SimpleChurch Journal aka House Church Blog

Some Basics

As I prepare for a conference in Thailand that involves presentations on Church Planting Movements (David Garrison's staff) and House Church (my little piece), I have had my thoughts drawn back to the basics of simple/house church that I always want to keep before me:

1. It's all about Jesus.  It's not about how, where, when, we gather or who we gather with or what we do when we gather or if we gather or don't gather...  It's about a love relationship with Jesus who has called me by name, implanted His Spirit within me, transplanted me to live in heavenly places, and allowed me the joy and privilege to have just a few minutes here on this earth to serve Him with my life.  He is awesome, and He is the centerpoint, and He is life, and He is the only reason, and it really, really does not have to get complicated... He is!
2. Knowing Jesus means we get to live in partnership with Him everyday.  We live by His power, under His guidance, motivated by love for Him as we are sent into a world that needs to encounter Him.  He works through me, in a very unique way, every single day and every single moment.  I am the church--a called out one--with His presence in me and with me every day and in every moment.  The adventure is not about "going to church" (an impossibility) but being the church--His beloved who lives in His presence--always.
3. I get to gather with others who love Jesus.  By his grace, I frequently get to gather with people I consider to be family: fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters in Christ who know me, support me and who are part of that mutual encouragement that takes place when the Body of Christ fellowships.  What a privilege and joy (even when it gets messy).  These gatherings are no more "church" than my everyday life... but I do commit myself, best I can, to love those Christians whom I gather with regularly as well as to bless anyone in the Body of Christ that I am given the opportunity to bless and/or build up.

There is really not much more to it.  Everytime I try to complicate it, God has to remind me that it's always about simple, simple, simple (when it comes to "church" life, i.e living-with-God life).  We can dialogue about many things-- many good things-- but, for me, most of the rest of the story is about how to live without religious baggage or anything else that hinders the basic life-love story that we are called to.

I enjoy the many conversations that we have on these subjects... so I'm not just trying to provide a trite little summary.  I just find it helps me, regularly, to keep my eyes on the heart of the heart of the matter.  This post is for me...

Great Reminders

Bill Reed has been working with house churches for the last couple of years in a neighboring community in the Central Coast of California.  He recently sent out the following reminders to some of those he gathers with which I thought was some good food to pass along to all of us:

1. Personal time with Jesus away from the gatherings/meetings.  Time by yourself, with your spouse, or with your family reading God’s word and praying is the backbone of what we are doing.  You need to take time during the week to contemplate and meditate on the things of God. (His Word, His Creation, His Character)  Jenny and I encourage you to do this not just by yourself but with your spouse and/or your family.  If you have no family or spouse, grab a close friend.  Our home calls this time “JAM Time”.  (Jesus And Me Time)  Our strength lies in our daily “personal relationship” with our Creator, Jesus Christ.  He is the backbone of our gatherings.  He is the grand architect for our meetings.  He knows where to place each living stone. (First Peter Chapter 2)  We must stay in constant fellowship with Jesus Christ in order for our gatherings to come to have life and meaning.
2. Bring something to share to each gathering/meeting.  It could be as simple as a word of encouragement, a song, a verse from the Bible, or a testimony of how God is working in and through your life.  Meetings are only awkward when we have not come prepared to build each other up and encourage one another.  When we come prepared to share what God is teaching us, we come full of life, ready to give it away.  There are times when we have nothing to share because we are just exhausted or have been distracted throughout our week.  Come prepared to share just that... “I am exhausted and I have nothing to share, would you please pray for me to get through this time.”  You see, there is always something to share!
3. During our times of open worship (Times that we sing, pray, read the word), quiet your heart before God and ask Him to speak to your heart.  Listen for the “still small voice”(Ps. 46:10;83:10;95:6-11).  He, the Holy Spirit, may remind you of God’s faithfulness to you during the week, and if so then share it.  He may remind you of un-confessed sin, if so then share it with Him and if you feel led with the group.  He may ask you to share something with the group from the Bible, make sure that you do so.  Jesus is the head of the church and He will guide our meetings, if we come prepared to share and to listen.
4. Prayer...Prayer...and more Prayer!  Pray without ceasing.  We must learn to bring everything to God in prayer.  He does hear us!
5. Gather outside the gatherings as “brothers and sisters” in the household of Jesus Christ.  Get together to watch movies, have game nights, etc.  The Body of Christ (those who are believers) need to learn the art of “fun” and “joy”.  For some reason, it was lost over the last century.
6. Engage our community... Get involved in our communities and make a difference.  Build bridges of relationship with those outside of the Christian community.  Let the light of Jesus shine brightly in the world in which we live. Pray and ask the Lord to lead you into some sort of community involvement that puts you in touch with people who do not know Jesus Christ.  This will give you an opportunity to “shine brightly” as a follower of Jesus Christ.
7. Lastly, remember that how we act throughout our day is worship.  We are in the presence of God 24/7 whether we want to admit it or not.  Being a Christian is something that you are... not something that you do once or twice a week.

Bill blogs here.

Yet... Missiology Comes First?!

The last two posts have brought up the tension between being missional and building effective community.  I am continuing this discussion by mentioning an excellent article by Mark Van S in the new NextWave:

You are church before you do church. This is one of the fueling insights of the missional church movement. This isn’t a new idea…but it is pretty provocative, especially when one considers its implications. If we take Jesus at his word when he says (as recorded in John 20:21) “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” then we realize that our being sent is the basis of our “doing” church. In other words, missiology precedes ecclesiology...

Mark goes on to describe 6 incarnational practices to help engage your neighborhoods missionally.  This is excellent material.

I have debated with others as to whether or not one can be missional and build effective community all at the same time.  Some would say that the mission must be the core reason for the existence of the community (thus Mark's comment: "missiology precedes ecclesiology").  I would tend to say that "being community" is also a core reason for existing (love one another and build up one another) however the community must still be a missional community at the DNA level.

Either way (perhaps it's just semantics) I know that the challenge for all of us is to sustain our sending mission in a world that calls us to comfortable, passive, remote-control-tv living.

Life Together

I find myself often caught between the two tensions of being missional while developing community life.  Both are vital.  Both are part of the calling of Christian living.  Neither one is mutually exclusive of the other.  I firmly believe that if we can balance these two we will see a unique synergism that will draw people to Him by our love.

My last post reflected on the essential of being outward focused.  So... to sustain the aforementioned tension, I want to quote from a traditional pastor of a traditional church (Peter Marty) who has some excellent input to give on community life:

"What life have you if you have not life together?" Words of T. S. Eliot from his 1934 play The Rock point to the power of receiving life and nurturing life within the context of relating to other human beings. "There is no life that is not in community. And no community not lived in praise to God," wrote Eliot. When people become aware of the limitations of individualistic thinking and the drawbacks of disengagement from their neighbors, they hunger for alternatives. They yearn for something beyond themselves...

Surprisingly, a richly textured communal spirit is absent in many congregations. There may be experiences aplenty of social togetherness. And friendliness may be an abundant part of all these experiences. But this is not the same as participating in and being deeply entwined with a spiritually grounded community. The two should not be confused. Inhabiting the same ecclesiastical space for an hour on Sunday morning is not the same as belonging to a community where your presence truly matters to others and their presence truly matters to you...

A communal spirit blooms where people are deeply in touch with one another, thriving because of the faithful interaction with one another...

Holiness is born out of communities, not solitary lives...

Uniformity does not constitute biblical community. If anything, it threatens it. Henri Nouwen coined the all-important definition of community as "that place where the person you least want to live with always lives." A resurrection-minded community will not emerge so long as individuals are busy surrounding themselves with only those people with whom they wish to live...

One of the apostle Paul's determinative moves was to take the diversity of the church and, through hard work and grace, form a spirited community. This was how he believed the wisdom of God would get through to the world: "That through the church," he noted, "the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known" (Eph. 3:10). It is the rareness of such a body that captures the attention of the world. The manner with which this body or organism begins to move together has more than eye-catching appeal. It is also happens to be the church's most effective way for transforming the world.

Peter Marty wrote these words to help pastors give shape to the community life of their local congregations.  I believe his challenges are worth considering for our own simple communities where we desire to see "intimate bands of allies" form for the purpose of both growth and effective mission.  May we not gather in homes and still discover that the "communal spirit is absent."  May we not become so independent (in our quest to not be part of organizational Christianity) that we lose sight of the importance of interdependence whereby we belong to a community in which our "presence truly matters to others and their presence truly matters to [us]."

Can we be rich in community life AND missionally effective?