SimpleChurch Journal aka House Church Blog

Standing With Others In Painful Reality

Spent the evening with a friend who was involved in a tragic car accident. He escaped with little injury but one of the occupants of the other vehicle was killed. What's worse, my friend may have been responsible for the accident.

It was, in fact, an accident but a mistake may have been made. A moment of carelessness that is now being paid for with an incredibly large load of guilt and what-ifs.

What do you say? All words sound like cliches and meaningless talk.

He's feeling things that he is going to have to feel as he wades through the shock, the denial, the pain, the guilt, and hopefully a healing. Words seem so useless. I was there for him. I will continue to be there for him. I want to fix him, but it's not in my power. I can only walk alongside him and try to be a support. I can do my best to hold him up whenever he starts to teeter into the chasms of hopelessness, self-destructiveness, or overbearing shame.

Please don't tell me how God will use all of these things for good. Not today. He doesn't want to hear about it today. It will do him no good today (maybe later). Therefore I don't want to hear it today. Sometimes all we can do for someone is to stand with them in their very real and very painful reality.

Authority Comes From Compassion

Is there true spiritual authority? Obviously, yes! The question is, "What does it look like?"

Henri Nouwen does a masterful job describing true authority in a short piece article entitled, "The Authority of Compassion." This is worth a read:

Mostly we think of people with great authority as higher up, far away, hard to reach. But spiritual authority comes from compassion and emerges from deep inner solidarity with those who are "subject" to authority. The one who is fully like us, who deeply understands our joys and pains or hopes and desires, and who is willing and able to walk with us, that is the one to whom we gladly give authority and whose "subjects" we are willing to be.

It is the compassionate authority that empowers, encourages, calls forth hidden gifts, and enables great things to happen. True spiritual authorities are located in the point of an upside-down triangle, supporting and holding into the light everyone they offer their leadership to.

Belated Easter Greeting

I couldn't resist passing on this Easter greeting (a little late) that I found posted over at Kingfisher Cove.

Regional Conference

I don't think I've mentioned that there is a regional House2House conference in Southern California this coming weekend. In case anyone is in that part of the world, the information can be found at:
http://www.house2house.tv/index.pl/events/h2hreg-sw

Character Is Essential

The problem with writing about church, emerging church, house church, simple church, traditional church is that we can get focused on structure or lack-of-structure or whatever and still miss the one thing that is essential regardless of how we "do church": the character of those involved.

I would rather hang out with one person of character and integrity who is giving his all to traditional forms of church and leadership than 1,000 people who have prophetic vision, cultural insight, and emerging church savvy but who lack this essential.

In fact, I just plain want to be with people of character. Period. These are people you can do relationship with, build trust with, share your life with, count on. These are people whose lives point to Christ, not because they are always saying so, but because they so genuinely don't point to themselves. These are people who actually care how others are doing, how other people's ministries are developing, and what struggles others are facing. These are people who build Kingdom rather than their own kingdoms regardless of where they are serving. These are people who are often passed over in every, and I mean every, circle of Christianity because they are truly seeking to serve rather than stand out. These are people who are willing to risk greatly for God yet content to remain unnoticed. These are people who will care about you long after you are no longer part of "their ministry." These are people who are who they are, who live with integrity, and with whom you always know where you stand.

Unfortunately, this is a somewhat rare breed of person.

Or, am I being unfair?

I found myself saying the most cynical thing the other day. I was talking to a young man about his dating life. He said that he thought it might be interesting to evaluate personalities, using something like Myers-Briggs, to determine whether or not there would be good compatibility. I suggested that he would be far better off concerning himself with the character of those he dates rather than personality. But then, yes I said it, here it is, I actually said... "Unfortunately, it's hard to find Christian people who also have good character."

Is that cynicism or reality? I'm not sure. I just know that character is essential and that I hope to develop my own and hang out with others with the same desire.

Next Wave: Creech

I love what Alan Creech has written on the Next-Wave site:

--It's not about being a postmodern church, it's about the church just being "the church."

--Liturgy is good.

--Transformation happens in the context of community.

--It's not about the Pastor.

--Lay your time tables down.

Read the whole article.

Diary of a House Church Plant - Pt. A

Two weeks ago my wife and were having lunch with Aaron and Cindy, a young couple, when they said they wanted to talk about starting a new church.

The surprise was that, only days before, we had written their names down as people who would most likely be ready to "sprout" off from one of our existing churches. The church had become too large and was ready to give birth to a new work. The timing was right and Aaron and Cindy had confirmed it by their expression of interest. Ah, nothing like serendipity to give one hope that God is at work!

We got up from lunch assuring them that we would continue praying with them and seeing what God was up to.

Within a week they called saying that they had spoken to another couple, had had several conversations with them, and wanted to get together with us and both couples to explore more. Ooh... some initiative on their part... things are moving... and we're not the one "pushing" things along. Excellent!

Of course, this was no surprise. Aaron and Cindy, having grown up in "Christian" families and schools, had wandered from any kind of meaningful faith expressions. House church had provided a safe place for renewal and real relationships to ignite their hearts with a fresh wonder for God and enjoyment of the simplicity of church life. They were (and are) excited about God and exciting to be around. By their own admission, this is the best time to launch out... while the excitement is stirring.

Having just re-read Rolan Allen's "Spontaneous Expansion of the Church" I was struck by the reality that church planting is better accomplished by the newly empassioned than by those who have been thoroughly trained and indoctrinated. Aaron and Cindy are a perfect example of this.

So... we met with the two couples and found that not only were they raring to go, but they had talked to a number of unchurched friends who had expressed real interest as well. This is definitely going in the right direction!

So... next step was to plan a time for prayer. They want to begin church within the next week or two, but we will first meet this Friday night to pray together... and to begin to chart out some basics.

This is exciting for my wife and I as we will be able to walk alongside without trying to dictate the type of church that Jesus creates. They are younger than we are and will definitely do things differently than we have done. This is exactly what we want! We will be able to learn from their ingenuity and creativity. We are all learning how to allow God's church to be His church, His people gathered, whatever that looks like. Every church is a unique expression. We will see them make some mistakes (perhaps) and be there to support (hopefully) when it's wanted, but that's all part of the process. We look forward to all of it.

I am working hard to distill my understanding of "building community" to principles that can be applied in different ways by different people. Good principles can be useful as long as they don't define the form. The basic principles of community life that we will look at will include these:

1. Participatory Gatherings-- 1 Cor. 14:26

2. Consensus decision-making—“take it to the church”

3. DNA of reproduction

4. Family health=shared responsibility in finances, time, and other concerns (i.e. children)

5. Growing spiritual lives

6. Authenticity, openness, honesty in relationships

7. Prayer

I'll keep y'all posted as this develops. Hopefully Aaron will be posting comments and you will be able to hear his perspective as well.

Home Schooling and Home Churching

John White has written an excellent article describing parallels between the home school movement and what is taking place today with home churches. He comments:

My thoughts? I think we are seeing the beginning of a movement toward "home churching" that will parallel the "home schooling" movement. Some will be called to stay within the religious system and work there. However, I think that an increasing number of people will be called to "stop spinning their wheels in existing religious systems" and restore the church to the home where it flourished for the first 300 years of its history...

Something to ponder---- although, on one level, Christianity seems to be thriving...mega churches, multitude of seminars, conferences, Christian books and bookstores, outstanding Christian musicians, concerts, great Bible teachers, etc., etc. YET, at the same time, our impact on the culture continues to decline. Is there something deeply flawed with our current Christian "system"? Is it time to return to the "system" described in the New Testament?

For the complete article, click here.

House That Change People

WaterCarriers has a wonderful post that details the many, awesome things that took place in houses as recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Take a look.

Not Knowing Is Essential

After two weekend church gatherings, I'm always amazed at how God surprises us. There is no way to ever predict what He will do as we gather to focus on Him, let Him have His way, and simply worship. The one essential that we seem to bring, other than hearts seeking, is the willingness to not know: to just let Him be God in our midst and not try to fit Him in to an agenda or plan.

We use structures-of-sorts at various points, mostly so that humans will avoid the temptation of taking control of the gathering. But we want to come with hearts not-knowing so that we make room for the Mysterious God to reveal Himself.

Saturday night, He showed up as a ministering angel to a young woman who recently lost a brother to suicide. She had never gathered with us before, but how privileged we were to be able to be "one another" type believers and simply be there with her. And how awesome to see God just bring what seemed to be the right words, songs, and prayers to really touch the deep pain this woman is carrying. No plan. Just come, Jesus, and be with all of us. We didn't know what He would do, but He just seemed to bring such a sweet spirit of comfort and closeness: we felt close to Him, to this woman and her pain, and to each other.

Then, He showed up powerfully through this woman as she spoke to us and shared her new awareness of how important the people in her life are, particularly those right in front of her. The ones that are so easy to take for granted. She spoke of not wanting to waste any more time doing superficial relationships! It's just too important that we connect, really connect, with the people in our life! Her authenticity and pain caused all of us to reflect on how we are relating to our own friends, family, and others. God was speaking to all of us!

Fast forward to this morning... another church... another gathering of people "not knowing" what God would do. Many wonderful things took place, but I was especially impressed at how He led the group into an awareness of Christ as Burden-bearer. We each began to express the specific burdens that we were carrying: fears, worries, concerns, people, problems... and then as we shared them with each other we were empowered to let them go and allow Him to carry them. Very freeing. We left lighter than we came!

I love it! Church in which the Kingdom of God intersects people where they are living their lives. Isn't that the Good News? The Kingdom is near, now, here, and God is actively at work in and amongst us in love and in power.