House church article in USA Today

Last week there was a positive article about house church on the front page of The Denver Post. See http://www.denverpost.com/ci_15547588?source=email

Now, comes a similar article in USA Today. What do you make of this? What encourages you about this? What potential problems do you see? Post your comments below.

John

'House churches' keep worship small, simple, friendly Updated 1d 21h ago | Comments 116 | Recommend 11

Enlarge By Karl Gehring, Denver Post, AP Darren Boyer, center kneeling beside the couch, prays with, from right clockwise, Susan Dennison, Tasha Gustafson and Jolene Larson, asking for God's wisdom regarding an upcoming decision that Brent Tribble, left, will make about his life, during a non-denominational "house church" service at Boyer's Brighton, Colo. home. The number of these new, small, organic churches is growing, according to the Barna Group DALLAS (AP) — To get to church on a recent Sunday morning, the Yeldell family walked no farther than their own living room to greet fellow worshippers. The members of this "house church" are part of what experts say is a fundamental shift in the way U.S. Christians think about church. Skip the sermons, costly church buildings and large, faceless crowds, they say. House church is about relationships forged in small faith communities. In general, house churches consist of 12 to 15 people who share what's going on in their lives, often turning to Scriptures for guidance. They rely on the Holy Spirit or spontaneity to lead the direction of their weekly gatherings. "I think part of the appeal for some in the house church movement is the desire to return to a simpler expression of church," said Ed Stetzer, a seminary professor and president of Lifeway Research, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. "For many, church has become too much (like a) business while they just want to live like the Bible." House church proponents claim their small groups are sort of a throwback to the early Christian church in that they have no clergy and everyone is expected to contribute to the teaching, singing and praying... Read the entire article here: http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-07-22-housechurch21_ST_N.htm?csp=usat.me

Financing apostles (3)

In the video below, I introduce a new model or new way of thinking about financing "an army of church planters". Actually, it's an old model because it represents what the church valued before she became enamored with buildings.

In addition to the video there are two other resources that I want you to take a look at.

1. This is a commentary that I wrote on 1 Corinthians 9:1-14 which is a central passage for this discussion. Understanding these verses created my conviction that these New Testament practices must be restored in our day. http://www.lk10resources.com/uploads/1/4/3/5/1435936/financing_apostles.pdf

2. Here, Roger Thoman, a very effective trainer of church planters around the world, tells his own story of financial support. http://www.lk10resources.com/uploads/1/4/3/5/1435936/finances__roger_thoman.pdf

Our goal in all of this? To return church culture to the normative NT model. We'll be experimenting with this concept this summer in MRT 2.0. Love to hear your comments below.

John

Financing apostles (2)

The church in America today invests billions in buildings and programs. What did the early church invest in? And, how do we return to those values? Take a look at the video below and comment.

John

Financing apostles (1)

The third innovation this summer has to do with financing apostolic church planters. Here's a starting place in thinking about this topic.

John

Coaching (3)

My good friend and fellow "mad scientist", Kent Smith, illustrates below a tool of effective coaching called "future perfect". One of the things this does is to put our summer MRT 2.0 Experiment into perspective. What if this is an important next step in seeing "effective Missional Resource Teams anywhere in the world"?

John

Future Perfect: How Would We Know?

As we are considering next steps in our MRT experiment, I’m wondering if it might be helpful to step back and take a look at the big picture of what God is up to, and our part in that.

Here is one way to describe this. “We believe this chapter in universal history will only draw to a close when people of God have gathered from every tribe, tongue, people and nation (that is to say, God’s complete image, as displayed in the bride of Christ, see, for example, Matt. 24:14, Eph. 1:23, Rev. 7:9).

So—we are devoted to playing the part we have been given—no more and no less—in seeing a vibrant family of Jesus in close reach of every person on the planet.”

If this is what we passionately desire, our friends in the Solution Focus world have a wonderful clarifying question that helps us think about our next steps. It is this: “Suppose a miracle has occurred in the middle of the night and this desire has come to pass. How will you know? What evidence will show you it has happened?”

If you can, pause for a minute here. Envision the scene: you wake up one morning and a vibrant family of Jesus is in close reach—culturally and geographically—of every person on the planet. What would let you know it has happened? In my first brainstorming I came up with these. See what you think:

· We could discover fresh evidence everywhere of God’s beautiful, good, and endlessly creative in-breaking Kingdom.

· We could find an effective Missional Resource Team anywhere in the world.

· We could get local Church of Two (CO2), Vibrant Family (CO12) and Missional Resource Team (MRT) training anywhere.

· We could identify a network of trainers and training centers that have facilitated this process.

· We could find clear descriptions of the core theology, practice and process of training for CO2, VFJ, and MRTs.

Caveat: I’m using language here that we understand—others would need translation to make sense of this. Two questions, then: 1) For our purposes, have we accurately described the story in which we live? 2) How would you refine these answers to the question, “How would we know?”

Small groups vs house churches (2)

Twenty years ago, I was one of six ordained pastors on the staff of an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) of about 3,000. In addition to the six of us who were called "Teaching Elders", there were another 12-15 lay people who were called "Ruling Elders". According to the Book of Order of our denomination, we, as Elders, were the only ones who were allowed to officiate or serve communion. If a small group wanted to take communion, they would have to invite one of us to come to their group.

So, this is another way that small groups and house churches are often different. (Although, not every denomination or traditional church has these same "rules") A house church is fully "church" and not just one of the ministries of the larger church. That is, it's members are free to do everything that a "real" church does - including communion and baptism.

Take a look at the video below about college students planting churches on their campuses. About a minute and a half into the video, one of the leaders makes a very important comment: "The moment the works of the Scriptures are taken out of the hands of common people and put in the hands of trained professionals the movement ceases to move forward."

In house churches, "the works of the Scriptures" are placed in the "hands of common people". The priesthood of all believers moves from a theological concept to everyday reality.

What kinds of thoughts and feelings do you have as you watch this video? Pay close attention to the students doing the baptizing.

John

How are small groups different from house churches?

Where do we find "houses of peace"? A couple of days ago I suggested : It may be that the small groups and cell groups in traditional churches have been an important training ground for house church leaders. (George Barna has thinks that perhaps a million people a year are leaving traditional church!)

Marty Reiswig (Denver) responded: That's an interesting thought. And if that's true, how is leading a small group different from leading a house church? What kind of transition coaching will we need to provide? What training is needed?

Great questions, Marty! Maybe the first question is: "How is a small group different from a house church?" Obviously, there are similarities. But, what are the important differences?

Answering that question will help us think about how leading the two kinds of groups might differ. And, then we can think about what kind of transition coaching and training might be needed.

Let's throw that out to our MRT Community and see what we come up with.

John

MRT blogs

The Abilene (TX) MRT Experiment at this point includes Ron Longwell (picture to the right), Austin Brown and Kent Smith. In order to help pay attention to what they are hearing from the Lord, Ron has started a blog.

Here's part of the blog post from this last week...

Ron talked about "laying pipe," in Abilene, particularly related to a conversation he and Kent had the previous week with a couple interested in exploring more organic forms of church. Ron feels like we have limited pipeworks to nurture a potentially great influx of wounded people. Austin commented that we must believe that God will provide resources commensurate with the people he is sending.

Kent commented on the need for harvesters and stressed the importance of praying Luke 10:2b. He noted that there are a whole cadre of people in Abilene who get what we're about and are on the way, naming about seven individuals or families. At the DNA level, these people are all moving toward what we're about. Kent has a sense that the deliberateness of what we're doing needs to rise a bit.

This strikes me as an idea that other regions may want to try. At the heart of the MRT concept is the priority of paying attention to what God is saying/doing in each of our regions. A blog is one way to do that. Plus, it creates another avenue to learn from each other.

What do you think? What is your MRT learning about keep track of what you are hearing from God?

John

To access the Abilene MRT blog, go to http://abilenemrt.blogspot.com/ Consider subscribing to it.

Laying pipe (3)

MRT Community,

I apologize for the very long post two days ago on the 1905 Awakening. (Sometimes I get carried away.) And, then, at the end of the post, I put the video of Dr. Orr teaching about that revival. Way too much info! I'm sorry.

A few of you actually made it all the way to the bottom of that post and watched the video. For those of you who didn't, I'm reposting it here. I think it's worth watching 5 minutes of your time. (The whole video is 27 minutes. But just watch 5 minutes.)

Why?

Well, for me it stimulates my faith and expands my vision for what could be. And, that vision is not just a "pipe dream" (!). It actually happened!

I can look at our Google map of Denver and see maybe 50 house churches be excited about that. http://www.coloradohousechurch.com/churches/

But, what if God wants to do something like 1905 again? What if 10% of the population (250,000 people) of Denver were born again? And, we needed 10,000 house churches to care for the new borns? What if God wants us to prepare now for that ("lay pipe")?

What if that happens in the city (region) you are called to?

So, give Dr. Orr five minutes and tell us what you hear from the Lord as you watch it.

John

Laying pipe (2)

My sense is that we need to stay on this topic of revival and it's implications for church planting ("laying pipe") for a few days.

Chris Jefferies (UK) has done us a service today in helping us move beyond the facts of the great awakening that began in Wales in 1904 and spread around the world. It's of great value to consider the number of conversions and church growth and societal transformation. But, what was the heart of all of this?

Chris' blog (see link below) allows us to hear a "love song of the Welsh Revival" that communicates powerfully the heartbeat of what God was doing 100 years ago. As I listened to it, I found myself weeping and praying that God would once again reveal His love this powerfully to Denver and Hawaii and Abilene and Mexico City and...

Check it out here and let us know what the Lord says to you as you listen: http://blog.scilla.org.uk/2008/07/love-song-of-welsh-revival.html

John

Laying pipe

MRT Community,

This post is pretty long. So, don't spend more than 5 minutes on it... unless you get really interested. :-)

As a member of the House2House Board of Directors ( http://house2house.com/ ), I spent last weekend with about 12 others at Tony and Felicity Dale's home in Austin, TX. In addition to some good "hang out" time with these friends, we spent time listening to the Lord about His mission for House2House at this point in history.

What we heard is that "something big is coming and it's coming soon. And, now is the time to prepare." Two people independently heard that we needed to be "laying pipe". "Pipe" in this context seemed to mean leaders. That is, spiritual moms and dads who will be able birth a multitude of "vibrant families of Jesus" where the new believers will be cared for and equipped. Many of these leaders will have come out of traditional churches and have been healed and rehabbed from the wounds received there.

Here's how Tony summarized the message: "One of the pictures through which the Lord spoke to us over these past 48 hours was that of laying the pipe-work/irrigation system, through which the water of His Spirit can flow. What matters is the water. But if there is no irrigation system, much of the water will get wasted. It was pointed out in discussion that historically the United States has seen a major move of God that is transformational to society around every 60 to 70 years. We are currently long overdue!

What if what is now happening in the church landscape is a part of God’s preparation for a sweeping move of God beyond anything any of us have seen in our lifetimes... (There have been smaller movements of the Spirit and) ...these have all been impactful, but society as a whole has continued to be largely untouched by the Christian message. What if God is preparing us all for something that can change society at a grass-roots level, literally house by house."

I (John) woke yesterday with the sense that I should send to the H2H Board some information about the last great awakening which took place in 1905-1907. I've copied it below for you. My motivation was to show the huge scope of this movement of the Spirit in the US (many more around the world) in a two year period. What if God were to do this today? And, how much "pipe" needs to be laid in order to be ready?

Love to hear your thoughts about how we "lay pipe" in preparation for something like this. What are the implications for our MRT Community?

John

PS. I've also included a video at the very bottom by Dr. J. Edwin Orr on the 1905 Awakening. He was considered a world class expert on revivals.


From The Cure of All Ills by Mark Relfe.

"Antecedents. Spiritual decadence pervaded society in the late 1890's. Corruption, immorality, drunkenness, cults, gambling and agnosticism rose in proportion to the Church's ineptness. By the turn of the 20th century, the glory had departed, the saints had defected, the salt had lost its savour, the world had lost its light and deep moral darkness prevailed. The flag-waving, sin-hating, mercy-loving believers of the 1860's had been replaced by inert, invisible and immovable - "in name only" - Christians of the 1890's." p. 65.

(The Spirit began to break out in a number of places. Here's one of the early ones. "In October, 1904 Evan Roberts (age 26) received a Word of the Lord for his generation. (The summary statement was "Bend the Church and save the world".) The Holy Spirit bade him speak it first at his home church (in Loughor, Wales) to a group of 17 people. All 17 responded! The Holy Spirit fell in awesome power! ... Within weeks every church building in Wales was packed with hundreds standing outside unable to get in! The nation's atmosphere was suddenly electrified by the presence of God..." p. 78

A few weeks later, George Davis, from New York wrote this. "I have just returned from a two days' visit to the storm center of the great Welsh revival which is sweeping over Wales like a cyclone, lifting people into an ecstasy of spiritual fervor. Already over 34,000 converts have been made, and the great awakening shows no signs of waning... It is sweeping over hundreds of hamlets and cities, emptying saloons, theaters and dance-halls and filling the churches night after night with praying multitudes. The policemen are almost idle; in many cases the magistrates have few trials on hand; debts are being paid; and the character of entire communities is being transformed almost in a day." p. 79

"For weeks past, meetings have been going on in various parts of the country, and in numerous instances, have been protracted into the small hours of the morning. The extraordinary thing about these meetings is their unconventional character. There is no organization, no program, no presentor, no presiding elder! Everything is left to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Preaching, in the usual acceptation of the word, has, for the time being, been entirely discarded and is superseded by singing, prayer and general testimony." p. 81

Another report: "Truly God has visited His people in Wales. It is not a question of one town being awakened, but of the whole principality being on fire - profanity silenced, taverns deserted, theaters closed, betting books burned, football teams disbanded, police courts idle, family feuds pacified, and old-standing debts paid, sectarianism submerged, the family altar re-erected and Bible study a passion. This is the finger of God!" p. 86

(The revival spread around the world. In England 1,000,000 conversions from outside the church. Europe, Africa, India, Korea, etc. Here are some comments about the impact on America.) "Dr. J. Edwin Orr assessed that in excess of 2,000,000 outsiders were enrolled in the seven major Protestant churches between 1905-1907 in the United States. He admitted this figure did not include any of the increases in the Holiness or Pentecostal groups which experienced an even greater rate of growth (JW: probably about 5 million). Dr. Orr estimated that another 2,000,000 were genuinely saved within the churches. Dr. Orr indicated that more than 5,000,000 (outside the church) were drawn to Christ in this two year period. p. 100-101.

(Wikipedia: "A feature of this revival that was not seen in any other revival prior to 1904 was the role of the media.")


JW: The language of the above passage is a bit unclear. I think that what Dr. Orr is saying is that between 1905 and 1907, 5 million were converted from within existing churches and another 5 million outside of existing church were converted and became church members. The population of the US in this period was about 85 million. So, almost 12% of the population became Christians.

Current population of the US is about 309 million. If something similar to 1905 were to occur now, that would mean 37 million new Christians (12%). In a city like Denver (2.5 million), this would mean 300,000 new believers (half current church goers and half not) in a two year period. Current number of church goers in Denver is estimated at 150,000.

Gives new meaning to the word "urgent", doesn't it!

Clearly, current "infrastructure" would be completely inadequate to handle this kind of harvest. Perhaps that is why the Lord is urging us to "beseech the Lord of the Harvest for workers" in preparation for this next season. If there were 300,000 new believers in Denver and if we assume an average of 15 people in a house church, we will need 20,000 new house churches. Hmm...

Video of Dr. J. Edwin Orr on the 1905 Awakening.