discernment to know how much to share and when. Mistakes will made. Over-hiding and over-exposure will happen. There can be no set rule for such things. But if we expect to gain community and constantly flee vulnerability we will never have it.

Community means a shared life. This ties back in to availibility but goes beyond it. Our life in one regard is made up of time. So if we want a shared life we must spend time together. Resources also need to be shared. Basically our checkbooks and our schedules can be a good guage of community.

Community means stability. Benedict was a genius to introduce a vow of stability into his Rule. If we want to experience community we need to be rooted somewhere among some people. If we constantly move on in search of greener pastures we will not be around long enough to grow the roots necessary for community. Community can not happen on the fly.

In 2002 Barna wrote, “It is quite astounding that although Protestant and Catholic churches have raised – and spent – close to one trillion dollars on domestic ministry during the past two decades, there has been no measurable increase in one of the expressed purposes of the church: to lead people to Christ and have them commit their lives to Him.”

In 2005, the Chef [Barna] states, “Nothing is more numbing to the Church than the fact that it is mired in a rut of unfathomable depths. The various creative approaches attempted over the course of this decade have drawn much attention but produced little, if any, transformational impact.”

The bottom line is that the spirituality served up in the name of Christ in the U.S. is distinctly unproductive and unprofitable. Some churches have remained largely unchanged while others have changed the ambiance, the music, the lighting, added video screens, pastors, elders, and websites. Others have embraced bigger buildings with different architectural features. Some have turned to new delivery systems, serving up their products via seminars, books cd’s, dvd’s, live television and training by subscription satellite broadcasts. According to Barna, no matter what the Christian retail outlets have done to attract customers and change them by virtue of how or what they consume, there appears to be no measurable transformational effect on their behavior, after dining in these establishments over a period of time.

The last post explored the key Kingdom paradigm: "The kingdom of God and all of its resources are within ME everyday, all day, all the time, in every place."

Some more key thoughts about the Kingdom that are foundational:

• Every spiritual gift can be expressed through me as God wills
• I have constant access to the Spiritual Leader of my life
• The kingdom of God within me is more real than anything in this world, including religious systems or institutions
• The kingdom of God is a life-force in me not a religious system, order, organization, or gathering
• God has designed me for mission and purpose– to be lived out counter-culturally– within community– a kingdom purpose not a church-organization purpose– a kingdom purpose not an institutional purpose
• Personal obedience to God is more important than serving the needs of an organization/institution.  The latter is an easier substitute that doesn’t require engaging with God
• My purpose is to go (taking my gifts and kingdom life where God sends me) not to stay and build
• My "covering" is to hear and know the will of God– my sheep hear my voice– confirmed by those I live in community with
• Solitude, not going to church, will release the Kingdom life in me that I am meant to live in.  Community life will reinforce the life that God releases through solitude.  Community, of any kind, cannot release kingdom life in me; it can only nurture and support what is already in me through solitude and personal worship (vis a vis the life of Jesus).

There are several key concepts that underlie what the house church movement is about.  Perhaps one of the most important is that God’s Kingdom is here, now, at work through every believer.  This Kingdom life-force is powerful and dynamic and is not restricted to a place, time, liturgy, or structure.  It is the life of God at work through each and every one of His people at all times and in every place.

To grasp the significance of this, we must start with what this Kingdom is.  It is the life-force that originates from the center of God.  It is God’s power, authority and energy that comes from His realm.  It is the life of heaven.  When humankind turned away from God, we were translated out of His realm into the realm of darkness (Satan’s realm) and into a world cut off from the fullness of His life and power.

However, Jesus declared that the Kingdom of heaven is now come.  The power of God’s realm is now fully available to us even while we live within the realm of this world.  Prior to Jesus’ coming, we were subject only to the realm of this world—the natural laws and forces—and the realm of Satan who is the prince of this world.  When Jesus came, He declared that a new force was present upon earth—the force of the Kingdom of heaven.  The power and the authority and the life that flows from the throne of God is now flowing into the lives of His people.  It is this life force that touches, heals, delivers, frees, imparts truth, cleanses, brings revelation, and causes the activity and guidance of heaven to take control of our lives on earth.

It is as though we are submerged underwater (in this world) but connected to an umbilical cord that reaches up into the oxygen above.  Everything that we need and more is available to us through that umbilical cord.  Our spirit is an open conduit for all of God’s life to flow into our life.

The point is this.  Jesus makes this connection to the heavenly realm available to each believer, every believer, every place that we go, every situation that we are in.  Jesus is now in us; His life is now in us; He works in us; He works through us; all the time; in every situation.  We do not go to a building or a gathering of any kind in order for this heavenly life to be at work in us.  It is available every day in every way.  In our homes, in our beds, in our offices, in our places of work.  Christ in us… the hope of glory… is the reality that we walk in every moment of our believing lives.

The kingdom is not more resident where there is a certain liturgy present.  It is not more present when a certain type of prayer is spoken.  It is not more present in certain people who have certain roles.  It is not more present when a gathering is officiated by someone who has a unique calling, anointing, or ministry.  The Kingdom of God has come.  Period.  Through the marvelous working of the sacrifice of Jesus’ life, we no longer belong to the realm of this world nor the realm of darkness because all of the power of heaven is at work in us.  We live in this world, but the power of the everlasting kingdom of God is constantly being poured into us like a lifeline that reaches up to the very throne.  This is the reality that God would have His people, every person, by faith, walk in!

We lose the magnificence of this truth when we declare that certain events, places, or people are “special.”  There was a “special” service in which God was present.  There was a “special” speaker who imparted something wonderful to those present.  There was a “special” crusade.  God does work wonderfully through many different ways… all of which, because they are of God, are more than special.  But we must not take away from the greatest miracle of all: that God is working in a high and special way at all times through each one of us when we simply take this truth by faith and walk it out.  It’s true. 

All of what makes God special is at work in each one of us always.  Always.  His kingdom, in all of its “specialness” and glory is in me and in you.  That’s the truth that we want to recover so that the earth is filled with His “special” followers doing “special” things frequently and regularly.  How else will the earth be filled with His glory than by millions of believers who grasp how wonderfully and powerfully they are filled with the life, the power, the beauty, the glory, and the fullness of God’s kingdom—the very life-force of heaven—all day, at all times, in every situation they are in.

Some notes from a John White email and the Friday Fax— Excellent Reading!!!!

USA: 5,000 house churches planted so far

"The number of house churches in the USA has probably doubled in the past 18 months, from 2,500 to 5,000," according to participants at a symposium organized by Church Multiplication Associates’ Neil Cole in Los Angeles from 25-28 April 2005. "The main growth comes from missionary groups aiming to reach the unchurched with the Gospel and involve them in multipliable discipleship structures," says Cole.

National House Church Conference

"We’re expecting up to 1,000 participants at the next national House Church conference in the USA in Denver from 2-5 September 2005," say Tony and Felicity Dale, part of the team organizing the conference. John Eldredge was the main speaker at last year’s conference; this year, speakers include Rolland Baker, who saw some 5,000 new churches planted in Mozambique and neighbouring nations over the past 5 years, Wolfgang Simson and Neil Cole.

John White adds:  In addition to the speakers and workshops, the Conference is a great place to connect with other HC people and to gain a sense of the big picture of what God is doing.  For more information, go to http://www.house2house.tv/   On that website, you can also sign up for the House2House magazine which has a new edition coming out soon.

20,000 ‘Neo-Apostolics’

While researching his soon to be published book ‘Apostolic Genius’, Alan Hirsch, author of ‘The Shaping of Things to Come’ "stumbled upon some extremely notable, even astonishing, discoveries by important observers of the global Christian scene."  Barrett highlights particularly the development of the so-called ‘Neo-Apostolic’ networks and movements, of which there are already over 20,000 around the world, numbering around 394 million Christians.

John White adds:  If you are reading this email, you are probably one of those 394 million.  Here in the US we can feel like a tiny minority within the "church world".  However, the reality is that we are a part of something huge that God is initiating.

According to Barrett, these Christians reject historical denominationalism and all restrictive central authority, and attempt to lead a life of following Jesus, seeking a more effective missionary lifestyle. They are the fastest-growing Christian movements in the world. Barrett estimates that by the year 2025, these movements will have around 581 million members, 120 million more than all Protestant movements together.

Many say that Martin Luther reformed our theology without significantly reforming the Constantinian church structure.  Here is an interesting quote from Luther related by Roger Gehring in "House Church and Mission":

As early as 1526 Martin Luthere stressed the importance of the house church in his paper Deutsche Messe and Ordnung des Gottesdiensts on the "third kind" of worship service for those "who seriously want to be Christians and to proclaim the gospel with their actions and their words."  These "would need to enter their name (in a list) and gather together (in a home) in a small group for prayer, to read (the Scripture), for baptism, to receive the sacraments, and to do other Christian services."  But he regretted very much that he "did not yet have individuals who were doing this and did not see many who felt compelled to do so in the future."

Fredrik joined us for the conference all the way from Sweden.  He shares his thoughts on Freddyblog… It’s worth the read.

Otherwise, comments continue to grow on the previous post: House Church Conference Revisited.