The need for new paradigms of church planting and mission strategies. Part 2
Posted by Tom Hackett in Mission and Church Planting at 9:52 am | 
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I became a Christ follower in 1973 at the age of 18. I was raised Catholic but drawn to the Protestant faith based on an awareness that I could personally know God and not have to depend on an elaborate set of rituals and an enormous religious system to be in communion with God. The whole Catholic system had me confused and lost. Since becoming a protestant, I have to say that I have been equally confused and disappointed in church life both as a parishioner and as a pastor. There seems to be plenty to keep me busy but having a sense of community and a sustainable life of Christian community that is relevant seems to have escaped me. I walk away from my experience empty and worn out. I am not alone. In book after book I read of others struggles with the “system” or “the machine” we know of as the “Church”. As people have tried to figure out how to be more real it has been interesting to watch as we have slowly opened up to new ideas like cell groups, “independent” churches and a proliferation of “Para church” organizations that can innovate and be more flexible than traditional church systems can be. Many authors over the years have spoken out on the need to change and adapt and of late there have been many books writing about the emerging church. I recommend books like; Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, The Present Future by Reggie McNeal and The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll. As people address the emerging church and contemporary society we are coming up with new systems for them to function. What system or machine is the emerging church going to create that will help? What is wrong with our current system? Maybe it is that we have a “system”. Was that Jesus intention? To replace one religious system or machine with another? I was recently reading a conservative theology book that I studied as a bible school student with the Assemblies of God many years ago. The book is “Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible” by Myer Pearlman. In the Church section of the book there were some interesting thoughts…
“Plainly Jesus designed that there should be a society of His followers to give to mankind his gospel and minister to mankind in His spirit, to labor as He did for the increase of the kingdom of God. He fashioned no organization or plan of government for this society…. He did a greater thing than give organization - He gave life. Jesus formed the society of His followers by calling them together about Himself. He communicated to it as far as He could while He was on earth His own life, His spirit, and purpose. He promised to continue to the end of the world to impart His life to His society, His church. His great gift to the church, we may say, was Himself.” Robert Hastings Nichols
“…He fashioned no organization or plan of government…” Page 361
Speaking of the early church “…As a living body adapts itself to its environment so the living body of Christ was left free to select its own forms of organization according to its needs and circumstances. Of course the church was not free to follow any development contrary either to the teachings of Christ or apostolic doctrine. Any development contrary to Scriptural principles is a corruption.” Page 361-362
“We see plainly that there is no warrant in the New Testament for the merging of the churches into an ecclesiastical machine governed by a hierarchy….In the early days there was no centralized government of the whole church. Each local church was self-governing and managed its own affairs in freedom.� Page 362
In the early centuries the local churches, while they never lacked the sense that they all belonged to one body, were independent, self-governing communities, preserving relations with each other, not by any political organization embracing them all, but by fraternal fellowship through visits of deputies, interchange of letters, and some indefinite giving and receiving assistance in the election and setting apart of pastors. Page 363
I think my personal journey is taking me closer to a Church that is not governed by a denomination or system that slows its development or controls its culture. I trust God, I trust the Holy Spirit, I want to let the Church loose of systems that hinder its growth and discourages its functionality. Let’s let the Church go and be what it is meant to be with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in control instead of a organizational structure and system. Let’s empower the Micro Church through an open source community to function and to learn from one another. We have more access to information, teaching and networking available than any time in history. Let’s leverage the tools we have and let’s let creativity and the power of the Holy Spirit flow!
Excerpts from the book “The Present Future� by Reggie McNeal
I highly recommend you purchase and read this book.
“The current church culture in North America is on life support. It is living off the work, money, and energy of previous generations from a previous world order.� “Please don’t hear what I am not saying. The death of the church culture as we know it will not be the death of the church. The church Jesus founded is good; it is right. The church established by Jesus will survive until he returns. The imminent demise under discussion is the collapse of the unique culture in North America that has come to be called “church.� “We are witnessing the emergence of a new world. The church of Jesus is moving into the postmodern world. Its expression is going to be more different than most people realize or may want to imagine.�
“The age in which institutional religion holds appeal is passing away – and in a hurry.� “Church leaders seem unable to grasp this simple implication of the new world – people outside the church think church is for church people, not for them.� “People are interested and searching for God and personal salvation through a relationship with him. Increasingly they are not turning to institutional religion for help with their search. In fact, just the opposite is true. They don’t trust religious institutions because they see them as inherently self-serving. So they are off on their own search for God.�
“We will see more and more people, in the church and out, who have the call, the ability, and the finances to resource their own ministry passions in the community.� “The first Reformation was about freeing the church. The new Reformation is about freeing God’s people from the church (the institution). The original Reformation decentralized the church. The new Reformation decentralizes ministry.�
I think there is a parallel thought that like I came to the realization as an individual that I did not need a religious system to facilitate my personal relationship with God (changing from Catholic to Protestant), I also do not need a formal or traditional religious system to validate or facilitate my corporate expression of my faith as I live out my “church” life with those around me. This same realization is taking place in many people and would explain a lot of the exodus from traditional church participation. Of course; this would be viewed as a bad thing by those in that traditional church system but can actually be a good thing as Christians are empowered to live out their faith in practical ways in their everyday life and world.
7th of January, 2007 at 4:30 pm
I already asked this question under a different post, but it may fit better here.
I like the ideas of autonomy and bringing on new stategies for church growth and development that are not confined to the institution. However there are some biblical concepts that need some consideration for how they wil fit in newer models of the emerging church.
For example the biblical ideas of “elders and deacons”…what might they look like in a new emerging church which is internet based?
I’m sure there are many concepts that are “biblically sacred” that wil have to be thought through in the new “Micro Church” concept.
Love you Tom!
David
Tom Hackett’s response:
David;
Thank you for commenting.
Regarding elders, leadership or any teaching and training issues…The answer to all questions like this go to the idea that with local or community based resources (within the individual micro church) and outside resources (the internet and other resources generated by the network of the web community of micro churches) these topics would be researched and be worked out by each individual micro church. For example by researching how other micro churches handle the issue in addition to a web search on “elder and deaconsâ€? which produces thousands of resources for research and then application for each micro church to apply to themselves.
This is where placing the churches in the hands of God comes in. I trust that process. The same would be true of forming doctrinal or purpose statements for each micro church.
I address this topic to some degree in other posts: “The Alternative Church and Chaos Theory� and “Vine Age�. There will be more discussion on this for sure.
8th of January, 2007 at 7:52 am
Here is an interesting thought from an article titled “An Emerging Blur: Journeying Towards the Simplicity Beyond Complexity�
By Drew Moser
http://www.the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue95/index.cfm?id=18&ref=ARTICLES%5FEMERGING%20CHURCH%5F280
Theology: No longer is theological formulation contained in the world of academia. Blogs, open source theology, and e-zines (such as the Next-Wave) blur the lines between the formally educated and the ‘uneducated’. This results in a postmodern cry for theological formulation that is less systematic and more organic and contextualized. Theology now becomes not merely the task of a privileged few vocational theologians, but it is now the task of the local faith community as it seeks to embody the Story of God in its community. Grass roots movements are challenging the formal institutions.
8th of January, 2007 at 8:01 am
Some how a comment or two has been deleted from this post. Sorry; must have been the operator �. Here is a “micro church� (by my definition) that is an example of what I am talking about. Check out: http://www.mosaicsheffield.org
What I foresee is millions of these kinds of expressions that are contextually relevant to the world (tongue, tribe and nation) of each location or interest group. Web based communities can help acknowledge, empower, facilitate, encourage the development of micro churches all over the world and virtual world for that matter.
8th of January, 2007 at 10:05 am
Here are a couple of articles that address the condition of the traditional church that might be enlightening.
The Church has had its day Part 1: http://the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue96/index.cfm?id=19&ref=ARTICLES%5FCHURCH%20CULTURE%5F293
The Church has had its day Part 2: http://the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue96/index.cfm?id=19&ref=ARTICLES%5FCHURCH%20CULTURE%5F299
12th of January, 2007 at 4:21 pm
tom -
Just as the the Catholic Church became corrupted and strangled by its hierarchy and culture in the fifteenth century, so has the Protestant Church in the 21st. However, history doesn’t repeat itself, we repeat history. It may be time for the latest reformation of Christianity and the Alternative Church may be a part of this process. However, sooner or later, we will most likely dig ourselves into the same rut.
Micro churches are a necessary component of the transformation that is upon us. Technology has made it possible to join forces with those of like mind. However, as sadly illustrated by “To Catch a Predator,” accountability is sacrificed when there is an ability to hide our true selves.
Micro churches restore accountability while still linking large communnities of like faith.
On the other hand, macro churches also have a place in the transformation. Almost all of them have succeeded by incorporating small groups as a means of accountability. Macro churches also have the advantage of encouraging Christian community, providing a larger basis for helping the poor, marrying, burying, and supporting causes that would be financially impossible for smaller bodies of believers. Micro churches can’t send platoons of Christians to New Orleans or be the sole support for numerous missionaries.
The problem with macro churches is they lack self awareness of their own culture and create an unintentional, but undeniable class system where the pastor and the board are more like a king and court than slaves and servants of Jesus Christ. There are exceptions, of course.
The micro churches are on the rise, but they must co-exist with organized religtion.
Many people have made their initial “decision for Christ” in a Billy Graham Crusade, which is a very well-organized organization. However, their
“decisions” are frequently lost, if they are not followed up with a connection to one or more “mentors.” Organized religion can benefit from micro churches and vice-versa.
Ginger D
12th of January, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Ginger;
History being repeated and corruption…that is huge, unavoidable most likely but it is time for reformation. With technology, communication and open source communities via websites, blogs, etc there seems to be more of a chance to speak out and into situations and hold people accountable. It will be interesting to watch develop.
I need to clarify what a micro church and what the macro church are:
The micro church is any group of people small or large that do what being a church does. They will look and function in a variety of ways. When I use the term macro church I am talking about the world wide body of Christ not the traditional church as we know it.
Traditional church models and VineAge / Alternative Church planting movement:
It is really important to me that I figure out how to have this discussion about the Alternative Church without saying I do not believe in the traditional church at all. I attend and am involved in a traditional church in my home town and we love it. We love the people; I must admit, I do not love the entity or organization called Ridgway Community Church. The traditional church model actually works quite well were I live in a town of 800 people. We actually see each other and live out life together throughout the week. That is something that does not normally happen in a metropolitan area or at least not in the same way. When we lived in Phoenix we seemed to be very isolated in the sense of meaningful Christian community. I plan to encourage the use of the VineAge.com web tool for individuals in our traditional church and to facilitate various departments within the church by sharing or having their own web based tools to do so. Working through the conversations I am trying to have without coming across as being against the traditional church is important to me. I will need to address that in a future post.
I thought this was an important comment:
“The problem with macro churches is they lack self awareness of their own culture and create an unintentional, but undeniable class system where the pastor and the board are more like a king and court than slaves and servants of Jesus Christ. There are exceptions, of course.�
It will be interesting to see how various micro churches deal with this leadership issue as people respond to leadership styles in the development of their micro church community. There is lot of insightful books, blogs, articles and teachings on the subject available online these days and that resource will continue to grow.
Keep up the insightful posts;
tom