This point is for those who are trying to explore being community with other believers (e.g. church in the house etc).
Several times on my trip during discussions, groups of believers brought up that they were struggling to become the relational, miss ional community that was impacting their neighbourhood that they had envisioned. It may have just been coincidence but each time the issue was raised the problem appeared that in the group their was some who did not really consider the group ‘real church’ and were often going off to what they saw was ‘real church’ on Sunday. So in some ways the ‘church’ was being treated like a cell group for a mid week bless me time, but their was no sacrificial commitment to the group and a readiness to work through the myriad of issues you will face when you start to live out a real faith together. When the hard times hit or real deep issues have to be worked through it is easy for those who are just coming along on the side to drop out. Having people in the group doing that for long periods to my eye is liking having your hand brake on while driving your car. Here are a couple of thoughts on this issue.
When stepping out into being an organic community forget about numbers. Jesus said where 2 or 3 are gathered, so if it’s just you and your spouse, praise the Lord! When we come out of the culture of organised Christianity we naturally think bigger is better and we invite everyone (usually other Christians!) we can think of to get involved. But two people in complete unity, totally committed to what the Holy Spirit has spoken to them about is far better than 10 people who are just drifting along. Numbers do not validate what we do! Otherwise people meeting organically would automatically be a failure. We need to break the numbers mindset that traps us. Work with what God puts in your hand. God has put my wife and three sons’ in my hand that is my starting point, and what God will hold me accountable for.
If a group of you are transitioning from organisational church to working out how to be the church you will most probably have (though not necessarily) have a main gathering time each week. From the groups of people who wandered out into organic faith with myself , the easiest thing we did to ensure that people did not start trying to do both was to have the main gathering on a Sunday (though the day itself is not significant to us). That way people needed to make a decision whether which way they were going to go. Human behaviour naturally avoids making hard decisions. So if someone has the option of carrying on doing church as they have always done it and adding on organic faith on the side they will. Doing the main gathering on a Sunday has eliminated this as an issue with the groups who we came out with.
