Saturday, April 10, 2010

Four Generations

There's more to say about "small groups vs house church" but I wanted to go a different direction based on an email I received today from Hobby Chapin (Brighton, CO) who is part of our MRT Experiment. Hobby's email showed the viral nature of the CO2 (church of two). Here's the story...

Generation One. Almost a year ago, the Lord brought the basic elements of the CO2 together for me while I was doing a conference in Albuquerque. I invited the people at the conference to try it out over the summer.

Generation Two. A number of us in Denver connected with Hobby last summer. (He very much seemed like an answer to the 10:2b prayer!) Some time during the fall, I invited him to do a CO2 with me for a couple of weeks. Hobby immediately "got it" and began teaching it to people in Brighton (where he is planting churches just north of Denver) and other places.

Generation Three (a). Hobby has taught CO2 to quite a number of people. One of them is Charles Kiser who is a church planter in Dallas. (In Hobby's email today, he pointed me to Charles' blog.) Here's what Charles had to say, "I’ve been enriched in the past few weeks by an emerging structure for spiritual formation called Church of Two... The benefits of Church of Two are immense: it has helped me stay in touch with myself much better; I’m learning to listen to others at a deeper level; I’m learning to listen to God and discern what I’m hearing in times of stillness; I’m learning to have times of stillness – period; it’s a great tool for discernment and decision making; it has helped me to connect to old friends on deeper levels." Read all of what Charles had to say here: http://inthestoryline.com/2010/04/08/church-of-two/

Generation Four(a). In his blog, Charles explains that he is doing CO2 with a number of people including his co-worker, Ryan Porche, and Paul McMullen, a church planter in East Vancouver (WA?). See http://www.thevinevancouver.com/

Generation Three (b). Hobby also taught CO2 to Micah Lewis, a church planter in Grand Prairie, TX. Micah reports: "Much of the listening to God that I have been doing lately has been through some guidelines that are called CO2 or Church of Two. The idea is that you listen together with another person on a heart level as you listen to God and let him speak to your heart. I have been mentored in this discipline by my good friend and fellow Mission Alive church planter Hobby Chapin. Hobby has been practicing this listening for a while now and has found it to be very helpful in discipleship and transforming people to live missionally. I have found this practice to be the most exciting spiritual practice I have ever done. I don’t even think of it as a practice but simply as pouring myself into a relationship with God."

Generation Four (b). Micah is now "infecting" someone else: "I have started a CO2 with a good friend that I work with at Starbucks. We check in almost everyday, sharing the state of our hearts and talking about how we have been hearing from God. It is really exciting to see how God has been at work in both of us as we listen to him. If you are interested in learning more about the details of this practice, Hobby has started a blog that unpacks some more of the details of CO2. Check it out." See Micah's blog here. http://micahlewis.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/co2-church-of-two/

So, we are seeing more and more evidence that this simple tool (CO2) is both transformational and viral. Your thoughts? (Also, love to hear any generational stories you have about CO2s!)

John

5 comments:

  1. Well, I'm a second generation CO2er because I learned it direct from John at last years H2H conference in Dallas. In my experience CO2 has certainly proved to be both transformational and viral.

    So far my friends Sean, Paul, and Roger are all running with it so they're third generation.

    All four of us have tried to introduce it to others (fourth generation), but I don't know how many of these are really sticking with it. I do know that some of these gen4 people have offered it to yet others.

    For me it's been transformational because it's increased my focus and direction. Before CO2 I had focus and direction, but now I'm finding them in greater depth and in wider community. That's really good!

    And it's proved itself to be viral because it has (and is) spreading. It will be fascinating to see where CO2 goes next in the UK. Reading John's question and hearing about Hobby's use of CO2 has spurred me on to share it again with more people. Perhaps gen3 is about to grow larger around here!

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  2. I'm also a second Gen and introduced it to the simple church I was leading. We did a 2 week "experiment" and everyone seemed to get quite a bit out of it -- however after the two weeks I don't think anyone continued. :(

    This is obviously not the end, but I think in "the right hands" it's a powerful tool.

    My question is - how is CO2 similar to and different from what we would call "Discipleship"? Is there a "step 2" for CO2 that leads to discipleship of some kind? Curious what people's thoughts are on this.

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  3. I'd like to reflect on Noah's good observation, "in the right hands, it's a powerful tool."

    CO2 is a simple--and powerful--way to pay attention to 3 realities most people know little about and rarely notice, namely:

    1) Our own hearts (what—sure enough—we really want)
    2) God’s heart (what God really wants)
    3) The hearts of others (what others really want)

    A major reason these realities are little known or pursued is because we have been systematically taught that, a) what we really want is dangerous or just doesn’t matter, and that, b) what God really wants beyond generic truth is—practically speaking—just guesswork on our part.

    Under those convictions it’s no wonder that a set of disciplines focused on listening deeply to God and people seems a royal waste of time or worse.

    True knowledge, that is to say, intimacy, comes only to those who believe in it, want it, and doggedly pursue it. For such people, the rhythms of attention in CO2 can be transformational, and for that reason, highly transferable.

    From my perspective, those would be “the right hands.”

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  4. I had the privilege of being in Albuquerque when this first came about at the conference John led. As I shared at the H2H conference in Dallas last year, when I heard and understood CO2, it's like God said, "Peggy, this is for you. You've waited all your life for this, and this is what I planned for you. You can do this." It's like everything I learned in 40 years of knowing Jesus culminated in this. I share it with people all the time. Just last week I shared it with 2 Hispanic women, and encouraged them to be a CO2. I also invited them to be a CO2 with other women in the neighborhood, and immediately their eyes opened and they caught it. One of the women does a CO2 every night on the phone with her husband who was deported back to Mexico. From John to Peggy to Cecelia to Juan, to the community.

    I also want to mention the CO2 I have with Richard in Pueblo, CO. He & I meet by phone every night with SASHET & Virkler. He has also shared CO2 with many husbands and wives throughout SE Colorado. They are learning the value of opening up their hearts together and learning that family=church. Who knows how many families are now being affected there? I know many here in Albuquerque continue it as well.

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  5. I like the conciseness of your three points Kent. I like concise categories for explaining :)

    What I have seen is so far is that leaders have to get it and abide in it. Not every person in a house church is going to do it right away, but the leader has to understand some of its depth and keep the practices alive before the group. My groups are not doing them as much as I would like in terms of organized CO2. The house church as a whole is growing deeper in the disciplines. People are practicing listening throughout the week to share with the group. I think they are also demonstrating more awareness of what is happening around them.

    I think what we are doing with MRTs and also what I am seeing in regional monthly gatherings is an important place of equipping leaders to live in these disciplines. The vision for CO2s with leaders around the country seems pressing. I have grown a lot in facilitating through these leaving room for the Lord to lead. I had to comment on how much they appreciated the way I led at our monthly gathering Friday night. One in particular said they need to learn that more in their house church.

    Having said that, I will say this. My tendency is to look way out. I often ignore what God is doing in my home. He continues to draw me back to this place. I have had one of our younger house church participants ask me to do CO2 with him. We have been doing a read until approach to listening through 1 Timothy. It has been rich for both of us. Today we together cast some good vision during our check in to give some renewed life to how this can be done in our local house church setting. As much as we need to equip leaders, we cannot neglect our local bodies.

    I am curious if you see apostolic leaders around the country or your local house church family to be the priority?

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