SimpleChurch Journal aka House Church Blog

Worship In House Church

Regarding worship I want to encourage our own house churches to broaden and to bring.

To broaden refers to broadening our worship expressions. We take time, normally, to let everyone participate in speaking or singing expressions of our gratitude, praise, and love towards God. However, whether by training or background, it's easy to become limited in our expressions. Here is a list of biblical expressions that we can look through and consider how we can bring a fuller expression of worship:

Expressing appreciation & gratitude

Confessing our sins, our lack, and our need of Him

Declaring His attributes

Declaring His promises

Speaking words of praise and worship toward God

Speaking words of love and affection toward God

Exhorting the congregation to worship and praise Him more (Psalm 150)

Reading a psalm

Singing a spiritual song: a known song or a spontaneous song

Speaking poetic verse: known or poetic

I believe that, perhaps because of prior church training, we are hesitant to really step out and explore various ways to speak of God's glory and to worshipfully speak to God. The book of Psalms is an excellent training manual for this because of its variety of expressions.

Secondly, I want to encourage all of us to learn to "bring," as in 1 Cor. 14:26-- each one brings a psalm, a hymn, etc. The power of house church is that each one can bring something to contribute, not just a worship leader nor even a worship facilitator. As each one looks for something that produces worshipful awe, and purposes to bring it, the whole body is greatly built up. There is so much "out there" to bring if we just keep our eyes open. For example, I was reminded this week of the list of God's names and attributes at the back of the Experiencing God workbook. So, I purposed to bring the list and see if God would have me declare some of God's names during our worship time. Imagine if each person brings something that has stirred their heart during the week! Awesome!

There are so many ways to express worship (which we can broaden) and so many ways to enhance our time of worship when we each bring. The result, I believe, can be a far greater explosion of the wonder of God drawing us into far deeper intimacy. After all, when all is said in done, that is what we are after: just that deeper intimacy with Jesus.

Hearing From God: Key To House Church

I have found that the key to House Church or Simple Church is to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit-- all of us. This is one of the many paradigm shifts that must take place for Christians to enter into a simple church expression or movement.

In my past life, as a pastor of a traditional church, I felt the responsibility to hear what God is saying and to pass that word along to "the people." Of course, God's word is always God's word and it will always bear fruit. But how much more fruit is available when every Christian discovers his/her gifts and his/her ability to hear the "rhema"-- the living Word through the written word-- and to be able to share those gifts and His word with one another.

This shifts the responsibility for hearing from God to each person-- to everyone-- and that takes some getting used to. But what an explosion can take place as the church worships and listens.

Jack Deere (Suprised by the Voice of God) shares this:

The New Testament church was not only the dwelling place for the presence of God, it was also a learning center for the language of the Holy Spirit. People not only worshipped God in church, but they were equipped to hear him, and after hearing God, they were able to give something to someone that would build them up.

In preparation for this, Jack challenges to consider why we gather as a church. It's not about tickling our spiritual ears or getting a little spiritual lift (though these may well happen), rather he suggests that we gather for four reasons: 1. To hear Jesus and be healed by Him, 2. To worship God together, 3. To be equipped to do the work of ministry, and 4. To be built up in Christ. He contends that all of this can take place only as every person gest involved-- bringing something edifying to share, learning to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying, and ministering to one another.

If you lived in the New Testament times, you prepared your heart to come to church, you prepared your heart to worship, you came expecting to be equipped for ministry, and you asked God to give you a gift to bring with you so that you might be used to strengthen someone else. This was the New Testament way of going to church.

Note From Japan

It's always pleasant to receive encouragement from other places in the world. Here's an email I received from Japan:

Hi!

Just wanted to say thanks and let you know your blog is impacting the
nations!

I am a Kiwi living here in Japan with my wife and two kids trying to see
house church movements become a reality. It is exciting, with some
days the sense that wow God you are up to something huge and others
feel like we are swimming in jelly with weights strapped on. But
whether a jelly or a wow day your blog is great! I have sent it to some
of the other missionaries too.

Thanks again. Blessings

Thank-you Roger and Roz

Simple Church In Ghana

Pastor William, from Ghana, West Africa, is visiting with us this weekend and joining us for three of our house church gatherings. After pastoring in a traditional church, he is now planting a simple church expression that "focuses on the person" rather than on "buildings and church."

Last night, William encouraged us with a wonderful message from John 4. Here is my brief summary:

The Samaritans were caught up with the discussion of where does one have to go to meet with God-- what location can He be found at. Meanwhile, Jesus simply shows up and declares that worshipping God is about "spirit and truth," not a location.

So... here we have church...

An everyday location where people commonly went and hung out (a well). A "marketplace" location. An ordinary woman. In fact, not a woman that one would think of as being interested in God. An unlikely woman. But, in the midst of this everyday location and ordinary woman, there's Jesus. She encounters Jesus. He is there. She had been looking for the messiah (though her lifestyle wouldn't cause you to suspect that she was seeking God), and now she encounters Him powerfully.

Notice that the disciples have been cleared out and sent into town so that they don't get in the way. How often it's the disciples (us) that get in the way of "church." We get in the way of people simply encountering Jesus in everyday life. We get in the way because we are the ones saying that you can only REALLY encounter God in a certain place or at a certain time.

So... now this Samaritan woman, who has encountered Jesus, turns around and becomes a witness of that which she has experienced. She has no training. She was given no books to read or classes to attend. She has had a single encounter with the living Jesus and that's enough. She becomes a witness of that which she has experienced. The result? Shortly an entire town comes out to encounter Jesus.

Church is taking place wonderfully. People encountering Jesus and becoming worshippers.

Wherever we go, we take the living reality of Jesus. He is no longer "at an address" (as William put it). He is in our lives and going wherever we go to live our lives. We take church with us! We are the ordinary people who are going into the most ordinary of situations and discovering that Jesus is there-- in our midst. We encounter him in every situation we are in. We witness of what we have experienced and others encounter him also. Church goes where we go!

William also pointed out, wonderfully, how important this one woman was to Jesus. Just one person. Not a mass meeting. Not a media blitz. Just one unlikely woman. He poured himself into just her. Yes, the results multiplied. But this is always the case. We will never know how much we impact our world by our willingness to pour ourselves into just one person. God will multiply. We may never know how much. But that's not the point. This is the way Jesus operates. We are so often looking for the "big" results, but that misses God and His Kingdom. He loves people. He loves a person. He takes the one seed we sow and brings forth what He wants from it.

It's been awesome to fellowship with someone from another continent who shares the Spirit in the same spirit that we do.

Church In The Marketplace

We continue to have quite an adventure on Tuesday nights as we meet in the restaurant. It just seems to create an atmosphere where people feel comfortable to come... from any background.

Last night was no exception:
A 90-year-old son of a Jewish scholar -- I'm not sure if he has ever been in a Christian service before of any kind. A 60-something-year-old woman with Jehovah's witness background -- believes the Holy Spirit is not for today but only for eternity. A cult leader-- who was out-and-out hostile last week but, through God's grace, some prayer, and reaching out in love, he was quite warm last night. His cult (The Way) is very small and he really seems to have no other place to fellowship-- and we have taken him in.

Marilyn, the restaurant owner, has a gathering heart. She invites anyone and everyone including a homeless man she befriended. He didn't come, but I'm sure we will have many opportunities to hang out with many different people from many different backgrounds.

It's interesting, exhilirating, and downright nerve-racking at times. But it is church in the marketplace; it's eating with tax collectors; it's being Jesus in a very imperfect but adventurous way.

Please keep this in your prayers!

Church Planting Movements

I have been thinking a lot about church planting movements-- how to be part of one and how to initiate more of them. The following, from the International Misison Board, is an excellent summary of the elements needed for true church planting movements to take place:

Ten Universal Elements
After surveying Church Planting Movements around the world, we found at least 10 elements present in every one of them. While it may be possible to have a Church Planting Movement without them, we have yet to see this occur. Any missionary intent on seeing a Church Planting Movement should consider these 10 elements.

1. Prayer
Prayer has been fundamental to every Church Planting Movement we have observed. Prayer typically provides the first pillar in a strategy coordinator’s master plan for reaching his or her people group. However, it is the vitality of prayer in the missionary’s personal life that leads to its imitation in the life of the new church and its leaders. By revealing from the beginning the source of his power in prayer, the missionary effectively gives away the greatest resource he brings to the assignment. This sharing of the power source is critical to the transfer of vision and momentum from the missionary to the new local Christian leadership.

2. Abundant gospel sowing
We have yet to see a Church Planting Movement emerge where evangelism is rare or absent. Every Church Planting Movement is accompanied by abundant sowing of the gospel. The law of the harvest applies well: “If you sow abundantly you will also reap abundantly.” In Church Planting Movements, hundreds and even thousands of individuals are hearing the claims that Jesus Christ has on their lives. This sowing often relies heavily upon mass media evangelism, but it always includes personal evangelism with vivid testimonies to the life-changing power of the gospel.

The converse to the law of the harvest is also true. Wherever governments or societal forces have managed to intimidate and stifle Christian witness, Church Planting Movements have been effectively eliminated.

3. Intentional church planting
In every Church Planting Movement, someone implemented a strategy of deliberate church planting before the movement got under way. There are several instances in which all the contextual elements were in place, but the missionaries lacked either the skill or the vision to lead a Church Planting Movement. However, once this ingredient was added to the mix, the results were remarkable.

Churches don’t just happen. There is evidence around the world of many thousands coming to Christ through a variety of means without the resulting development of multiple churches. In these situations, an intentional church-planting strategy might transform these evangelistic awakenings into full-blown Church Planting Movements.

4. Scriptural authority
Even among nonliterate people groups, the Bible has been the guiding source for doctrine, church polity and life itself. While Church Planting Movements have occurred among peoples without the Bible translated into their own language, the majority had the Bible either orally or in written form in their heart language. In every instance, Scripture provided the rudder for the church’s life, and its authority was unquestioned.

5. Local leadership
Missionaries involved in Church Planting Movements often speak of the self-discipline required to mentor church planters rather than do the job of church planting themselves. Once a missionary has established his identity as the primary church planter or pastor, it’s difficult for him ever to assume a back-seat profile again. This is not to say that missionaries have no role in church planting. On the contrary, local church planters receive their best training by watching how the missionary models participative Bible studies with non-Christian seekers. Walking alongside local church planters is the first step in cultivating and establishing local leadership.

6. Lay leadership
Church Planting Movements are driven by lay leaders. These lay leaders are typically bivocational and come from the general profile of the people group being reached. In other words, if the people group is primarily nonliterate, then the leadership shares this characteristic. If the people are primarily fishermen, so too are their lay leaders. As the movement unfolds, paid clergy often emerge. However, the majority—and growth edge of the movement—continue to be led by lay or bi-vocational leaders.

This reliance upon lay leadership ensures the largest possible pool of potential church planters and cell church leaders. Dependence upon seminary-trained—or in nonliterate societies, even educated—pastoral leaders means that the work will always face a leadership deficit.

7. Cell or house churches
Church buildings do appear in Church Planting Movements. However, the vast majority of the churches continue to be small, reproducible cell churches of 10-30 members meeting in homes or storefronts.

There is a distinction between cell churches and house churches. Cell churches are linked to one another in some type of structured network. Often this network is linked to a larger, single church identity. The Full Gospel Central Church in Seoul, South Korea, is perhaps the most famous example of the cell-church model with more than 50,000 individual cells.

House churches may look the same as cell churches, but they generally are not organized under a single authority or hierarchy of authorities. As autonomous units, house churches may lack the unifying structure of cell churches, but they are typically more dynamic. Each has its advantages. Cell groups are easier to shape and guide toward doctrinal conformity, while house churches are less vulnerable to suppression by a hostile government. Both types of churches are common in Church Planting Movements, often appearing in the same movement.

8. Churches planting churches
In most Church Planting Movements, the first churches were planted by missionaries or by missionary-trained church planters. At some point, however, as the movements entered a multiplicative phase of reproduction, the churches themselves began planting new churches. In order for this to occur, church members have to believe that reproduction is natural and that no external aids are needed to start a new church. In Church Planting Movements, nothing deters the local believers from winning the lost and planting new cell churches themselves.

9. Rapid reproduction
Some have challenged the necessity of rapid reproduction for the life of the Church Planting Movement, but no one has questioned its evidence in every CPM. Most church planters involved in these movements contend that rapid reproduction is vital to the movement itself. They report that when reproduction rates slow down, the Church Planting Movement falters. Rapid reproduction communicates the urgency and importance of coming to faith in Christ. When rapid reproduction is taking place, you can be assured that the churches are unencumbered by nonessential elements and the laity are fully empowered to participate in this work of God.

10. Healthy churches
Church growth experts have written extensively in recent years about the marks of a church. Most agree that healthy churches should carry out the following five purposes: 1) worship, 2) evangelistic and missionary outreach, 3) education and discipleship, 4) ministry and 5) fellowship. In each of the Church Planting Movements we studied, these five core functions were evident.

A number of church planters have pointed out that when these five health indicators are strong, the church can’t help but grow. More could be said about each of these healthy church indicators, but the most significant one, from a missionary vantage point, is the church’s missionary outreach. This impulse within these CPM-oriented churches is extending the gospel into remote people groups and overcoming barriers that have long resisted Western missionary efforts.

The Insider, More on Part 3

We are discussing the seven life-patterns of a fruitful insider (one who is effective at sowing Kingdom life into the people around him or her). We have already mentioned the first three: taking little initiatives, praying, and serving.

The fourth pattern is worth taking some time with: Conversing the Faith.

Many of us have been trained in certain “skills” for evangelism that are forced and that simply don’t work. Petersen calls this “hijacking a conversation.”

We have all had the experience of having a conversation hijacked. There we are, in what we think is a casual, informal discussion, when all of a sudden the other person slips into a subject he or she has rehearsed—which is obviously headed in a predetermined direction. A yellow light goes on in our head, and we wonder what the other person is selling. As Danny DeVito’s character in The Big Kahuna put it, “When you hijack a conversation, it is no longer a conversation. It is a sales pitch. It is a sales pitch, whether you are talking about the product or about Jesus Christ.

Petersen suggests that we need to make a distinction between what is appropriate for apostle and evangelists who proclaim the gospel, and what is appropriate for insiders who are to converse their faith. This latter has to do with being “wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Paul is saying, “converse your faith in such a manner that people will ask for more!

Petersen goes on to give some more suggestions on what this means:

1. Be honest and open about yourself. Let people know how you feel about things. 2. Take a sincere interest in the other person. Ask questions, and then listen to what the other says. Listening is the first rule of good conversation. Establish a trust as a common ground to walk together on. 3. As the trust grows, sharing one’s experiences in trying to walk with God begins to have a natural place in the conversation. Slip people salty morsels… a little at a time as their interest grows.

The more we understand how the gospel affects us in our daily affairs and relationships, and the more we learn to converse about this in everyday language, the easier it becomes to let people in on what it means to know God. Because the gospel envelops all of life—how we conduct ourselves with our family, in our society, and our work—every subject, when fully explored, will trace back to Jesus Christ…

Boldness is not brashness. Boldness, for the insider, means having enough confidence in the gospel to use it as the frame of reference for living and interpreting everyday life.

As people’s interest develops, Petersen likes to invite them to explore the Bible with him.

There will come a time when it will be appropriate to suggest something of this nature. On several occasions I have approached a few nonChristian friends with the invitation, “My wife and I are thinking about getting a few friends together to read the Bible. We find this helps us keep our lives on track, and we’re not doing this with anyone right now. We’re not ready to get started, but when we are we’ll let you know.”

People need time to digest an invitation like that, as the idea of doing such a thing has probably never crossed their minds. We need to give them time to think about it. As we pray about their responses, the Holy Spirit will help them decide.

The Insider, Part 3

In Part 3 of "The Insider" Jim Petersen gets down to the practical lifestyle of an insider (one who reaches out to those around them, sharing the Kingdom life). He suggests seven specific patterns of behavior that will be part of a fruitful insider's life. He devotes a chapter to each pattern.

1. Taking little initiatives. Since the kingdom of God is within us, then it's through us that people see the kingdom. This takes place through the simple ways that we live our lives:

People see the kingdom whenever we show mercy instead of judgment, speak truth when a lie would be to our advantage, or serve when it's neither expected nor deserved...

They (insiders) keep their anger in check. They don't degrade another person by lusting for them. They keep their word and are generous even toward people who want to take advantage of them. They even love their enemies.

The point is to build relationships and to pour love into them. Not for the sake of what we can accomplish in that person's life, but just to be people of the kingdom:

Frequently someone will ask me the question, How long sould I stick with a friendship? I've been a friend to this person for almost two years and he's no closer to becoming a Christian now than he was when we first met. Should I forget him and move on? The reply, of course, is, If that is our agenda in our friendships, if we are interested in people only because of what we might accomplish with them, then we have missed the point. When we think like that, we aren't loving as our heavenly Father does. He loves with no strings attached.

Petersen also encourages us to greet those, daily, that are in our daily traffic pattern whom we typically ignore. He tells a wonderful story about a woman's impact on the train car she road everyday because of her efforts to greet and get to know the other regulars on her trip.

2. The second life-pattern of an insider is to Pray and Respond. Take the name of our friends to the Father. It's his work and his initiative that we are seeking.

3. The third life-pattern of an insider is to Serve Others. Jesus said that we fulfill the law of love "by serving the needs of the people with whom we cross paths." We look for simple ways to serve others and to show hospitality to others.

Coming next-- the fourth life pattern: Conversing the Faith!

Why Do Church Differently?

Alan Creech does a good job of answering the question, "Why Do Church Differently?"

This is why. I can answer for some and not all. We have looked and we have seen the deep lack of real transformation going on in the Body of Christ. We aren't - we haven't been - being changed into the people we were created to be. And we have seen that the context of our Christian lives has had a good deal to do with this lack of transformation. I would never argue for change simply based on taste or angst. It's about the big question - "in what context are people most effectively formed into the image of Christ?" That's it - that is really IT. This is "why church?" Why? Because it is in this context of healthy Christian Community, functioning properly, that we are all transformed into His image. And the answer to "why do it differently?" is because what we have been doing, on the whole, is not facilitating that change. And so we look deeply and see where the kinks are and we ask God to help us straighten them out. Then, we step out and try, by His Grace, to do that.

That is not the whole story. That's not the full answer. But it is a beginning to what I, and many others, are thinking and doing. Not to be cool. Not to keep up with the surrounding culture. Not because we're mad or hurt. Not those things. They may be in there somewhere, but they cannot be allowed to be the primary reasons why we do these things - these weird little communities of faith that people shrug off and to a large degree, dismiss. The reason is deeper than that. Whether the answers manifest themselves as looking postmodern or premodern or whatever - that's not the point. The point is - is who we are and what we do facilitating transformational change effectively in our communities? We need to be about answering that question. God's Grace be with us.

Living With God Consciousness

I have been summarizing Petersen's book on "The Insider" which encourages us to see our primary ministry and calling in the fields where we live our lives each day: at work, in the supermarkets, with friends, etc.

I have also been seeking to live more intentionally, each day, in God's presence-- more conscious of His ever-presence. It seems to me that these two thoughts can be powerfully weaved together. Our calling, our life, and our spiritual life are all meant to be lived as one integrated whole. We don't "do" church and then "do" work. We don't "do" the spiritual and then "do" the non-spiritual. We are Christians because we are living with and in Christ, all the time, every moment of every day. The fact that we lose awareness of this is because of our own splintered and compartmentalized thinking.

Carl Arice, in "The Taste of Silence," describes this well:

The spiritual journey is life, the events of everyday life...

Is it not possible that instead of finding God in all things we divide the world into compartments? We say, "Now I'm going to do something holy--say my prayers." Then, afterwards, "Now I turn my attention to survival needs: paying bills, administrivia, and all sorts of other things. I hurry through them so I can go back and be with God and do God's work." This is a bad split of God's world. Do you remember the catechism question, "Where is God?"-- where we answered with great gusto, "God is everywhere." So why don't we really believe that? All of reality is saturated with the presence and power of God. Everything we do is a potential playing field for prayer.

What a goal-- to integrate my delight and joy in God with everyday life. To see God in the mundane, in each relationship, and in every event. To be aware of His activity. To rest from my own. To point others to God not out of some duty but because I am living, in the moment, in contact with Him and therefore His reality is naturally flowing out of my perceptions and thoughts.