Archive for July, 2010


Why Simple Churches Don’t Work, Reason #3

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Biblical Meditation, Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Jesus is Lord, Luke 10, Man of Peace, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 8 Comments
July 31, 2010

Reason #3 Aiming for the Wrong Things

Our human nature and our own cultural upbringing sometimes make us aim for the wrong things. I’d like to point out three things we tend to want to aim for, but in gaining them we end up with sand slipping through our fingers.

Stability

One of the common criticisms I’ve heard through the years, about simple church, and simple church planting, is that it doesn’t lead to stable churches. The criticism is true; I have no problem with the observation. I do, however, have a significant problem with the underlying assumption of the criticism; stability is always good and necessary. Really? I can’t think of a single place in the New Testament where Jesus or the apostles tell us to aim for stability, or that it is even a necessary thing. Don’t get me wrong, if stable churches consistently develop disciples of Jesus and reproduce, I’m all for them. But I don’t see this as a necessary prerequisite for the expansion of the Kingdom.

When I look at the book of Acts, as the church explodes into the Roman world, I see lots of instability. In Acts 8 I even see God causing persecution of the Church, which leads to growth. The biggest and most stable church of the time, Jerusalem, got scattered like leaves in an autumn storm. Personally, I’m interested in the Kingdom spreading. If that happens through stability, I’m content. What I fear is our aiming for stability, rather than just follow the Lord of the harvest into the harvest and trusting him.  I don’t think it is wise to aim for something because it makes us comfortable or reflects what we’ve always known. I suspect those are at least two of the driving forces for us seeking stability.

Glory

God had a word of advice for a fellow named Baruch in Jeremiah 45: 5 Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. That really speaks to the human condition; we all would like to be admired by others, to have a name, a title, to be important. It is all wood, hay and stubble. It will all burn at the judgment and all we will get is smoke in our eyes. Here’s what we should aim for: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matt. 6:33). Aim then for the righteousness that comes from a close relationship with Jesus. Aim for his kingdom purposes, under his lordship. Can we trust him to take care of the rest, even if it means no one will ever know our name?

Big Numbers

In our culture bigger is always better. If someone gets invited to the Christian talk shows or voted President of the denomination, it is usually because they have big impressive statistics. But did Jesus tell us to try to hit home runs by building big churches? Here is what he actually said. The kingdom is like a tiny little mustard seed that grows into the biggest of herbs. The kingdom is like a little bit of leaven in a lump of dough. The kingdom is like tiny seeds which get sown into all kinds of soil. Mustard seeds, yeast, wheat seeds. They are all tiny, but they all reproduce into something big over time. And that is the secret, we need to quit trying to get big quick and worry about allowing the kingdom to be like a farmer who sowed seed in his field and it came up all by itself; another of Jesus’ parables. Our job is to make disciples, not generate big numbers. If what we sow is organic, it will grow all by itself (Jesus’ words, not mine).

For more posts on the practicalities of simple church planting read: Four Keys to Church Planting, Building on the Right Foundation, Starting on the Wrong Foot, and Ministry with Jesus as Lord.

  • Do you find yourself envisioning important things for yourself? Come on, be honest, most of us do. How should you deal with that?
  • Why do we tend to glorify big, quick numbers?
  • How can we tell the difference between good stability and stability that is inhibiting the kingdom?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Why Simple Churches Don’t Work, Reason #2

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Luke 10, Man of Peace, Organic Church, Simple Church, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 6 Comments
July 30, 2010

Unrealistic Expectations

I remember the first time I heard a house church planter tell stories of how God used them and their friends to plant churches. They were stories from Switzerland. It sounded like something right out of the book of Acts, except in modern day Europe. The stories were full of supernatural power. I wanted to do that. I wanted to experience that. It sounded so easy. One thing I’ve learned about simple church planting, it may be simple in concept, but it is not easy.

Did this person give me some sort of Christian sales pitch? Actually, I don’t think so. He was telling the truth. The problem was that he told the end result, but didn’t explain all the hard work, prayer, heart ache and difficulty that went into it. Perhaps he knew that people like me would venture out and try this stuff and get our knees skinned in the process. If so, he knew that making mistakes wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to me, see Why Simple Churches Don’t Work, Reason #1 and Making Mistakes with Jesus. The problem was what was in my heart; unrealistic expectations. So, I’d like to cover a couple of unrealistic expectations surrounding simple church planting and try to set the record straight; at least from my perspective.

Unrealistic Expectation #1: Shrinking a congregational church and expecting it be organic

Wolfgang Simson likes to point out the difference between a house church and a church in a house. John White talks about “Honey I shrunk the church.” They are talking about the same phenomenon, thinking we can do a small congregational church in a house and expect it to have all the benefits of a simple church. I’ve had people talk to me about their “house church” and the time it takes to set up the sound system, how they line the chairs up in rows, who does the preaching, how they have Sunday School for the kids. This isn’t house church, or simple church, or organic church. This will never reproduce organically. Yet, almost in the same breath these people tell me they aren’t experiencing the organic reproduction that simple church people talk about, it must be a farce. A plastic flower won’t produce seeds like a real flower, although they look similar. One is reproductive, one isn’t. To expect a church in a house to act like a house church is to have an unrealistic expectation.

Unrealistic Expectation #2: It is always fast, miraculous and glorious

This was the problem I faced when I heard the stories from Switzerland. The truth is that sometimes simple church planting; finding the person of peace and starting the church in their oikos can happen very fast. I have had those “from the jail in Philippi to the Philippian jailer’s house” experiences. I’ve done it in less than 24 hours, including winning people to Christ. But I’ve also sweated it out for months with just one or two people. I’ve poured my life into a disciple and watched them get side tracked into sin. This can be tough slogging, but Jesus told us to make disciples, not go from glorious success story to glorious success story. I want to see his Kingdom come, his will be done. If that is fast and glorious, that’s wonderful. If it is tough slogging, so be it. I’m just glad to have the privilege of making disciples. We like to tell our best stories. There is nothing wrong with that, but I think we need to tell the whole story. I’m planning a series of church planting stories from my experiences and those of my friends; tentative title: Warts and All.

These are certainly not the only wrong expectations we can have, but they are two that I’ve personally experienced and failed in.

For more posts on the practicalities of simple church planting read: Four Keys to Church Planting, Building on the Right Foundation, Starting on the Wrong Foot, and Ministry with Jesus as Lord.

  • What other wrong expectations do you think we can have about simple church planting?
  • Do you have a “Warts and All” story you’d like to share?
  • Most people’s first house church is really a church in a house. That was my experience. Where are you in your experience?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Why Simple Churches Don’t Work, Reason #1

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Church Planting, House Church, Jesus is Lord, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 19 Comments
July 29, 2010

This is a series exploring common simple church planting mistakes. I’d like to think my friends and I have made every mistake that can be made. I doubt that’s true. In fact, my experience tells me to wait until tomorrow, or even later this afternoon, for the next mistake. See: Making Mistakes with Jesus. I know from experience simple church planting works, if by “works” one means making disciples, which is our mandate from Jesus. It can be highly reproducible, but isn’t always. While simple church planting can be a very rich and gratifying ministry, it is filled with potential pitfalls. So, from one friend to another, I’d like to help you miss a few potholes.

Reason #1 Giving Up Too Soon

Our Western culture causes us to seek instant gratification. This flows over into our church planting behavior. We want the ministry equivalent of cup o noodle churches, add hot water and wait a couple of minutes. Well, it just doesn’t work that way. Jesus is more interested in making us his disciples who learn to work with him under his lordship, than making us instantly successful. This requires falling down and skinning our knees. Skinned knees hurt, and so do life and ministry lessons.

This instant gratification mentality causes us to want to “give it a year” to see if it works out. It causes us to get frustrated when our plans don’t work out. It causes us to blame the idea i.e. “simple churches just don’t work,” instead of finding out what Jesus wants us to learn from our mistakes.

I think we need to quit thinking of mistakes as failure and start thinking of them as fertilizer. Fertilizer can be pretty unpleasant stuff; take it from a kid who grew up on a farm. But fertilizer makes wonderful healthy crops. Do you want healthy crops, or to put it in Jesus’ terminology, do you want to bear fruit? You have to abide in him; and part of abiding in him is being with him as he teaches us through failure, humiliation and mistakes.

In an article in Leadership Journal article entitled The Dirt on Organic Brian Hofmeister  is someone, who in my opinion, struggled with the “giving up too soon” syndrome. He also struggled with some of the other issues I’m going to deal with later in this series. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy, just that some of these mistakes overtook him.

My main point is this; Jesus is more interested in what he wants to do in us than what he wants to do through us. If he can work in us, he will end up getting what he wants through us. This process of growing through pain is part of abiding, and it leads to fruit (Jn. 15:2), much fruit (Jn. 15:5, 8), fruit that will last (Jn. 15:16). But it is also a process that involves skinned knees, frustration, failure and frankly some humiliation. Are you willing to undergo the pain to get the gain?

For more posts on the practicalities of simple church planting read: Four Keys to Church Planting, Building on the Right Foundation, Starting on the Wrong Foot, and Ministry with Jesus as Lord.

  • Do you think the problem is that “simple churches don’t work,” or like me, that the problems lie somewhere else?
  • Is the pain worth the gain?
  • Do you have mistakes as fertilizer stories you’d like to share?
  • Have you ever tried to plant cup o noodle churches? What happened?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

One Month to a New Church Plant

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Church Planting, House Church, Jesus is Lord, Luke 10, Man of Peace, Organic Church, Simple Church, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 1 Comment
July 28, 2010

ChurchETHOS

Nathan Creitz, in his blog ChurchETHOS poses an important exercize (see below):

To see my interaction with that question go to http://churchethos.com/church-planting/one-month-to-a-new-church-plant/. I’m not sure my answer is going to be completely satisfying to everyone. What do you think?

Church Planting Exercise: If you only had one month to start a church, what would you do with your time?

Let’s add some context: You find out that your town doesn’t have a church. You may very well be the only follower of Jesus. You know that you should love God, love people, and make disciple-making disciples. You have no team and no resources other than food, clothing and shelter. What do you do?

Before answering the question, let me also say that I’m curious to hear from people in the missional and attractional church planting camps (and all the other church plants that don’t fall neatly into one of those two categories).

I should also point out that this is simply an exercise. I know it is God who establishes His church. This is a fun activity to help us think through what is most important to us about church planting (plus I’m hoping you’ll help me with some good ideas!

So, what are your thoughts? Would you spend your time on budgets, buildings, and bodies? Would you spend your time in prayer? Would you spend your time on relational evangelism, event evangelism, servant evangelism, or mass marketing? Would you spend your time on demographics and ethnographies?

What would you do?

Starting tomorrow in thejesusvirus, a series entitled: Why Simple Churches Don’t Work.

This series will explore common simple church planting mistakes. If I’ve included it, my friends or I have done it. Perhaps I should subtitle it: Mistakes We’ve Made along the Way. Don’t misunderstand me. Simple church planting works, but it doesn’t always work, and it seldom ends up looking like we expect.

Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Four Keys to Church Planting

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Biblical Meditation, Church History, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Luke 10, Man of Peace, Meeting Together, Simple Church, Supernaturalism by rossrohde — 5 Comments
July 26, 2010

There has not been a sustained viral movement of the Gospel in the West since the early 4th Century. We have had movements of the Gospel, such as the 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings, they just weren’t viral and sustained. They died out in about 20-30 years. I long for a sustained viral movement in the West like the early church had for nearly 300 years and like our brothers in China have been experiencing for 60+ years.

I believe if we are to see such a thing, we will need to learn from what Jesus taught us in Luke chapter 10. I’d like to highlight four keys from Jesus’ teaching on church planting. I’m using the word “church” as it was originally used in the New Testament, as a gathering of Christians. Jesus’ teaching in Lk. 10 is about making disciples; but he does it in a way that it impacts groups. If we are to see a sustained movement of the gospel we will need church planting that is at least these four things: simple, supernatural, cheap and reproducible.

Simple

Jesus teaching on viral disciple making is simple. He says it with 210 words in Lk. 10:1-11 and that’s the long version. The shorter versions are in Matt. 10, Mk. 6 and Lk. 9. This is a simple pattern of cooperation with Jesus under his lordship, so that we plant the Kingdom of God among groups of people who previously didn’t know him. The nutshell of Jesus’ pattern is found in verses five through seven.

There is nothing complex here. It isn’t necessarily easy to live, but it certainly isn’t complicated. Compare this to church planting training nowadays. It starts with researching and defining people groups, doing mapping, clarifying “target audiences,” developing a marketing strategy, going through an objective process…I could go on, but you get the picture; complexity built on more complexity. Only the trained professionals can do it, not simple fishermen from Galilee.

Supernatural

Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ (Lk. 10:9) The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. (Lk. 10:17).This does not need to be flamboyant, glassy eyed and strange. If God gives opportunity to pray for someone’s illness, pray. If the need arises, pray for spiritual deliverance. But when the words of the gospel are paired with demonstration of God’s power, there will be receptivity. I believe one of the reasons our preaching is ignored in the West is that it is often just statements about God, with no demonstrations of who he really is.

Cheap

Just how expensive is not taking a purse or bag or sandals, staying in people’s homes and eating what is set before you? However the Holy Spirit teaches us to contextualize this to the 21 Century Western world, it won’t be expensive. Jesus’ patterns do not require three year graduate degrees, expensive equipment and buildings. It really only requires meaningful contact with people and the power of God, both of which are free.

Reproducible

Complex is not easily reproducible. Neither is anything expensive. Jesus trains the 12 in Luke 9. Then he appointed 72 others to do the exact same thing in Luke 10. We see the same patterns of this training being reproduced in the ministry of Paul, who most likely trained others in Acts 20:4 to do the same. Simple is reproducible.

For a current story of Lk. 10 church planting see: Cesar, Man of Peace.

For other posts on church planting see: Building on the Right Foundation, Starting on the Wrong Foot, Making Mistakes with Jesus, Ministry with Jesus as Lord and An Oikos Isn’t a Building.

  • Why do you think we make things so complex? Has this complexity resulted in greater effectiveness?
  • Why don’t we see much supernatural power anymore?
  • Is what you are doing or what you have seen in church planting cheap and reproducible?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

2010 National House Church Conference

Filed Under: Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 3 Comments
July 26, 2010

This year’s Conference will be at the Grand Hyatt Dallas Fort Worth Airport, TX. I’ll be there. I’m looking forward to seeing you there too.

Theme: Infrastructure: The Necessity of Transformational Leadership
The past few years have seen Christians moving in unprecedented numbers from more traditional settings into what are known as simple, organic or house church movements. This year’s National House Church Conference will explore the role of transformational leadership teams to help provide infrastructure to fresh moves of the Holy Spirit.

For more information and to register: http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=826551

Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Being Respectable and Relevant

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Church History, Jesus is Lord, New Covenant, Our Covenant With God, Spiritual Life, Worldview by rossrohde — 5 Comments
July 23, 2010

A good portion of my missionary training and “career” were spent trying to think up ways of making ourselves relevant and respectable to the current cultures around us. There is a good deal of value in this, particularly in learning to adapt to cross cultural settings and communicate in ways that make sense to people who are different than we are. This is called contextualization. Led by the Spirit of God, contextualization is wise behavior. It is why in I Cor. 9 Paul talked about being a Jew for Jews and like a Greek for Greeks. Contextualization can be biblical behavior.

But I wonder if we often end up taking this great idea way too far. I think we take contextualization too far when we try to be respectable and relevant to current thinking and practice. In a word, we are trying to be cool for the non-Christian society around us. I suspect this can quickly devolve into dangerous behavior. Rick Cruse, in his comments to my post Jesus Manifesto, made an astute observation about how we ended up with systematic theology, “I mean the need for theologians of the 18th and 19th centuries to imitate in theology what was the vogue in science; i.e., making theology a respectable study, as respectable and scientific as, say, biology which has its outlines, categories and sub-categories.” In trying to be relevant and respectable, we ended up with a theology which distances us from God. For a further development of my thinking on this, read my review of Len Sweet and Frank Viola’s book The Jesus Manifesto Jesus Manifesto, and the attached comments.

This exact same hankering for relevance, through being in tune with the latest discoveries in academia, led to the Modernist movement in theology; the proponents of which are called “liberal theologians” by their detractors. This is one of the most serious and dangerous heresies the church has ever faced. In my opinion, it is on par with the Gnostic heresies of the first centuries of the Church; which itself came about because Christians were trying to be cool and relevant to the current thinking in philosophy and religion.

Paul warned us four times in his epistles to the Galatians and Colossians to avoid this kind of behavior (Gal. 4:3 and 4:9; Col. 2:8 and 2:20). In effect we are succumbing to the stoicheia (the basic or foundational principles of the world), when we feel a need to be respectable and relevant. We start marching to the value structures of the world, instead of being in obedient covenant relationship with the living God. Paul’s answer to being cool, according to the world’s standards, was, “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules” (Col. 2:20).

I’d like to point out a few ways we might be doing this today. When we try to do ministry as if it were a Western business project, are we not succumbing to the foundational principles of the world? Aren’t we trying to use the current cool human wisdom (measurable goals, purpose statements, job effectiveness descriptions) to do something that should be led by God? When we tie our faith to a current political party or paradigm aren’t we getting in line with the basic principles of the world? In many European countries serious Christians can’t imagine a Christian being anything but some variation of socialist. In the U.S., many Christian can’t imagine a Christian not being a Republican; unless they live in the inner city, in which case one must be a Democrat. Republican, Socialist, Democrat, Fascist, Communist (ad nauseum); they are paradigms based on the foundational principals of the world. There are times when we Christians need to be something else entirely; not just like the world, only nicer.

For other posts about Jesus as Lord see: Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church, Making Mistakes with Jesus and Ministry with Jesus as Lord.

  • Does being effective in the Kingdom require weirdness (i.e. John the Baptist)?
  • How do we know when we’ve crossed the line from contextualization to succumbing to “those weak and miserable principles” (Gal. 4:9)?
  • Does being biblical and faithful in our covenant relationship with Jesus our Lord require us to be at war with modern science?
  • Does being a Christian require disengagement from national and international politics? What principles should guide our political stances? How do we keep from justifying what we already believe (be it Republican, Socialist or Green Party) with biblical sounding words and arguments?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Greek and Hebrew Evangelism

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Church History, Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Viral Christianity, Worldview by rossrohde — 5 Comments
July 21, 2010

The ancient Greek and Hebrew worldviews were very different from each other. Greeks were caught up in the world of ideas and issues. It was the world of philosophy; of the mind. The Hebrews were concerned with the heart; with relationship. The Greeks tended to ask the question, what does this person think? The Hebrews tended to ask what this person’s actions tell us about who they are.

These two different world views also tend to tacitly cause two different behavior patterns when someone interacts with others concerning their relationship with God. If we are coming from the Greek perspective, we tend to download “correct” ideas. The unstated assumption of this style of communication is “I’m right, you’re wrong, so pay close attention to what I am saying. Take good notes.” We may not intend to give that unspoken message, but others often perceive it loud and clear. Often our Greek evangelism practices leave others feeling pounced upon.

If we are coming from the Hebrew perspective, another option is available.  We can dialog with another person and find out what God is already up to in their life. From a Hebrew perspective, the living God is always at work. He engages with individuals, whether they realize it or not. Done well, this can be an encouraging, loving, ongoing conversation among friends.

This was how Paul communicated with the Athenians in Acts 17:22-23:

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

Paul’s assumption here was that God was already at work. It wasn’t that the Athenians had no relationship at all with God; it was that they worshiped him “as something unknown.” All he had to do was observe carefully so he could help them find him. The connection already existed; it just needed to be deepened and filled with more experience, knowledge and understanding.

So, how could this work with an individual? I think a helpful model would be the how Jesuit spiritual directors often view their role: to help another person notice what God is already doing so they can cooperate with him. At this point, questions and listening become extremely valuable forms of engagement. What would you like to say to God? Why do you feel this way? Have you ever felt like God was communicating with you? Do you think what you are experiencing could be from God? What do you think God would like to say to you? How do you feel about that? Then listen. Listen intently, lovingly, graciously, and ask some more questions. Done well, we will earn the right to expand their experience, knowledge and understanding of the living God and all he has done for them. And, we might learn something ourselves. In Paul’s words, “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” Keep in mind that Paul was asked to speak to this group. He did not force his way. He was asked to share his point of view by a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who inquired, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?”

I don’t want to imply that what I’m calling Hebrew evangelism is the right and only way. There is a time and a place for everything. And, in reality, Paul’s interaction was a combination of both ways. But the Holy Spirit can show us what is best in any given situation. What I am suggesting is that Hebrew evangelism has less of a tendency to cause people to feel pounced upon. It can leave them feeling loved and dignified. It can help many of us get over our own fear of evangelism, because we don’t want to pounce on our friends. Most of all, it can lead our friends to a Savior who loves them very much. Isn’t this what Jesus often did?

For similar posts on evangelism and church planting see: Redwood Churches, Cesar, Man of Peace, Starting on the Wrong Foot, and Making Mistakes with Jesus.

  • Have you ever felt “pounced upon” in a religious conversation? Did you like it? What would Jesus’ “Golden Rule” say about this?
  • Have you ever had what I’m calling a Hebrew evangelism experience? Can you share your story?
  • Hebrew evangelism takes time, sometimes lots of time. How does that make you feel?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Redwood Churches

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Church Life, Church Planting, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Organic Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 6 Comments
July 19, 2010

Redwood Family Circle

The coastal redwood has a lot to teach us about what local gatherings of believers should really be. The coastal redwood has a number of ways to reproduce: through family circles, through burls and by seed.

The most common way for redwoods to reproduce is by forming family circles. The root system of an individual tree can sprout a series of saplings. Eventually the parent tree dies, but its genetic code lives on because a ring of saplings have grown to trees sprouting from the roots. This family circle shares the root system and genetic code of the parent tree.

Mature Redwood Circle

The second form of reproduction is sprouting from redwood burls. Burls grow at the base of redwood, particularly where they have been wounded. Burls send out sprouts which grow right out of the wood of the burl. These sprouts can become trees themselves.

The least common way for a redwood to reproduce is through seed. The environment of dense redwood forest is not particularly advantageous for seeds to sprout, since they are densely shaded and packed with trees. Seeds need special circumstances to sprout; specifically an environment without many redwoods.  However, once they sprout, they can produce many trees due to the other two forms of reproduction.

Redwood burl

The redwood tree is a parable of what we, as a group of believers, ought to be. The first giant redwood reproduces itself. Through the roots it sets down, it produces saplings. Through its death it gives life. This is what Christ has done for us. We ought to all be connected to one another through our common root system, which is Christ. We ought to share the same genetic code, which comes from Christ. We ought to all bear his image and be closely connected one to another. His death gives us life.

Still, each redwood can reproduce itself through burls. As the individual tree matures and weathers hardship, its ancient gnarled trunk sends out its own sprouts. Even if it dies, it will live on through reproduction. Each believer ought to be able to give new life to those who don’t know Christ. The hardships and wounding of life only mature us and make us more apt to reproduce; that is if we are really healthy in the first place.

As creative and reproductive as these two systems are, there is still a third important system of reproduction for redwoods. Seeds, perhaps through flood, storms or by animals are carried where there are no redwoods. These seedlings, once they sprout, start the whole reproductive cycle over again, forming burled family circles which reproduce themselves. Starting redwoods from seeds speak of the role of apostles. They take the church where it doesn’t exist. Apostles by nature aren’t particularly interested in reproducing where the kingdom already exists like a dense forest. They crave open spaces.

Redwood seeds and cones

There is one other situation where redwoods seed themselves. This is when a forest fire or disease has cleared out unhealthy redwoods. Redwoods are resistant, but not immune, to fire (persecution). Whole forests can become weak and die through disease (unhealthy doctrine and practice). In this case seeds (apostles) and seed cones (apostolic teams) once again become very important, reestablishing what has been lost.

Healthy churches have a deep connection to Christ. They are joined to each other through the roots he has set down and been given life through his death. Each healthy individual can reproduce themselves. Hardship only makes them more reproductive. Finally, healthy churches reproduce by sending out apostles to plant the church where it does not currently exist. These reproductive strategies are not in competition with each other. They work in concert to fill empty spaces with dense redwood forests.

For posts on Jesus centered gatherings see: Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church, Book Review: An Army of Ordinary People and Cesar, Man of Peace. For posts on evangelism see Greek and Hebrew Evangelism, Starting on the Wrong Foot and Making Mistakes with Jesus.

  • Is your local church a family circle or a bunch of individuals?
  • How can wounding make us more reproductive?
  • Is your church sending out seeds (apostles) or is it focused only on its own forest?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Discipleship, House Church, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Worldview by rossrohde — 9 Comments
July 17, 2010

Parker J. Palmer in his book The Courage to Teach talks about the authority of a teacher.

External tools of power have occasional utility in teaching, but they are no substitute for authority, the authority that comes from the teacher’s inner life. The clue is in the word itself, which has author at its core. Authority is granted to people who are perceived as authoring their own words, their own actions, their own lives, rather than playing a scripted role at great remove from their own hearts. When teachers depend on the coercive powers of law or technique, they have no authority at all.[1]

Parker Palmer couldn’t be more right; authority, real authority, comes from what is already within the author. But let’s take this a step further. What is within every believer, guiding actions, lives and the very words they speak? If the “author” is led by the Spirit of Jesus, as they should be, the Spirit of Jesus is leading the believer, and he himself can become the author.

This is the secret of how Jesus leads a gathering of believers. Every believer has the Spirit of Jesus living within them. When they gather (the meaning of “ekklesia” the Greek word for church) Jesus is among them. This throws new light on Matt. 18:19-20: “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Of course he is with them. He is within every believer. Every time they gather they have access to his leadership, his authority, because he can guide every believer from the core of their spirit, and therefore he can guide every meeting of believers.

This in turn puts new light on I Cor. 14:26-32.

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.

What is going on here is at once very supernatural, yet should be very normal. Jesus is leading a group of believers. He is doing this through the gifts of the Spirit; how he chooses to manifest himself in individual believers. What the church is doing is looking for, and discerning, the authority of Jesus as he manifest himself in different believers; sometimes through inspiring a song, other times through a prophecy, other times through teaching. In every manifestation they are asking themselves, is this coming from Jesus? Wise churches look for the authorship of Jesus in each instance; each individual contribution. In doing so, they allow Jesus to lead each and every church gathering.

For post of Jesus centered gatherings see: Redwood Churches, A Body without a Head, Jesus as Our Capstone and Book Review: An Army of Ordinary People.

  • How is this different from humans leading from positions of power? 
  • Is this the first time you have thought of authority coming from the “author”? 
  • Have you ever been in a church meeting where Jesus is leading? 
  • Why isn’t this normal practice in churches nowadays? 
  • Does this seem impractical to you? Why?
[1] Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998) p. 33.

Did you like this? Share it:
Comment
Powered by WordPress | Theme: Motion by 85ideas.