SimpleChurch Journal

Are You a Christian?

There is an older article by Wayne Jacobsen that raises issues still relevant for today. I would love to hear your take on it. You can read the whole article here while following are some excerpts:

"Are you a Christian?" I used to love it when someone on a plane asked me that question. "Absolutely," I'd answer, proud to be on the side of all that's good and right in the world. But over the last fifteen years, answering that question has become far more difficult...

So now when I'm asked the question today, I hedge a bit. "It depends on what you mean by 'Christian'," I often respond. If they are asking whether or not I am a faithful adherent of the religion called Christianity, I have to confess that I'm not. I'm not even trying to be. But if they are asking me if I am a passionate follower of Jesus, the answer would be an enthusiastic yes...

When the early believers were first called Christians, we don't know if it was a compliment or a mockery. We do know that they didn't invent the term for themselves. The culture called them "little christs" because they had found so much identity in following Jesus. Whatever spawned the term, those early believers adopted it for themselves and for 2,000 years it has been the dominant identifier for those who claim to follow Christ. But that might be changing.

Recent surveys show even believers are becoming uncomfortable with the term. At least in the United States it is increasingly used not for people who reflect the passion of Jesus in a broken world, but for adherents of a religion that has been built on a distortion of the life and teaching of Jesus, not necessarily it's reality. The results can be confusing.

Many of us came to faith enamored by the life and teachings of Jesus. We were promised a relationship with God but were handed a religion of doctrines we had to believe, rituals we had to observe, obligations we had to meet and a standard of morality to adopt. While most of those were true enough, many found that their attempts to follow them did not produce either the life of Jesus it promised, nor the reality of true, caring communities of faith…

I guess all of this begs the question, did Jesus intend to start a religion called Christianity, or did we do this to ourselves? I suspect the latter. I am wholeheartedly convinced that he came to end all religions, not by lashing out against them, but by filling up in the human spirit what religion promises to fill but never can. Religion seeks to manipulate human effort to earn God's approval, when such approval can never be earned…

I meet many believers and leaders who have a profound faith and are seeking healthy ways to communicate that journey with others. I rejoice in that, as I do the amount of compassionate aid that such groups share with the world in need. But too many people miss out on the life Jesus offered them by practicing it as a religion instead of growing to know him…

We live in a great day. The emptiness of tradition is being seen for what it is and people are hungering for the reality of relationship. Live there each day and there's no telling where that will take you or who you'll end up walking alongside as Jesus becomes your life.

You get the gist. Thoughts?

Digging Deeper into Intimacy with God

Since the Covid virus has altered our lives, I have posted about the possible opportunities of these times:

1. Virtual gatherings - developing our community life with online tools
2. Missional opportunities that may have arisen due to life uncertainties of those around us

But one of the obvious opportunities for many of us (not all) is the time to dig deeper into a more intimate life with God.

As with these previous posts, I mostly want to hear from you as we encourage one another what it means to refresh our relationship with God and go deeper.

Simple church / house church is not about a church model, rather a lifestyle that arises organically out of a person’s relationship with God.

If I can quote from myself in Simple/House Church Revolution:

Jesus did not invite us to follow a religion of rules, nor did he mandate an order of service or church structure to follow. He did ask us to follow him. Out of that flows all of the life, joy, and power that we need to live fully in him and for him…

We discover that there is no end to the depth of relationship that God desires with us and offers to us. Although we make many missteps on the journey into intimacy with Jesus—faltering, hesitating, becoming religious and proud, distancing, retreating—God never gives up on his quest to be close to us…

If I were to point to one great need for us, as God’s people, who desire to experience a deeper intimacy with God, it would be the need for more solitude out of which comes a more available listening heart…

What about you? Are you digging deeper and what has it looked like?

Finally, I do want to acknowledge that there are still many people who have less time than ever because they are serving in essential services or as frontline healthcare workers or have children at home. May we keep all such people/friends in our prayers!

Covid-19: Missional Opportunity?

Is it possible that we have been given the opportunity of a lifetime for people to respond to the Gospel? Does the uncertainty of our time create openness in people’s hearts like never before? It is certainly possible.

My question is, how are we responding to that? Especially given the unique circumstances of social distancing and a greater reliance on technology to communicate.

This post is more about asking questions than providing answers. I hope that you will share your experiences, ideas, and aspirations to reach people during this season.

Here are some of the universal principles that normally guide me.

• Pray, pray, pray.
• Sow abundantly. Look for new opportunities to both love and connect with others.
• Demonstrate the love of God.
• Always be ready to share the Gospel starting with your testimony/story.
• Make disciples using ‘discovery’ tools and teach them quickly to do the same with others.

And here are a couple of tools that have recently encouraged me: Turning Everyday Conversations into Gospel Conversations by Jimmy Scroggins, and the resources offered by No Place Left.

But what does all of this look like in our current, isolated contexts? Ideas? Thoughts? Recent experiences? What tools and/or methods are you using? What are you trying? What is working? Share with us!

Also, if you are looking to connect with others, virtually, who are specifically interested in encouraging mission among one another, use this form and check box "c" where the form asks you to "Choose the one that best describes your number one reason for meeting in a virtual house church."

Virtual House Church

I want to do three things:

1. Share some of my own experiences with house church via group video chat.
2. Invite you to share, if you have experience with virtual house church gatherings, by commenting at the end of the post.
3. Offer a form here where you can sign up if you want to find others who are interested in doing house church via group video chat. I make no promises that I will be able to connect you with others, but I will try. You can also use the same form if you already have your own group members but want some additional technical or practical help in doing a virtual house church

I have been meeting now with two different virtual groups and we are all learning.

Here are my thoughts so far.

I recommend 5 or 6 people as the maximum size. Moving conversation from one to the next takes some time and larger groups may become tedious. If you already have a larger group, you may want to divide it into two groups.

It is more important than ever to know the purpose of the group so that everyone has the same expectations and are on the same page. Is the group primarily to share in fellowship and be a place of prayer, care, and support for one another? Or is it primarily to provide an opportunity for discovery of the word of God together? Or is it primarily to be a base for planning and carrying out missions, works of compassion, and discipleship with an outward focus? Or a balance of all three?

Assuming that the modus operandi of the group is that all participate, it is important that there is a good facilitator who keeps the conversation moving, does not let one person dominate, and invites conversation from those who would, otherwise, remain quiet. The facilitator (who can rotate among the group, by the way), should be responsible to carry out the purpose of the group as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

In regards to technology, I have experience with Zoom, GoToMeeting, Google Hangouts, and Skype. There are pros and cons to each and there are others, but they all serve the basic purpose of getting you face-to-face virtually with others.

If you have been doing or just starting a virtual house church group yourself, please do use the comments section to share:

• What technology are you using?
• Are you incorporating worship? If so, how?
• What are some of the challenges you have seen?
• Benefits?
• Anything else that might be helpful to the rest of us?

Finally, as I mentioned already, I will try to assist you if you want to connect virtually with others and do not have a group. OR, if you have a group of people but could use a little encouragement on how to get started. Either way, you can communicate with me here and I will do my best.

Ask God for a Likeminded Friend

Recently I heard someone talk about the catalytic influence of a likeminded friend.

As I thought about this, I realized how common this really is. I think of people who have started disciple-multiplying movements that have reached thousands in overseas settings to people who have done the same thing, on a much smaller scale, here in the west. In most cases, there was often the partnering of two or three people whose friendship and like-minded camaraderie seemed to catalyze what was to come. It almost seems that this key friendship preceded the unfolding of God’s work.

It does not take much effort to immediately think of Jesus sending out disciples ‘two by two.’ Or, we naturally think of Paul and Barnabus and then Paul and Timothy. Is this more than just a good idea? Perhaps it is truly a key part of forging into new waters of reaching, discipling, and starting organic gatherings.

Most people I meet who are in the place of trying out new paradigms of church and ministry report that they feel very much alone. Could this ‘aloneness’ be God’s way of preparing us to pray for, look for, and expect God to bring us a likeminded person to journey with us? Perhaps this might be the starting point of prayer in our current quest to move forward?

I am sharing this with the realization that it probably provokes more questions than answers, but I thought I should post it nonetheless.

Thoughts or experiences with this?

House Church Directory

Here is the latest and only current site that I know of where they are working toward keeping a current directory of house churches.

This is how they describe their directory:

This new national house church directory site offers:

1) Easy, self-serve listing functionality,

2) The ability to search using Google mapping, and

3) Private, secure communication between those listing a house church and people searching for one.

This site is completely free - no cost to use and no advertising clutter. We are just trying to help the house church community get connected.

I encourage you to make use of this and, also, let me know your experiences with it.

Simple Church Online Course: Register Now

You can now register for the upcoming “Simple/House Church Revolution Online Course.”

Beginning date is February 9.

NOTE, you can register immediately as there are only 15 spaces remaining on a first come, first served basis!

The goal of this course is for participants to discover more fully God's story and the nature of His church in a way that fully celebrates the freedom of the Gospel and the simplicity, reproducibility, and joy of simple, participatory, 24/7 church life.

• It’s interactive with lots of opportunity to share and hear from others who are on a similar journey.
• It provides a lot of great material that challenges our perspectives and paradigms in order to help us shape our own non-traditional journey.
• It can be life-changing as it sets our course as pursuers of Jesus in the context of simple church life.

Who is this course for?  It’s ideal for those who are newly exploring simple/house churches or who are in the process of starting simple/house churches or networks of simple/house churches.

This course helps move us from head knowledge to the practice of principles that can release the DNA of living, reproductive, Jesus-led, simple-house churches that are making disciples who make disciples.  

We continue to offer this course when possible because of the feedback we have received from people who have participated in the past:

"A unique and extremely insightful collection of resources, experiences, and other people who will finally let you know that you are not crazy for hoping that there is more of Jesus to be known and shared in a way that is actually simple."

Read more of the description and register here.  Look forward to this journey together!

New Directions for a New Year: Am I Open?

“The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” John 3:8

You are likely reading this because you have demonstrated an openness to new paradigms and new leadings of God’s Spirit. Think of how God has changed your thinking in recent times about your church and ministry life:

• It’s about being God’s people 24/7 not attending a meeting
• It’s about a Jesus-lifestyle not an organization to belong to
• It’s about incarnating God into the world not attracting people to a clubhouse
• It’s about gathering in a participatory manner rather than being priest-led
• It’s about discipling by relationship rather than by program
• It’s about leadership that empowers and releases rather than controls

And with these new paradigms, you have likely stepped out of former places of ministry and church-going and explored new ways to walk life out as a follower of Jesus. You have learned to live the adventure of following God rather than living out of pre-determined programs.

But, it is a new year and God is ever on the move. What He led us into last year is only a stepping stone for where He wants to take us in the coming year. God calls us continually to fresh revelations and new directions because we are designed to be led by the Spirit of God. This means as soon as we find a new place to rest in, God is likely to move us on if we are listening.

My personal tendency is to take the direction and understanding from yesterday and camp out! Wherever I have been with God, that is where I want to stay. But God is far more dynamic and adventurous than that. He has more for me. He has more than I can ask for or imagine. But I must be willing to move with Him to enter into this year’s promised land.

“In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted.” Exodus 40:36-37

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

God has blessed the work we have been involved in on African soil. Teams of disciple-making, house-church planters and leaders are deployed in several different countries. But, I am so aware that I simply want to continue doing the same-same I have been doing. Why change? Why not replicate next year what God showed us last year? Because God continues to move on... and my heart is deeply challenged: am I open and willing to move with Him this coming year?

Waiting on God

Sometimes we wait. We don’t know what the next step is. We wait on God.

• We have left a church situation not knowing what is next, and now we wait.
• We want to connect organically with ‘house church’ people, but for today it has not happened, so we wait.
• We have promises God has given to us. Awesome promises. But, for now, we wait.
• We need a provision, or a healing, or a breakthrough. But up to now… we wait.

Though I personally do not like these times of waiting, I am in such a season now and this is not unusual. These are prime times in God’s economy in which He shapes us, re-shapes us, and most importantly, draws us close to Him.

God, let me use this season well. The purpose of waiting is not to deprive me, but to fill me with a greater abundance of You which is, in the end, the greatest gift of all. May I walk with you through to this fullness of Your life and presence that You desire for me and that truly meets each and every need of my heart and life.

Sure, the other end of the waiting will come. It always does. God is always faithful to lift us, bless us, and move us into the next and better season. His promises and purposes are always for our good. But, I also know that there is something deep happening during the waiting time itself when I allow my heart to open its receptors more fully to the presence, beauty, and life of God. Therefore, often this season delivers more into my heart and life then the promise fulfilled that I have been seeking.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

This is what God is speaking to me today during the waiting period. While I wait, I can do more than wait. I can seek Him. And that is more than enough when He is found by me. Let it be so. He never fails to meet us when He is the single, deep cry of our hearts. And that is enough.

The Call of God

(Re-posted from 10/16/12)

Some may still believe that the “call of God” is for those select few who have a ‘higher’ purpose than others: to be ‘in ministry,’ or to be ‘a pastor,’ or to serve in ‘fulltime Christian service’ as though there is any other way to live for Jesus.

Fortunately, one of the primary messages of God’s movement in simple/organic churches is the truth, and practical outworking, that all are equally called and gifted for the purposes God shaped each for.

However, just because we leave traditional church structures, it does not automatically follow that people will discover and move more deliberately in their calling or destiny.

First of all, calling and destiny in Christ are for the sake of the kingdom.  It’s not enough just to seek personal fulfillment and ‘doing what I’m made to do’ as though that is the end goal.  Yes, God has shaped us uniquely, but those special abilities, personalities, and gifts that we have been given are designed to be used in allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom purposes.  I don’t mean that we use them separate from the world.  No, we are meant to use them in the world and in all places where we live and interact.  But ultimately, as we submit our total self to God, we expect to see our uniqueness used in a way that reveals the Kingdom of God in word and/or deed and ultimately leads to disciples being made—people growing in their ability listen to and follow the voice of Jesus.

Secondly, our calling and destiny is often shaped most clearly by pain and difficulties.  This is something that is often resisted.  While we may follow the vision of another for a season, as we grow into our own uniqueness, a deeper, more personal calling always comes out of the brokenness that we walk through.  Oswald Chambers put it this way:

We take our own spiritual consecration and try to make it into a call of God, but when we get right with Him He brushes all this aside.  Then He gives us a tremendous, riveting pain to fasten our attention on something that we never even dreamed could be His call for us.  And for one radiant, flashing moment we see His purpose, and we say, “Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

Finally, our calling and destiny do not simply appear as we plow helter-skelter through life.  Rather, it becomes clearest as we find ourselves present to God Himself.  This is one of the benefits of getting our eyes off of ‘the church organization,’ or ‘the church leadership’ and onto Jesus.  As Leanne Payne says:

Saints of all ages have made it their business to be present to God, and out of this has sprung their truest vocation.  They become, therefore, the ones who blaze spiritual trails for others.

Perhaps my deepest cry is that the church, as fragmented and unfocused as it sometimes is, will somehow come forth and give birth to an entire generation of trailblazers who are so present to God and to their true calling/destiny in Him, that their imprint on the world is the unmistakable imprint of Jesus himself.