When I read this article, something deep inside agreed with what Milt was saying.  His words remind me of the situation our Lord put His disciples into.  “Wait in Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from above…”  They were told to strategically wait.

What Milt has to say in this article carries with it, I believe, the wisdom of Jesus.

Root Before Fruit
Source: Milt Rodriguez’s Blog by Milt Rodriguez

“I am the vine; you are the branches.” – John 15:5a

My wife and I came to Christ in 1973, when we were twenty years old. It was during the Jesus People movement in Southern California when many young people were coming to the Lord.

By the time we were twenty-one, we were the worship leaders at our church. We quickly got involved as cell group leaders and were having weekly meetings in our home. I also volunteered to take care of the tape ministry for the pastor.

I preached my first message in 1975 and it was on John 15; the vine and the branches. I had no idea what I was talking about! (Back then, of course, I believed I was an expert on that text). In the next fifteen or so years, we were very busy doing Christian work. I served as a deacon, an elder, a worship leader, and a preacher.

I did evangelistic work with street preaching, door-to-door, and tract distribution. I worked helping the poor through World Vision, a local rescue mission, and sponsoring Cambodian refugees. We also traveled and shared our music ministry and ran a halfway house for wayward youth.

By the time we turned thirty-eight, we were exhausted! We left the institutional church because we really felt that there had to be something higher that God wanted.

It was then that we made a startling discovery. After all those years, we realized that we didn’t know our Lord very well at all. Oh, we knew a lot about Him. We knew the Scriptures (at least we knew them along certain lines). But what had we been giving those people to whom we had ministered? Had we given them Christ? Or had we given them doctrines, rules, regulations, and systems of self improvement? Since we ourselves had not experienced Christ in a deep way, how could we give Him to others in a deep way? There was no lasting fruit to show for those 17 years of hard work.

So we dropped all “ministry” at this point in our lives. We were determined to know Him and His church in a whole new way. During the next two years we discovered (by revelation) that we had an indwelling Lord. Christ lived in us and we lived in Christ. And we discovered that we could know and experience the Christ who lived within us in a much deeper way than we ever thought possible.

The Lord then began to give us a vision of His Church. One that was much more in line with what we saw in the New Testament. And it didn’t look anything like what we had seen around us. But we only had a vision. We had not actually experienced it yet. That would not come until several years later. But the one thing we did discover by experience was that:

“Root Must Come Before Fruit.”

The Current Scene

There are many groups of Christians today within the house church / simple church / emergent church movement that emphasize the mission of the church. These groups are filled with many people in their 20’s and 30’s. They are hungry for authentic Christianity. They are longing for spiritual reality.

Yet, as I see it, many of them are still putting the proverbial cart before the horse. They have placed mission and social action before a deep inward knowing of the Lord. They have placed the fruit before the root. And I can’t help but wonder if this “fruit” will last.

“Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4, 5

The Tree of Life

What the Lord is talking about here is not missions, evangelism, or social action. He is talking about Life! God’s life. Divine life. Where there is life, there will be fruit (at least eventually). We love to focus on the fruit, but it seems to me that God focuses on the life. That is, the life of His dear Son. He knows that if life is flowing in the tree, fruit will be produced naturally, organically.

There is a very important reason why the Lord used the metaphor of a tree (or vine). He wanted to convey the idea of internal life being expressed. There is life flowing inside of the tree! Please don’t get the idea that there is nothing happening inside of that tree. Where there is life, there is motion. The sap is flowing; the bark and the branches are growing. Leaves and flowers are developing. But the fruit comes last.

What is Fruit?

In a word, you could say that a piece of fruit is a “life-pod.” It is a container (pod) that holds the excess life of the tree. This life-pod is for the benefit of others. It is eaten by other creatures for the purpose of providing energy and nourishment to them. Fruit does not benefit the tree itself.

“I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” John 10:10b

The fruit contains the internal life of the tree. The fruit will reflect the quality of the internal life of the tree. But it takes time for the fruit to develop so that it is a true expression of the internal life of the tree. In other words, it takes a mature tree to develop fruit. This doesn’t happen overnight. However, if the tree is in the proper environment, and it is properly nourished and develops a strong root system, it will produce fruit much sooner.

Practical Application

Christianity has manufactured a huge “machine” which we call evangelicalism. This machine pumps out instant preachers, pastors, evangelists, and missionaries. This is the opposite of organic. It is mechanical. But what can be done to turn this tide? I would like to offer a two-fold solution.

1. Learn to know an indwelling Lord. Before you rush out to the mission field or to the inner city to “minister,” get to know the Christ who lives within you, experientially. Learn to touch Him and fellowship with Him in your spirit.

This is not doing nothing. This is not passivity. This is the tree developing a strong root system. The bark, branches, leaves and blossoms will display the life within as the tree matures. You will not be passively sitting around as the life grows because you are part of the Body of Christ.

How do you do this? First, you need some instruction. As an introduction, I would recommend the books on Spiritual Formation at www.HouseChurchResource.org. Second, you need to find a body of believers who are learning to live by Christ together. That’s the next point.

2. Learn to know your Lord in a shared-life community of believers. We learn to live by Christ by growing in Him together with a group of Christians who are all functioning under the headship of Christ in an organic way. Learn to be a brother/sister in an organic expression of the church where everyone serves one another. If you don’t know of a such a group where you live, then I would encourage you to fill out the “find an organic church” form at www.HouseChurchResource.org

Everyone who was sent out to work for the Lord in the first century was first trained by being a brother or sister in an organic church. Church life itself was their training ground. They were called, prepared, and then sent. Today, if someone feels called to “the ministry” they are immediately shipped off to Bible College. But God uses His church to prepare people for His work.

Now when I say “church,” it’s important that you understand that I mean a group of believers who are all functioning under the headship of Christ in a shared-life community. That’s the only “church” that the New Testament knows.

Our God strongly desires to have a living expression of His Son in every city in the world. This harvest is great, but the workers are few. Where are the men and women who are willing to actively pursue Him within the context of organic church life? Where are the men and women who are willing to learn Christ as non-leaders in a community of believers who are living and functioning under the vibrant headship of Jesus Christ?

God is raising up such young people in our day who want to know Him first before anything else. May He increase this work!

When it comes to organic church life, one of the questions I constantly get is, “What are we supposed to do when we gather?” Although I think that’s a good question, one that 1 Corinthians 14 addresses nicely, I don’t think it’s nearly as good of a question as “How are we supposed to be when we come together?”

All too often, in this consumer culture of ours, we look to get something out of a gathering. To this end, we ask ourselves as we seek to maximize our seemingly-valuable time, “What’s the take away value?” Although this particular mode of thinking is very American, it’s not very Christian.

Here’s the better question: “What added value do I bring to the gathering?”

Well, whatever your answer to that question, we’d all be wise to keep one ‘value-added’ at the top of the list: love.

According to the New Testament, people in the church need to:

• Love one another (Jn 13:34)
• Be devoted to one another and give preference to one another (Rm 12:10)
• Be of the same mind with one another (Rm 15:17)
• Accept one another (Rm 15:17)
• Wait for one another before eating (1 Cor 11:33)
• Care for one another (1 Cor 12:25)
• Greet one another with a holy kiss (2 Cor 13:12)
• Bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2)
• Tolerate one another (Eph 4:2)
• Be kind to one another and forgive each other (Eph 4:32)
• Speak to one another is psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Eph 5:19)
• Submit to one another (Eph 5:21)
• Regard one another as more important than oneself (Phil 2:33)
• Share God’s message and admonish one another (Col 3:16)
• Comfort one another (1 Thess 4:18)
• Encourage and build up one another (1 Thess 5:11)
• Live in peace with one another (1 Thess 5:13)
• Confess sins to one another and pray for one another (Jms 5:16)
• Be hospitable to one another (1 Pet  4:9)
• Serve one another (1 Pet 4:10)
• Fellowship with one another (1 Jn 1:7)
• And yes, gather together (Heb 10:25), but not in the form of a worship service but rather in such a way that we can challenge one another to love and good deeds (v24).

In other words, to live out together all the other mandates given above (from Organic Leadership 2009:65, 66).

One of the things I’ve really admired about those in my community of faith is their absolute commitment to all the ‘one anothers’ listed above, including the tougher ones like “tolerate one another.”

In my past church experiences, when the going got tough, the so-called tough got going…to the church down the street. Those in my community, however, won’t have it. Call it maturity. Call it the Spirit. Call it stubborn love. I call it peculiar. Although they’ve all had plenty of reason, humanly speaking, to check out and move on, these people stick because of their undying commitment to the ‘one anothers’.

Why do they stay? And why do they keep in constant contact with one another (phone, facebook, and email)? I think I know the answer. We’re family. And leaving is not an option. Yes, we’ll leave to multiply churches because that’s what people on a mission do, but we won’t leave one another for selfish reasons because leaving isn’t loving. Come to think of it, the whole thing is quite Godlike. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb 13:5).

When I was growing up my mom and dad often reminded me (still do) that we Christians are to be “a peculiar people” (1 Pet 2:9): as in don’t fit in, different than the world. And frankly, because Mom and Dad drilled the peculiar thing into my head, all my life I’ve been looking for a group of people to be peculiar with. Praise the Lord! It’s happened!

Our Lord has called us to be a peculiar people, has he not? And as a demonstration of this peculiar-ness, God has given us a laundry list of ‘one anothers’ that, if practiced, bring about a clear division (in a good way) between the body of Christ and the rest of the world. This, by the way, is our testimony. “By this,” said Jesus, “all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13:35).

Christ in Y’all by Neil Carter, fills that needed divide between theory and practice.  Merging these two concepts, Carter explains in simple, conversational language what it means to encounter God in community outside an institutional/traditional setting.  His focus on community addresses an area of Christian subculture that is, indeed, lacking.

The Nature of Community

Jesus’ words in John 13 are an indibtment against the American concept of Christianity:

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35, NASB).

To our shame, the Church in the West is known by less-appealing characteristics.  We are viewed as hypocritcal, jaded to the suffering of our neighbors, and “out of touch” with the people we work and live among.  In countrast, Jesus desires that the primary means through which our witness goes out to the world is to be love expressed through authentic community.  Carter addresses this need for community head-on in his book.

The focus on community comes from Carter’s understanding of the Trinity.  In one section of his book, he explains how God is better described by the word “community” than “trinity,” which is, itself, a word foreign to our vocabulary.  The oneness of the Godhead is based on mutual submission, preferring one another.  It follows course, then, that the expression of Christ on earth through His body would model the same form of community that exists in the Godhead.

Every Believer A Functioning Member

Perhaps one of the best topics that Carter covers in his book is the idea of mutual participation in church gatherings.  Flowing from the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Cortinthians, Carter builds a case that expression of Jesus in our gatherings is dependant upon each believer actively functioning.  Just as my ear is not a complete expression of myself, neither is one member of Christ’s body the full expression of Christ.

In order for Christ to be expressed through our gatherings, each member must be unchained and released to actively participate.  The implications of this concept on the format of today’s typical church gathering are far-reaching.  In short, it involves a moving away from a clergy/laity hierarchy and replacing 45-minute monologues with round-robin, popcorn-style participation by each member of the Body.

Scorecard: A

Neil Carter presents a compelling case for a simple-church, faith-based community.  His viewpoints are balanced and backed up by scripture and personal experience.  I felt that he was not arguing for the restoration of the New Testament Church, but an examination of basic principles that should be at work in any gathering that bears the DNA of Christ Himself.

The book came with a CD by DeDe, a young woman who participates in the same gatherings as Carter.  In this first EP, DeDe expresses heartfelt songs of worship that birthed out these organic, simple gatherings of the saints.  Her lyrics are strong and thought-provoking.  Be sure to keep an eye out for this female artist in the future.

The following article is written by a blogging friend of mine, David D. Flowers.  It is a description of one way that a simple/organic gathering can look like.

Source: The Centrality and Supremacy of Christ by David D. Flowers

This morning we met in our home to worship Christ and fellowship with the saints.

Just so that you have an idea of all that is going on with us through the week, it is good to tell you that we stay connected between our meetings by phone and e-mail. So, its not as if each is removed from our hearts and minds until we see each other face-to-face. Lately, we have been planning the upcoming conference at a nearby college. We are very excited to see how the Lord is bringing this event together. It will help folks in our area learn to know Christ in spirit and experience his life in the church in an organic New Testament fashion.

THE FOOD: Before everyone arrived, my wife prepared Taco salad for lunch after our time of worship. (We have eaten before the meeting, but we get tired.) I e-mailed the saints yesterday to let them know what we were having. Everyone knows that the host home will take care of the main course while others are “free” to bring whatever they would like with it. This works for now. In time, as numbers grow, we may move to everyone bringing a dish. This removes the burden from one person… unless that person enjoys it. Whatever works. We have seen it done other ways.

I say don’t think about it too hard… it’s food… we are going to eat. The main thing is that we share it together and not place a burden on anyone. The meal is very important in the gathering. It is a fundamental element of intimacy and it adds to the natural community we’ve been called to share in Jesus. Without going into a theological treatise on the meal itself… I’ll just leave it at that. It’s what families do!

ARRIVING: The first to arrive were our visitors, James and Linda. I connected with James here at Facebook earlier in the week. They have been on quite a journey themselves. They live right here in our city. As visitors, I told them they didn’t need to bring anything. Nevertheless, Linda brought some delicious beans and jalapeno cornbread! We spoke for about 5 minutes and then the others began arriving.

We all greeted each other with a kiss. Just kidding! (Not that there is anything wrong with it.) We naturally began catching up from the week and swapping stories with James and Linda. I was floored when I noticed that Joel and family knew James and Linda from an early chapter in their journey with the Lord. I’m sure this helped James and Linda to feel a bit more comfortable… even if they were acquainted with meeting an entire group of people for the first time.

THE WORSHIP: We all eventually made our way into the living room (adults and children) and continued our conversations. I passed out our song books (which are a work in progress) while everyone continued talking. What is interesting about organic church life… there is not really a clear time of beginning an end with all that we are doing. What I mean is… nobody says, “OK, sit down, stand up, great your neighbor, OK… let’s sing.” This is foreign to us. That would be unnatural. It’s not what families do.

I will tell you that there is a unified sense that it is time to shift our focus. And everyone goes with it and doesn’t think about the “doing,” just about coming into the presence of Christ with all the saints. The Lord will determine the order and lay on our hearts what he wants to speak to us. The best thing a person can do is to reject the unnatural thought “What now?” and “What should I say?” or “Ooh… awkward silence.” This is concerning yourself with the “doing” and the flow of the meeting. It is not looking to Jesus and allowing him to stand in the middle of your gathering.

This picture has helped me to do away with those old thoughts of organized religion. Jesus is there with you… standing there in the center or reclining on the couch. I don’t care if folks call this “mystical,” it is reality. The more you come to truly know this… the faster you will lose that unnatural nature of religion that hinders the Body from functioning freely and responding to Christ in the meeting.

So we began singing. A person (anyone) will either call out a song and begin singing a few seconds afterward or wait for others to begin together. We are real careful not to rely upon the guitar or any instrument. I am especially sensitive to this because I led worship for many years. When I begin songs now… I don’t see myself any different than anyone else who calls out a song. I am learning to follow their singing instead of them following the guitar. This way a brother or sister can begin singing and I come on in with my instrument.

This morning we sang our last song with just our voices. It is very moving to hear the voices around you. These are people you love, you know, and are sharing Jesus with. It doesn’t get any better than that!

In between the singing, Grant read Scripture that communicated the truth of the song we just sang together. The cool thing was… I know I had that same thing on my heart… others may have as well. The reading of Scripture was of course not planned. It came naturally. We continued singing and there was also prayer. Michael arrived late in the middle of a song. No worries… still in a spirit of worship we welcomed him and he shared a few words. He immediately went to grab some coffee and praised the Lord for it.

At some point the singing began to let up and everyone then shared what was on their heart. One shared something from their week… another a lesson Christ is teaching them. There always seems to be a theme. As a young group, we are still getting to know one another and apprehending Jesus in new ways. This morning, we revisited this truth that Christ is experienced and known through relationships. When doctrine and “being right” is at the center of your faith… you have little to no room for loving folks to Christ. We tend to think that loving folks is slapping them upside the head with doctrine. We seldom trust the Teacher to conform others to himself.

We are still learning that Christ’s love is no strategy to defeat evil and reveal the truth… it is an overflow of his Person. And that love ought to be the overflow of our lives as well. Michael shared, “this is how the world will know we are his disciples” (Jn. 13:35).

Around this time, I shared an excerpt from the first-second century Roman politician and historian, Pliny. He was given the assignment to hunt down Christians and investigate the superstitions that surrounded them. The rumor was that believers had a “love feast” and ate flesh and drank blood (Lord’s Supper). Here is what he had to say about them:

“they met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately among themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery… after this it had been their custom to disperse and reassemble later to take food of an ordinary harmless kind.”

James spoke of the tension that ought to exist in a person’s life. The tension that says we are free in Christ, but we have also been given instructions. Too often folks live in one ditch or the other… not finding the balance that is IN CHRIST… the only one who can keep our feet to the road. It is no wonder the Lord has given us these dialectical pairs and this tension in the journey… it continues bringing us back to Christ. Remain in him and he will remain in you. Apart from Christ… we can do nothing. At best, we follow the extreme of cultural crusader or that of the “carnal” and undisciplined child.

We sensed the meeting coming to a close when several of the saints voiced intimate prayers of protection, wisdom, and blessing on the work that Christ is doing among us and in our city. Shortly after, we made our way into the kitchen to eat a very satisfying meal. We enjoyed fellowship with one another, laughed, and cherished our time together.

We will be meeting at Joel’s house on Wednesday night.

Your Brother,
David D. Flowers
http://ddflowers.wordpress.com

Stephanie was one of my managers.  Many a midnight she and I would be the last two people in the restaurant.  I would be rolling silverware as she had her last smoke of the night.  We would talk about God, healing, angels and demons.  One day she gave her heart to Jesus.  Elated, I proceeded to encourage her to come to the church where I was attending.  She never came and I assumed it was some kind of “rebellion” in her heart. The idea of starting a church around her never even crossed my mind.  I never thought about how scary it might have seemed to Stephanie to leave her own friends to integrate herself into “my” church.

Then one day she said, “hey, I wanna get baptized; couldn’t we just do it in my sink?”  I enthusiastically promised her that my pastor would baptize her if she came to church. I could tell she was disappointed but I was convinced I had done the right thing.  She needed to submit to the authority of the church before she could get baptized, right?!  Besides, well-meaning leaders would deem me as being very presumptuous if I went so far as to baptize her myself, in a sink nonetheless!  Who was I to do such a thing?  That is the job of pastors and trained clergy, wasn’t it?

Shortly after our conversation about baptism I left Applebees.  We kept in touch for awhile but then Stephanie moved and changed phone numbers so we lost touch.

I’m heartbroken that I allowed that opportunity to pass by. I know that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him, but I hope to never make that mistake again.   Perhaps my story can keep others from making similar mistakes.

Stephanie, wherever you are, tearfully I want to say that if you still have a desire to get baptized, I would love to baptize you in your sink.

Tell us a bit about yourselves … How did you end up where you are, serving God and bearing fruit for Him?

George: I began by managing political campaigns for people running for Congress and other elective offices. I enjoyed the speech writing and survey research most, so I returned to grad school to get more degrees in research, then began working for a large marketing research firm. One of our clients was a Christian media management company, which eventually hired me to run their research and marketing operations. After several years, my wife and I felt called to begin a company that provided strategic information for ministry leaders. Consequently, we returned to California to start The Barna Research Group in an effort to provide current, accurate and reliable information in bite-sized pieces, at affordable costs, to ministries so that they could make better strategic decisions. Along the way I’ve had the privilege of writing books that allow us to disseminate the information to a wider audience, along with all the articles and other free information we post on our website (www.barna.org). I’ve also been able to serve various roles in churches, from teaching pastor at a megachurch to founding elder in a church plant, and currently, as the leader and teacher in a house church.

Frank: After I retired from Major League pitching, I quickly became bored. So I started writing controversial Christian books J. Just kidding. Ever since I’ve been a Christian, I’ve questioned the things we do and sought to evaluate them by the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. This has led me on an interesting journey, one that has landed me on a path that many have called “the deeper Christian life” which includes a fresh understanding and experience of the church.

As for serving God, I had many opportunities to publically serve the Lord in my 20s, but I came to conclusion that I wasn’t ready. I first needed to know Christ deeply, and I needed to understand His church experientially. Therefore, I spent my 20s learning those two things: Jesus Christ and the experience of the body of Christ.

Most of my peers were doing something different. They were taking leadership positions in parachurch organizations, some became pastors, some missionaries, etc. When we all hit the age of 30, something telling happened. Most of them burned out and a number of them aren’t even following the Lord today. When I was 31 years old, the organic church of which I was a part laid hands on me and sent me out to begin the work of planting organic churches. And I’ve been engaged in it ever since.

Guys, I guess it is fair to say that Pagan Christianity is causing a bit of a stir. Maybe even more so now that George Barna’s name has been added to the second edition of this book. How, and why, did you two work together for the second edition of Pagan Christianity?

Frank: When George discovered the book and expressed interest in publishing it, I was thrilled because this meant that the message would get out to a much wider audience. George, being a seminal researcher, also added a good bit to it and made it a stronger and more compelling book. I’m very pleased that the book continues to change lives. So many have written to us saying the same thing, “I always knew that there was more to Jesus Christ and His church than what I have experienced. Thank God I’m not out of my mind!”

George: When I was writing the book, Revolution, I searched high and low for a book that described how the conventional church became what it is today. I couldn’t find such a book. After Revolution was published, one reader sent me a note asking if I had read a book called Pagan Christianity. I’d never heard of it but got a copy and realized it contained much of the information I had searched for in vain. We contacted Frank and discussed the possibility of producing a revised version, which is what Tyndale has published. Frank did an amazing quantity and quality of research that forms the foundation of the book, and I was able to add a few insights to the revised edition.

It looks like a meticulously well-researched book on which you spend an enormous amount of time. How long did it take to write the book?

Frank: Ever since I’ve been a Christian I’ve studied church history. My feeling is that if we don’t know the past, we are doomed to repeat its mistakes. As Hegel once said, “The only thing that history has taught us is that men learn nothing from it.” I would like to see that trend broken. Nonetheless, the initial research for this particular book took around four or five years. When George and I collaborated, it took around a year for us to put the new version together.

After reading the book, I am sure that many people will want to experience Church like Jesus wants us to be the Church. Leaving the institution and establishing a gathering of disciples at someone’s house is not an easy process. Do you have any advice for these followers of Jesus?

Frank: Yes, I’ve written a very practical article that answers this very question. It’s called “Finding Organic Church” and it can be freely downloaded at www.ptmin.org/findingchurch.pdf

George: My own experience has been that as you talk to people about matters of faith, their hopes, dreams and experiences become evident. It was fairly easy for us to initiate our house church simply by listening to other people who were frustrated with their experience in a conventional church. We asked several families if they would be interested in exploring an alternative way of being the Church rather than just going to a church event every week, started by spending a few months studying the Bible’s teaching about what it means to be part of the Church, and then organized our community around the things we had learned. Through the studies conducted by The Barna Group on house churches across the nation, we’ve found that one of the most challenging aspects is having a good leader to keep things focused and organized. We have been fortunate in that regard.

To George: What books are you working on now and how will they help move Christians forward from the things you’ve written in Revolution and Pagan Christianity?

George: In May I will have a book release entitled The Seven Faith Tribes that delves into the seven dominant faith groups in America, and challenges us to rethink how we are attempting to be good citizens at the same time that we try to integrate our fundamental faith principles into our lifestyle and have a positive influence on the world for Christ. The old strategies don’t work in this new world, but there are strategies that will produce spiritual fruit. In June I have a book, co-authored with Tony and Felicity Dale, entitled The Rabbit and The Elephant, describing how to get involved in a healthy simple church. In September I’ll have a book entitled Master Leader, which draws insights into leadership from more than two dozen of the best leaders in the country. The leaders I’ve interviewed for that book come from ministry, government, business, military, education, sports and entertainment. It has been mind-boggling getting inside the heads of these incredible leaders.

To Frank: We see from other materials that you recommend an apostle or worker visiting the house church after an Aquila, Priscilla type of role has been fulfilled by some starters. What if we are in Africa, and we can’t get a worker or apostle to visit, indefinitely? What should we do then?

Frank: I’ve never seen a situation where those who sought apostolic help didn’t get it. One of my coworkers has been to Africa, for example. Another brother and I are planning to go there next year in fact J. I read the NT once and somewhere in there it says, “you receive not because you ask not.” The truth is that lots of groups don’t receive apostolic help because they have never invited an extra-local worker to visit them.

If, however, a group asks for extra-local help and every person they invite says “I can’t come at this time,” I believe the Lord will sustain them until they get sufficient help. That’s been my experience anyway.

In your opinion, is it at all possible to move closer to an organic house gathering with a few Christian friends while staying involved with the institution?

Frank: Yes, it is. However, according to my experience, once God’s people touch and experience true, authentic organic church life, they have little time for institutional church programs and services. (Many people, quite frankly, lose interest in such things after they experience body life for a while. Instead, they are wrecked to know and express Christ in the setting of Christian community.) Properly understood and experienced, organic church is a shared-life together. It’s not a once or twice a week “event,” and there are only so many hours in a week. I trust that makes sense.

George: Our research shows that currently, most of the people involved in various types of organic churches have kept one foot in the conventional church world. As Frank indicates, it’s a difficult balancing act to pull off successfully because it’s not simply about attending events and programs, but about a commitment to a community. More often than not, the balancing act lasts only as long as necessary to ensure the individual that he/she has found a healthy faith community, at which time they make the transition from their old place to a new community.

To George: What trends do you see happening among those who remain a part of the institutional church, among pastors, and among Christians who are gathering in alternative forms of churches?

George: Among the trends of interest are:

• the changing of the guard in Christian leadership, away from the spokespeople of the past 25 years to a new group of leaders, in addition to the transition in local church leadership to an increasing percentage of pastors who are under 40 and a growing number of female senior pastors in conventional churches;
• the increasing percentage of people are sampling alternative forms of church meeting;
• the aggressive marketing of atheists;
• the shifting moral and ideological positions of the born again community, largely driven by the under-40 crowd and emboldened by the Obama victory;
• the rapid growth of church franchising, through the multi-campus model adopted by many megachurches;
• the rise in ecumenism, again driven by young adults, in which increasing numbers of people believe that all of the major faiths essentially believe the same thing;
• the challenge of raising up strong leaders to lead organic churches. There is more interest in participating in a house church than there are leaders who are capable of facilitating the meetings of the growing numbers of people who are inclined to test those waters;and the increasing media addiction, especially among children and adolescents, that is altering the nature of relationships, life goals and scheduling.

To Frank: I have read Reimagining Church about halfway through. I think after reading Pagan Christianity, people are in dire need of some very practical advice on how to move forward.

Frank: To my mind, there’s another step that must be taken if we will see lasting change. We Westerners want formulas, quick solutions, and five steps before we even understand the problem and the solution. We think in terms of add water and stir, even when we don’t grasp the bigger picture. It’s for this reason that many movements crash and burn within five years.

Pagan Christianity was only one part of the argument – a very introductory part. It deconstructed what we do in our churches today, exposing their roots and challenging their spiritual value. Reimagining Church begins the second part of the argument, which answers the question: “Okay, if the modern institutional church doesn’t map to God’s original intention, then what does a church look like that does? If the institutional church was never God’s perfect idea, then what should stand in its place?”

Reimagining Church is a positive answer to that question. It roots the practice of the church in both the NT and the Trinity. It also gives practical examples of what it looks like in our day and time. It paints a picture of the main characteristics of organic church life that will always be present if the church is truly organic, despite time, culture, or location.

Let me give you an analogy of what I’m talking about. Consider a puzzle. You can’t easily put a puzzle together without looking at the picture on the box. Pagan Christianity pointed out that the picture on the box was wrong. So that’s why the pieces weren’t fitting together. Reimagining Church presents a new picture for the box, one that I believe is painted by the New Testament narrative. The book isn’t trying to reconstruct a first century church for the 21^st century. Instead, it describes the main features of “the organic expression of the church” that will always emerge regardless of space or time. That’s because it’s rooted in the eternal Trinity and the timeless teachings of Jesus.

Now, here’s the problem. Many Christians want to start putting the puzzle together before they’ve even seen the picture on the box. The result is that the pieces still won’t fit together. So the temptation is to try and force them to fit into what we have previously known in organized Christianity.

Example: Sometimes I get emails from people who have read Pagan Christianity, but not the follow-up book. They hit the ground running only to hit a brick wall. They tell me, “We’ve started an organic church and we’re having this problem and that problem, etc.” However, when they describe their “church” to me, it’s not organic at all. It’s just another version of performance-based, duty-driven, institutional, clergy-led Christianity. When these same people read Reimagining Church, they respond by saying, “Oh, now I get it. I just read the deconstruction without first understanding the construction.”

That’s where we should begin. We begin with what Paul called “the heavenly vision.” Without a vision, the people disintegrate (Proverbs says). So let’s first get an understanding of what organic church life is before we put our fallen hands to the plow of trying to create such a thing ourselves. Let’s first remove the old garments of Babylon and behold the city of Jerusalem before we begin rebuilding her walls. If not, we will unwittingly repeat what we know in institutional Christianity. I’ve seen it too many times to count.

Right now, I’m working on a very practical book that gets into the “putting the pieces together” part. It’s a discussion on how churches were planted in the NT, and how those principles can and should be reclaimed today.

Again, we Westerners want all of this reduced to five steps. A flower doesn’t grow into full bloom in a day. It takes planting, watering, time and patience. This is one reason why there is so much superficiality and shallowness in much of Christianity today. I was speaking at a conference recently and many 20 and 30 year olds attended. One of my coworkers and I met with them for lunch, and we had a great conversation. Some of them said that the thing that drew them to organic church life was the depth, the purity, the Christ-centeredness, and the authenticity. The churches, parachurch organizations, and mission organizations they all knew were shallow, superficial, and in many respects, unreal. Those are their words.

On the heels of all that, some of my friends have created a website for those who are asking practical questions: www.HouseChurchResource.org. It’s only been up for about a year, but the site is connecting thousands of Christians throughout the world in this new move of God and helping to plant new churches that gather under the headship of Jesus Christ all throughout the world. As I explained in a recent article entitled The 8 Characteristics of the Current Move of God, we are in the beginning stages of this work. And it’s very exciting.

Once a person has read your books, and moved away from the institution, planted a house church, and gotten to know each other well, how do we become missional? How do we really impact our community in a way that Jesus would have done?

George: It’s a matter of volitional obedience. You do not become missional by getting into a program or by developing events that have an external orientation. The foundation is to have a heart dedicated to God and His principles, which include an outward, service-oriented perspective. One of the reasons America has so few missional churches is because they contain so few people who are truly sold out to the purposes and principles of Christ. In that regard, every community of faith, regardless of its nature or structure, faces the same challenges: facilitating the transformation of people’s minds and hearts. To become more missional requires accountability for one’s commitment; leadership that focuses us on the core scriptural principles through modeling, through vision, and through applauding people’s investment in missional endeavors; teaching that underscores the fundamental values of our faith; and a community dedicated to being the Church that Christ died for, in all of its biblical aspects. These needs are the same, no matter what type of faith community we discuss, conventional or organic.

Frank: Mission begins with understanding God’s eternal purpose. There is no mission outside of that. The Missio Dei is nothing other than God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11).

God’s purpose goes beyond saving souls and helping the poor and oppressed. It’s much higher than that, and it goes beyond the meeting of human needs (though it includes it). It has to do with satisfying something in the burning heart of God Himself. I dedicate an entire chapter on the eternal purpose in Reimagining, and my next book will discuss it in great detail.

The churches that I’m in relationship with are truly missional in that:

1. They understand that God’s mission is His eternal purpose, which is God-centered rather than man-centered. Bringing lost people to Jesus Christ has a higher goal than simply preparing them for heaven or motivating them to get other people saved.
2. They understand that God’s mission is fulfilled not by human efforts, trying to do good works, getting people motivated by religious duty and obligation, but by living by the indwelling life of Jesus Christ. How did Jesus fulfill God’s mission in His earthly days? Christ learned how to live by an indwelling Father. That’s how He did it. He would often say, “Without my Father, I can do nothing … it’s not me, but the Father doing it.” And then He turned around and said to us, “Without me you can do nothing.” In the same way, a “missional” church that will bear fruit that has eternal value is learning how to live by an indwelling Christ. Unfortunately, many Christians have never been taught how to live by Christ, and so they are trying to serve God in their own strength.
3. They understand that mission is not focused on the individual or individual discipleship, but on the life of Christ being shared and expressed by a local community that is learning how to live and meet under Christ’s headship. So the real question comes down to: What is mission according to the New Testament, and what is the vehicle for its fulfillment?

The answer: A) God’s eternal purpose and B) learning to live by an indwelling Christ in the context of Christian community that gathers by, through, and to Jesus Christ alone. These two themes were neglected in the first missional movement of the 1970s. And that’s one main reason why it died and gave way to the seeker-sensitive movement. Yet the root and goal of both was the same: The central focus was the meeting of human needs instead of God’s ageless purpose and ultimate passion.

Today we are in a second wave of the missional movement, which has some of its own unique nuances to match our postmodern world. My hope and plea is this: let’s not repeat the mistakes of the first missional movement, but identify and correct them.

If we will make mistakes, let’s make new ones.

Frank’s website is www.ptmin.org
George’s website is www.barna.org

“Do you like blackcurrant martinis?  I can also make mango.”  Dennis stood in his kitchen with a bottle of triple sec in his hand, a martini shaker in the other, and–yes–a bottle of Vodka sitting on the counter.  Honestly, the question had taken me by surprise; not because of the offer of alcohol, but because of the context in which it was asked.  Dennis had just been baptized.

Would we?  Could we?  The unexpected merger of things I once considered sacred and secular was taking place before my eyes.  What surprised me more than this head-on collision was my response that came out so naturally that it caught me off-guard.

“Yeah, we’d love some – uh – martinis.  Make ‘em blackcurrant!  Thanks, man.”

My Friend, Dennis

Rewind.

Last summer, was a season of change.  I had changed jobs, our home was up for sale, and we were thinking about pursuing organic church life, outside the walls of what both of us were familiar.  It was during this transitional time Father brought Dennis across my path.

We are both contact center engineers.  Cisco phone equipment is our specialty.  We are the “Thank-you-for-calling-press-one-to-speak-to-a-representative”-kind of guys.

I had known Dennis from a previous job.  He is a black-and-white kind of guy, straight-to-the-point.  His colorful life has taken him on many adventures.  Studying music at Berkeley and rubbing shoulders with biker gangs are a few of his intriguing tales.

During my first months at this new job, my friendship with Dennis had deepened.  Something I found interesting about him was his unfamiliarity with the cliches and practices found in the Christian sub-culture.

When we talked about God, I was forced to speak in everyday language, kindly avoiding phrases like “washed in the blood” and “asking Jesus into you heart.”

It was not too long before Dennis had accepted Jesus as his Savior.  He had read a small Gospel of John and responded to the gospel message on page three.  The words had led him to Jesus during a difficult season of his life.

Waiting for the Fruit to Ripen

As soon as he came to Jesus, my Type-A personality took over.  Several times a week, I would encourage him to get baptized.  “How about this weekend?” I would ask.  “We can come to your place.  You can come to ours.”

Whether it was my relentless salesmanship or the busyness of his life – I’m not sure – Dennis was not ready to be baptized.  I was disappointed.  I had been reading about organic church life, keeping things simple and getting back to the New Testament.  I wanted to be like Philip, finding people along the road, getting them saved, and then baptizing them.  Move over Mr. Ford and the assembly line!

Yet, despite my best efforts to cast him as the Ethiopian steward (Acts and immediately baptize him in the river off of Highway 494, Dennis showed me that he had a mind of his own.  He would respond only when he was ready (if ever).

During these times, I would pour out my frustration to Father.  I respected Dennis and valued our friendship, but I wanted to see results.  I was impatient.  My wife, reading me like a book, smiled and said, “You know what I think?”

“What?”

“You can probably guess what I’ll say.”

“Oh no, not the quote…” I begged.

You must understand, my wife is very proud of the following quote.  A friend of hers at Bible school authored it.  Ever since, it has become one of her mantras that – I admit – has great depth and wisdom.

“Remember what my friend Lindsay always says, ‘Ripe fruit yields to gentle pressure.’”  Elisa let out a little smirk, proud of identifying another opportune moment to evoke the mantra.

Those words resounded in my spirit.  I knew she was right.  If Dennis was ever to be baptized it needed to be based on his own decision, not out of obligation or compulsion.  When the fruit was ripe, it would give in.  Until then, all my pressuring would be bruising fruit that was not yet ripe.

I resolved that I would no longer bring up the issue of baptism.  I would wait for Dennis to ask me about it.

It was immaturity on my part, you see, to expect Dennis to respond in cookie-cutter fashion to the descriptions we read of in the Book of Acts.  Living organic Christianity cannot be done like one bakes a recipe.  You can’t just add flour, salt, and butter and then bake for 45 minutes.

The call to organic life is a call into relationship. It is a call to willingly walk alongside others at the pace they’re comfortable with. It values slow progress with fellowship over blazing a trail in solitary seclusion.

A Day of Celebration

Two weeks ago, nearly six months after he accepted Jesus as his Savior, Dennis brought up the idea of getting baptized.  We were standing outside as he took a smoke break, bundled up in the tundra-like winter of Minnesota, when he said to me, “Ya, man, I think I’m ready to get baptized – maybe next weekend.”

He explained how some difficult issues had recently surfaced and he realized that he needed to solidify his commitment to the Lord and have a fresh start.

That following Friday, my wife and I arrived at his apartment complex, full of excitement about how God had been working in Dennis’ life.  We briefly talked about the meaning of baptism, identifying with the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Dennis full excited and said, “Yah man, new life, everything’s done with, starting over!  I’m ready!”

He was most certainly ready.  No one had coerced him.  He wasn’t doing it to earn God’s favor.  He was responding in obedience because the Holy Spirit had moved on his heart.  The fruit had ripened and was responding to the pressure of the Spirit. He was hearing the voice of God for himself!

We took him down to the apartment pool and baptized him.  Coming up out of the water, this 49-year-old man looked like a kid again.  His eyes were full of life and he said, “Woh, man, I’ve got goosebumps all over and I never get those.  This never happens to me!”

Alcohol and Jesus

We dried off and went upstair to celebrate.  Dennis offered us martinis and thought to myself, “What the heck?  This is a great reason to celebrate!”

We drank those martinis with gladness as we prayed and talked about our life in Christ.  It was natural, free-flowing, and completely organic.  It was the culmination of a hands-off, Spirit-led journey about waiting on God for fruit to ripen.

There was no guilt or awkwardness about merging Jesus with alcohol.  Instead of bringing Dennis into a rigid system of rules and behavioral norms, the good news of Jesus had been injected right into his living room.  The message of salvation and freedom had, just as it had two thousand years ago, become incarnational.  The living Word had “become flesh” and walked into a cocktail party.

This journey into organic Christianity is more exciting and unpredictable than I ever imagined.  But the beauty is in the simplicity.  Love one another without any strings attached and watch the Father ripen the harvestfields.

Recently a dear friend asked a question similar to this:  “Why have you abandoned the institutional church?  Isn’t she the bride of Christ?  She may be messed up but that doesn’t mean we should forsake her.” First of all, thank you, Friend (you know who you are!), for asking such a question and caring enough to express your heart about this.

First let’s define the Bride of Christ.  The Bride of Christ is Jesus’ beloved church, his perfect counterpart, created by him and for him. The Bride is the reason why Jesus came to earth, to rescue her from sin and remove everything that would hinder love.  The Uncreated God was in love with his creation.  The corporate bride is compared in Scripture to a body composed of many parts, each having different functions.  They are all unique and their common bond is that they all report to the head, which is Christ.  So, in order to form a part of Jesus’ bride, the church, you must be a follower of Jesus.

Is the institutional church the bride of Christ? My answer is both “yes” and “no”.  To be sure, this glorious beautiful woman that reflects her fiancée, Jesus, can sometimes be found within the walls of institutionalized religion.  But is she the rigid structure that supports most of well-known Christianity in the West?  No.  She is a living organism composed of relationships and that are connected by love for Jesus.  She branches out like a climbing plant, her tendrils rising over rocks and walls.  Similar to her divine counterpart, Jesus, she cannot be fit into a box. Since she reflects him, she has many dimensions.   She thrives when she is free to explore and go where there is sun and water to nourish the cells within her.  She exists wherever there are followers of Jesus.  She is not a meeting on Sunday morning (although at times you may find here there).  When the Father created a bride for his son, he made her so that she would be summed up in him.  Jesus is all the Bride needs – she doesn’t need a structure to be healthy.

I don’t believe the Bride of Christ is “messed up”.  Jesus doesn’t see her that way.  He is totally in love with his Beloved.  Jesus already conquered everything that hindered love.  He already paid to remove the sin and the filth that once entangled us.  The Father has hidden us in Jesus – that is our position.  Would Jesus want to join himself with a wretched filthy adulterous?  No!  He must have an equal counterpart.  We are already complete in him, we are not messed up.  We lack nothing in Jesus.

By the grace of God I will never forsake the Bride of Jesus.  I am a part of her.  I love her.  I think she is beautiful.  I also love the bride that can be found in the “walls”.  However, because of the season that God has led me to, I can no longer be a part of the “institutional structure”. I still want relationships with my brothers and sisters who remain in the institutional church.  I love them and miss them.  I understand that not everyone is called to the same lifestyle as I am.  It’s not up to me to tell people what season they should be in – that’s Jesus’ job.

I do not have regrets or doubts about having heard God’s voice correctly when I left the institution.  However, the fact that my departure from the “structure” has been hurtful to some is very painful to me. I hate the strain it has put on certain relationships and I wish I could change that.   I’m trying to reach out in the ways that I know how and praying that relationships can be mended.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. And which is smaller than all the seeds; but when it has grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of heaven come and roost in its branches.” Matt. 13: 31, 32

There have been many church growth movements, models, ministries, and mentors over the last fifty years or so. They all have their differences and yet most are remarkably similar.

In my opinion, most of these “systems” have been setup from within the institutional mindset and geared toward helping pastors fill their pews.

I guess you could say that I was technically an institutional pastor for two years. During that time, the pastors of the group I was in would get together monthly for a prayer breakfast. There were only two topics of discussion at that meeting. How many people do you have in your church; and how much money are you bringing in? There was one pastor who had been very “successful” and had a large church. Some of the other guys thought that if they preached his sermons (word for word!) they would have the same kind of success!

This is typical of the kind of thinking that permeates leadership in institutional churches. Church growth “specialists” have come up with all kinds of whacky ideas to help multiply congregations in the western world. Many of these are the manipulative, forced, and contained methods of Madison Avenue style marketing. They may get people in the pews, but what is going on here, spiritually?

What is the Goal?

The majority of evangelical Christians today believe the purpose and goal of the Church is to evangelize the world. This is why God saved us and this is the reason we are here. In other words, we are here to multiply, so we had better get to it.

Now I understand that when God created man He told him to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). But what did God say before that? First, he created man in His image and used plural pronouns (Gen. 1:26). He said, “let Us make man in Our image.” This shows us two things: He wanted an expression of Himself (image), and He wanted that expression to be corporate. This is why He spoke in the plural pronouns.

God is a community of three persons. Father, Son, and Spirit make up the one God. He wanted a community that would express or display His own corporate life.

Then He said He wanted this corporate image of Himself to have dominion or rule over the earth. So we see a God here who wants an expression of His communal nature that rules for Him on the earth. And He wants that community (or race) to be fruitful and multiply. As you can see, multiplication is only one third of the equation here and it is the last part. This is very significant as we will see.

This all happens in Genesis chapter one before the fall. This is God’s original intention and purpose before and beyond the fall. Of course, God knew the fall was going to happen and so He had an “emergency plan.” This is the plan of redemption in Christ. But that did not change His original intention. He still wanted something for Himself above and beyond human need. He still wanted that visible expression of His divine life and love. But here is the problem:

We have made human need the focus of everything and have forgotten that God wants something for Himself!

We got stuck in the “emergency plan” and have abandoned the original plan. God still wants His house, His body, His bride, His family, and His one new man that can express His divine attributes in a shared-life community. And this is His goal!

Don’t get me wrong. He loves us and cares about our needs. He sent His Son to redeem us, heal us, deliver us, etc. But that was all still a part of the “emergency plan.” The purpose of this “e-plan” was to get us back on track with His eternal purpose. Please see the following: Eph. 1:7-14; Eph. 3:3-12; Eph. 4:11-16; Col. 1:24-28; Col. 3:9-11.

His purpose has everything to do with His Son. Ephesians chapter one makes this very clear. He wants to sum up all things in His Son (Eph. 1:9, 10). He wants His body to express the fullness of His Son (Eph. 1:22, 23). And He wants His Son to fill all things (Eph. 4:10).

Premature Growth

I believe when we have an over emphasis on evangelism and mission we end up with very shallow results. We may have lots of numbers, but they may be all zeros! God is looking for quality much more so than quantity. The Father is looking for the measure of Christ (Eph. 4:13). This is true fruit.

In my view, we should not be focusing on the fruit (a.k.a. numerical growth). We should be focusing on the life. If there is the life of Christ flowing in a group, then the fruit will organically be produced at the right time. There are seasons in the life of the Church and one of those seasons is the harvest time. The key is for each believer to learn how to “tap into” the life supply within them so this divine life can flow into the Body (Col. 1:27). Then, just like a tree, everything will develop in due time.

Timing is a huge part of the equation. A tree does not produce fruit right out of the gate. A seedling is not mature enough to produce fruit. In the same way, a five year old girl cannot give birth. She is not yet mature enough. It is not yet her “season”.

We see this in the early church as well. The apostles spent three years living with Jesus before they performed any significant amount of ministry or evangelism. Except for the apostles, there is no record of anyone else preaching or evangelizing in Jerusalem for at least four or five years. Some scholars believe that it may have been up to eight years before the persecution of Saul of Tarsus and the resulting dispersion.

So let’s be really conservative and say that it was five years between the day of Pentecost and the persecution. What were the believers doing all this time? I believe that they were learning Christ. That is, they were learning how to live by the life of an indwelling Lord. This was their equipping. This was their foundation. So then, when the persecution hit, they went throughout Judea preaching the word and new churches were raised up (Acts 8:4). This was possible because they had spent those years before learning Christ!

To Everything there is a Season

My co-workers and I see this same truth in the field as we work with different groups in organic church planting. Most of the folks come out of institutional churches and a new group is not ready to multiply right away. Of course, it is always encouraged to reach out to others and new people coming to Christ are always a wonderful thing. But by and large, in the beginning, that group needs a solid foundation of Christ as their everything. They need ever deepening revelation of Christ and His Church. They need practical help with learning how to live by His life. And they need time to “detoxify” from the systems and mindsets of religion.

If the life is flowing, then the group will grow when it is ready. We have seen this happen many times. But this growth will be “in season” and will be deep and strong. And the fullness of Christ will be expressed through His Body. (Eph. 1:22-23)

And in James 4:2, although he is speaking to issues of worldliness in this passage, I think I can apply the scripture; “You do not have because you do not ask” to this discussion.

I often have people ask me how I get the connections with folks to help them start simple/missional/organic life. My response; I ask God to send them to me, and I ask Him constantly for that privilege.

A few years ago, I tried to meet with, activate, gather people I knew had leadership gifts, or had been seeking simple church life into action. Very little fruit resulted from that. They were very frustrating years and I struggled with the desire within me to get people moving and functioning in the Kingdom.

However, I was seeing God use me in this motivation in other countries, where I was constantly in contact with people who were “ready” to go and it was just a matter of having enough time on my part to get to all of them.

I realized that in this “mission midset”, I continually asked God to lead me to the right people, or to bring them to me when I was on one of these “mission trips” that I did to extend the Kingdom and release the Body into their places within. Since I knew very few people in these countries, I was dependent upon God to bring these divine appointments to me.

When I was home in the States, I prayed similar prayers but in reality, relied more upon my knowledge and preconceived beliefs that God would of course use this or that person that looked to me like someone who was ready to serve.

I began to ask, and seriously ask…..beg, if you really want to know, for God to send to me “workers of the harvest” and especially those who didn’t require a long “detoxification”, a lot of personal healing, or paradigm shifting.

I can only say; God is faithful and has answered those prayers with “more than I could ask or imagine” Him doing.

Last night, for example, we met with a couple who contacted me a few weeks ago with interest in simple church. They are just an average, ordinary couple who when after listening to them discuss what they were desiring in living “church”, I said; “you can do that here, in your home with those elements you desire,”. They lit up with excitement and replied; “We can?”

“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened.” Mt 7:7