The birth of a church
Guy at “The M Blog” has written a very important post called “How to start a house church.”
According to Guy, only two things are needed to start a house church: 1) Gather people and 2) make disciples. He offers some examples from his own experience, but he settles on these two main points as necessary.
(By the way, I stole the picture from Guy’s post “It’s all about Jesus,” which include “faces and scenes” of house churches in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he lives.)
So, if Guy correct? Is gathering people and making disciples (assuming that we’re making disciples of Jesus Christ) all that we need to be a church?
If not, then what is missing? If so, then what happens when other things are added as necessary or important?
Stop the Disunity
Arthur at “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia” has written an excellent post called “How to change a culture of accepted disunity.”
He is writing about the culture of churches and Christians (especially in the Western world) who readily accept and perhaps even condone dividing from one another.
In the post, Arthur gives us several steps toward changing this culture. I think his suggestions are very good, and I will list them briefly here. (Make sure to read Arthur’s entire post for his explanations.)
- Change our understanding of the church.
- Actively seek opportunities to meet … people where they are.
- Be willing to place unity at the same level as other doctrines.
- Stop the name calling.
- Stop being afraid of other Christians and other churches.
What do you think of Arthur’s “steps”? Would you add, remove, change any of them?
“Everything of significance you will learn from experience”
Dave Black is my PhD mentor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a professor at a seminary, teaching New Testament and Greek. If you’ve read my blog for more than a day or two, you probably already know this. But, I make that statement for a reason.
So, some may be surprised by what he wrote this morning on his blog (Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 11:26 a.m.).
Look at the paragraph under the picture of George Armstrong Custer:
Although I am a classroom teacher by profession and have been at it for some 34 years, I assure you, everything of significance you will ever learn you will learn from experience, not in a classroom. The crucible of life is realistic, nontechnical (usually), and free from perfectionistic demands. Essentially, Christianity is a Way of life. Biblical principles work. If they didn’t, I would never waste your time or mine by writing this blog. Life is a place for biblical truth to be fleshed out, regardless of our educational status or attainments. It’s lengthy, costly, messy — and just plain hard work. But when you consider the alternative, it’s well worth the effort.
Why would a seminary professor write something like that? I think it’s because he understands that our spiritual growth and discipleship is more important than defending his position as a professor.
Professors and classes and do good things. But, like Dave Black wrote, “[E]verything of significance you will ever learn you will learn from experience, not in a classroom.”
So, I have a question for my fellow students (and even for professors)… where are you doing most of your learning?
I’ve been interviewed again
Dan at “The Ekklesia in Southern Maine” has posted an audio interview that we did together in a post called “Alan Knox: Conversations w/ Friends.”
We primarily talked about blogging. He asked me about starting my blog and my writing schedule, etc.
My favorite part was talking about online relationships and connecting people together online.
Finally, we do talk a little about ecclesiology and missional living.
You’ll also learn a little more about the history of our relationship, and you get to hear my Southern accent.
An active theology
Dan at “The Ekklesia in Southern Maine” has written a post about “Real Theology: or what you really believe.”
The post is about the difference between confessed or professed theology versus actual theology. Dan says that you live what you really believe. Thus, your theology is more clearly viewed in your life than in your words (spoken or written).
But, Dan isn’t pointing his finger at you. Nope. He’s turning the tables on himself.
He writes:
I think that is where it really comes down. That is where I struggle in my daily decisions: I don’t always believe that following God is better than not following Him. Why else would I prefer not to obey if, as I say, I believe that His rewards are greater than the rewards of my sinful selfish actions. It is a simple process: I am presented with options, I weigh the outcome of each option, I decide which outcome I would prefer and make my choice. Now, if I really believe, as I state, that the rewards of obedience to God are the greatest possible rewards, then the choice would be simply a matter of asking which option glorifies God, is an act of obedience to God, or fulfills God’s desire for His followers. Sometimes that question is difficult, but many times it is easy, yet I still choose in opposition to it. At that point it is clear that I prefer the outcome of the option that is in opposition to my stated Theology, and at that point my Real Theology is made clear.
I agree with Dan. What you truly believe is evident in the way that you live your life.
Church forms and methods reflect what we value
Leighton at “GraceWorks.ca” has written another very good and thought-provoking post called “Does church need to be biblical?”
In this post, Leighton asks if Scripture should inform the way that we “do” church, that is, the way that we meet together as the church. He remembers a prominent denominational leader telling him that the modern church should not learn how to meet together from the examples and commands of Scripture.
Later in the post Leighton makes a point that we should all consider. He writes:
The first objection I know some would make is that Paul isn’t speaking to the structure of the church just the attitude, ethics and values of the people in the church. I would agree to a point but we must remember that our forms and methods reflect what we value in the church. If the central expression of church requires nothing other than attendance, singing and listening from most people what message does that send? Does that communicate that there is equal concern for everyone in the body? Is it right that we value certain aspects of church ministry so much that we don’t have the time or the resources to ensure that everyone is cared for even a little bit?
Think about that a moment: [O]ur forms and methods reflect what we value in the church. This is absolutely true. If you want to know what you value as an individual, look at how you live your life and how you spend your time and money. Now, do the same for the church.
Are we valuing the right things? Are we valuing the right people?
When do the training wheels come off?
Last week, Jeremy at “Till He Comes” wrote a very good post called “Always at Training, Never Trained.”
This is a great post to consider during my current series on discipleship.
After talking about different “tracks” and “traps” that people often get caught in, Jeremy concludes with this paragraph on “On the Job Training”:
This is why Jesus never really did any formal training with His disciples. It was all “on the job training.†Sure, He taught and instructed them, but it was almost always on the way to something Jesus was going to do, or as a debriefing for something He had already done. Eventually, He just kicked them out the door with a pair of shoes and a shirt, and said, “Come back in a few weeks and we’ll talk about how it went†(Luke 10).
There is a tendency in the modern church to see training as the goal. Most traditional church meetings are geared to training: what to believe especially. Most Bible studies are also geared toward training. Very little in the modern church actually gets people involved in the lives of others.
Training is not our goal.
Working for a living
Many of you know Eric’s story. Eric blogs at “A Pilgrim’s Progress,” and he recently resigned as a vocational pastor. He was employed at a couple of part time jobs for a while, but now he has a new full time job.
Eric writes about his new job in his post “White Collar to Blue Collar.” He is very excited that God has provided a way for him to support his family.
And, Eric is convinced that God can even use him working a “blue collar” job for his glory. Eric writes:
The beauty of all this is that God doesn’t care whether we work a white collar or blue collar job. In fact, this dichotomy is a man-made one. The bible never suggests that one type of job is superior to another. The keys, from a scriptural perspective, are that we are working wherever God has us to the glory of God. This may be in a corporate office, on a dump truck, or at home. Whatever our work, we should do the best we can at it in order to bring God the glory.
Would you join me in praying for Eric on his first day of his new job?
Distracted by location or setting
Arthur at “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia” is “Speaking of Church on Tuesday.”
He and his family gathered together with some other believers (from several different churches) on a Tuesday evening. And, they gathered together in a barn behind someone’s house.
While his description of their meeting is very interesting, I was most encouraged by his final paragraph:
For many Christians. the location and setting of this meeting would have been disconcerting. It was at someone’s home, it was in the evening and it wasn’t really “churchy”. Even though we devoted ourselves to the same things the earliest church did (fellowship, breaking bread, prayers, teaching, i.e. Acts 2:42), it would seem strange, perhaps even uncomfortable. It is a grave concern of mine that so many of us are conditioned to a rigid view of not just how the church can meet but how the church must meet. We miss so many opportunities to be encouraged and edified by trying to box in the church.
This is a very good – and very true – observation.When we feel that the church is only the church when they are meeting at certain times or certain locations, then I think we misunderstand what it means to be the church.
What do you think?
They’re doing WHAT on Sunday?
This has to be one of the most encouraging and exciting posts that I’ve read in a long time!
Chris at “The Amplified Life” (I still love that blog name) wrote the post called “Coming Soon: ‘5th Sunday’.”
The post is about some churches (including Chris’ church) who have decided to do something different on Sundays four times per year:
After an encouraging meeting with other church leaders last night we are going to attempt to do something about this. We want our love of God to be made known for all in how we love upon those in our local community. To help others realize that this a part of His church’s “DNA” (cf. Matthew 28:19-20) we are going to begin going outside of our walls together. We are going to serve our community as a local body on the months that have a 5th Sunday. Those days our worship service will actually be service–ministering to the needs of others outside of our own four walls.
What a great idea! Chris said that he got the idea from a friend who lives near Philadelphia.
You might say, “Well, sure, but that’s only four times per year.” Yes, but it’s more than 95+% of churches are doing.
Have you ever heard of churches doing this or something similar? Have you ever been part of something like this?