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What if there were no churches?

By Jeremy Myers
15 Comments

What if there were no churches?

Brandon ChaseThis is a guest post Brandon Chase. Brandon is a baseball player at heart; a practicing Crossfitter, golfer, hoopster and guitarist; fueled by meat, cappuccinos and chocolate. He writes about learning to Live by the Life of Jesus Christ on his blog Zōē Perissos. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Marie, and has two daughters McKinley and Delaney. They live in Fort Worth, TX.

Like Zōē Perissos on Facebook or follow Brandon on Facebook, or Twitter.

If you would like to write a Guest Post for the Till He Comes Blog, begin by reading the Guest Blogger Guidelines.

Do you remember doing Science Fair projects in school? You know, the ones where you did an experiment in order to answer a question, solve a problem, or explore a “what if?”

I’m certainly glad I’m not in 7th grade anymore, and don’t have to whip out my tri-panel display board and fret over whether the Judges are going to like my project. But, I do have an experiment, while hypothetical, that I’d love to see tested:

What would happen to the Church – the Body of Christ, if it were forced to exist without:

  • Officially designated church buildings or offices
  • Paid, full-time vocational ministers
  • Institutional or otherwise officially organized groups or factions
  • Tithes, Budgets or Ministry Plans

As I stated, I realize this experiment is an anecdotal exercise. Truly, it would take an extreme set of circumstances (or… a magnificent move of God) to arrange a new playing field such as this.

But what if?

What would you do if you woke up one morning, and suddenly, as if in an alternate reality, you learned that following your Lord, practicing and growing in your faith – being a Christian – had to be done differently…

What if…

what if there were no churches?What if there were no “churches” to “go to?”

What if there were no buildings where Christians gathered once or twice per week?

What if there were no “Ministers?” No “Pastors?” No “Preachers?” No “Leaders?”

What if there were no denominations? No groups of like-minded people who practice the same theological or doctrinal expression and traditions?

What if there were no institutions to which you would tithe or give? There were no tax deductions? No budgets directing the allocation of funds or mission statements or plans dictating ministry form?

You would have prayer, the Bible, and people – but none of the above.

What would you do? How would you move forward? What would happen to the Church?

What would happen to the world?

Hypothesis: Revival

I am giddy as I fantasize about this query.

Can you imagine? The Body of Christ being released into the wilderness – amongst the darkness and danger and wolves of the world – with no “church” building to retreat to on Sunday, no “Pastor” to listen to week after week, no tribe to look for answers in tradition and no tax motivation or direction on where to give money?

To many, this sounds like chaos.

To me, this sounds like Heaven on earth. This sounds like the Ekklesia. This sounds like the Body under the Head. This sounds like the Bride in radiant Oneness with Her Groom. This sounds like the Family of God. This sounds like a dwelling place for the Lord.

This sounds like Jesus.

It was He in fact who said He was sending us out like sheep amongst the wolves. He said just as He is Light, so too are we, shining in the darkness. He said that the world was dangerous, but that He had already overcome it, and that we were the real dangerous ones in Him.

He also said He was the Head of His Body, the Church. He would lead; we would be equal, united and mutually beneficial members to each other, and the Body as a whole.

He said that as sheep, we listen to His voice and hear Him, as He leads us, and we follow.

He said there was no room for division or faction – only Him.

He said nothing about giving a certain percentage. He asked for everything. He did not direct ministry. Ministry is His Life – and It is to be taken everywhere, all the time, as He directs.

These were the simple, but profound instructions a small group of followers received from their Lord. They didn’t have buildings they erected and gathered in. They didn’t place titles on certain people or create offices around them. They knew nothing of denominations. They were not given percentage of giving or mission plan guidelines.

Instead, they gathered with each other, two or more at a time, at varying points in the day, every day, in as many varying forms and expressions as possible.

When they gathered, Christ, by the Holy Spirit, “lead” the meeting. He set the agenda. He was the agenda. He was expressed and His Life was given, and out of that expression and Life came mission direction and action – always in the form of humility, service and Love. Money and possessions and resources were given freely, generously, spontaneously and continuously – with no thought to percentage or personal benefit. Ministry was organic, dynamic, and viral.

Their simple, but powerfully obedient response to their Lord’s commission, changed the world.

The early Christians did not have anything that we do not have today. In fact, they had so much less. But the advancement of the Kingdom and the Life of Jesus was so much more explosive in their time.

This begs the question:

How did the early church do so much with so little? And… How are we doing so little with so much more?

And these are indeed good questions. But they are not the best question, which is:

What do we have now, that they didn’t have, that may be hindering the Kingdom?

While the answers to that question cannot be fully treated in one article, might I submit that in part, they include:

  • The modern day church building as the form and function of what we believe to be “church;” and if “gone to,” the primary function and practice of Christians.
  • The submission to, and sometimes idolatry of those in the position of “Pastor” or others in “Leadership,” to the point where, under the clergy/laity caste, the Priesthood of all Believers, and the identification of and free functioning in Spiritual gifts is retarded.
  • The division of the Body of Christ into many thousands of dis-unified parts, many of which give no more than lip service to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Head.
  • The oftentimes abused teaching of tithing, and the door that it closes to creative opportunities to be generous in giving and serving and loving outside of a corporate bank account and budget.

God is not hindering His work in our age. He has not designed that this time be marked with less power and wonder and expansion of His Kingdom.

No, man has done that.

Maybe, just maybe, this little experiment should not be anecdotal or hypothetical at all.

Maybe, we’ve always had the prescribed steps, ingredients and answers to this all along?

We have Him. He is all we need.

Maybe He is calling His children to get ourselves – our stuff and our ideas, out of the way…

…and follow.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: be the church, church, church growth, guest post, organic church, revival, Theology of the Church

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Are House Churches Weird?

By Jeremy Myers
30 Comments

Are House Churches Weird?

I am facing a house church dilemma. Maybe some of you can help me.

weird house church

I have visited some house churches that were …. well… not normal. They were kind of weird. Have you?

I don’t really know how to describe it, and I don’t want to sound harsh or condescending, but I felt quite uncomfortable at these meetings.

They seemed a bit… cultish.

My House Church Experience

I would have felt very uncomfortable inviting any of my non-Christian friends to such a meeting. Also, a few of the people were somewhat socially inept. I got the distinct feeling that the primary reason some of them were in a house church was because they would not be able to function properly with people in more traditional churches.

Has anyone else ever felt this way, or is it just me?

Am I being too judgmental? Am I the one that has the problem? Is this just my critical spirit getting in the way?

Are House Churches just Small “Regular” Churches?

Frankly, it seems that most house church groups were not even doing much of anything different from a traditional church, except on a much smaller scale. Five or ten people gather on Sunday mornings at about 10:00 am, sit in chairs, sing a few songs, spend some in prayer, and then have a Bible discussion, which more often than not, is dominated by one person.

This is really not that different from what takes place in any other church. It was just smaller.

Oh, and there was no paid pastor.

But really, is that what the house church movement is all about? I hope not.

There has got to be more to organic church, missional church, and house church than being a mini-church. I have some ideas on what church can look like, but I haven’t had the courage yet to try it. I think I’m going to give it a shot…

2013 Update: This post was originally written in 2011 on a different website. Since that time, I have embarked on my church “experiment” and have found more love, encouragement, fellowship, and relational warmth than almost any previous “church” experience. To keep updated on some of what I am thinking, doing, and experiencing in my “church” journey with Jesus, subscribe to my email newsletter, in which I send out personal updates and free eBooks.

Also, one book my wife and I read this past year which sounded eerily familiar to what we have personally experienced, was the fictional “novel” by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman, So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. Wayne is coming out with a book soon called Finding Church, which I hope will be encouraging and helpful as well.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: be the church, church models, house church, missional church, organic church, Theology of the Church, Wayne Jacobsen

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Church is Badly Broken

By Jeremy Myers
26 Comments

Church is Badly Broken

Glenn HagerThis is a guest post from Glenn Hager.

Glenn writes at GlennHager.com and sees himself as an advocate for those who on the fringes of society and those challenge the way things are done. You may also connect with Glenn on Facebook or Twitter.

If you would like to write a Guest Post for the Till He Comes Blog, begin by reading the Guest Blogger Guidelines.

I have tried to distill my observations about the church over the last few years into a few bullet points, both to help myself understand what I have been through and to see if any of these conclusions resonate with anyone else.

Church is badly broken

church is brokenFollowing Christ has wrongly become equated with supporting an organization that has to be feed with increased attendance, volunteers, and funding.

We have misrepresented Christ with our eagerness to call out sin in society while ignoring the sin of our unloving ways.

We are an insider organization that focuses on ourselves, except (or especially) when we try to get outsiders to come to our building and become like us.

We have been talkers and not doers who have had minimal impact on the lives and communities around us.

The Church is bleeding people like crazy.

Because they have been disappointed so many times, people distrust organizations and leaders.

When honest questions are unwelcomed or glibly rebutted, people become dissatisfied.

When so-called ministry is reduced to a performance and packaged programs, people feel like a consumer or cog in a machine.

Religious service attendance has slipped from 32% (1975) to 24% (2008). America’s third largest group now is “none,” somewhere between 16 and 20 percent of our population. In 1960, this group didn’t even register on the polls. It is projected that “nones” and adherents of other religions will outnumber Christians in the United States by 2042.

A lot of people who embrace Jesus are trying to “be the church” without any affiliation with an actual organization.

[Read more…]

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: be the church, broken, church, guest post, nones, organic church

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Good Discipleship ideas for mega churches

By Jeremy Myers
1 Comment

Good Discipleship ideas for mega churches

discipleship for missionSo we’ve seen the two basic models of discipleship and the pros and cons of each. Ideally, there should be a way to blend the two so we keep the positive aspects of each while avoiding the negative.

Here is what Matt Chandler is doing at his church:

Celebrate Change

You must create an air that celebrates life transformation and change.

These things must be championed and celebrated from the stage in the service every single week. Use video and testimony to celebrate growth, transformation, and movement. It cannot be a sermon series once a year. You have to constantly, constantly bang the drum of progressive sanctification. And you MUST celebrate more than just the “miracle.”

Yes, put up the guy who drank and drank and drank, and then came to Christ, and hasn’t desired a drink since. But also, champion the guy who is still raw, who still struggles. You get a guy up there to say, “I’m struggling, but let me tell you where I see God.”

Create On-Ramps

Have lots of “on ramps” and “off ramps.” Make it easy for people to get involved in various ways of spiritual transformation, and make it ways for them to just rest in what they have learned.

Allow times when you just back away from everything, and not try to control things, and just let them sit, rest, and germinate.

Keep Flexible

The mission and end goal is sacred, but nothing else is. Ask yourself: What stirs your affections for Jesus Christ? And what robs you of that affection? Almost all of us have different answers to these questions.

You must be flexible enough not to dictate to the people in your church how they are to grow spiritually. Some read Edwards. Some play the piano. Some go to the graveyard. Some go the art museum. We’ve got to figure out how to give our people freedom to press on toward the Lord.

You can lay some track for them, but you can’t punish people when they deviate off that track.

Be Relational

There needs to be a relational aspect to everything. Everything. Here are some ways to make things relational:

Home groups. You can’t just throw people in a room and have community together. We need to try to help people build community, but it is very, very difficult. If they already have community, encourage them to stay with that group. Tell the older people they have a fishing license, and you are giving them a stocked lake. Tell them to look around and invite a couple over for dinner so they can pour their lives into someone younger. If you try to assign people to relationships, it won’t work.

Recovery ministry. There are lots of “short circuits” that people need help with. Drug. Alcohol. Relationships. Porn. Anger. Eating.

Apply your Teaching. Whatever teaching you do, be heavy on application.

Use Movies. Use film to teach theology. (But get a license to show these films.)

Children and youth. Don’t teach moralism. Don’t teach a fake, external morality. Teach strong doctrine, and then engage the parents in the process. Provide the parents tools to help teach the children. For example, suggest field trips they can take their children on and questions they can ask. If we teach the children at church, and this doesn’t get reinforced at home, all we are teaching our children is to compartmentalize their Church life from the rest of their life.

Be Patient

All of this takes time. Lots of time.

Find mature leaders. Pair them with 2-3 others, and tell them to walk together for 2-3 years intentionally. Then, these people turn around, and disciple 2 or 3 more, while they are still being discipled by those over them. So eventually, everyone is discipling and being discipled.

So, that is a broad-brush overview of what they are trying to do. He said to check back in 20-30 years to see if it worked. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how we can encourage community while keeping people in the Word?

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Acts 29, Discipleship, Matt Chandler, organic church, relationships

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Two basic discipleship models and their pros and cons

By Jeremy Myers
4 Comments

Two basic discipleship models and their pros and cons

churches need balanceYesterday I introduced the two basic discipleship models. Today, I review the pros and cons of each discipleship model as presented by Matt Chandler.

Pros of the Mechanical-Linear Discipleship Model

  1. There is no better way to disseminate information, and get people to learn Bible and theology.
  2. It has had some historical success.
  3. There are TONS of resources and curriculum.
  4. It’s easy to measure. How many went through all the steps?
  5. It’s easy to motivate people to join and participate.
  6. It lends itself to great theology.

Cons of Mechanical-Linear Discipleship Model

  1. It’s hard to sustain. It starts big, and people fall off every week.
  2. It can lead to coldness.
  3. It lends itself primarily to the mechanical, mathematical, engineering types (which is a good thing) but most others have trouble keeping up.
  4. Such programs have a tendency to become very sacred, and if you later try to stop such programs, people get angry.

Pros of the Organic-Relational Discipleship Model

  1. It seems to yield the greatest results. People stick around when there are authentic communities. If they feel safe, they are much more prone to stick.
  2. It tends to appeal to a broader group of personality types. Most of us are not intellects. But almost all of us are relational. We all long for and want community and relationships. It still allows the intellects to cross-pollinate.

Cons of the Organic-Relational Discipleship Model

  1. We are all sinners. If we are not intentionally maturing, we won’t mature. Maturity doesn’t just happen.
  2. It’s nearly impossible to measure. The only thing you have to count is numbers, and that doesn’t really tell you much.
  3. It’s nearly impossible to control. You get leaders teaching very strange things in their groups.

Curiously, there is a huge schism over these two discipleship models today, and generally, this schism seems to follow along generational lines. Those who are in their 20s and 30s lean more toward the organic model while those over 40 lean heavily on the mechanical. There may be ways to blend the pros of both while avoiding the cons. We’ll look tomorrow at what Matt Chandler is doing in his church, and maybe make a few general suggestions for what other churches can do as well.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Acts 29, Discipleship, Matt Chandler, organic church, relationships

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