Category: Organic Church


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.
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

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?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Professionalism Must Die

Filed Under: Christendom, Church Life, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Organic Church by rossrohde — 10 Comments
January 3, 2012

Setting aside the clergy role is hard.

This morning one of my friends and I were talking on the phone about a project he is involved in. He and his friends are intentionally trying to develop a missional community. One of the participants is a part of the professional clergy. In discussing the vision of the community my friend and I ended up discussing the difficulty those in the “professional clergy” or those of us who are “ex-professionals” have in stepping out of the professional role.

Organic ministry is whole-life ministry. It is not something you do as much as someone you are. It is not a job you do, as much as a life you live. It is not a role we play as much an adventure we live. And, our relationship with those on the journey with us is not defined by positions and job responsibilities, they are just our friends in same community and on the same ministry adventure with us. For those who are steeped in professional ministry this can be a hard transition to make.

The Clergy Role

First, it is difficult to step out of the role of clergy. When you have been “the clergy” it becomes part of your identity. One just assumes that they will play a leadership role. Let’s be honest, we enjoy being the big shot. We like being the one with all the answers. Being quiet and allowing others to express what Jesus has put on their hearts is hard. We find ourselves filling in all silent spaces with our ideas. We find ourselves taking charge…even when we are diligently trying not to do so.

Worse yet, those who have not been professional clergy, but are accustomed to the system, have been trained to look to the professionals for the answers. They are used to some being leaders and some being followers. It becomes easy to allow others to take the lead and therefore the risk of being wrong or making mistakes. This leads to an unintentional passivity which must be overcome if someone is going to actually be part of an organic missional community.

Knowing but Not Really Knowing

I can only speak from the position of being ex-clergy. My own experience, and the information I’ve gained from other friends who are ex-clergy in an organic ministry setting tells me that we have a problem of knowing about the problem but not really knowing the problem. Let me explain. We know intellectually we need to be quiet so others can speak. We know in our heads that if we talk too much or dominate the conversation we will stifle the Spirit in others. We know that, but we do it anyway. We know with our heads but it really hasn’t filtered down into our hearts yet, so it isn’t part of our unconscious behavior. Therefore, the problem keeps coming up. Let me restate that differently; we keep becoming a problem. And, we end up beating ourselves up about it.

There is a flip side to this issue as well. Most people currently involved in organic ministry are ex-lay people. That is to say they have learned to let the clergy do the work. They too, if they come to understand organic ministry, realize that they should participate more, but they are so used to being passive that they struggle to not just be bumps on a log. They wait for someone else to “take over.” This doesn’t help the missional community, the ex-clergy or the Kingdom. We all need each other. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” (I Cor. 12:21). In fact, one of the great weaknesses I’ve seen in those new to organic ministry is that they look for some great leader who will produce spectacular results so they can join in and bask in the glow of successful ministry. In other words, they are waiting for a “great leader” to come along so they can be a part of a great ministry. Consequently, when things aren’t spectacular, or don’t produce exciting fruit soon enough, they are off looking for the next cool thing. This is just another expression of being a passive person waiting for a human leader to take over. It is a result of our clergy/laity system.

Suggestions

So, what do we do about this? I have three suggestions. First, everyone needs to participate. There is no room for big leaders and there is no room for the passive in organic ministry. We all play a part and we are all equally important. Second, give yourselves some space. Most of us have the “system” baked into our bones. It is going to take awhile to unlearn what we have learned. Gently and graciously help each other be less passive or less in charge, whichever the problem might be. And remember we can understand with our heads long before it filters down to our heart. Be patient and gentle with each other. Finally, remember in organic ministry there is only one leader; his name is Jesus (for more on this see: Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church).We are all part of the body but Jesus is the head. Learn to follow him and only him and a lot of these problems will slowly go away.

  • Have you noticed the problem of ex-clergy taking over and ex-lay people being passive? What are you doing about it?
  • Have you ever noticed that we can “know about the problem” but not really know about the problem? That is to say we can understand the problem intellectually but still struggle with it?
  • If Jesus is going to lead, what skills will we need to develop to learn to follow him?
  • Who do you think has the harder time learning to be part of the body, the ex-clergy or the ex-lay person?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

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.

Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Is Organic Church a Fad?

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Church History, House Church, Organic Church, Simple Church, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity, Worldview by rossrohde — 8 Comments
July 25, 2011

Is organic church only a fad?

Is organic church just the latest fad, in restless Western Christendom, to find a way out of our decline? When I was in Spain, every new idea was greeted with a roll of the eyes. The Spanish church leaders had “had it up to here” with the Americans coming with the next new fad that was going to revolutionize the church. Some missionaries wanted to introduce rock music or at least electric guitars. Others assured them that their para-church organization had the cool technique that would change Spain from resistance to responsiveness. Others were sure that if we could just go against the current, and adopt some of the look and feel of the emergent church, Spanish youth would flock to them. And cells, let’s not forget about cells. If we just have cell groups in our church we can change the situation over night. All of this was met with a shrug of the shoulders, a roll of the eyes and a rather cynical puff of breath…and with good reason.

We Americans have a bad habit of jumping on bandwagons until the next more colorful, exciting bandwagon comes along. We loved the new, the exciting, the trendy. Just give us the new technique in three easy steps, and we are ready to take it to the world…until it doesn’t work as advertized. Then we just look for a bandwagon that will go from zero to sixty miles per hour in 6 seconds flat, or one to which we can just add water and have an instant effective church. In other words, we just look for the next cool technique. My Spanish brethren had us Americans figured out and they were pretty tired of it.

While I am sensitive, and more than a bit in agreement with my Spanish brethren, as well as others around the world who have “had it up to here” with the faddish, the trendy and the instant; I’d like to offer another perspective. What would happen if we stopped looking at changes in the Church in the last 200 years, or so (more particularly in the last 40), as a series of unique changes and looked for the hand of the Holy Spirit in a long term trend? What if cell church didn’t stand alone from emergent church or the rise of para-church organizations? What if all of this was really a step by step process under the guidance of the Holy Spirit? In other words, what if the Holy Spirit is moving us in a direction, not skipping around randomly?

Here’s the long term trend I see in Western Christendom’s response to the Holy Spirit (at least some important steps along the way).

  • The 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings (1730-40’s – 1800-1820’s): Beginning of the easing of the clergy’s stranglehold on all ministry and the awakening of the heart to supernatural power in religious experience.
  • The foreign missions movement and the rise of para-church organizations (1780’s to present): re-acknowledgement of our role and responsibility in the Great Commission.
  • The Pentecostal Movement (1906-Present): Recognition of the, importance, intimacy and power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Cell Church (1970’s to present): recognition of the power of small intimate groups.
  • Emergent Church: (1990’s- present) recognition of the need for an expression of Christianity that makes sense in the postmodern world.
  • House Church (1950 [China], 2000 [West]-present): a return to New Testament’s simple ecclesiology and the God given organic design of the Church. This gives an adequate structure to allow for sustained viral movement of the Gospel.[1]

Note how each step builds on the predecessors to for the needed structure, insight, practice or behavior to accomplish what God is asking those involved to do. I don’t believe any of the subsequent steps could have occurred without the previous ones already in place.

As with all movements of God, these are both divine movements and human. Each has its strengths while reflecting human frailty and error. And, as with any time one tries to note historical trends; this is an over simplification. I’ve expressed these in simple steps for clarity; not for pinpoint historical accuracy. Nevertheless, I believe God is at work and we need to take a long term historical perspective and join with Him in what He is doing.

  • Has it ever occurred to you to take a long term perspective of what God may be doing in history?
  • Did you ever notice how any of these historical trends were related to each other?
  • Denominations often tend to get stuck in the forms and practices associated with their foundation. What happens when this happens?
  • Where do you sense God moving you in this overall movement of the Spirit?
[1] This is the premise of my book Viral Jesus: Recapturing the Contagious Power of the Gospel. The book will be released 2/2/12 by Chrisma House.

Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

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?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Spiritual Blindness

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Organic Church, Viral Christianity, Worldview by rossrohde — 5 Comments
July 6, 2011

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

In John Chapter 9 Jesus heals a man born blind. It’s an incredible miracle. One would think that everyone who found out about it would be amazed and rejoice at what God had done. That’s not what happened. The religious leaders of the time ended up becoming very angry at the man who had been healed. They even hurled insults the previously blind man (v. 28). How could they not see what was right before their eyes? In a subsequent conversation with the healed man, Jesus accuses those who think they see as being blind, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind” (v. 39).  This really angered the religious leaders which precipitated Jesus final statement on the subject of spiritual blindness, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (v. 41).

It is very easy to condemn the Pharisees; how could they not see what was going on before their very eyes. But this same kind of spiritual/psychological/emotional blindness is going on every day. So I’d like to give my answer on how religious people can be blind to what God is doing before their very eyes, and when it is brought to their attention, why they become angry instead of rejoice.

We humans are creatures of habit and we tend toward mental laziness. Once we have come to believe that something is true, and have developed an internal logic to explain it; we are loath to change our minds. This “internal logic” is called a plausibility structure. It is a mental framework that has reasonable answers for all the questions we ask ourselves. Our plausibility structures give us plausible, i.e. seeming reasonable or probable, answers. The problem is that plausibility structures may have seemingly reasonable or probable answers to all the questions we ask, but the structure itself may not be completely aligned with reality. But, since our structure has a plausible (and satisfying) answer to our questions, we mistake emotionally satisfying plausibility for truth. They are not the same thing.

Consequently, when someone comes along and asks a new question or demonstrates a reality that doesn’t fit our plausibility structure, we find ourselves in a very uncomfortable situation. To change our plausibility structure requires a lot of emotional energy. Further, when it is challenged we find ourselves in a place of ambiguity or confusion, which is very uncomfortable. Worse, we might have to admit that we were wrong; and nobody likes to do that.

The normal but fleshly response to all of this is to lash out in anger. The deeper, and frankly lazier the acceptance to a plausibility structure is, the hotter the anger. The Pharisees had a plausibility structure which helped them understand the Old Testament Law and their relationship with God. The problem was that while it had a clear internal logic, it wasn’t perfectly aligned with God’s reality in the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus came along and through his life and actions completely disrupted their plausibility structure. The majority lashed out in anger because their plausibility structure was disrupted. A few, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea suspended their plausibility structure, and endured the pain of ambiguity and potentially being wrong, long enough to really listen. It was life changing.

Here’s how to tell if plausibility structures exist and are being threatened; look for hot, angry arguments. This is as true in religion as it is in things like politics and worldview. Modernists argue with postmodernists because plausibility structures are being questioned. Republicans argue with Democrats (and vise versa) because plausibility structures are at stake. Calvinists argue with Arminians (and vise versa), not necessarily because of reality, as much as plausibility structures. And organic church people end up in arguments with more traditional Christians (and vise versa), because plausibility structures are being exposed. Very little of this honors God.

So what’s the solution? Do we stop challenging plausibility structures? No, Jesus was pretty good at that. I think the solution is to not act like the worst of the Pharisees. We need to not be so lazy and volatile that we refuse to graciously pay attention to statements that challenge our plausibility structures. That’s what Nicodemus did, and it was wise. To do so does not make us wishy washy. It doesn’t mean we don’t believe things firmly. It means that we are truth seekers, who are willing to readjust our plausibility structures to accommodate new ideas and new questions if they honestly take us closer to God’s reality. That’s wisdom, and it is painful.

  • Should those who believe the truth be offended by new observations or questions?
  • Do you believe that any human has a complete lock on the absolute truth?
  • Can someone be mostly right but still need to readjust their understanding of truth?
  • What’s the best way to discern truth when a new observation or question is asked?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Setting Parameters

Filed Under: Jesus is Lord, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 7 Comments
June 15, 2011

Setting parameters is just part of good Western leadership practice.

A Personal Story

I was a typical missionary for 25 years. I live in three countries outside my native United States (Mexico, Guatemala and Spain). My experience was pretty normative for a missionary. I worked with a fine organization who took pride in taking care of their missionaries, and they did. They took the currently popular idea of servant leadership very seriously. While I had some bad experiences with leadership, usually on the local team level, I must admit that my interaction with the home office leadership was always filtered through this concept of them trying to do the best they could for “their missionaries.”

I mention this because the story I’m about to tell doesn’t come out of bitterness or anger. I’m going to be telling a story, without mentioning names, about really good people; people who sincerely love Jesus. Rather, I’m telling it because I believe it highlights a blind spot we Westerners have to the problems our own Western paradigm creates with our relationship with the Lord.

God began to call me to simple/organic church while I was a missionary in Spain. At first, for me, organic church was just a model, one which didn’t conflict with the emerging postmodern worldview of Europe and the rest of Western culture. After having studied, written and trained on postmodernism extensively, it just made sense to me. As opposed to every other church “model” out there, simple churches just didn’t have any significant barriers to postmodern culture. Still, in my mind it was just the most logical option among a host of models.

Then God actually gave me a supernatural call to “house church.” I won’t go into that experience but suffice it to say that it was powerful and began me on a journey away from thinking of simple church as a mere model to a new spirituality and way of life that was distinct from anything I had experienced before. As I began to filter my own life, experience, ministry and relationship with the Lord through this new paradigm, I began to become more and more uncomfortable with the way things had always been done.

I’ve always wanted to live what I actually believe. So, I began to live according to what I felt God was teaching me about simple, organic relationship with Him. Specifically, I began a simple practice of actually listening to him in real time and obeying what I thought he was telling me. This, as opposed to what my normal Western business based spiritual practice of setting goals and objectives to govern my ministry decisions. An interesting thing began to happen. I began to bear much more fruit; but that fruit came from new and strange situations. I began to have divine appointments. I would just happen to meet people “out of the blue” that I needed to meet. I found that if I just obeyed what I felt God was leading me towards, things just fell in place. My life took on a new supernatural edge. And my life began to be exciting and spiritual, rather than the dull grind of making things happen.

Still, for three years, out of obedience to my mission, I submitted one year, two year and five year objectives. None of these preplanned objectives were met; not one. Yet, I moved in to the most fruitful time of my missionary life. The fruit was coming from listening and obeying the inner voice of the Spirit, not “following the objective process.” I was also experiencing more and more inner turmoil which I was beginning to recognize as coming from God. I finally got to the point of asking God to release me from the pointless burden of the objective process. His answer: not yet.

After three years of this I felt that God was allowing me to talk to the leadership of the mission about my inner turmoil. I was allowed to ask for permission to live according to the principles I found in the Bible of simply listening and obeying. If I was allowed to live like this, in simple obedience to Jesus, I could stay in the mission. If not, I would be released from a context which was not allowing me to live what I was actually seeing modeled in Scripture.

I met with one of the Vice Presidents and another leader of our mission. I told them the story I’ve just told you. Actually it was expressed as a series of questions.

Me: Are you aware that in that last three years I have not fulfilled one single written goal I’ve submitted in the objective process?

VP: Yes.

Me: Are you aware that that same three years corresponds to the most productive time in my ministry life?

VP: Yes.

Me: Do you realize that this productivity comes from me learning to listen to the Lord and just obey what He is asking me to do; even on short notice.

VP: No, I wasn’t aware of that.

Me: Well, that’s what’s happening. And, I’d like to ask permission to just skip the objective process and just listen to the Lord and obey what he is telling me to do.

VP: (and this is a direct quote) I can’t imagine anyone being allowed to be in (name of mission) without following the objective process.

And I was free at last. Here’s my point. He who sets the parameters is the lord. If we tell Jesus he has to use the objective process, or any other set of parameters, we have, without thinking about it, made ourselves lord. Jesus has become the servant to our parameters. Without intending to, we have set ourselves over God.

It is not just the objective process that does this. Any time we tell God he has to do it our way, the denominational way, the simple church way…any specific way, we have set ourselves up as God and him as our servant. Do you think that’s wise?

  • Review your own way of doing things, have you set up parameters that you expect God to honor?
  • Have you learned to listen to God and obey in real time?
  • Are divine appointments and other supernatural events a normal part of your spiritual life?
  • If they are not, do you long for this type of life?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

Critical Skill Set

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Jesus is Lord, New Covenant, Organic Church, Our Covenant With God, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism by rossrohde — 16 Comments
June 7, 2011

In the objective process human planning is the key.

Organic ministry is very different than what most of us have become used to. There is a holistic logic to organic ministry which escaped me until I actually started doing organic ministry. I ended up learning to do organic ministry by doing organic ministry. And I ended up learning how it was different from traditional ministry by trying to do organic ministry using the skill set I had been trained in. I quickly found out that the skill set I brought to organic ministry was worse than useless in an organic context. I say worse than useless because it actually got in the way of effective organic ministry.

Before I talk about the critical skill set of organic ministry, I need to state what the critical skill set of traditional ministry is, which is not helpful in organic ministry. Traditional ministry is based on a logic and premise that is dangerous in organic ministry. The premise is that we humans can decide what needs to be done and how we need to do it. Since humans are the ones making the critical decisions we humans need to organize our behavior is such a way that we maximize our efforts. With this premise firmly (but probably not consciously) in place in our minds, we then set out to look for sources who can give us a skill set which will help us maximize our human effort.

Currently in the Western world those who are best at maximizing human effort is the business world. So, we go to the business world and copy their business skill set. What skill set do they offer us? It is commonly called the “objective process.” It is a logical system of organized skills which do indeed maximize human effort. So, we learn how to set time bound and quantifiable goals and objectives. We learn how to interlock short term goals with long term goals and the overall philosophy of our corporation…errr I mean ministry. We learn administration skills and management skills and leadership skills, ad nauseum. We read the latest business books and then we try to incorporate their principles into our ministry.

Here’s the problem. Jesus is Lord, we are not. If we do ministry as it is described and modeled in the New Testament, we don’t make the critical decisions, we discern what God wants done and we obey. We can do this because God tells us what to do by speaking into our hearts and minds. He does this because we are in a new covenant relationship with Him. Let me give you an example, one of many, from the Scriptures:

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.  So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.  During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:6-10).

The critical skill set that Paul and his friend were using was discernment. They needed to discern what God was telling them to do. They didn’t make up ministry, God did. They didn’t decide; they obeyed. They didn’t actually work in their own human effort, then maximize that effort; they worked in God’s supernatural power.

But the critical skill set in this organic ministry paradigm is discernment. Note the phrases that indicate they were listening, discerning and obeying: they were kept by the Holy Spirit… they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to… Paul had a vision; concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. And note the obedience: After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia.

None of this implies, let alone explicitly demonstrates current corporate ministry practice. There were no goals and objectives, job effectiveness descriptions, philosophy of ministry statements (although they knew what he was doing and why). Instead, they listened with their hearts and minds, discerned and obeyed.

Discernment, the critical skill set of actually obeying Jesus the Lord in a new covenant relationship, is almost never even mentioned nowadays. When was the last time you heard the word in a ministry context? Where can you find training or clear writing on discerning the voice of the Lord in the current Western church?[1] We need to relearn this critical skill set and begin to train each other in it if we are to actually learn to follow Jesus the Lord into ministry.[2]

  • Why do you think we have become so ignorant of the discernment skill set in current Western ministry?
  • When was the last time you heard about a seminar on discernment skills?
  • Have you ever been explicitly trained in discernment skills? Where would you go to find training in this skill set?
  • Would you want to learn more about discerning the voice and will of the Lord and obeying?
[1] The Catholics have a whole genre of literature and extensive training courses and ministries focused specifically on these issues. And, their writing and training is extremely good and sound theologically. It is much better than anything developed in the Evangelical world (which says almost nothing on this issue) or the Charismatic world, which does a little something with this issue.

[2] Felicity Dale is starting to scratch this itch. She is working on an ebook focused on hearing God. You can find out more here. Thank you Felicity.

Did you like this? Share it:
Comment

How Elders Act and Reproduce

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Church History, Discipleship, New Covenant, Organic Church, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 7 Comments
April 27, 2011

A good elder watches over the sheep.

In my last post, What is an Elder Really? I discussed how the meaning of the word “elder” has changed over time to mean something which was not intended in the New Testament. I concluded with this paragraph: An elder, then, is a more mature Christian. And such a mature Christian would use their maturity to serve others, coming from a position of humility and weakness, not from any position of apparent strength, title, power or positional authority. To do otherwise would be to set aside Jesus strict instructions about how “greater” (i.e. more mature) people were to behave. In my next post I’ll talk about how such people actually behaved and the important role they play in organic church.

How New Testament elders behaved

A New Testament elder was a more mature Christian. As such, they had much to give those who were less mature. Their goal was to lead newer, less mature Christians to maturity, which, in reality, meant lead them deeper into a relationship with Jesus. In doing so, they watched over the younger Christians. This is where we get the word “overseer” episkopos, which is also translated “bishop”. Sadly, even in translating it into the word “overseer” we get the idea in English of being over someone else positionally or having power over them. That’s not the idea. They watch over new Christians the way a shepherd watches over sheep. Here’s how James put it:

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock (I Pet. 5:1-3).

A good elder led not by power, but by example. You don’t need power, position or control to lead by example. You just need to be a good example. Furthermore, elders watched over the less mature Christians like a loving shepherd watched over sheep; looking out for trouble, finding any way they could to protect them. Again, no power is needed to serve in this way. What was needed was a servant’s heart and influence. Influence needs no power. It is a gift given to those who have it, by those who are being influenced. You have influence when people give it to you. No amount of power, position or title can give you influence. These things can only give you coercive power. To use coercive power is to “lord over,” what Jesus told us never to do in Luke 22: 24-27.

One last thing should be said about this verse. Elders or overseers are to shepherd the flock. The word shepherd is the same word we also translate pastor. Here it is being used as a verb, denoting the action a good elder takes. This verse has been used to suggest that an elder, a bishop and a pastor are all the same thing. That’s not actually true. A pastor is a person with the spiritual gift of pastor, mentioned exactly once in the New Testament (Eph. 4:11-13). A person with the pastoral spiritual gift is gifted to take care of the emotional and relational needs of those in the flock. This behavior is also easily explained using the metaphor of a shepherd. Elders watch over the flock through maturity and influence; those with the pastoral spiritual gift care for the flock through the use of their spiritual gift. The word pastor is never used in the New Testament as a noun, or as a verb,  to describe someone with positional power, as it is commonly used today.

How New Testament elders reproduced organically

To lead a person deeper into a relationship with Jesus, the main function of an elder, is to disciple them. This is the basic function of discipleship. But it is discipleship though life, by example, not the mere downloading of information, which has become so common today. It is better described as training. It is the way a kind, wise master carpenter would teach an apprentice. No amount of book learning will teach someone how to build a house. For that you have to handle wood, hammers, nails and saws until you are good at it.

In the same way, elders discipled less mature Christians to become closer to Jesus. They taught them the skills necessary to actually follow Jesus himself in a new covenant relationship. When they showed the deep lifestyle maturity described in I Tim 3:1-7, which is the natural outflow of being in an abiding relationship with Jesus, they were mature enough to be considered elders themselves. Note that this is measured by life skill/godly behavior, in other words, spiritual maturity. Oh, and one other thing, the ability to teach or train others to mature spiritually the same way. When elders teach immature Christians to become elders, they have reproduced themselves organically, because they have reproduced according to their own kind.

  • Most of us don’t think about pastors, elders and bishops this way even though that is what is being described in the New Testament; why?
  • Nowadays it is much more common to use the word “elder” as a member of a congregational churches board of directors. Can you see this described anywhere in the New Testament?
  • Does it make sense to you how in organic church no titles, positions or human power is necessary?
  • In the New Testament the descriptive words for Christians were an issue of maturity “elder,” function “overseer,” or spiritual gift “pastor,” “apostle,” “prophet,” etc. None carried the idea of power or position. Could you be comfortable in such a spiritual ambiance?
Did you like this? Share it:
Comment
Powered by WordPress | Theme: Motion by 85ideas.