In the circles in which I travel, there has been much talk about our (”our” being Christians, Ministers, etc) response to Barack Obama becoming the President-elect.  Most everyone agrees that following BIblical mandates regarding submitting to authority and also praying diligently for our soon-to-be president are good things. I’m with them.  (The conspiracy theory nut in me has some other ideas, but luckily my wife keeps me grounded.)  With that being said, I’d like to talk a bit about why I think people overwhelmingly, especially inside of Christian circles, voted for Obama and what I think that means. 

It is no secret that Obama is for social justice.  A look at his policies including health care reform, tax policies, and even closing the Guantanamo Bay Naval installment speak very loudly to the fact that he is very interested in social reform.  In the Christian world, we’ve become enamored with social justice, which I think is funny because isn’t that what we’re supposed to be about anyway? So here is a guy who says he is going to do a lot of stuff for the people that we want to help.  Cool!  He is also not the president that almost all of us voted for in the last two elections, but since he is so unpopular we no longer want to associate with him.  The only problem is that Obama’s social policies are not social justice in Biblical terms, they are social policies in governmental terms.  I’m all for government.  Small government that protects freedom and liberty among it’s people.  

The problem I see is that we’ve become enamored with the idea of social justice but don’t actually want to do the work of social justice.  We’d love for poor people to have more money.  We’d love to pay less taxes (which under Obama (or McCain), you probably won’t…The Fair Tax would be the way to go).  We’d love for everyone to have equal access to healthcare and education.  But somewhere along the line we’ve bought into the lie that these things are better left to the government.  Ask the good people in Africa how that is working for them.  Ask the people in Haiti how that is working for them.  Ask the people in Honduras how that is working for them. If it works so well, why do we use a lot of resources sending missionaries equipped with mobile clinics to heal these people?  Why isn’t their government taking care of them? 

The bottom line is that we need to be THE CHURCH.  We need to stop building church buildings and programs and put our money where our mouth is.  We need to be Gospel Incarnate and actually live out the things that we preach about.  We need to respond when Jesus tells us that we are to care for the sick, widows, and orphans.  We need to be sensitive to the needs around us and take action on them when we are able.  If we aren’t able, I guarantee that we know someone who is able.  

I might be preaching to the choir, but if that is so, then why do we still have Welfare, Food Stamps, and homeless people sleeping in the woods?  

Just something to think about.

Now, I’m not that geeky and most of what I know about these old technologies I’ve learned from Hollywood or books such as “The Computer that Wore Sneakers”.  My foray into the wonderful world of the information superhighway came sometime in the mid-Nineties when I would use my grandparent’s home computer to dial up (probably a 9600 or 14.4 modem I don’t remember) to America Online to research and occasionally chat.  Surely you remember those days?  During college I utilized AOL Instant Messenger exclusively and services like Yahoo and MSN were loathed by yours truly.  I used to chat a ton and always had IM active when I was online.  Then I would meet one person who used Yahoo or one person who used MSN Messenger.  Then cool services like Trillian and now the web based Meebo came out where you could have one central location to manage all of your contacts.  Today, Social Networking, which is pretty much what the early BBS and IM were, has exploded into tons of networks and services.

So what?  I was thinking today as I was reading a new blog that I stumbled upon by a guy named Paul Watson about the social nature of the internet. It seems that we’ve come full circle in terms of what we use the internet for.  Sure we can get the latest news, stock quotes, pay bills, buy stuff that we don’t even need, and conduct endless amounts of research.  But by and large the internet is still used for networking of the social and professional variety. Blogs, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Forums, LinkedIn, and a whole bunch of other places are simply ways to connect with other people.

Paul’s blog has a ton of interesting info about reaching the online generation.  If you are a staff member or volunteer at a church, it is worth your time to take a minute to check his blog out.

I’ll be talking more about the online community and what I’ve done and what I would like to do to have a great impact more as the days go by.  The real eye opener behind all of this is that people are searching out connections and community in any way that they can get it.  What can we do to help fill this real need in people’s lives?

This past week a dear friend and minister of the Gospel passed away.  A man that has had and will continue to have a great impact on the Kingdom of God, David Kester.  A man that is dearly loved by many.  I was reading a transcript of the Eulogy that was delivered at his funeral by another friend and was deeply moved.  Not really by the words (although they were moving as well), but by the man whom the words were spoken about.  It dawned on me that one of the differences between David and myself is that David truly lead a Gospel Centered Life.  He understood that the Gospel isn’t something that we simply preach, it is something that we are.  The Gospel isn’t something that we read and write about, it is something that we embody.  Do we need to use words?  Sometimes.  Is the Kingdom impact even greater when we’re able to be the incarnation of the Gospel that we preach?  Indeed.

How is this done?  One of the things that struck me in reading my friend’s tribute to David was my memory of this man.  He was one of the wisest people I’ve ever met.  On the other hand, one of the funniest and most sarcastic people I’ve ever met.  His embodiment of the Gospel was simply by being him.  Sure, he was a pastor, a board member, a committee person, an author, but he was mostly just David.  I think that I often try to compartmentalize my personalities.  No, I’m not in need of medication.  I’m in need of repentance and repair, however.  It isn’t that I try to be someone I’m not.  It isn’t even that I’m dramatically different in the different sectors of my life.  I simply want to live a Gospel Centered Life.  I want my life to make even half the impact that David’s had.  I want my relationship with Jesus to be as personal as David’s.  I think that, more than anything, is what I’ve just now realized.  How can I invite people into a relationship that isn’t even that personal.  Oh sure, I have a lot of personal closeness with Jesus.  But thinking of the life of my friend David reminds me that I can be closer.  it isn’t a challenge to see who can be closer.  At the end of the day, David’s life was simply about helping people become closer to Jesus.  Thank You, Dave.  You’ll be missed until we meet again.

I was sitting at our kitchen table drinking an iced coffee and eating leftover pizza (the bachelor lifestyle!) reading what I thought was today’s entry.  Turns out it was actually yesterday’s, but since I slept until 4pm yesterday I guess I’m a day behind.  The verse for the entry is from Ezekiel and it says,

“Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
–Exodus 14:13

Spurgeon says, ” These words contain God’s command to the believer when he is reduced to great straits and brought into extraordinary difficulties. He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is shut up on the right hand and on the left; what is he now to do? The Master’s word to him is, “Stand still.” …–keep the posture of an upright man, ready for action, expecting further orders, cheerfully and patiently awaiting the directing voice; and it will not be long ere God shall say to you, as distinctly as Moses said it to the people of Israel, “Go forward.”

I’m in an interesting season of life right now.  We’ve recently relocated to another state, changed jobs (including a halving of salary), and feel a tremendous force upon us to ‘do’ something.  I’m encouraged by the words of C.H. Spurgeon.  I’m here, standing still, waiting.

I’ve had this thought in my head for the last couple of months.  I’ve been playing back this one sentence from Romans 1 over and over.  When I’m thinking about all of the stresses of this life that are weighing on me like a ton of bricks, I think about the lies that are behind that stress.  I miss the beauty of the truth of God in the mess of life, when fact of the matter is that the truth of God is the beauty of the mess.  Often I talk with people who wonder why bad things happen to good people or why if God called them to do something then why are they struggling financially or physically or emotionally?  God never said it would be easy.  He never said it would be without trials.  In fact, he guarantees that there will be.  The truth of the matter is that in the face of those trials is where the beauty of God’s Kingdom is found.  I think about our own situation, our own mess.  I go back and forth in my mind with God about what He wants us to do here.  I struggle with trading the truth of God in the beauty of the mess for the lies that the world and those around me are telling me.  We knew coming in that it would be hard and I’m stepping it up big time.  I’m pressing on, I’m living in the beauty of the mess.  I reflected on this beauty the other day when I was on break at work.  I was sitting in a break room with a guy in a wheelchair who is from Haiti, a Chinese girl and a Puerto Rican girl and we were all talking to each other.  I glimpsed the Kingdom in that moment.

Exchanging the truth of God for a lie can look different for everyone.  It could be the porn addict exchanging the truth of God for the lie that the woman/man on the computer screen wants them.  It could be the work-a-holic that trades his family for cash.  It could be the school kid who cheats on the exam.

For me, it is the things of my past that I exchange for the truth of God.  I’m letting go.  I’m trading in the lies for the Truth.  Going back into the beauty of the Truth.

Perry Noble wrote a post that basically outlined the things that he is struggling with in terms of discipleship.  He mentioned a person wrote to others wondering what their churches were doing to make discipleship.  The caveat was that this could not be on Sunday mornings.  Being a pastor, Perry obviously didn’t agree with that point.  My thought is that discipleship must happen during gatherings such as Sunday worship.  Many churches have Bible teaching times outside of the worship setting as well.  I’ve seen this done tremendously well in a church plant I was on staff at in the Minneapolis area.  I was always impressed that we could gather 50 plus people for an hour each week and they engaged and implemented what we taught.  Amazing!  Should discipleship extend beyond Sunday mornings?  Certainly, but to say that it cannot and does not happen is simply insane.

Perry defined discipleship as teaching someone to walk with Jesus, picking them up when they fall down and teaching them to feed themselves.  Pretty straightforward definition if you ask me.  Perry did mention that it is difficult to make disciples without first having converts…not sure I agree totally there, but could be a matter of semantics and when the point of conversion actually happens.

Anyway..thoughts? Comments? Smart remarks?

Check out these guys for some more reading in this vein.

Chris Elrod

Brian Jones — He has a great series of posts on the idea of small groups….Loved it. Thanks, Brian.

Sorry that I dumped it all on you at once…I could have used time delay, but frankly I couldn’t wait to get all that out!

Thanks for reading!

The number one thing that discourages me about being identified with/being a part of a movement of Organic/SImple/House churches is that a number of folks in that camp seem to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  They are under the impression that their meeting in their smaller groups is all that there is to it. While I understand some of their reasoning, I really don’t understand it.  Cell Churches, which are basically house churches that also meet on Sunday for celebratory worship, have thrived in various parts of the world for years.  Christ the King Community Church in Washington State has done an outstanding job of centering their mission and vision around small groups, but also convening together in larger gatherings.  They have done this quite well across the United States of America and also globally as well.  This is just one example, but there are many more.  An interesting facet of Christ the King’s ministry is that the have geographic worship centers.  This seems like a natural outflow of the motivation behind the smaller home church gatherings.  I’m pondering the idea of meeting on a monthly or quarterly basis as a collective body to worship, fellowship and reach out.  I don’t think it has to be either/or, but a both/and. Or in some cases neither.  I might only get to be in an LTG with someone before they have to go home, but they are taking with them some resources to help them start churches once they get there!

Organic/House/Simple Church folks…stop being pissed off at the mainline churches around you.  Redeem what you think is wrong with them, use it to the benefit of the people in your movement and you may be surprised at the outcome.  It isn’t an us and them battle, we’re all in this together.  Just a side note: If you’ve got one house church going and it never grows and/or reproduces, you’re not healthy.  They have a name for groups like that, they are called cults.  God’s vision for your church is much larger than your living room. Expand your horizons.  Meet some more people.  Make some disciples, that is what you’re supposed to be doing anyway!

1. The model or methodology has to be unique to the person or persons doing the work.  While I am perfectly capable of launching an all out balls to the walls church plant that looks and feels like 87% of the other church plants that will launch this year, I would be living a lie.  I’m not any of those guys and that type of church planting just doesn’t fit who God has designed me to be.
2. The model or methodology must work in the community in which the church is to be planted.  I said to my former pastor that what we intended to do just would not work in Rochester, MN.  I wasn’t even sure what that meant at the time, but now I see a glimpse of what it meant.

Given these two things that must be true for an ‘effective’ church plant, I’ll now talk a bit about the extended vision for what it is that we are doing here.

Simple Church, Organic Church, House Church, Cell Church, Neighborhood Church…all those are terms used to describe what God has called us here to do.  The Life Transformation Groups are, as I see them, foundational to building larger gatherings of 12-15 people in homes, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, theme parks, resorts etc.  These gatherings are churches.  They function much like a family, sharing meals, sharing struggles, serving together, worshiping together.  I envision a network of these churches that reaches across the city, beginning with us in our own neighborhood.  As I see it, this is truly the representation of what went on with the First Century followers of Jesus.

The Portability of the Organic Church

One of the unique things about the Orlando area is that it is very transient.  People come here from all over the world to work for Disney or Lockheed (to name a couple), they also come here to study or to search out life.  One of the huge areas of opportunity for people like us is with Disney Interns.  Typically they come here for 6 months, away from their friends and family for most major holidays.  When their time is through they usually go home.  What if we were able to equip them to be church planters before they left?  Using LTG groups and an organic church model, these folks could very well transplant the church from Orlando to King of Prussia, PA or Beijing, China or Oslo, Norway.

The thought that in as little as a few months, we could be planting churches all across the world simply blows my mind.  I’ve been burdened with this town and this people group (Disney is the largest single site employer in the country with about 60,000 employees…talk about a mission field!) and I’m excited about the possibilities that are ahead of us.

You may be asking yourself if we have gone insane.  Possibly.  In reality, the idea of Organic Church simply fits us.  We’re more grassrootsy than glitz and glammy.  We’re more about relationships and people than structures and systems.

As I said before, I’m not trying to make my case as to why the Organic Church is THE method of church planting.  I don’t think there is one right or wrong way of being the church.  I’m not bashing anyone, just laying it out for you to play it out.

Next time — I’ll give the Organic/Simple/House Church guys and gals something to chew on.