Organic Church cont'd

Good morning!
It's a very blustery day in Lethbridge, with winds gusting up to 90 km/hour. No better day than today to talk about Organic Churches!
I was asked some questions in one of the comments on my blog last week so I thought I would respond to those and add some more thoughts.
"My question for you or anyone else, what forms can the organic church take, that is what could it look like?"
What could organic church look like? Well, I touched on that a little bit last week. Organic churches are not based on program or location really. They are based on following the mission of Jesus, so they really can be anywhere. They also tend to follow a simple form of leadership and structure. The biggest form for this would be the house church movement. House churches are simple. Typically, they have a meal together. It's all ages, children are involved at all levels. I have also heard of churches forming out of coffee shops and pubs. But if people in these churches have kids, they likely won't stay in those settings long. A good resource to read would be The Tangible Kingdom by Halter & Smay, and Organic Church by Neil Cole. There are likely other books out there on this topic as well, I don't have an exaustive list at my disposal.

"Another question, where do you start if you are already in a church or leading a church?" Simple answer would be starting with yourself. I am in this exact setting right at the moment. If it takes time to build trust with unbelievers, it can take even longer to build trust with your church. The big reason being many in the church do not understand this new language or methodology. Many in the church are asking the question, "Why aren't people coming to Church?" Obviously that's the wrong question to ask, but as leaders we have to frame our answers to get people to realize church is not a building, it's the people of God. And as the people of God, we are called to be missionaries, to reach others for Jesus. As a pastor, I try to place myself in places where I can rub shoulders with those who do not know Jesus and begin to build friendships. This may not go anywhere, but how else can I sow seeds of the Gospel if I never leave my office. So if I move my office to Starbucks or Tim Horton's once or twice a week, then I am exposed to the world. If things progress with this and you gather a group, likely you need to talk to your Board if it will involve more of your time. Ultimately we need to lead by example. No one will follow us if we aren't doing it ourselves.
If you are a Board member or attendee of your church, and you feel a calling to go in this direction (make sure you have prayed on this), then go to your pastor and tell him/her you have been called to be a missionary to reach your neighbourhood/city for Jesus. Begin small and don't give up meeting together. It's important that the Body of Christ gather together. We are never meant to be lone ranger Christians.


"Are there resources online that are available for those interested in learning more?" The Church of the Nazarene has a website, Organicnazarene.net. Darrell MacLearn is heading this network and is a great resource. They are also on Facebook. Neil Cole has cmaresources.org. Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch are involved in some very interesting work in Australia and have spoken in conferences around the world. Their books are very helpful in changing how we think about church. I especially enjoy Michael Frost's talks about missional church and you can find some of that on vimeo. There is a ton of stuff out there, but use some discernment. There are some people that are totally jaded with church that they create an insular ministry and speak against the church in all forms but their own.

My one piece of advice would be to not form a church if you are a group of angry people. Anger will not help you reach others for Jesus. Being dis-satisfied with the traditional church is a little different. If you turn that dis-satisfaction into a passion to take hold of Jesus' mission and become missionaries in your neigbourhood, amazing things can happen. But be prepared for it to take some time. Relationships and trust do not happen overnight.

btw - Keep the Japanese people in your prayers and support disaster relief organizations where you can.