Category: Discipleship


Letters to the House Church Movement

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Meeting Together, Organic Church, Recommended Books, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — Leave a comment
February 7, 2012

Click here to order Letters to the House Church Movement.

Some books are practical, some are theoretical; both have their place. Rad Zdero’s book Letters to the House Church Movement is strongly practical; while reflecting a deep understanding of the paradigms under which house churches and house church networks really work (theoretical).

Rad is a house church planter and network organizer in Canada; what we in the house church movement would call an apostle. He is also an astute theologian, though he might not call himself that. As such, he has had plenty of correspondence over the years, which touches on the real nuts and bolts issues that house churches face. By sharing his real letters with us he doesn’t paint house churches in some romantic glow. This is a warts and all look at what house church practice is really like.

Here is a sampling of the kinds of issues and questions Rad deals with.

  • What are actual house church meetings really like?
  • How do house churches deal practically with problem people?
  • How do you deal with the house church radicals who have a chip on their shoulder about traditional churches?
  • How do house churches multiply and how do they deal with missions?
  • What are the real problems (not the imagined problems of those who have never experienced house church) that house churches face? How should they be dealt with?
  • What does leadership look like in house churches? What is the role of elders and apostles? What does that word “apostle” actually mean in a house church setting?
  • What is the role of women in house church?
  • How do house churches answer the common criticisms that they face? What is their biblical backing for these answers?
  • How do house churches group themselves into networks and how does that all work?
  • What is their relationship with more traditional churches?
  • What is house church spirituality like?

I could go on because Rad covers a lot of important ground just by answering real letters and emails he has received over the years. He does this graciously, openly, humbly, yet with a frankness and clarity I find refreshing. He doesn’t beat around the bush, but he is kind. I like that.

Who would profit from a book like this? First of all, any house church practitioner. Because Rad has long experience and the churches and networks he is dealing with are well organized and mature (or maturing), he has lots to say to us. Reading this book might show us some things we are missing.

However, I think this book would be good for people who are curious about house churches but have never experienced them or haven’t experienced them broadly enough to really know how they work. I would also include those who are critics of house church. My own experience with critics is that they are usually unaware of the reality and are often responding to their own imagined fears or some bad experience with an unhealthy house church practitioner (see bullet point three). It’s OK to criticize but that should come from an extensive enough knowledge that the critic isn’t just setting up a straw man and knocking it down. Rad gives the answers to the key criticisms that an experienced house church apostle of a large network would give. It’s best to get these answers from someone who actually knows what they are talking about from real experience.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, in fact I’m going to recommend it to one of the house churches I’m involved with. I think reading this book will give the Holy Spirit a chance to speak to us about what He wants us to do next.

  • Have you even experienced house church? What was that like, good or bad?
  • What questions do you have about how house churches work?
  • If you are a house church practitioner, what problems do you fact? Where do you need to grow? I’d suspect this book would be a good resource for you.
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Technique Disorder

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Discipleship, Jesus is Lord, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 2 Comments
January 24, 2012

Sadly doctors and nurses can't help you with technique disorder.

I read a great blog post today that made me recognize, once again, that I have a serious ministry disease. As I thought about Felicity Dale’s blog, A simple/organic contribution to global mission, it brought to remembrance an issue I faced as a missionary moving from a more traditional ministry setting into organic/simple church ministry; technique disorder. I personally had a serious case of technique disorder. I ministered in a context that was such a disease “hot zone” that everyone I knew suffered from technique disorder. I suspect this is a Western Church malady but we US Americans have a particularly virulent form of the disease. Further, I know from experience that once we have the disease we Westerners inflict this disease on previously healthy non-Westerners.

Let me list some of the more common symptoms of technique disorder.

  • Perceptual spiritual blindness: The afflicted delusionally believe the right technique can fix any ministry problem. The patient fails to turn to Christ for answers.
  • Workshop syndrome: The afflicted search desperately for a workshop to train them in the magic pill techniques to do ministry the “right way.”
  •  Detail myopia: The afflicted focus in on finer and finer details of the technique when the technique doesn’t work for them.
  • Initiation avoidance: The victim fears starting ministry for fear they won’t do it correctly or may not have enough training.
  • Training hysteria: The patient expresses strong emotions about the need for more training or excessive loyalty to a particular technique.
  • Expert Confusion: The afflicted feel that some designated expert has the answers they are searching for.
  • Failure frustration: If and when a particular technique fails to bring the desired results, the afflicted become agitated and confused.
  • Ministry fatigue: Failure frustration can lead to prolonged lack of desire to continue in ministry since “it just isn’t working.”
  • Hostility response: Failure frustration and ministry fatigue can eventually lead to a rejection of all ministry associated with the technique. A typical expression of hostility response is “I’ve tried simple church and it doesn’t work.”

It may seem to the reader at this point that I am anti-technique, anti-workshop and anti-training; that’s not true. I train people. I both participate in and teach in workshops in organic church planting, for example Greenhouse, which I strongly recommend. I’m not anti-technique, I just feel we need to understand the limits of technique and where true power and effectiveness comes from. Techniques are helpful. They just can’t fix anything. They have no power in themselves. They can even be exactly what is needed for a given situation but still not work. Why? The answer is simple. Spiritual power and fruitfulness come from an abiding relationship with Jesus. Further, we ourselves can’t make any ministry “work” or “be effective,” or “bear fruit.” That’s Jesus’ job. He is Lord. And, since he is Lord, we need to actually follow Him into ministry.

So, where does that lead us? I suggest getting good training and learn many helpful techniques. If you are just getting started, in my opinion, there is no better place than Greenhouse. But every useful technique, concept and insight you get at someplace like Greenhouse still has to be activated by an abiding relationship with Jesus, through following Him. He will guide you how to use the techniques you have learned. He will show you when to implement them. He might give you something totally new to fit your unique situation. In other words, the Spirit of Jesus will breathe life into the great training you have received.  Mere training itself can’t do that. For further development of this issue go to pages 134-135 of my book Viral Jesus.

  • Does technique disorder sound familiar to you?
  • Have you ever suffered from technique disorder? How you found remedies that could be helpful to fellow sufferers? What are they?
  • Do you think this is particularly a Western or American thing? Why or why not?
  • Do you think technique disorder is contagious? How is it passed from one person to the next?
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Deep Presence

Filed Under: Church Life, Discipleship, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 10 Comments
October 28, 2011

We can meet him anywhere.

Every once in a while God encounters a group out of nowhere. It is like he was standing on the sideline and the next thing you know we are in His deep presence. I’ve experienced this many times, probably most of us have, if we are paying attention. My friends and I had that experience the other day and I’d like to make some observations about that experience.

My friends meet twice a month as a simple church. One week a month we meet in one of our homes and another time we meet in the same coffee shop, which is a central location for our far scattered group. We meet in a coffee shop just down the street from the San Jose Mission in Fremont, CA. The mission is one of the famous string of missions established in Early California by Spanish missionaries. It was one of those beautiful California October days; warm but not hot. It was sunny, so we sat outside on the patio in the shade. In other words, it was a beautiful, pleasant setting.

We were having our typical conversations, talking about God in our lives, what we were doing, what He was doing, chit chat, just a little of everything really, when my friend Babs asked a question, “Do you think spiritual growth only comes through suffering?” It was at that moment that God went from omnipresent to very present. Most of you know what I mean, He is always there, but suddenly His presence was palpable. Honestly, I was too into the moment to actually notice, but my wife, who has the gift of discernment, pointed it out to me later. Looking back, it was obvious.

What was that like? The conversation took on a higher level of focus. We were all involved, we were all engaged, although we probably came from different perspectives, we were safe and accepting of each other. This, in turn, allowed for transparency as we talked about deep issues like thoughts of suicide, long term depression and the need for medication. It was not the sort of conversation we would have with people who would have felt the need to put us back in the box. In a word, it was not the sort of conversation we would have had with people we didn’t trust. Our body language went from relaxed to attentive. We went from flowing between two or three conversations at once, to one clear focused conversation. And, we were ministering to each other; or better said, God was ministering to us through us. We were talking about real life, not mere doctrinal theory. We weren’t really looking for simple solutions as much as we were willing to be with each other and love one another. And it was very natural, real and genuine. It was safe.

We can’t make that happen. We could all go back to the same place, at the same time of day, in the same weather and discuss the same topic. But, lightning wouldn’t strike twice; or better said, God would choose to remain omnipresent by we wouldn’t notice him as very present. Sometimes this happens in the midst of singing/worship. Sometimes it happens in the midst of prayer. Sometimes it happens when we are in ministry together. Sometimes it happens with the folk talking in the kitchen but the people in the living room miss out. My point is that we can’t make this happen and we can’t reduplicate or plan it.

But we can create an environment where it might happen and often will happen. So what is that environment? First, it is safe. Our group has different political leanings from pretty far left to pretty far right and some points in between. But we love one another; and we won’t stop loving one another if we end up being on polar opposites of divisive issues. In other words, we treat each other like family. Second, we are willing to minister to each other because we love one another. But, that is different than wanting to “fix” each other. Third, we are disposed to God being in our midst. We want Him there. We long for him to be among us. But we know that He is Lord and we are not. He will come in deep presence when He chooses. We aren’t trying to manipulate God any more that we are trying to manipulate each other.

I’d like to make one last observation about that experience. Our conversation was our worship. We were in the presence of God. His Spirit was ministering to us through us. He was very much involved. And that was worship. Worship in the Bible isn’t just singing; it is living life in the presence and under God’s lordship, individually and corporately. This was just one lovely experience of corporate worship.

  • Have you ever noticed God moving from omnipresent to very present? Does that idea bother you?
  • What are common elements you would note in the experiences you’ve had with deep presence? Do you think the pleasant setting contributed to God’s presence or was superfluous?
  • Why do you think we don’t experience this more?
  • Why can’t we plan or manufacture God’s deep presence?
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Ownership

Filed Under: Christendom, Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Jesus is Lord, Organic Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 8 Comments
September 30, 2011

If we follow men we end up being controlled by them. Follow Christ.

We can own a car, or a house or a piece of land. What we can’t own, outside of slavery, is people. Yet, if we look at the behavior of much of Christianity nowadays, one would think that owning people is part and parcel of how Christianity works.

Let me explain ownership. When we own something, it is under our control. No one else dare use it unless they have our permission. This applies to cars and houses as well as people. So when we treat other Christians as if they are under our control (usually we use the euphemism “leadership”) we are acting as if we own them. We even usually end up thoughtlessly using the vocabulary of slavery; he’s under our authority, she’s one of ours, they belong to X (usually a name of a church, ministry or leader).

This idea of ownership is actually quite common in the church today. I’ve noticed it in my own ministry when I, as an organic church practitioner, end up beginning to do ministry with someone who is already a part of a traditional church. Let me give you three examples.

1.) If I win someone to Christ, and they are introduced by their friends to a traditional church, it is almost inevitable that they will sooner or later be told that they now “belong” to this church and should therefore only attend their services and be “under the leadership” of their pastor. In my entire organic ministry, I’ve never once told someone that they shouldn’t attend a traditional church. Why, because I don’t own the person who has come to Christ. They belong to Jesus. I was just His instrument to introduce a person to Him. But, I’ve watched time after time as new disciples become church attendees instead of disciples of Christ. Inevitably they no longer do organic ministry or frankly much ministry at all.

2.) If I end up in contact with someone who is interested in organic ministry, who asks me to teach them how to plant organic churches[1], yet they are part of a traditional church, I pretty much know what is going to happen. I will begin to disciples them. I will tell them that I have no power over them but they are to only follow Christ. They will begin to grow. After that they will tell someone in their traditional church what they are doing. Next, they will be told something like “organic church is bad or questionable” and “you belong to this church.” And, as this logic continues, since they “belong” to the church, they should not do any work outside of ministry that is under the leadership (often expressed “authority”) of the leadership of the church. Further, any ministry they do should benefit the goals of “their church.” On average this takes about two weeks.

3.) I will begin to disciples someone whose spiritual life has been nurtured in traditional churches. They will view me as a leader instead of as merely a more experienced person. They will assume that I have power over them. They will be leery of this perceived power, or conversely they will expect to put themselves completely under my control. Either way they are not really fit to be discipled. On the one hand they struggle to get past the fear that I will dominate them. On the other hand they will become passive and fail to follow Christ; assuming that Christ’s directives somehow come through me. It rarely seems to matter how much I tell them I don’t have power over them or how much I keep trying to direct them to Christ. The fear will paralyze the relationship (or end it). The passivity is almost impossible to eradicate. Sadly both states, fear and passivity, keep people from actually following Christ himself.

So, what’s the solution? The long term solution, in my opinion, is to keep winning people to Christ and pray that they don’t have any Christian friends until they become followers of Christ himself. Should I completely avoid ministry with traditional Christians? No, hopefully I can say something that will move them closer to Christ. And, occasionally I find someone who is tired of the power game that is so predominant in the Church today. Such a person is ready to try to find out how to follow Jesus himself. These people are worth their weight in gold. In such a case, a more experienced organic disciple can train them in the skills of following Jesus himself. They can point them to others who have specific experience that might be of use to them. And the more experienced organic Christian can begin to watch as Jesus comes to life in their soul. This, in turn means that the relationship becomes mutual, each learning to follow Jesus from the other.

  • Do you think equating the traditional form of Church leadership to slavery is overstating the case? Why and how?
  • Can you see how traditional leadership tends to isolate people from Christ rather than direct them to Him?
  • What would you do in the three stated scenarios?
  • Have you ever struggled getting a traditional Christian to actually follow Jesus instead of other people? Have you found ways of effectively connecting them to Christ without controlling them?
[1] I never recruit anyone, precisely because they don’t belong to me, they belong to Christ. I only try to disciple people in organic church planting who ask me to do so.

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An Adventure with Jesus

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Discipleship, Jesus is Lord, Viral Christianity, Worldview by rossrohde — 4 Comments
August 28, 2011

Are you ready to go on an adventure with Jesus?

In my last post We Haven’t Arrived Yet I suggested that we in the Western organic house church movement have a lot yet to learn. I view this whole situation positively. In fact, I think of what has happen in the Western organic church movement as being on an adventure with Jesus. I’d like to point out one of the issues I think we need to grow in.

One of the areas where I think Western culture in general and the Western church in particular is broken is in the area of teaching and learning. Instead of following the clear examples of Jesus in the Scriptures, we actually follow the Western teaching methods; what I call the university model.

What do I mean by this? We treat teaching as if it were a classroom experience. We download a bunch of information. We hope that those who are being taught catch some of what we are teaching and then we hope that they will go out and put it into practice. This is in stark contrast to what Jesus actually did. When Jesus wanted to teach a skill he modeled it, then he discussed it with his disciples, and then he immediately allowed those he was discipling to put it into practice. He didn’t send them home and hope they would put it into practice. He sent them on an immediate learning adventure. Next, after the disciples had gone on adventure with Jesus, he gathered them again and debriefed them to make sure they had learned their lessons. For an example of this read Lk 10:1-24. Repeat cycle as often as needed.

This is incredibly effective teaching. It is teaching through doing, not teaching through talking. I believe we need to get out of our Western taking heads mode of teaching and start replicating what Jesus actually modeled to us in the New Testament. Which is more important and powerful, Jesus’ model or the Western university model? Which is more practical? Which is most likely to lead to changed lives? Are the foundations of our learning with Jesus based on Jesus or Greek philosophy (which is the wellspring of the university method)? Personally I want my ministry behavior to be modeled on Jesus not Plato and Aristotle.

Further, I believe, and have experienced, Jesus actually leading this type of learning adventure in real time. What does that look like? Here are some suggestions.

  1. Gather as a group of friends and ask Jesus to lead you into his harvest.
  2. As a group listen intently to what you believe he is saying to you. Be ready to obey immediately.
  3. Use discernment (see I Cor. 14:29-33).
  4. Go out in pairs (Lk 10:1).
  5. Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.
  6. Immediately gather again and allow Jesus to debrief you (see points 1-3). If you are stuck in how to get the debrief started, here are three questions (What happened? How did you feel? What did you learn?).
  7. Repeat the process as often as necessary.

This is intended to be a cyclical learning process. It is intended to be learning by making mistakes (see Making Mistakes with Jesus). And, it should be fun. I personally believe we learn best by doing instead of learning by talking about a bunch of good concepts. And I believe it will lead to fruit much earlier and the learning will be much deeper.

  • Have you ever gone on an adventure with Jesus and some friends?
  • Are you as frustrated as I am about talking but not doing?
  • Have you ever noticed that we always want a little more information before we feel we are ready to actually do something? Where do you think that comes from?
  • Why do you think we are so reticent to make mistakes? Why don’t we welcome them as a learning experience?
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The Shirtless Guy

Filed Under: Christendom, Discipleship, House Church, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 2 Comments
July 20, 2011

Ed Stetzer recently wrote a blog Leadership Lessons from the Shirtless Guy (and Why It Makes Me Think of Neil Cole).

I won’t rewrite his blog, since did a great job the first time. But, I do think this video is not only funny but says a lot about what real leadership in a movement is like.

  • Are you currently involved in something that is exciting and may become a movement or is a movement?
  • Are you willing to be the shirtless guy?
  • Where are you in this paradigm, the shirtless guy, the first follower, the crowd?
  • What lessons about leadership can you learn from this video? Is this leadership as you have come to know it in the church?
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This is Discipling

Filed Under: Discipleship, Evangelism, Recommended Books, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 9 Comments
June 30, 2011

I wrote my upcoming book, Viral Jesus: Recapturing the Contagious Power of the Gospel[1], to answer a basic question; what will it take to once again see a viral movement of the Gospel in the West? Most Christians don’t realize the following facts:

  1. We have not had a viral movement of the Gospel in the West since the early 4th century.
  2. Christianity was designed by God to be a sustained viral movement and its first three centuries were exactly that.
  3. Christianity as a whole did not have a sustained viral movement of the Gospel between the Edict of Milan in 313 AD. and the Chinese House Church movement which started in 1949 (that’s 1,636 years).

So, if Christianity was designed to be viral movement, it was originally a sustained viral movement and it has become a viral movement again in other places (like China and India) outside the West, what will it take to once again see that happening here in the West?

What happened in the late 3rd Century and particularly at the Edict of Milan that stopped the Gospel from being what it was designed to be, viral in its spread? What are we unintentionally doing now that keeps it from being viral? What have our brothers in places like China and India learned that allows the Gospel to again spread rapidly and organically like seeds in a field or leaven in a lump of dough (Jesus’ original metaphors) or like a viral video?

Most of us are unaware of our own Christian history. Most are unaware of how different we are from the Early Church and their practices. In our minds this is the way it has always been. But, that is not true, our current practice is far different (in some ways almost the exact opposite) from what the Early Church did. And there are significant strategic consequences to those changes.

In Viral Jesus, I’m going to tell the story of our history, where the changes came from and why. I’m going to explain the changes in our theology focus and why they have damaged the ability of the Church to fulfill her commission from God. I’m going to explain what happened in China with real accounts from their exciting story. I’m going to tell real life stories of how this is just beginning to impact places like Western Europe and the United States. And, I’m going to explain how we too can once again recapture the strategic genius of the Early Church of our brothers in China, India and other non-Western Great Commission hot spots.

But, as a teaser I’m going to share this video that I became aware of recently. It captures some of what I am expressing in Viral Jesus. It doesn’t have the history, it doesn’t have the theology, it doesn’t the real life stories of how this is starting to happen here in the West or how it is succeeding in other areas of the globe; but it does begin to capture the essence of the strategic implications.

  • Are you aware that our current church practice is often almost the exact opposite of what the Early Church did? Do you know where these changes in practice came from and why?
  • Are you aware of how powerfully and virally the Gospel is spreading in places like China and India?
  • Are you aware that we are just beginning to see this kind of movement in West?
  • Do you know what those who are reaping this viral harvest are doing differently that the traditional practices we all know?
[1] The Viral Jesus release date in Feb. 2, 2012. You will be able to buy a copy from this blog.

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Teacher’s Assistant

Filed Under: Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 3 Comments
June 4, 2011

Your job is to be the Teacher's assistant

Jesus said: “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi, for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers” (Matt. 23:8). Ever thought about that? There is only really one Teacher. His name is Jesus. Here’s another thought. We are to make disciples (Matt. 28:18-20), but they are not our disciples, they are Jesus disciples. So where does that leave us in a discipleship relationship with less mature brothers? We aren’t the teacher, were just a brother or sister and we don’t make our disciples, we make disciples of Jesus. Here’s where I think it leaves us, as teacher’s assistants. Let me explain.

Pay Attention to the Teacher

If we are not the teacher, we are not in control of the discipleship process, the teacher (Jesus) is. Our job then is to pay close attention to what the Teacher is doing, with any given disciple, and in any given situation and assist. We don’t set the agenda or the curriculum, we let Him do it. This pretty much throws out discipleship manuals with sequential chapters and lessons. How can we know what the Teacher is going to do next? He can read the hearts of his disciples; we can’t. He knows where he intends to take them; we don’t. He knows their characters, gifts, abilities, histories and flaws; we can only see this partially. So, in place of the generic discipleship process, manual or agenda, we need to learn to pay attention to the Teacher and assist Him.

So what does this look like? First, we throw away the manuals. Second we pay attention to what is going on in the particular disciple’s life. What is God doing? What are the themes and the patterns? What questions do Jesus’ disciples have? What situations have they found themselves in and what does the Teacher have to say about all of this? That brings us to point three; we need to learn to listen to the Teacher as He is discipling his disciple. In the process of discipleship, we are constantly in prayer, particularly listening prayer. Jesus, what do you want me to do? What do I need to notice? What should I do about this situation? Should I say anything, or should I wait for a better moment?

A Real Life Example

One of the men with whom I’m currently in a discipleship relationship is Vitorio. The general theme of our discipleship relationship over the last few months has been God preparing him to be actively involved in evangelizing a specific apartment full of men. A couple of months ago God gave Vitorio a dream. You can read about this in Discipleship as Discernment.[1] By the end of our conversation in late March, we knew that God was directing him to this specific group. I sensed that God wanted him to pray specifically for these men before he attempted evangelism, so I said so. He did this for a week. He came back to me and reported that consistently as he prayed he had a sense of disquiet about the drinking that went on in that apartment. In the mean time, this particular apartment of guys had invited Vitorio to move in with them. Hmmm! We prayed together about this and we sensed that God was telling him that now was not the time to move in there because the drinking could harm his own immature spiritual walk. Vitorio continued to pray.

About a month and a half later his own roommates (Christians) kicked Vitorio out of his apartment because he wasn’t choosing to participate with them in rigid legalistic practices. Again the drinking apartment asked him to move in with him. Vitorio asked God what he should do. God gave him peace about moving into the apartment. He told the group he would move in but he was concerned about the drinking and he didn’t want to move in if there was going to be a bunch of partying. I wasn’t a part of this process; Vitorio and Jesus just did it together. They promised him that if he would move in they would not drink in the apartment.

Vitorio moved in and within a week the chief partier moved out. The men who stayed have become more and more open to spiritual things. Last night, as we discussed this situation, Vitorio felt that he wasn’t “expert” enough to preach the gospel to them although they were curious. This has been a consistent theme. I asked God about what I should say. He reminded me of one of my own personal philosophy of ministry statements, “whatever I have I can give away.” I told Vitorio you can only give them what you have. Is Jesus in your heart? Give them Jesus. I reminded him very briefly of the basic points about the Gospel and said tell them something like that. He thought he could do that. Then I assured him that if they came up with questions he couldn’t answer is was an opportunity for him to discuss these issues with me. He would grow, and through that growth he would then have something he could give away to them.

I never would have chosen this situation for Vitorio. I would have worried myself sick about him moving into a notorious party apartment. On my own I would never proactively suggest such a tactic. But Jesus knew better. Now Jesus is using Vitorio to plant seed in fertile soil, soil that has a lot of fertilizer in it. If I had tried to make Vitorio my disciple, and thought of myself as his teacher, I would have ruined everything. But, I’m only the teacher’s assistant, so I need to follow His lesson plans.

  • Do you feel confident enough to your ability to follow the Teacher’s lesson plans that you can throw away the manuals?
  • If you aren’t confident enough, what should you do about it?
  • This is not the way typical discipleship is done nowadays, what questions does it create in you, what insecurities?
  • If you are not in this type of discipleship relationship with others, with whom do you sense God prompting you to initiate a relationship?
[1] The Discipleship as Discernment post is developing similar themes and would be helpful to read as a companion post to this post.

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I Don’t Want to Die

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Discipleship, House Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 3 Comments
May 30, 2011

Can hardship be a blessing?

I often hear the same question over and over. Why can the house church planting movement grow in places like China and India but we in the West are not experiencing the same power and growth? The answer to the question is complex. First, there is a church planting movement in the West, even in America: see Is there a Church Planting Movement in America? by Neil Cole. So we are seeing the beginnings of a house church planting movement, but honestly, it doesn’t have the same power or fruitfulness yet as do our brothers in places like China and India. So, let me restate the question: why don’t we have the same power that our brethren in India and China have? I believe the answer to that question is going to be a bit uncomfortable. If you can’t stand hearing uncomfortable things, you can stop reading this blog now and instead go HERE.

For those of you who have made it to this paragraph, I’m going to offer you what I believe is a gift from God. It is the gift of brokenness. It is the gift that Jesus talks about in the beatitudes when he says blessed are the poor in Spirit. It is the gift that the prodigal son received by squandering every good thing he had by foolish living, but in the process found his father in a new way. It is the gift that the communist government of China has given our beloved brethren in China through cruel persecution and that our respected brethren in India have received through poverty and persecution. God, in his infinite mercy has given our brethren in those places a gift. It is the gift of being taken to that abject place where someone has to rely on God alone to survive.

Our brethren in India and China are probably not going to tell you that they enjoy abject poverty or being persecuted, even martyred. They’re going to tell you that it is awful. But they can also tell you story after story of what it is like to be at the point of having no human recourse and meeting Jesus who more than meets their need. And, they can tell you the stories of the fruit of such a life. So while they hate the pain of poverty and persecution, they are abundantly aware of the good that comes out of it. And the good that comes out of it is Jesus himself. It is the life of being broken to the point our only real recourse is Jesus and nothing more than Jesus. That is being taken to the point of real humility, of being poor in Spirit, and often that comes through real poverty, not having enough to eat the next day.

We in the West, and I honestly include myself in this group; really don’t want to actually go there. We’d like to romanticize it, just as long as we don’t have to actually experience it.  We really don’t want to actually get broken. We want to read about someone else who got broken, bore the fruit and admire them. But we don’t want to actually live there ourselves. And, because we don’t want to actually be broken, we haven’t allowed God to take us were he wants to take us…abject dependence and humility; in a word brokenness.

We want to replace poverty of spirit and sometimes the actual poverty that goes with it with cool techniques. We want to live our self sufficient Western lifestyle and still bear fruit like those who look only to Jesus for their sufficiency. We want someone to tell us how to do it (techniques) without the brokenness that goes with it. I’m sorry but the nut has to be cracked before it can germinate. Or, as Jesus said in John 12:23-25, the seed has to die to bear fruit. And, if we (and I do include myself in this) are honest with ourselves, we don’t want to die.

But our situation in the West is far different than the reality our brethren in the Philippines, Africa, Latin America, India or China face. We, at least those who are the privileged in our own society, have quite a bit of security. And the security that comes from good educations, suburban living, insurance etc, etc. isolates us from the God who wants to provide for us. Our brethren in other places have to live there no matter what. Most of us in Western societies are going to have to go there voluntarily. So our way of getting there is, in some ways more difficult. I’m not belittling our financially less fortunate brethren. I’m just saying we have a different set of obstacles to overcome.

If we really want to see the power and fruitfulness that our brethren enjoy, we are going to have to voluntarily embrace the pain of humility and brokenness. In the West that is going to look different for each individual. Some God is going to call to give up suburbia and move to the inner city. Others God will call to give up all their wealth and embrace intentional poverty like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19: 16-28. That was what God asked of St. Francis of Assisi.  But he won’t call all of us to that; it’s individual and it will be voluntary. Other’s he will call away from the security of our positions, titles and status. Others he will call to live by faith not by a paycheck. Others it will be moving to a place we do not particularly like (overseas, or a different state or different neighborhood), or away from the security of our family; or taking our children to a place that is less than ideal. To some it will be a call to living in community. It will be individual. It is not a cookie cutter experience. We will find out the thing or things that God is calling us to through intimacy with Him. But those He calls he disciplines. If we want to follow Him, we have to take up a cross. We in the West need to embrace the hardship of discipline and the discipline of hardship; because without it we will never bear the fruit that we all long for.

  • Do you believe we can bear abundant fruit without the discipline and hardship that goes with it? Do you believe we can skip bearing a cross by embracing the right techniques?
  • Do you agree that in the West our calling to die will be more individual than in other places where hardship is a given?
  • What do you sense God calling you to and have your embraced that call or do you find responding difficult?
  • What do you think is the difference between the hardship of discipline and the discipline of hardship?
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One Criterion

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 6 Comments
May 25, 2011

Lots of things can be done in this space. Are they the most effective way of making disciples?

Most Christians are familiar with Jesus’ Great Commission found in Matt. 28:18:20:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

And most Christians are aware that the key command in the Great Commission is “make disciples.” Everything else, baptizing, teaching to obey, where we are to do such things (all nations), describes what making disciples entails. But I’d like to suggest that this key component of the Great Commission, making disciples, should also be a key criterion for evaluating what we do, and how we do it. Let me put it in the question form. Is what I am doing the most effective thing I can do to make disciples of Jesus Christ?

I would like to suggest that much of what we do is often not put through this lens and consequently much of what we do ends up being superfluous, or pointless, or not particularly effective. And, often the things we spend the most time, effort and money on doesn’t really help much in making disciples and therefore may need to be evaluated to see if it is superfluous, pointless or a waste of time, effort and money.

Let me give a couple of examples. I know of churches which have spent literally millions of dollars to build the new gymnasium, or education wing or sanctuary but to do so have severely cut or eliminated the missions and evangelism budget. Does a new gym (you can replace “gym” with “sanctuary” or “education wing”) really ramp up our ability to make disciples? Is some program we want to do in the new gym so incredibly effective at making disciples, it requires a new dedicated facilities? Can’t we do that ministry at some existing gym? Is what we are going to do in this gym really making us more effective at disciple making?

If we were to ask ourselves what the point of the new facilities was, we would list of activities that would occur there. Most might be marginally construed to be helpful in making disciples, some would not. Probably most of it would be self justification. But couldn’t we make disciples as effectively or even more effectively without the building and expenditure of time, effort and money? Could we make disciples more effectively by changing what they are doing or do it somewhere else?

Here’s another example; the main expense of most churches is their facilities and their staff. The ministry of most churches is focused on the church service which in turn revolves around a sermon. Does hearing a sermon really make effective disciples? I’m not against sermons, I actually like to preach. But if I do preach, I don’t delude myself into thinking it is particularly effective at making disciples. I’m just fitting in to what has already been planned.

Preaching, if we are honest with ourselves, is a very ineffective form of teaching; and an even less effective way of making disciples. It is effective at two things, giving a lot of information to a large group of people, and if done well, being entertaining. But, honestly, giving a large download of information to a large group of people is seldom an effective discipleship tool. Entertainment is just a bit of fun. I enjoy good public speaking, but I don’t delude myself into thinking it is the best possible way to make a disciple. And, consequently it is very low on my discipleship behavior choices.

What would our activities look like if we were actually asking ourselves, is what I am doing the most effective thing I can do to make disciples of Jesus Christ? I believe it would be much simpler, much more interactive, and a whole lot cheaper.

Dedicated buildings don’t make more effective disciples of Jesus Christ. Let me say it again, dedicated buildings don’t make more effective disciples of Jesus Christ. How much money in the Western Church is tied up in facilities? I’m sure it’s in the billions of dollars. What would happen if all of that money was spent on apostolic ministry and doing good in the name of Jesus? What would happen is we would make a ton of disciples and Jesus would be glorified. We would have a whole lot better reputation with those who don’t know Jesus. And I believe we’d find that when the Church got out of all of those dedicated buildings, Christians would start maturing faster.

What if we quit trying to have a Sunday school programs and started discipling parents on how to disciple their children? The more mature disciplers who were discipling the parents, would grow in their faith, the parents would grow in their faith and so would the kids. And, you’d probably have closer more loving families. Yet, how much effort do we put into Sunday school programs?

These are just a few examples. But I believe we need to quit making our decisions based on what has always been done or what seems like the next new flashy thing to do and start making decisions on one important criterion; is what I am doing the most effective thing I can do to make disciples of Jesus Christ?

  • What do you think the main criteria are for ministry making decisions?
  • What would be your top three list of things we commonly do that really aren’t helping much in making disciples?
  • Now, thinking of your top three, what could you do to make them more effective, simpler and more interactive? Would that end up making them less costly and time consuming?
  • How much of what your church (or you) are currently doing is focused on making more effective disciples of Jesus Christ? Is any of it activity for activity’s sake or for tradition’s sake?
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