Yesterday, I told you about a new MRT that has formed in the north part of Denver (centered in Brighton, CO) with Hobby Chapin and Robbie James. This is the third MRT in Denver. (Can you picture the day when there are dozens of MRTs in your city?)
The video below helps us imagine what the future might be like ...
1. It's a monthly regional gathering of house churches in north Denver that flows from Hobby and Robbie's MRT. Seven house churches are represented in this video. (Can you imagine dozens of regular gatherings like this in your city?)
2. It's a gathering that centers on listening to the Lord. In particular, notice how singing and worship is flowing from listening. (Can you imagine a growing multitude of believers in your city who are experiencing the reality of all of life flowing from listening to God? Worship, community, study, mission, etc.)
3. It's Hobby's first video! (Can you imagine a day when we have a huge library of powerful videos that help us picture every aspect of organic church life? That tell an "alternate story" about what church can be?)
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!)
Almost eight years ago, my friend, Kenny Moore and I were having breakfast together and we were talking about our mutual passion to see "a vibrant family of Jesus" within easy reach of every person in Colorado. Our conversation began to settle on Luke 10. And, then on verse 2 of chapter 10. And, then on the second half of that verse.
Therefore, beseech the Lord of the Harvest to send forth workers into His harvest.
That morning, light bulbs began to turn on. If we could only do one thing towards the goal of saturation church planting in Colorado, praying this prayer would certainly be that one thing. Kenny and I made a commitment that morning to pray what we later called "the 10:2b prayer" for Colorado every day for seven days and see what we learned. Who knew all that would come from that small step! (To read more of the story, go to http://lk10.com/practices-and-patterns/the-102b-prayer/ )
Today, many of us in Colorado (and many in other places around the world) are praying that prayer daily for the our particular part of the harvest field. In the video below, you will see one of the recent answers to that prayer. It's an amazing God story of three young men in South Carolina who felt that God had called them to move to Pueblo, Colorado (2-3 hours south of Denver) to plant organic churches. As far as they knew, they would be the first to plant organic churches anywhere in Colorado! :-) Then, through a magazine article they got connected with us and we were able to spend an afternoon together a couple of weeks ago.
So, take a look at the video and tell us your thoughts. Also, it seems to me that our MRT Community should be a repository of 10:2b stories. So, let us know what you have learned as you have prayed this prayer and the answers you've seen in your part of the "field". (BTW - still waiting for a 5 minute video story from one of you all!)
John
PS. Subscription to The Abilene MRT Experiment blog that I mentioned a few days ago is by invitation only. If you are interested, contact Ron Longwell at rlongwell@mac.com
I suspect that most of us are familiar with the Ivan Illich quote to the effect that the way you change culture is by telling an alternate story. At the heart of the MRT Experiment is a deep desire to see church culture transformed in order that the church might once again become transformational in the world. And, one of our most important "tools" in this transformational process will be the story.
This means that we must first become skilled at noticing the important "alternate" stories around us. Then, we find ways to collect those stories. With modern technology we have an unprecedented ability to do just that. Below, you will see a short video Introduction to the Denver MRT that I (the oldest and certainly the least "techie" of anyone in this group!) made with my iPhone. Hey - if I can learn to do this, any of you can also.
Once we have collected the story, we can then be a storyteller. And, with the Internet, these stories can spread around the world in a way that is again unprecedented.
So, one definition of the MRT Experiment is "a community of apostolic storytellers". (And, the MRT Experiment is itself one of the important "alternate stories".)
