A Blog for the Church

The early church was nomadic. It was packed full of refugees and criminals and it went against everything that the established religious system stood for. It was on the move, on the lamb, free and dangerous.

Then something happened. About year 313 it was no longer illegal to be a Christian. So, the church took roots. It settled down, took out a loan and bought some property. Instead of being anti-establishment it was the establishment. Now, instead of being dangerous it was becoming safe. There is nothing wrong with being safe, right? But safety is not always what its cracked up to be.

With safety comes structure. Structure. The word itself feels safe. We want our kids to have structure in life because with structure comes discipline, routine and predictability. Soon the church was developing structure within a structure. The church was becoming a building rather than a movement.

Last week I had lunch with a pastor who has just been called to a new church. He suggested that they get rid of Sunday school and move into home fellowships. He told me that they looked at him like he was crazy. You would think that by now people would be beyond saying that we need to do something because “that’s the way we have always done it.” Seriously?

These people felt safe and secure in their structure. They had always met before the Sunday morning service to have an hour of “Sunday School.” It was safe, predictable, routine.

But safety is an illusion. Our security is not in a structure, institution or denomination. If our security is not in God then we are in big trouble. Only when we can walk away from the structure and into the place God is calling us can we be really secure.

The lessons learned in Sunday school about Abraham, Daniel, Jonah, the Children of Israel and so on are lost because of our unwillingness to do what they did.

We serve a missional God. When Jesus said, “Go” and make disciples, he really meant it.

So, church is becoming more and more mobile. We are learning to go and have church in our neighbor’s houses, schools, café’s, etc. We are beginning to take a page from the 1^st Century Church playbook.

As I drove by the local high school last week I noticed that just about all the kids crossing the crosswalk were looking down at their smart phones. When I took my son to Disneyland recently I spent much of my time in line checking my Twitter account or reading the news on my phone.

I don’t write sermons anymore I write blogs, emails, tweets and status updates. We live in a time of increasing mobility. It is forcing the church to do exactly what we were meant to do. It matters little that it is in person, over the Internet or on video the mandate it the same: Go!

Have you ever heard that “slogan” before? Everyone in our church is a missionary to the community. To live as a missionary is to live on mission. What kind of mission are you on?

I have known some missionaries. On the mission field their lives are radical. They do whatever it takes. Their goal is not comfort; their goal is their mission.

I have been on a few short-term mission trips. They were cake compared to what most long-term missionaries go through.  Those missionaries live on the edge. They eat what is put before them, they sleep wherever they have to, they travel until they get there, they are not committed to comfort or safety. They are on mission.

Do that in your neighborhood for a while and see what happens.

Wikipedia defines The Simple Church movement as an Evangelical Christian movement that seeks to redefine the nature and practice of church.

One Criticism of the organic church is that it is too unstructured and without order. It is too spontaneous. Others like the fact that it is not bound to an order of service, structure or time constraints.

But what about the plan? Is it ok to be “organic” and goal oriented at the same time? Is the Holy Spirit strategic? It seems to me as though the entire Bible is one long strategic plan played out in space and time using individuals and people groups to flesh out Kingdom work. Most of these people probably had no idea about the importance their role in history. Maybe we don’t either.

Last week I had a six house brainstorming session with the Holy Spirit. It consisted of prayer, bible reading, a large white board and several colored dry-erase markers. What I ended up with was several parts of a plan that God has already birthed. It will continue to evolve as time goes on.

Training 100 leaders and starting 100 churches will take careful planning. At the same time it will be organic. If we don’t listen well and respond accordingly, the “plan” will be a disaster.

The goal is to have a good strategy and execute the plan well while holding it loosely and allowing it to become organic in nature. “Or-tee-gic” if you will. Did I just invent a new word?

I recently read an interesting blog by Seth Godin about how businesses treat their customers. He says that the thing that most businesses do with their customers is “they take their money.”

So what are we doing in the church? We are marketing to customers. We provide a “service” that people pay for in the form of a “tithe.” The “services” we provide are professional music, entertaining videos and inspirational messages.

Godin goes on to say that the loyal customers get neglected while most businesses advertise to acquire new customers (half-off for new customers while the loyal ones pay full price).

Let’s be careful not to shape the gospel to meet the needs of the crowd.

From my experience house churches are like families. Some are healthier than others. My job, among many other things is to be a coach. I come in when groups need a little advice or encouragement. I listen, observe, pray and leave. I rarely give any advice on the spot, which is very frustrating to some.

Most house churches don’t think they need any help. They think they are handling things just fine and that they could improve but they will figure that out together, on their own, “organically.” Organic is good, right?

When our son was born we took him to the doctor a lot in his first year. He needed his shots and checkups. He was healthy, but we weren’t taking any chances. The older he got the less we had to go and see the doctor. Now we take him in once a year for a checkup. Unless, of course, he is sick of has a problem that we can’t diagnose.

If more groups sought out outside help early they would be healthier. In their first year they should seek out a coach often, ask a lot of questions and be open to advice. Pride can kill a church quickly.

As they get older they need less check ups. They still, however need good diagnostic tools and help along the way.

A few months after starting my first house church I found a great coach. Being hundreds of miles away, we corresponded on the phone or by email. But he talked to me every other week over the course of two years. His coaching was invaluable.

Are coaches essential for long life? Preventive medicine never hurts.

From now on The Well blog will be found on TheWellGlobal.com. We will be moving our Leave The Building site and blog.

So, everything “leavethebuilding” is going away. We will have a new Well Global web site, blog, twitter and facebook page.

The question some of you “leave the building” fans might be asking is, “why?” Why spend most of the last two years building the “leave the building” name only to leave it now?

Let me answer that with a short example. Recently I was at a meeting with a group of pastors at a mega-church outside of Atlanta. During the conference I asked a friend if I come across “anti-building.” He laughed as he responded, “um, you do have a web site called leave the building.” I guess it should have been more obvious from the beginning. But I’m a little thick at times.

Our desire was never to be divisive or subversive. We were never saying that a building is bad or that people who worship in a building are out of God’s will. We were just trying to tell our story. Our story is that we left the “traditional” meeting areas to move into homes and smaller venues.

However, we can’t seem to get away from those who think we are putting others down by having a website called leave the building.

So, in the interest of never wanting to harm or be disrespectful to others in the body of Christ, we would rather change our name than be misunderstood.

Last week I had the chance to hear Jaipaul Swamidass from bravelifecoach.com. He was talking to a group of pastors, which, as he admitted, was not his usual gig. He spends most of his time leading and coaching executives. He is a Christian and has funded many church starts in India.

During his presentation he talked about defying gravity. He shared about how man always wanted to fly but until learning the principles of aerodynamics, it was impossible. Of course, it was always possible, we just didn’t know how. Now we get into huge planes with hundreds of people and fly for hours never thinking about the “how.”

Since Jaipaul’s talk last week I have been thinking about defying gravity. What does that mean for my life? How will God use me in such a way that the impossible seems possible?

Lately I have been having some crazy ideas, things that are life changers. If these ideas are coming from my own head it will be easy to dismiss them soon and go on with life. If they are from God, and I suspect they very well could be, then I could be in big trouble. God occasionally calls me into the deep unknown. He probably does that to you too. If you say he doesn’t then maybe you aren’t really listening. If it begins to look more like God I’ll let you know. I can use all the prayer I can get.

So, what does it mean for you to “dream big?” Are you ready to defy gravity?

Here are a few more thoughts from the National House Church Conference:

Disciples vs. the crowd.

My friend Thomas Wynn led the Friday night session. Thomas spoke about being a disciple. This topic was particularly appealing to me because it is one we have been talking about at The Well a lot this year.

In the gospels, what was the difference between being a disciple of Jesus and being part of the crowd that followed him? Jesus spoke to the crowd in parables; Jesus gave his disciples the “secrets to the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus did miracles for the crowd. He allowed the disciples to do the miracles in his name.

There were many other characteristics that Thomas sighted about disciples and the crowd. However, I went away that night determined to be a disciple and make disciples. The status quo cannot be tolerated. No more excuses.

Breakout #1

The first workshop that I attended was on Giving in the context House Church. It was unexpected. Mostly because it was led by my wife Ali. I went to it to support her, but not really expecting anything new. My wife is the executive director of a non-profit called With This Ring. I thought I had heard it all about giving and generosity.

It was amazing when God showed up. After Ali showed a short video, told some stories and a little about generosity, she challenged all of us to take a moment and ask God what we could give. I was surprised when he put something on my heart that I didn’t expect. In fact, I had never thought of giving this particular thing before, but at that moment it was blindingly obviously.

After we prayed we went around the room and told about what God had impressed upon us. One woman gave her wedding ring. One man committed to give a tax refund check that he had at home. In fact everyone in the room made a commitment to be generous and to give something significant.

Breakout #2

The second workshop that I attended was on Pastors in Transition. Jim Mellon and Wade Adams led it. There were seven of us in attendance, all men. We started by going around the room, introducing ourselves and telling our stories. The conversation quickly landed on financial support.

Some of the men had “tentmaking” jobs. They were involved in simple church or some other ministry but were not being supported by that ministry. A few others in the room, including myself, were doing ministry and being supported either from that ministry or from other support.

It was a lively discussion. No one was very critical of anyone else. Even though there were a few opinions thrown out, I think everyone saw value in both ways of making a living.

It is interesting that the “money discussion” seems to be everywhere. It is an interesting dilemma in the house church movement. We need to be careful that it is not a tool of division.

The bottom line.

I really enjoyed the conference. Overall I think I had more fun this year than I have had in the last previous years. I think that part of it is that I so look forward to seeing my friends and making new ones. It is always an adventure hearing and seeing what God is doing with Kingdom minded people.

Over Labor Day weekend I had the chance to attend and MC the National House Church Conference in Dallas. It was an amazing weekend. As always, my favorite part was catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.

The keynote speaker was Wayne Jacobsen from LifeStream. I had the chance to hang out a little with Wayne and even sneak into the DFW Airport Terminal with him for some Texas BBQ. Wayne has a refreshing perspective on life, God, ministry, etc.

In Wayne’s latest podcast he shares about his experience at the House church conference. I think it would be safe to say that he gave the conference and for that matter the whole house church movement “mixed” reviews. It’s worth listening to.

I would not call Wayne a “house church expert.” As a matter of fact I found myself wondering at times why he was our keynote speaker. He doesn’t really even participate in a house church. He made this very clear to the board when they first asked him to speak.

I really enjoyed what Wayne had to say. I want to live like he lives. It seems as if he lives as if he knows God really loves him. He doesn’t feel like he has to perform up to anyone’s standards, even his own (I get the feeling he is pretty hard on himself sometimes). He is “over” going to church out of guilt or obligation. He seemed to have a trust and security in God that I often find myself lacking.

I went away from the conference really liking Wayne Jacobsen. I hope I get a chance to hang out with him and eat BBQ again someday.

# 5. It’s all about Jesus

So, why do house church? As I look over the last 4 blog posts it seems as though I have not made the best case for meeting as a small community. For being called “simple church” it is at times difficult. It takes sacrifice and a willingness to serve. So, why do it?

We, the church, must be inspired and motivated by Jesus alone. It is not for our comfort, glory or entertainment that we come together. We do it because we are his body and we are here to do his work on earth. We must teach “no other doctrine” than Christ (1 Tim. 1:3). Christ is all and in all (Colossians 3:11). He is our hope, our first love, our reason for pressing on. He is the way, the truth and the life.

I can think of many things that our little house church network has learned over the last five years. But the most important is that if we are not meeting in Jesus’ name, then everything else is a waste of time.