Churchless Christian

Richard has converted me from the darkside, to a linux platform http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org .  The main reason I have done this is because I don't want to lust after (and pay) for  the new Vista and all the RAM I would need.  I would rather try and get the same features for free even if it is a bit of a hassle to set up originally.  Thanks Rich for spending 6 hours with me on Saturday.  Being with you reminds me that after twelve years of owning a computer I know nothing!

3 Reasons why we converted to Simple Church (And how those reasons stack up 3 years later). Part3

3. Simplifying our Christian Activity
When we started looking at Simple Church, Kim and I had after ten years of 'ministry' begun questioning the purpose of a lot of what we did in regards to our church behavior. The time it took to organize children's program mes, the committee meetings, worship practice, sound systems, buildings etc etc. It seemed all our time, worry and effort was being sucked up in what was in the end irrelevant details. Bill Hybels (of Willow Creek fame) said that the local church was the most complex organization on earth. We could give a real negative amen to that! We craved simplifying our Christian faith and life and hopefully making it more fruitful. Perhaps we were being naive but Simple Church seemed like a cool stream of clear water for a couple who was incredibly thirsty for freshness.

Three years on, all I can say is wow. Sure nothing turns out exactly the way you expect, but as a family, taking this journey I feel has been one of the best things we have ever done. Living more organically is certainly no picnic, all of life involves lows as well as highs. I have decided to answer this question in another reflection I'm putting out called Why Our Family is Still doing Simple Church after 3 years. I am planning to post it in early March.

Keep the Faith Luke Philip

To read The first two parts of this article click here
http://everyhomeachurch.blog.co.uk/?s=part1&sentence=AND&submit=Search

3 Reasons why we converted to Simple Church (And how those reasons stack up 3 years later). Part2

2. The Chance to see Multiplication
This is very linked into the first reason I gave. I was brought up in the church heavily influenced by “Church Growth Theory”, it was constantly drummed into us by speakers and books that to see a nation come to Christ, addition was no good, what we needed was to see multiplication of souls and churches. Put simply Revival = Multiplication. As Western Christian's we were (and still are) constantly reminded about the incredible multiplication in non Western countries such as China or Korea and wondered how we could see it here. I had been around Normal Church long enough to realize that it had become so bureaucratic and complex that we would never see the multiplication that was needed. I was very driven by the motto, 'Continue to do what you are doing and get what you are already getting'. I became convinced if there was one possible way of seeing multiplication it was to see the church in New Zealand become more organic and simple so it could multiply rapidly.

So where are we at now 3 years in regards to seeing Multiplication? Well obviously I have not seen it, and obviously my understanding of what multiplication is has radically changed as I said in my first point. I am now uncomfortable with what I used to believe in regards to 'Church growth Theory'. Here is some of my thoughts on Simple Church and Multiplication. Theologically I am more interested in the multiplying of Christ's influence in each of our hearts and seeing the outworking of that through society then focusing on the multiplying of Christian get together s (which are good things but not the only thing).

Multiplication is spoken about a lot within the organic church yet the reality is that no multiplication has happened through the Simple Church Movement in the Western World (not that I am aware). Growth and positive signs are not multiplication and it is important to be honest about that. I have concerns that many of us are are turning ourselves into experts and telling others how to do it (here and overseas) when often we have struggled to run a simple church in our own home let alone plant new ones or see multiplication. People in the end will listen because of what we have done, not because of our knowledge. I cannot tell people how to run churches, plant churches or multiply churches unless I've done it. I have been reasonably competent in the first two of these, and have zero experience with the third (multiplication). Let's do it before we rush around telling others to do it.

When I first started out thinking about Simple Church / Multiplication, several sources including the Southern Baptist's and House 2 House were of the conviction that it was verging on the impossible for CCC's (Churched Culture Christian's) to reproduce themselves and reproduce churches that would bring about multiplication. At the time I disagreed with that assessment believing that with intensive retraining it was possible. 3 years on I believe I was wrong. CCC's with a change of mindset can totally embrace Simple Church absolutely, but I am no longer confidant that they can take it a stage further and see multiplication. My experience tells me this, and looking around the rest of the Western world hints at this point as well. Personally I believe we have to face up to some obvious realities. We live in Post Modern / Post Christian country. We are shaped, think and live in different ways from the past. It is exciting to see and celebrate what is happening in the developing world with mission, but it holds less relevance than perhaps we would like, to what we face in this nation (and the Western World). We can continue to say that we lack faith etc and that we are weak Christians compared to Christian's in persecuted countries etc, but this does not solve anything even if it is true (which I believe is a questionable theory). Instead of putting ourselves down, lets use the gifts and skills that we do have amongst the culture we are in now.

Read 3 reasons part1 here http://everyhomeachurch.blog.co.uk/?s=3+reasons+part1&sentence=AND&submit=Search

We went to the beach to get a bucket of pipis as it was low tide and a hot evening.  The water was clear as anything and Isaac charged into the waves as he does.  I shot out after him and was up to my waist when I looked down and saw the biggest crab in my life.  The water was so clear that I tried to catch it with my bucket and it was toughly the same diamater.  It gave me such a shock.  As Sam (my oldest said) thats the last time I go swimming this summer.  Your right there Sam!!!!!!!

We used the pipis for our family night as an example of Gods abundance in creation and talked about how God is the owner and we are the managers using Genesis 1: 26 etc.  Then we each fried up a pipi patty with tomato sauce and thanking God for his provision and had a Chardoney which was a tad corked.

 3 Reasons why we converted to Simple Church (And how those reasons stack up 3 years later).

1. Church Planting would be easier.

   One of the driving passions of my (previous) ministry was Church Planting. Church Planting had become increasingly unpopular in the Evangelical / Pentecostal Church because of the financial costs, skills, man power and efforts required to start a new church. Compiled to this was the high rate of failure that new churches experienced and the toll it took on church planters. So when 4 years ago I first heard about Church Planting Movements in Asia (rapid multiplication of house churches) and the rapid growth of Simple Churches in the West (people leaving Normal Church and starting to meet more simpler) I naturally put the two together in my mind. Within moments my mind had shifted from the concept of planting traditional type churches to starting simple home based churches and that is originally what we started doing.

So where are we at now 3 years in regards to Church Planting? I can confidently say that planting house churches are a piece of cake compared to starting traditional churches, having now done both. If one is passionate enough it is reasonably simple to see a good number of house churches started. I was passionate and trying to start lots of house churches for 4 months and then after hearing Wolfgang Simson speak everything changed for me (too long to go into here). Since then my World view has changed a lot over these three years. I personally am no longer so confidant either Biblically or from my Christian World View that New Zealand's problems will be solved by more Church's. I am becoming more convinced that what New Zealand needs is more people who follow Christ to live out the principles they proclaim and it is through this that any nation will be transformed. At this time I am not actively pursuing planting simple churches (though am happy to help others who are). Having said that, I still believe that any person or group who is thinking of church planting whether on a large or small scale in New Zealand would be crazy not to seriously consider going down the simple church path, as it is easier to give birth to lots of rabbits than an elephant.

Read Part2 here http://everyhomeachurch.blog.co.uk/?s=3+reasons+part2&sentence=AND&submit=Search

Well, Pope Benedict appears to be stealing my articles and pretending they are his own sermons (joke). Last week the Popes sermon was entitled Every House Can be Transformed into a small Church basing it on the story of Aquilla and Priscilla, which was the story we originally based our House church planting efforts. Read the text of the Popes lesson here http://www.zenit.org:80/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=102568

Dean wrote a good comment about the strangeness of the churches responce to Sexual Failure in it's leaders

"The incredible irony of the church is that if a guy walked into a church like New Life in Colorado Springs, saying that he'd been a drug user and had engaged in gay sex in the past, but was ashamed of it and believed it was wrong and wanted help to walk away from it (all things I understand are true of Ted) then they'd help him and eventually, if he had the right skills, etc, would probbaly release him into ministry..."

Interestingly Brian Tamaki (NZ Mega Church Pastor) tried to act more inline with trying to restore Ian Bilby (Mega Church Pastor caught in adultary). You can read some opinons of that here
http://www.moriel.org/notice/bilby.htm . I am so far out of the swing of things in regards to Organised Church, that I don't know what the conclusion was to the attempted integration back into ministry of Bilby? I heard about 5th hand, that it did not go so well, but I really have no idea.

Reintegration of restored Pastors in reality is a lot harder in practice then in Biblical restoration theory.

I can't think of another career choice where ones life can change so rapidly from being on top of the world in your job in one minute and being virtually unemployable the next minute when you are a Church Minister.
I say this after reading today about Ted Haggards continueing saga about his fall from grace http://everyhomeachurch.blog.co.uk/2006/11/05/ted_haggard~1299098 ,and what he is planning to do now. Here is a guy who a few short months ago was at the top of the Minister tree. He had a growing Mega Church, was the head of the Evangelical Association (30 million members) of the United States, was in close contact with President Bush. He was totally humming in his professional Life.
Two months on, Haggard and his wife are moving out of Colorado and moving to a cheaper place to live. They are both going to study Psychology and try and get jobs when they finish their studies. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5159405 .Within a blink of an eye, all Haggards contacts, prestigious friendships with people such as James Dobson count for nothing. All his professional skills, experience and success counts for nothing as he tries to rebuild his life. No matter what you think about Ministers doing drugs and having Gay sex, you have to admit that is a pretty brutal punishment that will last to his death. There will be no respite or real forgiveness by the institution.
The scary thing is this is not uncommon. I know around a dozen acquaintances who were Ministers, were snapped behaving inappropriately (some of it pretty minor) have resigned and then completely vanished, because in the end Christians and church do not know what to do with them and do not want to be reminded of them.
I do not accept what Ted Haggard did (and neither does he) but I can't help but feel incredible sympathy for him in regards to starting again with literally nothing. We all have skeletons in our closets, but the consequences such as these remind Pastors to make sure the skeletons are kept firmly buried and continue pretending to be near perfect if they want to survive in there chosen career.

An admittedly controversial element of post-evangelicalism is that many in the emerging movement are skeptical about the "in versus out" mentality of much of evangelicalism. Even if one is an exclusivist (believing that there is a dividing line between Christians and non-Christians), the issue of who is in and who is out pains the emerging generation.

Some emerging Christians point to the words of Jesus: "Whoever is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:40). Others, borrowing the words of the old hymn, point to a "wideness in God's mercy." Still others take postmodernity's crushing of metanarratives and extend that to master theological narratives—like Christianity. They say what really matters is orthopraxy and that it doesn't matter which religion one belongs to, as long as one loves God and one's neighbor as one's self. Some even accept Spencer Burke's unbiblical contention in A Heretic's Guide to Eternity (Jossey-Bass, 2006) that all are born "in" and only some "opt out."

This emerging ambivalence about who is in and who is out creates a serious problem for evangelism. Read the whole article here http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/february/11.35.html

Written by Scott McKnight for Christianity Today. I disagree with him on some points, but it is a well balanced and written article

Enjoying Camping. Am down to Tokoroa for a funeral tomorrow, so will catch up on blog on Tuesday

We are off to Whangateau camping for next four nights, then back home on Sunday and then to Tokoroa on Monday for a funeral then back home Tuesday. Hopefully rain will be banished

"I added it up. That year our church conducted 104 regularly scheduled worship services, 7 special services, some 250 adult classes, 600 committee meetings and 1,000 small-group meetings and ran through a $750,000 budget to produce exactly zero new adult followers of Jesus Christ. We gathered. We worshiped. We loved each other. But we produced no crop. Our church was a contraption worthy of Rube Goldberg: lots of sound, motion, fury to produce a tiny amount of fruit. . . How do we conceal this scandalous lack of productivity? Some clever churches have simply changed the definition of crop. Churches now judge success by the standards of a family reunion. How many people came and did everyone get along?"

comments made by Steve and Marilyn Hill (stevehill@harvest-now.com), as they quoted from the book, Why Men hate Going To Church: poached from David A on www.edgenet.org.nz

Jesus made it clear that "where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I am in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20). Just two or three!

I thank and praise God that Jesus did not say, "Where two or three THOUSAND are gathered together, there I am." He did not say, "Where two or three HUNDRED are gathered together, there I am." And He did not say, "Where two or three DOZEN are gathered together, there I am."

Jesus also did not say where the two or three had to be gathered together. He did not specify a church building or a living room meeting. And He did not say how many times a week they had to be gathered, or if the gatherings had to be structured or unstructured, open or closed, inside or outside.

By establishing His Presence in the midst of a group so small as two or three, Jesus repudiates our fascination with large numbers. Anyone can gather a crowd if you tell them what they want to hear. May I say that a large group has no more of the presence of Jesus than a small group. The numbers are irrelevant. Either Jesus is in the midst, or He is not. If Jesus is not in the midst of us then having a large group of people will not compensate for Him not being there.

I would rather sit on the living room floor with three people and have Jesus in the midst than sit in a service with three thousand people where Jesus is nowhere to be found.

Of course, Jesus can sometimes be found in large groups of people, but as my wife says, He tends to get lost in the crowd. Read the rest here http://www.injesus.com/index.php?module=message&task=view&MID=0B007BL4&GroupID=ZA0072M2&label=&paging=all

By Chip Brogden www.theschoolofchrist.org

Interesting to see that Christianity is starting to resurge in the most secular of Countries Holland. I am interested in this not just because my wife is Dutch but also because of the rise of organic church in Holland.

God is back

in Europe's most notoriously liberal country. Or rather: The Dutch are moving back to God. It seems an implausible hypothesis. After all, Europe was supposed to have entered the realm of post-Christianity, to use C.S. Lewis's term--a state of eternal unbelief from which there is no return. And yet, Bakas and Buwalda claim, the Dutch are turning back. Take the almost unnoticed reintroduction of crucifixes and other religious artifacts into the classrooms of Catholic schools throughout the country. Years of gradual but seemingly unstoppable secularization have given way to a reaffirmation of old religious identities. The change is also starting to affect the attitudes of pupils at these schools. In a recent newspaper interview, a head teacher at a Catholic secondary school in Rotterdam observed, "For years, pupils were embarrassed about attending Mass. Now, they volunteer to read poems or prayers, and the auditorium is packed." read the rest of the article here http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/110vxfxj.asp