This is a guest post from Frank Viola at frankviola.wordpress.com. It’s sobering to hear these words coming from such a visible figure in Christianity spoken many years ago.

The following quote was authored by Billy Graham in the year 1965. Turns out it was a prophetic word that has come to pass in our time.

Multitudes of Christians within the church are moving toward the point where they may reject the institution that we call the church. They are beginning to turn to more simplified forms of worship. They are hungry for a personal and vital experience with Jesus Christ. They want a heartwarming personal faith. Unless the church quickly recovers its authoritative Biblical message, we may witness the spectacle of millions of Christians going outside the institutional church to find spiritual food.

Quoted in “World Aflame”, pp. 79-80.

Here is another priceless quote by Graham:

I think one of the first things I would do would be to get a small group of eight or ten or twelve men around me that would meet a few hours a week and pay the price. It would cost them something in time and effort. I would share with them everything I have, over a period of years. Then I would actually have twelve ministers among the laymen who in turn could take eight or ten or twelve more and teach them. I know one or two churches that are doing that, and it is revolutionizing the church. Christ, I think, set the pattern. He spent most of his time with twelve men. He didn’t spend it with a great crowd. In fact, every time he had a great crowd it seems to me that there weren’t too many results. The great results, it seems to me, came in his personal interview and in the time he spent with the twelve.

Quoted in “Billy Graham Speaks: The Evangelical World Prospect,” Christianity Today, vol.3, no.1, p.5, Oct.13, 1958.

I’ve been meditating on Colossians 1:13 for the last few days.  “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.” There is a radical shift that takes place when we align our allegiance with Yahweh and enter His kingdom.  We are baptized into a new way of life.  We begin to see reality through a different worldview.

Even our spiritual genetics change.  We are a new creation and, thus, find that our desires are drawn in different directions than what we were familiar with.  This spiritual DNA is in the makeup of every believer, from the stay-at-home mom to town’s local pastor/priest.  It is the one common denominator that we share as sons of the Living God.

Within these strands of DNA are certain hardcoded characteristics: What we desire, love for fellowship, and (I believe) how we relate to others within the Body.  While the application of these foundational constants may vary based on geography, culture, political climate, etc, there should always be an underlying similarity shared between authentic expressions of Christian ecclesiology.

I trust it’s safe to say that you and I are both homo sapiens.  We share common DNA.  As such, you and I both have an organ on our face called a nose.  We both have a set of ears.  We eat have an opening at the front of our face into which we place various forms of food.  If we eat something with beans we both get gas (maybe?).  Though we are two distinct individuals, there is are expressions of our humanity that are common.  Indeed, these expressions are a witness to the world that we are human beings.

I believe that ecclesiology works the same way.  There can be many authentic expressions of “church” so long as each type holds fast to the foundational building blocks of who we are as a people of God.  These building blocks are determined by the characteristics of our Father, Yahweh.

When I received this revelation, I began to be much less concerned about the outward structure or label applied to a Christian meeting and more concerned with whether the gathering I was a part of modeled the genetic characteristics of my Father.

“On earth as it is in the heavens…”  I think the Father is looking for His people to model community in such a way that reflects the community that exists in the Godhead.  Whether we classify ourselves as “traditionalists,” “house churchists,” or “simple churchists,” the important issue we need to address is this: Does the way I relate to other believers in this fellowship reflect the type of relational community modeled in the Godhead? If not, (a) why do we persist in that practice and (b) how can we change to more closely mimic relational interactions in the Trinity?

I plan to explore this idea in a series of blog postings over the next few weeks.  However, I’d be interested to see others weigh in on what they believe the “common DNA” is that we share as fellow believers and whether it is supported by their present ecclesiology.

By Traver  Dougherty
Published: June 16th, 2009
Source: cmaresources.com

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).

It has been close to a year since my wife and I left the traditional church.  For us, it was passion for Jesus and authentic community that led us to consider what life could look like outside the four walls of a building.  In the few first fews  months of the journey, we read many books.  I consumed books on theory and principle, but found myself longing to talk with those who had experienced what we were searching after.  Where were the testimonies, the organic expressions of these concepts being walked out?

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.

Editor’s Note: When approaching the concept of simple/organic church, many people ask, “What do your meetings look like?”  If you look outside, you’ll notice that not every plant responds to wind the same way.  Not all flowers look alike.  Similarly, when you approach something that is organic, the expression will not always look the same.

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

It was an exciting time in my life.  I was 20 years old and working long hours at Applebees as a closing server in the smoking section.  I sold a lot of alcohol and had many opportunities to share Jesus with my co-workers.  Most of them were party people who drank and lived loose lifestyles.  Often the Lord would give me dreams or prophetic words which would touch their hearts.

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.

Source: JesusManifesto.com

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

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20

“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.

Source: Church Plant Case Study – Simple Church by Ben Talberg

Macro

Trish and Mark Turner were referred to me one weekday evening over a cup of coffee at a nearby Dunn Brothers coffee shop. I had gone there to meet Katie and Tom Driver, two members/organizers of a local church planting movement called Simple Church. Over the course of an hour and a half they imparted to me an immense deal of information about the movement they were helping to grow. They showed me the macro level of what this movement was and how it worked. Later, through the experiences of Trish and Mark, I learned at the micro level the experiences, tribulations, and spiritual growth that are part of a Simple Church ‘church plant’.

To simulate my introduction to Simple Church, I’ll first describe what Tom and Katie explained during our meeting. Simple Church is an expression modeled after the original New Testament church model. It is a composition of typically less than twenty people. In a simple church there is no hierarchy, there are no pastors, there isn’t even a tithe offering. The collection of ordinary people composes the church body. As was explained to me, the mission statement of the church movement is:

• Simple – Everyone can do it
• Organic – God grows it
• Missional – Constant outward focus to make disciples

Katie contrasted a simple church to a traditional church saying a traditional church’s leadership is typically composed of and led by trained members, whereas the simple church leadership is composed of and led by all members. As stated in 1 Corinthians 14:26, “My brothers and sisters, when you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.” (New Living Translation). Each member of a simple church is an important part of the church body. Each member is at times a leader and each member is at the same time a student.

Tom and Katie have been helping direct and grow relationships amongst people in this movement for over ten years. They describe to me that what they truly do isn’t plant churches, they help foster relationships and help place people where their growth naturally will give birth to another church. Planting a person in the movement eventually equates to planting a church; and as defined in their mission statement, it’s an organic movement, one plant can turn into many plants. I learned that Katie and Tom are not only planting the seeds of new churches, but the seeds of an entire church movement.

This basic understanding prepared me for my conversation with Trish and Mark, two fairly recent members of the simple church model whom Tom and Katie befriended and have helped counsel and steer. Their story helps to model what someone goes through in their journey from the traditional church to the simple church. Their story is a good example of what a planting looks like in the Simple Church movement.

Micro

Trish and Mark Turner’s experiences are rooted more actively in Christianity than most people. Mark grew up the son of missionaries in Vietnam. Hia parents were church planters their entire lives. Trish was raised in the Baptist church and attended Crown College. After Trish and Mark were married they began working in a church where Mark had preexisting ties to the pastor. They both acted as associate ministers; Mark would give a sermon about once a month and Trish acted as worship leader every few weeks. They were very important parts of the church; however, they told me that close to a year and a half ago they felt something was missing. “Church wasn’t growing, we wanted to find people, and not just transitioning Christians. We wanted to bring new believers to Christ. At our church this wasn’t happening” (Mark).

They had stumbled upon a book by Frank Viola titled Pagan Christianity. This book, followed by many more on the same subject, spoke of the biblical basis of church and how church was meant to be more personal than what many traditional churches were modeling. Through many months of prayer they discerned God’s call to begin a transition from the traditional church to a church that more closely resembled the original churches found in Acts.

As Trish and Mark explained to me their transition process, I not only heard through their words, but could sense in their voices the pain and difficulty they went through in saying goodbye. The traditional church they were members of felt betrayed and attacked when they explained to them the call they had received. Mark and Trish were not only important teachers at their old church, but they had many friends and relationships there as well. They continued to pray and found that God encouraged them over and over again to move on. They confidently answered His call and resolutely decided to follow God’s path. They told me the moment they embarked upon God’s new path they felt an immense amount of relief.

It was shortly before their departure that they met Katie and Tom. When they had first heard God’s call they had no intentions of becoming a part of the Simple Church movement. Katie had found Trish online and extended an invitation for both Trish and Mark to meet Tom and her. The relationship they formed was one of friendship and encouragement. Among other things, it helped them plug-in with others who were interested in a simple church and it helped them learn how to avoid some of the pitfalls of transitioning.

As Mark and Trish explained, when starting [out in organic life] it is very easy to apply the hierarchical model of leadership found in the churches they had known their entire lives. Tom and Katie confided the same problem to me in their trials with bringing people together to form churches. After people belong to and worship in a traditional setting over the course of many years they comfortably default to those old paradigms. The process of altering this mindset is termed ‘detoxification’. One of the rolls that Tom and Katie take on is helping to teach people how to ‘detoxify’ their hierarchical mindset. Mark and Trish learned how to do that over time.

They’ve learned that to worship God in a simple church there is no modern order of service. A simple church is based entirely on equally ranked personal relationships. They modeled this as they grew their church through relationships with neighbors, friends, people they had networked with, and strangers they heard God calling them to communicate with. Their church is founded entirely on these relationships with people, and the very important requirement to simply love others as God wants them to love others.

Towards the end of my conversation Mark and Trish told me that they don’t believe the name ‘simple church’ is an accurate description. They like to say [it] may seem simple. However, it’s participation requires an honest and active relationship with God to love and sacrifice for one other. Additionally, the church’s growth is branching and evolving in an extremely complicated, but a perfectly natural, fluid way. A way that they are enthusiastically now a growing plant of themselves.

Conclusion

What I concluded after talking with both Trish & Mark and Katie & Tom was that the church planting movement was starting on two fronts. Katie and Tom were planting a movement. Trish and Mark were planting worshiping, multiplying, discipling bodies of Christ. The simple church movement can be seen as a constant flow of dynamic, sometimes instantaneous churches at the micro level. Each of these growing bodies are solidifying a foundation for the macro level that is the movement. As Katie, Tom, Trish, and Mark each described it, the movement is like a stream. It is a fluid motion composed of everyday people creating biblically centered churches through a 24/7 personal relationship with God and our brothers and sisters He asks us to love.

Source: LK10.com, article by John White

Years of sitting in traditional church has not prepared us to do church in the manner described in the New Testament.

We have been taught to come. To sit. To watch and listen to what others have prepared. Someone described it as “sit, soak and sour.”

This is Spectator Church. And it is no way to train believers to be priests!

By contrast, the churches described in the Bible engaged in Participatory Church. This kind of church requires preparation on the part of all of it’s members. This is new. We haven’t been taught how to do this.

Therefore, some retraining is in order. One of the best passages to help us do this is Heb. 10:24-25. As you consider the instruction in v. 24, note that it is given in the context of the church “meeting together” in v. 25.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another– and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(NIV)

Here are a few notes to help understand the passage:

1. “Let us…” Note what this doesn’t say. It doesn’t say “Let the pastor consider…” or “Let the house church leader consider…” The key word is “us.” Every member of the church. The priesthood of all believers. The mark of a mature church is that every member understands and fulfills their role in “preparing for church”. No spectators in New Testament church!
2. “Let us consider…”: from katanoeo. noeo = to think + kata = an intensifier. To think deeply about, consider, contemplate, observe. Jesus uses the same word when he says, “Consider the ravens…consider the lilies.” (Lk. 12:24-27) This is work that we must do ahead of time. This is where listening prayer comes in. We consider God’s prevenience. What is He initiating in the lives of the other people in my spiritual family?
3. NIV says “Let us consider how …”. The Greek really says “Let us consider one another…” We are to be observing and thinking deeply about the others in our simple church in order to be able to effectively “stir them up to love and good works”. (Hard to do this if we only see them once a week.) Each one is unique. What works for one may not work for another. I must “think deeply” about each one. (Difficult to do this in a church of 100 or 1000.) How is God already at work in their lives? How am I to join Him in what He is doing?
4. “Let us consider one another to spur (them) on.” “Spur on” comes from a root word that means “to make sharp” as with a sword. (Prov. 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”) It means “to stir up, incite, provoke, motivate”. (Note: What motivates one will not motivate another. Every parent and every coach know this.) This is the focus and goal of the New Testament church meeting – every member involved in lovingly and effectively motivating the others. Teaching the Word, singing, prophesying, etc. are not the goal of our meeting together, they are the means to the goal. (This helps us understand 1 Cor. 14:26 – “Let everything be done for the strengthening (edification) of the church.”)
5. “Let us consider one another to spur (them) on to love and good deeds.” How do we know if our meeting has accomplished what God wanted? We know if people leave being motivated and spurred on to love (God and others) and to express that love in good works throughout the week. (Note: This is not a guilt motivation resulting from “should’s and ought’s”. Rather, it is a heart motivation that comes from a genuine desire that God stirs up on the inside. We can’t make this happen. We can only see what God is doing and join Him in that.)

Church prepares us for the rest of the week (24/7). And the rest of the week (24/7) is where we (all of us!) prepare for church.