Category: Simple 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.
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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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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.

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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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The Public Invisibility Motif

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 1 Comment
June 22, 2011

They need to see through us to see Jesus.

Dan Smith, in a comment sent to my post Setting Parameters, discussed the differences between simple church life and ministry in more traditional churches:

Another major difference is the embracing of invisibility in ministry. While Jesus emphasized secrecy in prayer, giving, good works, etc in the Sermon on the Mount, almost everything I did as a conventional church pastor (preaching, teaching, worship leading, outreach etc) was intended for public consumption.

Dan makes a good point; there really is something to Jesus’ invisibility motif. Jesus warned us away from focusing attention on ourselves. Jesus had a laser like focus on his Father. He wanted us to do the same thing. When we have a laser like focus on God, we tend to point others in the same direction. Humility isn’t thinking poorly of ourselves; it isn’t thinking of ourselves at all. It is focusing on God and others.

Further, there is a deep power in secrecy, in invisibility. I believe this power is both sociological and spiritual. Sociologically we build mistrust when we try to gain attention to ourselves through good works. When we hype them, those who the beneficiaries of the good works and those who are on the sidelines wonder what our hidden agenda is. What’s in it for us? Why are we doing this? The suspicion is that we are just trying to gain attention for ourselves. And that suspicion may very well be on point. Is our attention focused like a laser on Jesus, or are we focusing somewhere else.

But there is a deeper spiritual issue. It is one of trust. Can we trust a supernatural God to bring about in public what we pray about in secret? But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Matt. 6:6). Do you trust God to fulfill your prayers, or do you need to go make something happen? Jesus is telling us we can pray in secret and see real results in public.

When we fast it is not intended to impress those around us. “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:17-18). Can we trust God to fulfill what we are fasting for without us making an issue of it? The same could be said about giving. We don’t need to make an issue of how much we give, because that’s not the point.

On the other hand, there was also what seemed to be an opposite emphasis in Jesus’ teaching? “Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.  For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light” (Lk. 8:16-17). Is Jesus speaking out of both sides of his mouth? No, I don’t think so. I think there are a few lessons built into this public invisibility motif.

  1. Our focus is on God, not ourselves.
  2. We don’t do anything to impress others, particularly other Christians.
  3. We have a supreme confidence that God is the power behind our prayers, what we pray in a closed room will become reality in public.
  4. Since we want those who don’t know Christ to know him, we aren’t shy about proclaiming him with a beautiful life, which reflects his life and beautiful words, which reflects his words. Our life and words should make this a public issue…graciously.
  5. Since we aren’t doing anything duplicitous or evil, we shouldn’t be afraid of anyone knowing what we are up to and why. That we don’t need to hide. On the other hand, we don’t need to talk about it either. We don’t need to defend ourselves if we aren’t doing anything wrong.

So, we don’t need to hide anything because we aren’t doing anything shameful. In fact, we want the world to know what we do because we want them to know Who is behind it. But, we don’t do anything to bring glory to ourselves, only to God. And, we trust in him and his power to bring things about, not our cleverness and effort.

How are we doing nowadays in fitting within Jesus public invisibility motif?

  • In Dan’s statement “almost everything I did as a conventional church pastor … was intended for public consumption? What public do you think Dan was talking about, Christian or non-Christian? How does that fit with Jesus’ public invisibility motif?
  • Do our actions speak of supreme trust in a God who can hear our prayers and notice our secret fast and bring about the answer in public?
  • How much of typical Christian behavior is consciously or unconsciously intended on impressing other Christians?
  • Does our life speak of a laser like focus on glorifying God?
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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?
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The Supermarket Sniff Test

Filed Under: Christendom, Church History, Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism by rossrohde — 2 Comments
May 16, 2011

Can you do it here?

What defines essential simple church practice and ecclesiology? What differentiates us from our more traditionally based legacy brethren? First, I believe it is that we go back to the Bible as our sole source for ecclesiological practice. Second, we return to the historically accurate understanding of terms such as elder, pastor, apostle etc. But that becomes rather academic and detail prone and open to nitpicky arguments about what exactly does the word ______ mean or how exactly did the Early Church do XY and Z. I’m not against such discussions. A number of my posts have been exactly about these kinds of issues. So obviously I believe we should engage in such thinking and even debate. Nevertheless, I think we need a good simple church practice sniff test. Something that is so simple that we can quickly use it to help us determine if this is a necessary part of our practice or not. I think I’ve come up with this sniff test.

Necessary vs. Acceptable

However, I do want to first differentiate the difference between what is necessary ecclesiological practice and acceptable practice. In a healthy simple church, is it necessary to use a guitar or any musical instrument in worship? No, it’s acceptable by not necessary. Musical practice of any sort isn’t necessary, but often times profitable and enjoyable. So I want to be clear that I’m talking about a test that helps us determine the answer to the following question: is the practice of X indispensible in a simple church? Is it something we should do?

The Supermarket Sniff Test

Here is what I’m proposing for the simple church ecclesiological sniff test. Can you practice it in the cereal aisle of Safeway?[1] Whatever it is that you think needs to be done as church; can you do it in such a public setting?

Let me give a couple of examples of the Safeway sniff test. Should we teach in a simple church? Can you teach someone in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Sure, it’s just done through dialog and doesn’t require a pulpit, an overhead projector, a suit or robe and a loud sonorous voice. Should you pray in a simple church? Can you pray for someone in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Sure. I’d suggest that one were gracious to the casual non-participants pushing their shopping carts, but I’ve prayed for friends on the street or contexts like Safeway. Can you pray for healing in Safeway? Yes, I’ve done it, at least in a department store. It wasn’t flashy and loud but it could be done graciously and discreetly. Can you prophecy at Safeway. Sure. Can you cast out demons in Safeway? Now, were pushing the edge of our test. I’d be very careful about this and make sure that Jesus was directing me to do so. Not out of fear of embarrassment but out of desire to not humiliate the person being ministered to. But, Jesus did this very publically, as did the apostles. And, in the right circumstance, and under the direction of Jesus, I’d do it too.

What this test really does is helps us weed out unnecessary traditional practices that don’t necessarily add anything to the effectiveness of ministry. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, they often hinder effective ministry. Do we need a pulpit to do any effective ministry? No. I really can’t see anything pulpits add to effective ministry. Do we need choir robes? Do we need a sermon? Do we need clergy? Does someone need to be an official clergy to help someone they encountered in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Do they need titles or a seminary education? None of these things are essential, many actually hinder effective ministry.

Let’s just use a seminary education for example. I’ve had to unlearn much of the traditions and practices I learned in seminary to become actually effective in real life ministry outside of the cloistered, unreal vacuum of traditional church ministry. Honestly, most (but not all) of what is taught in seminary is only useful for ministering to people who are tradition bound Christians. Much is actually harmful to ministering to non-Christians and much of what is transferred through seminary trained traditions and practices ends up creating weak, ineffective Christians.  And, the good things I did learn in seminary, I could easily teach in a house church setting to any basically literate person. Much doesn’t even require literacy.

Now do we need Jesus’ power and direction to do ministry in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Yes and again I say yes! It’s absolutely indispensible. Yet, that’s something we’ve become far too used to ministering without. We rely on special buildings, furniture, clothing, titles, positions, degrees, plans, strategies, methodologies, models ad nauseam; but the one thing we really need, the one thing that Jesus made clear we should not do without (see John 15:5); we have treated as not particularly important at all. We are failing the sniff test, and it smells rotten.

  • Think of your typical church experience; could you do most of it at Safeway?
  • The things you couldn’t do at Safeway with their attending paraphernalia and accoutrements; are they necessary for changing your spiritual life for the better?
  • Why do we put so much focus and effort and spend so much money on the non-Safeway friendly things?
  • Does focusing on basic, simple and necessary things; without much of the adornment of the complex, expensive and traditional, really make life changing ministry less effective or practical?
[1] Supermarket chains are extremely regional. Safeway is a common chain in many parts of the United States and England (maybe Canada???). If I were in England I’d say Tesco. In Spain and France I’d say Carrefour and in Guatemala I’d say Paiz.

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Made to Reproduce

Filed Under: Christendom, Church Life, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Meeting Together, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 5 Comments
April 16, 2011

Reproduction is built into God's organic design

One of the distinctive features of organic churches that clearly differentiate them from more traditional (legacy) churches is that organic churches are made to reproduce. This is a matter of design, not a happenstance.

Organic Church

A true organic church[1] is simple. Simple things are easy to reproduce. An organic church does not need trained clergy; in fact everyone can and should contribute. That’s easy to reproduce. Organic church is not intended to be controlled by humans but by Jesus himself (see: Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church). Wherever you go, Jesus is there. All you need are some Christians and Jesus. That’s easy to reproduce.

In reality an organic church is based on God’s organic design of His creation. Reproduction is built into its design. Just like in Gen. 1:12: The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. In God’s organic design, everything reproduces according to its kind. So, churches reproduce new churches, believers reproduce new believers, elders (mature Christians) reproduce more mature Christians by shepherding the flock (1 Peter 5:1-3), apostles reproduce apostles, teachers reproduce teachers, etc. None of this requires special, expensive training, resources or materials, let alone expensive buildings. It requires attentive Christians, the Bible and a creative God; nothing more.

Legacy Churches

Legacy churches, in contrast, are not simple, nor are they easy to reproduce. They require special trained clergy. How expensive is it to train a seminary trained leader? That’s neither rapid nor easy reproduction. Nor does this seminary trained leadership lead to higher quality of believers. In reality, because the clergy do most of the work for a consumeristic “laity” we much more commonly end up with weak, church attendees, rather than vibrant reproducing Christians. In any given legacy church, how many of the “laity” have won others to Christ? How common is it?

Buildings are very expensive to buy and maintain. Nor do they contribute in any significant way to making more vibrant disciples of Jesus. There is not a single thing that can be done in a dedicated church building that makes for a more mature disciple of Jesus that can’t be done in a home, a restaurant or a park. That’s not easy or cheap to reproduce.

In legacy churches things don’t reproduce according to their kind. Leaders don’t normally reproduce new leaders. Instead churches find there major leaders outside of the church by hiring them. Most people aren’t involved in the discipleship process both being developed by more mature Christians and reproducing the life of Jesus in others. It happens, but it is very rare.

How many legacy churches do you know that have reproduced themselves even one time? If they did reproduce themselves, how much did it cost? Did it lead to reproduction of other churches? Does it consistently reproduce high quality disciples of Christ who are themselves highly reproductive?

The answer to these questions, in the vast majority of cases, is that legacy churches, with all their good intentions, don’t reproduce easily; nor do they tend to consistently reproduce actual reproductive disciples of Christ. And this ineffectiveness is very expensive. The problems (lack or reproducibility, lack of quality discipleship, and exorbitant cost) are built into the design.

  • Other than tradition, can you think of a good reason why we are so addicted to the institutionalized structure of our churches?
  • What strategic advantages can you see in legacy churches?
  • Do you think legacy churches consistently produce more mature disciples? If so, how?
  • Do you think any advantage a legacy church might provide is worth the exorbitant cost and lack of reproducibility?
[1] This is as opposed to a smaller version of a legacy church meeting in a house. Wolfgang Simson calls this a church in a house, not a house church. John White calls this same phenomenon “Honey I shrunk the church.”

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Discipleship as Discernment

Filed Under: Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, New Covenant, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 3 Comments
March 31, 2011

Listening to the Lord is really this simple

Every Friday morning I take out two or three guys I’ve won to the Lord to pass out lunches to the hungry. We meet early, have breakfast and then pass out the lunches. Often this ends up being a very intense time of discipleship. This morning (March 18, 2011) was no exception. You can read about another time this was effective discipleship in this post: Good Seed.

While Toño, Vitorio and I were eating breakfast, Vitorio asked me if dreams could be a communication from God. I told him there was a long history in the Bible of God using dreams to communicate with people. Then I asked if he had a specific dream that he thought might have come from God. He immediately started to share about being back in Guatemala. Before him was a large acreage of beans and the harvest was very abundant. So, I began to ask him questions. Did he sense this dream was different and important as opposed to a “regular” dream? Yes. Did he sense it was coming from God? Yes. Were these black beans? Yes, how did you know? I told him I thought that might represent Chapines (Guatemalans). Yes, that seemed right. What do you think the abundant harvest was about? He felt it was important but could I help him understand? I told him a harvest in the Bible was usually about souls, not physical goods. Yes, that was right, that seems right! Do you have specific people God has placed on your heart to whom you are to share Jesus? Yes, and he mentioned them. What then Vitorio, do you think God is telling you? I’m supposed to share the gospel with these guys.

That discussion evolved into a two hour discussion about effective evangelism. We talked about gossiping the gospel. We talked about being gracious and non-judgemental, being Spiritual not Religious. And we talked about some of the concepts shared in Evangelists and Insiders.

I need to discern with the Lord was up to

Did I share everything I knew about evangelism? No. As I talked to Toño and Vitorio, I was also talking to the Lord; listening to what he was telling me. I only gave them what Jesus was letting me know would be helpful to them at this particular point in time. Then I encouraged them to follow Jesus into the harvest. In other words, let’s not just talk about it, let’s go do it. They were excited about this. They viewed it as an opportunity.

Teaching disciples to discern

If it's complicated, it's not useful

One of the most important lessons we discussed was the importance of listening to God and obeying what he tells us to do. This is as much or more a heart exercise as it is a mind exercise. They need to discern what the Holy Spirit is leading them to do. My friend Ed Waken likes to say we can be 100% effective in evangelism 100% of the time if we do exactly what the Lord leads us to do; no more, no less. I told them this, then encouraged them to go out and be 100% effective through obedience to what the Holy Spirit was putting on their heart and mind; no more, no less. In other words, I was teaching them to discern the presence and direction of the Spirit.

That’s the main point. As we disciple people we don’t need a complicated, pre-set agenda. We just need to discern what the Holy Spirit is up to and follow him through the discipleship conversation. In the same way, we teach those we are discipling to do the same. And, after all, we are modeling it, so we can use that as an example. This is discipleship as discernment, not discipleship as curriculum. This is new covenant discipleship where we trust the Holy Spirit to speak into our hearts and minds.  This discipleship through paying attention to the Spirit is part of our new covenant heritage. It is not only fun, it is fruitful because God is actually leading the discipleship process.

  • Have you ever had those discussions where it was clear that the Holy Spirit was involved? Did you realize God was using you to disciple one another?
  • Have you ever intentionally practiced discipleship by discernment?
  • What are your fears or concerns about doing discipleship this way?
  • Do you have stories about how God has done this in your life?
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