Simple Church Journal

The call for the church is to always press in to more of God even when this means letting go of the very forms and formulations that got us to where we are. We always want to settle down into the structures and rituals we have designed for ourselves—our religious ways—rather than go after a deeper relationship. This is a tendency and temptation that we must be aware of no matter where we are in our journey and no matter how non-traditional (or traditional) our church expressions currently are.

Ruth Burrows puts it this way:

I cannot understand a love that is not always wanting to know more of the beloved so that it may love the more. `Who are you, Lord?' should surely be the constant urging of our hearts. But is it so? It seems more likely that we are afraid to get to know more, as though if we did so our building would collapse. This is because we are putting our security not in the unfailing God but in our meagre conceptions of him, in the formulations, neat, satisfying, water-tight which we have contrived. Many of us see the church and the faith, as we call it, like an insulated, armoured, electrified carriage in which we can sit secure behind curtain windows as we hurtle through the dark forests. We don’t have to see the frightening forms outside, don’t have to see the abyss into which we might drop, don’t have to see the poor beggars and forsaken ones crying in the night. We can hurtle along safely to heaven. How different from the reality! `Do not think I have come to bring peace but a sword. I have come to cast fire on the earth.' The true experience of faith is more that of an assault on Everest with its effort, its perils, its frightening decisions.

Can we relate to holding to our religious buildings (figuratively speaking) in order to avoid the current adventure of stepping out and pressing deeper into the heart and adventure of walking with Jesus? Do we possess the courage to press on to all that He has for us when the ledge we have arrived on is quite comfortable indeed?

We can hear stories of thousands of disciples multiplying thousands of more disciples and wonder how that relates to our own situation.

As someone who spends nearly an equal amount of time in Africa as in California, I understand this. In Africa we work with teams that are reaching, baptizing, and multiplying disciples—yes, thousands of people reached. But, in California, not so much.

But this brings to mind some thoughts:

1. The key is that I take my place in the church that is ‘going’ rather than the church that is sitting/gathering regardless of what context I am in. By this I mean that my joy is to be able to influence another person to more wholeheartedly follow Jesus. This ‘going and discipling’ is the true shape of the church and it is where I find life even though I, personally, am not a typical evangelist.
2. The speed in which disciples are made and reproduced is not really the issue. Jesus spoke of fruitfulness but never the speed of reproduction. The latter is not normally under my control.
3. It only takes one disciple this year. The concept of disciples making disciples is so profound that we often miss it. I get to influence one other person toward becoming a wholehearted follower of Jesus. Such a lover of God will, inevitably, do the same. If ten people begin to do this in one year, and this good seed reproduces in like manner, do the math:

Year 1: 10 disciples
Year 2: 20 disciples
Year 3: 40 disciples
Year 4: 80 disciples
Year 5: 160 disciples
Year 6: 320 disciples
Year 7: 640 disciples
Year 8: 1,280 disciples
Year 9: 2,560 disciples
Year 10: 5,120 disciples (now the size of a large mega-church)
Year 11: 10,240 disciples
Year 12: 10,480 disciples
Year 13: 40,960 disciples
Year 14: 81,920 disciples
Year 15: 163,840 disciples

By year 20: over 5 million disciples

By year 26: over 320 million disciples (roughly the population of USA)

Remember that this is all based on only making one wholehearted follower in one year who can then do the same. And, we only began with ten disciples doing this whereas one could easily imagine thousands doing the same in our own country alone.

My point is that we do not need to get overly enamored with the numbers-thing one way or the other. We just get to be followers of the Majestic One and share that joy with another until he/she grasps that there is no greater joy than finding ways to love/reach/care/influence another to live out this ongoing, reproductive life of the Kingdom. Such influence for Jesus Christ is within our grasp and, again I say, there is no greater joy than simply being a part.

What can you/I envision for the next one year?

If you have not seen this article, it’s a great read. I will post a few quotes here, but the whole article is worth the time.

Bestselling author Francis Chan recently exposed his heart to Facebook employees, detailing why he left the helm of his thriving megachurch in California seven years ago.

Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, was drawing around 5,000 people and growing in 2010. But Chan felt the megachurch he founded was not as God intended it to be.

"I got frustrated at a point, just biblically," Chan said during a talk at the Facebook headquarters in California last Thursday. "I'm going wait a second. According to the Bible, every single one of these people has a supernatural gift that's meant to be used for the body. And I'm like 5,000 people show up every week to hear my gift, see my gift. That's a lot of waste. Then I started thinking how much does it cost to run this thing? Millions of dollars!"

"So I'm wasting the human resource of these people that according to Scripture have a miraculous gift that they could contribute to the body but they're just sitting there quietly. … [T]hey just sit there and listen to me…"

His decision in 2010 to leave Cornerstone — which he started in his living room — came as a shock to many, including fellow evangelical pastors. In his announcement to the congregation at that time, he said he had been feeling a restlessness and stirring to let go of the megachurch and take on a new adventure.

He also indicated that he was wary of being "comfortable…”

Today, Chan leads a house church movement in San Francisco called We Are Church. There are currently 14 to 15 house churches, he said, and 30 pastors (two pastors per church) — all of whom do it for free. Each church is designed to be small so it's more like family where members can actually get to know one another, love one another and make use of their gifts.

"We've got a few hundred people now and it costs nothing," Chan explained. "And everyone's growing and everyone's having to read this book (Bible) for themselves and people actually caring for one another. I don't even preach. They just meet in their homes, they study, they pray, they care for one another. They're becoming the church and I'm just loving it and realizing that these 30 guys [are] leading this and the women as well."

The people who join include "guys coming off the streets, out of prison to doctors and people that work here (Facebook) or Google," he said.

He's hoping to double the number of house churches every year so that in 10 years, there would be 1.2 million people in We Are Church. And, he reiterated, it's all free.

"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." André Gide

For those who left the shores of traditional church many years ago, and also for those who are just now dipping their toes into the water of organic church… the message is the same: it takes time.

Mostly it takes time because we have been so trained into religious and institutional mindsets that we venture out with one foot in both paradigms — both the old and the new. We find ourselves stuck between two worlds, sometime, for an awfully long time.

My message today is simple. If you feel adrift. If you are starting to feel like you fit in nowhere, if you wonder if you have left something behind and you just can’t figure out how to ‘ignite’ the new thing that you thought would look like this or that by now… take heart. This is common and normal. Keep on.

The journey for most of us is, actually, well… a journey. God does a work in us first as we let go of comfort zones and comfortable ways of doing life and ministry. God continues that work as he turns our heart and listening ear more and more to him and him alone. And God continues that work still further as we find there is a place for us in this world that fits us perfectly, that is not about someone else’s vision, but custom made for who we are and how we are meant to express his kingdom in the world. As all of that takes shape, we begin to discover that we are, organically, living more and more with God, expressing His Kingdom life to others, and then taking part in something that is alive and naturally reproductive. We become a natural and organic part of his process to make and reproduce love-filled, faith-filled, disciples.

It will come. It will happen. But just know that we often have to see the former shore fade away before the new thing really takes shape.

“For many, Christianity has become the grinding out of general doctrinal laws from collections of biblical facts. But childlike wonder and awe have died. The scenery and poetry and music of the majesty of God have dried up like a forgotten peach at the back of the refrigerator.” John Piper

One of the benefits of stepping out of religious, church traditions is that it provides the opportunity for us to renew our love for God and to re-experience the childlike wonder that He invites us to.

However, this is not automatic. We can easily exchange one religious system for another. Just because we have moved big-building church into a home or started meeting in a participatory manner does not mean that the inner life has changed. We might be focusing on making disciples that make disciples, but if we are not passing along the vibrant life of one who has found the treasure and sold all else with joy and awe, then what kind of disciples are being produced?

It is not enough to swap one religious system for another. The invitation of the Spirit, always, is to swap out our religious comforts, including our internal ones, for ongoing encounter with Jesus the Majestic, Living One. May our hearts long for this, like little children, above all else.

Unless you become like children…

I want to share a great passage from some 'simple church' friends in Europe. Learn more about their work here.

The Kingdom of God is built on the person of Jesus, what he taught the disciples and what he instructed them to do. Building a foundation on anything other than Jesus and the Kingdom will not produce multiplication of disciples and simple churches. Jesus is both Saviour and Lord with power over all things visible and invisible. He is Lord of the harvest and head of the Church worldwide and every local church. He cannot and will not be owned by any denomination, tradition, organisation or “ministry.”

The (inherited) paradigm most Christians have is downside up:

– first, ecclesiology (church, dogma, style and practices);
— secondly, missiology (mission – how to attract people to our church community or building);
— and thirdly, Christology (so we can tell them about our church and Jesus).

The Kingdom paradigm is, however, upside down:

— first, Jesus and the Kingdom (His person, His Kingdom);
— secondly mission (go and make disciples);
— and thirdly, church (which is built by Jesus and the consequence of disciples making disciples).

Working from a Kingdom paradigm means people come to Jesus (or discipled to him), continue in transformational discipleship, and church forms out of who they are and what Jesus is building amongst them – not out of a church system that we impose on them. This means that simple churches and networks vary in form and style even though they have a common foundational Kingdom DNA. Consequently, the gospel spreads quickly and naturally through households and people groups without the constraints of restrictive traditional, denominational and organisational boundaries with their religious biases, forms and styles. This primary allegiance to Jesus and the common foundational DNA facilitates unity, cooperation and expansion: simple churches may be different, even within the same network as well as from network to network, but all are disciples joined to Jesus and His Body. Read more.

Kingdom fruit comes out of alignment with Kingdom perspective. What adjustments might this lead to as we look at disciple making and church gatherings?

Comments?

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." 1 Corinthians 1:25

Westerners love methods and tools. I see it in our churches where we plan programs and services that look much the same from one place to the next. I see it in our house churches where we want to know 'how things are done' and then implement accordingly as we seek to follow the methods that others tell us work. I also see it on the mission field where we focus on the currently popular missiological methods.

For example, people love to talk these days about disciple making and disciple making movements. The tools that are taught in this vein are the current 'way to do ministry' that all must follow in order to be 'successful.' In fact, as I travel around the globe, I find that DMM (disciple making movements), and the corresponding tools that are now taught, is the ONLY way that missions is to be done.

Don't get me wrong. I am a proponent of most of these tools and have helped many to implement them. I spend much time training these very methods to others!

BUT, we so often miss the real point in our reliance on the right tool, the right method, the right practice, and the right way to do ministry.

Let me share something that an African woman told my wife. She and her husband are currently working with 1,000 disciples in their area who are actively reaching others. They expect to have 2,000 disciples meeting in house churches later this year and 4,000 by next year. My wife asked her some routine questions about her life and also probed about her spiritual life. This very humble woman spoke about her prayer life without any pride in her voice, "Naturally I am walking close to God and spending much in time in prayer. How else would we be seeing this kind of fruit?"

Oh, right! How else? How else is fruit born? How else is the Spirit released to work? How else is the work of God accomplished? You mean it's not all about methodology and programs?

We love trainings and tools and methods and how-tos. We expect to follow the models of others who are successful in order to be successful. But we can often miss the real point. God is the one who brings the increase and it is not about the wisdom of man! Rather, it is about the power of God manifesting through a praying, love-filled heart from one who longs to obey, and follow, and give all to see His glory and Kingdom come.

An excerpt from the Simple/House Church Revolution book:

Just as every new living thing has in it the power to reproduce, in the same way new believers, who have received Jesus’ new life, have the power in them to reproduce. We want to see this potential for multiplication unleashed at every new spiritual birth.

As soon as someone has experienced new life, we encourage them to share their story with others. The DNA of multiplying what God has put in us can begin the moment a person receives a new life in Christ. By sharing their story immediately with others, they become reproductive quickly and learn that they have unlimited potential to be used by God. A new disciple can begin reaching and discipling others by giving away immediately everything that he or she receives.

We like to baptize people publicly. We find that baptism is a wonderful opportunity to invite the person’s friends and families to a celebration. This allows the person who has experienced a new life to share that reality with others.

Reaching and discipling others can begin from day one. If a person is learning life lessons from his walk with God and his own process of being discipled, he can help others follow the same patterns and grow as well. New disciples can become disciplers by passing on their own experiences and pointing others to the same tools (Scripture, prayer) that are providing growth in their own life.

If gatherings are as simple as they are meant to be, then new believers can gather others. By simplifying gatherings back to basics, those who are new to Christ, and learning from others, can begin gathering other new believers or seekers together and follow the same patterns he is being taught.

When new believers can begin immediately to reach, disciple, and gather others, then the process of multiplication of God’s kingdom can be unleashed in an incredibly powerful fashion.

Empowering others becomes natural to new believers. Finally, we see that new believers can become leaders in the best sense of that word. They learn that everything God gives them can be given away to help, strengthen, and lift up others. Thus they discover, from the outset, to become leaders who know how to serve and empower other people.

If we can see the simple principles of God’s kingdom (reach, disciple, gather, empower, multiply) cultivated into the lives of new believers, then the natural power of God’s life will reproduce itself without the need for human-made systems to control or motivate. This is the wonder of true, organic multiplication.

An excerpt from the Simple/House Church Revolution book:

The reason that simple, Spirit-led gatherings could take place anytime and anywhere was because the early church completely understood the concept of every-person-ministry. This goes to the very heart of God’s church: every person filled by the Spirit of God, every person part of the priesthood of all believers, and every person essential to the expression of Christ on earth.

Gatherings reflected this reality: “When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation (1 Corinthians 14:26).” This is not just a suggested model for church gatherings; this is highlighting the reality that Christ can only be most fully expressed through the participation of every person.

Frank Viola says it well: "The Lord Jesus cannot fully disclose Himself through only one member. He is far too rich. In fact, His riches are inexhaustible (Ephesians 3:8)! When every member of the Body functions in the meeting, Christ is seen. He is assembled in our midst.”

Because the early church walked in the reality of every-person-ministry, it was easy for gatherings to take place naturally, organically, and wherever believers could easily gather. They understood these premises:

• When Jesus-followers get together, Jesus is in their midst.
• When Jesus-followers get together, everyone ministers one to another through the spiritual gifts that are given to each one.
• When Jesus-followers get together, the Spirit of God, who is in the midst of the gathering, will lead.

With this understanding, gatherings can take place simply, powerfully, any time, anywhere, with whoever is able to gather.

An excerpt from the Simple/House Church Revolution book:

”The clergy-laity distinction removed personal discipleship from the hands of common Christians (Dennis McCallum).”

The greatest joy of the Christian life is being used by God to bring whole-life, spiritual transformation to another. We have removed much of this joy by not understanding that true “disciple-making” is about everyday life and everyday relationships—and that it is for everyone. By making it a program that is part of our churches or a process that people are specially trained to do, we are holding back Christians from stepping into their true destinies and their greatest sense of purpose. By presenting disciple-making as something we “do” to others, as opposed to something that God does (which we can invite people into), we become performance-oriented and manipulative rather than contagious as we naturally influence others toward their own relationship with God.

Disciple-making flows naturally out of the relationships we are building through reaching and loving people.