What does it really mean to “do” church differently?

What does “change” really mean?

What does “new” really mean?

Four Possibilities From New From Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus The Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.

Main Entry: new
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: Not the same as what was previously known or done.
Synonyms: different, fresh, innovative, inventive, newfangled, novel, original, unfamiliar

Main Entry: additional
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: Being an addition.
Synonyms: added, extra, fresh, further, more, other, new

Main Entry: fresh
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: Not previously used.
Synonyms: brand-new, new

Main Entry: present
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: In existence now.
Synonyms: contemporary, current, existent, existing, now, present-day, new

Change remains vague until it is defined. With “change” being one of the driving themes of an entire shift in world politics, everyone is crying out for more clarity, more specificity, more steps, more exact actions.

What do we mean by change? And when it comes to the church what are we actually changing, and how are we seeing wineskins renewed?

Unfortunately, “church change” sounds way to similar to the nebulous eco-political jargon of today. So we don’t want to offend anyone in the church so we couch our nomenclature in ambiguous terms, or even religious ones.  Like, we just need “renewal,” we just need “revival,” we just need “reformation.”

But without specificity most people read that as we just need a new “program,” we just need a new “vision,” we just need a new “pastor,” or at least newer “buildings,” and new, softer “pews.”

So, we find ourselves adjusting the lighting, laying down new carpet. Trading in the old pews for theater seats, buying the hottest new flesh tone wireless microphones, firing an old preacher, hiring a new preacher. We work at doing fresh demographic studies and change the order of service, or if all else fails add a new service on a new night.

But this time, in 2012, in the time cycle of the church, that will not be enough, it will not work, anymore. This is merely patching the wineskins.

Patching the Wineskins!

Patching the Wineskins!

Patching the Wineskins!

We paint the old wineskin, we put new carpet in the old wineskin, we rearrange the seating in the old wineskin. Or, we add a second wineskin to the old wineskin, maybe even a Saturday night wineskin for the younger set.

Of course none of these changes make a difference over the long haul. Sure, we may get a few kudos about some of these subtle shifts and slight changes we have engineered. But has anything really changed for real and for the long run?

We even brag about the little changes we have made at the Annual Wineskin Convention, maybe even write a new book about our new wineskin, and start an association around this new way of wineskinning.

“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins will break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine in new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17).

With all the decorative aesthetic adjustments nothing really changes, all we do is end up diluted the wine, weakening the wine, create more distraction for people’s hunger and thirst for the “true new wine,” forgetting all along that the purpose of the church is to accommodate what God is doing, not asking God to cooperate with what we are doing.

Because these church growth adaptations too will fade; this time we need something more. Right now, like no other time in history, we need a completely “new” way of doing church, a “new” way of being the church: a new way, not an additional way, or even just a fresh way, and definitely not the present way.

In fact, everything we currently call “church” needs to change, not from the outside in, but the inside out, these issues are so systemic, these issues are so broken they need to be replaced. We must begin by actually accepting a complete ‘funeral’ mentality on how we have done everything, or do church, and need to let it die, and then let God shape in us an entirely new winekskin that will adequately handle His potent “new wine.”

A ‘Paradigm Funeral’

All of this requires first a definitive ‘paradigm funeral.’ A deep willingness to let things die and start all over. First of all call the highly missional, highly participatory band of believers who you regularly gather with, those who radically care for one another and make themselves readily accessible to the lost.

Then return to “simple church” with a common meal and a common cup, not another lecture-driven “meeting” with more of the “sit, soak and sour,” as some professional ‘talking head’ does all of the ministry. But start some gatherings that are a highly prophetic with the released Holy Spirit called upon to lead through the people at His bidding, relying on His leadership, not the scripted program that we followed last week.

Refuse to sit in silence one more time and leaving the meeting with one one more “we simply don’t understand and definitely can’t apply to our lives.”

Begin to think 24/7 missional church rather than another weekend where we drive to a campus, struggle through a twenty minute search for a parking space, an athletic sprint to drop of the children at the Christian babysitters, another mad dash to the coffee kiosk, and then a press to find a decent seat before the performance begins. Only to look around for the first twenty minutes trying to find the family you want to go to lunch and spend the afternoon with after the meeting.

And No More Crying Over Spilled Wine

“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins will break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine in new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17).

OK? No more crying over spilled wine. Enough is enough, don’t look back, no more excuses, it is now time for a “new” way of doing and being church, not a “renewed,” or “refreshed,” or “repainted,” or “redecorated,” or a “refurbished,” or “re-patched” one.

No more “patching” of the old wineskins, we have already polluted and diluted way too much of the good wine, we already know that the old wineskin won’t handle the radical lifestyle of the next generation, or the passionate missional movement that is in front of us, it will not embrace the press for the level of intimacy with the Father that is coming, and it will literally explode or implode with the new spontaneous worship of the new wine that is coming.  It is time for a totally new wineskin.

So, where do we start? First, we must confront the current church system head on.

1. The current church system is designed to produce dependency on the system.

2. The two major obstacles to removing people from dependency of the current church system are the church building and paid professionals. We need to find a way to create a new organizational system that doesn’t rely on either. Jesus didn’t.

3. We need to find a way to redeem people’s generosity by removing the obstacles (such as buildings and paid staff) and thus releasing people’s resources directly into missional opportunities.

4. Dependency is ultimately dysfunctional because we’re not designed to be dependent forever. We’re designed for self-government and personal responsibility to become interdependent mature sons and daughters of God who can risk loving and risk living.

5. The problem is, that in today’s system we know how to do 500 people really well, just leading them like cattle into another building for another meeting. But we don’t know how to do 12 people really well. Jesus modeled the latter.

6. And we face the primary concern and fear by the current church system that if we actually release people to become the priesthood of believers they will sure fall into heresy. Funny, heresy exists regardless, always has, always will. Example: We have 30,000 denominations. Some of them are wrong. But Jesus risked leaving His followers, and released His Holy Spirit to lead ordinary people. Even if they go through a season of heresy, they will eventually be led into truth. Can we do the same?

7. Exponential growth happens when people participate in what God was already doing. Not through prayer events that call down God to bless our latest agreed upon program we picked up at the latest conference or ministry fair.

Yes, all of these are specific challenges for today’s church to face? You will have to decide if you will face them, or conform and run from them. You also will have to decide what approach to any remedies you are going to risk. If you are really serious about change and not just a “repatch of the wineskin,” you will have to ask God what He wants you to do and then address what is holding you back.

It could mean completely rethinking your views on the church as it relates to the land (properties, facilities) learning (training systems, learning dynamics) and leadership (styles: both old and new) and then address those models you insist on perpetuating that continue to weaken today’s legacy church.

Are you desperate enough for the new wine?

Gary Goodell is a former evangelist, pastor, college dean and instructor involved in ministry stuff for almost 50 years. He and his wife Jane live in San Diego, California USA and he is a father of two and grandfather of seven. As an author and consultant he is an itinerant mentor working with the international church planting movement known as Third Day, that he and some friends founded in 2001. Third Day International now involves leadership and ministries in over 20 nations.

His two books, “Permission Granted To Do Church Differently in the 21st Century,” and “Where Would Jesus Lead?” are both available online.

Christian Schwartz, a German-born, church-growth researcher suggests that we are in the era of a third reformation. The first reformation took place in the 16^th century when Martin Luther fought for the rediscovery of salvation by faith, the centrality of grace and of the authority of Scripture. It was recognized as a reformation of theology. The second reformation, according to Schwartz, occurred in the 18^th century when personal intimacy with God was rediscovered. He calls this a reformation of spirituality. And now, says Schwartz, is a third reformation of structure, or how we actually “do” church.

The first reformation brought us a reform in theology, yet failed to affect the major practices of the church. This new reformation however, will be a complete overhaul and upheaval of how we have been “doing” church for the past seventeen hundred years.

This third reformation promises to be more like a revolution in its passion to alter how the church functions, both in life and mission.  This time it means no more subtle nuances, no more lofty ideas, no more hyperboles, but real, tangible, measureable, visual church.

Not just a renewal, not just a revival, not just a reformation, a total revolution in how we “think” church and how we “do“ church. This time, so that we don’t just modify, redecorate, adjust and patch the current wineskins, we are going to have to “rethink” everything we do, anything shy of that will simply be a new “paint job” or cosmetic adjustment to the present skin.

So, we must ask the question again, are you desperate enough for the new wine? If you are, then get ready to “rethink” everything.

1. Rethinking the Land Skin

O.K. I don’t know what everyone is going to do with their buildings and/or their addictions to them, and I am definitely not a real estate agent. But one thing is sure, we must rethink the price and priority we pay for what was once considered, at least in America, our greatest asset.

We are infatuated by our facilities, many times not realizing that the edifice addiction totally and completely impacts how we think and do church in every way.

In a day when church campuses experience bankruptcy (both physically and spiritually) as well foreclosure, we can no longer feed this Constantinian edifice complex that harnesses our souls to the lending brokers of our day and prevents us from fulfilling our mission.

1. Do we give away our buildings to our local civic governments who will turn them into Boys and Girls Clubs? With, perhaps, a clause in the contracts that we have priority use for off times (weekends) for events or celebrations?

2. Do we remodel our facilities to use them every day as feeding and training centers for the uneducated and underdeveloped? And maybe rent them back for our larger celebrations?

3. Do we redevelop and redesign our entire property to be turned into low cost housing for the poor and homeless? Set up ministry offices and ministry bases for those missionary units to live and work among the poor?

4. Whatever we do, we no longer have luxury to treat the church as a piece of real estate, but as a people, a people highly empowered, highly emboldened, and fully released from the excess weight of mortgage and maintenance to fulfill their mission.

We simply can no longer be a people who “go” to a building for “church.” We must become the church wherever we “go.”

Having long contended for both the “gathered” paradigm of the church as well as the “scattered” paradigm. And long believed you learn more one-on-one, in small groups, in book groups, small accountability groups, even through “webinar-type” interaction on the internet.

And must shout that I also love those larger parties the Father gets to throw for us where healings, miracles, signs and wonders, prophecy, sending, and all kinds of innovative and creative worship is released can happen.

Sure, these larger meetings need larger places. So when called by God to do them rent the meeting halls, the restaurants, the civic centers, the school auditoriums, and the stadiums. And if the climate supports, move them outside so the whole world can see.

Having just recently participated in a series of larger, open healing meetings, I really do enjoy the fact that we live in a nation that gives us many options on reserving and/or renting existing larger facilities in our communities on an as needed basis for these larger God-parties.

But as long as the people of God keep making their weekly pilgrimage to the “Church Building,” that address on the corner of Main Street will remain iconic. The church is a reality, and not an activity or an address.

The Spirit of God is a guide, not a map. And church is the spontaneous intersection of the journeys of all of those who are led by the Spirit. Those moments in time where those journeys meet and it is authentic and real…man, now that is church!

People are the church, so I don’t ask people anymore, “What church do you go to?” Or, “Where do you go to church?” But rather, if I am curious, I might ask, “Who they are walking with?” or, “Who are you hanging out with these days?” or even, “Who do you enjoy authentic fellowship with?”

Jesus did not call us to “Go to church.” He does say connect often and build each other up whenever you can. Body life is where a local group of people choose to walk together for a bit of the journey by cultivating close friendships and learning how to listen to God together (Wayne Jacobsen).

Buildings don’t meet, people do.

2. Rethinking the Learning Skin

Dr. Joseph Umidi, President of Lifeforming Leadership Coaching states it as simple as it gets.

“Jesus defines “success” as the bottom line of whether or not we are making disciples. Discipleship is almost entirely relational in a combination of small group and one on one culture, outside of church meetings, and especially through the influence of healthy conversations from healthy families around the table. Until spiritual fathers and mothers are discipled themselves transformationally, they are dependent on programs and methods that are information transactions more than life transfer.”

Life transformation or information transactions? It is pretty easy to see that tweaking a meeting in which the genesis of that meeting is and always has been to create a setting where one man teaches all, simple doesn’t work anymore, in fact never has, at least in the arena of disciple-making.

We adjust the length of the meeting, the length of the sermon, the mood in the sanctuary, the acoustics of the sound system, the training of the child care workers. We make the coffee stronger, or weaker, we create signs so there are special places for the visitors to park. We make sure the ushers and greeters are perky, and use breath mints.

And when all else fails we offer a new service time and change the name of the church.

Sorry, this time, no cigar! People need transformation and not just a cooler meeting room in which to receive the sound bites of the latest pop-theology. We must be about the business of making disciples, not collecting people and then trading them like the newest fad of trading cards.

Even Bill Hybels of the Willow Creek Association authentically announced that his “seeker-friendly” congregations did not produce transformational change in the lives of its members; meaning they were not discipled. And George Barna’s extensive research states we live with a discipleship deficit in the American church.

3. Rethinking the Leadership Skin

The local church was never meant to be led by the Lone Pastor, there is no “one-man-teaches-all” working model in the NT. The local church was meant to be fathered by an Elder, a local person of wisdom and reality, who relates to an Apostolic Team.

So one of the first things we do release natural groupings of people who now meet in our poorly stewarded weekend buildings to meet in the places we already have, i.e., houses, apartments, offices, recreation centers, even public sites such as beaches, restaurants, public parks, hotels and pubs.

Yes, these will be much smaller groups, But also far more manageable so a father or mother can lead can lead them transformationally, rather than the masses that gather is our theater style lecture halls each weekend that require that they be adequately stimulated informationally and satisfied intellectually.

When the people of God get unleashed and we actually begin to mobilize masses of people, we create a new synergy for effective leadership, and now no longer require the heavy investment of time, energy and money to invest in Christian CEO mass production and management training in our administrative factories called Bible colleges and seminaries.

And this whole shift? Is cheaper, more efficient, and definitely more biblical all the way around.

When the local house churches and smaller ministries get networked into regional movements rather than competitive fortresses, the Elders and the members of the Ephesians 4 team, (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and Pastors who teach) can circulate “from house to house,” or call together larger apostolic regional gatherings for conferences, seminars, workshops, open worship nights, celebrations and parties with lots of sounds, expressions, and participation with the whole body ministering.

We can enjoy these larger Christian meetings, celebrations and parties that our culture enjoys, but they are not the life-transforming times for intentional discipleship and mutual mentoring that we live in in our weekly smaller groups.

A Pastor (or shepherd) is a very necessary part of this whole team. But because he/she cannot fulfill more than just a part of the whole task of “equipping the saints for the ministry,” he/she has to be complemented synergistically by the other Ephesians 4 ministries in order to function properly.

A Pastor is a part of that apostolic team, not the sole leader of a local church. That is done by elders who have been released into their vision, their ministry, and equipped by the Apostolic Teams.

The New Wineskin: Everything Looks Different

Everything starts to look different because it is different, from the top down. People are rightly related to each other now, entering into self-government and personal responsible for their own Christian walk and uniquely placed within a group of people who will help do the rest by mutual, intentional relationship.

The mutual mentoring of these groups led by the Elders, surface any ongoing needs that must be addressed at different times by the Apostolic Team, and can either be met by the Apostolic Team meeting with the Elders of the house church network in a given area, or even a planned house-to-house rotation of equipping so that everyone gets both nurture and empowerment on a regular basis.

The natural fathers, the elders, are in the best place to assess and assist in assimilating the lifetransforming process no matter how long it takes, or how many tracks it goes down.

This kind of leading and growth does not come through the routine, predictable sermonizing of non-strategic sermons and one endless series of messages. This type of fathering comes from specifically designed truths that deal with real life issues within the lives of the believers in house groups in real time.

The groups now experience the benefit of extended times of chewing and re-chewing in the full application and learning of what is being taught. Very unlike the average Pastor’s Reader’s Digest generic 45-minute microwave PowerPoint versions meant to be the “one-size-fits-all” diatribe during the weekend meeting.

It is a Christian life we are called to, not a series of Christian meetings. Who are you living your life with, sharing your life with, who helps carry your burdens and you theirs? Who are you growing together with, who knows what is your current process of walking out certain applied truths in your own life, in your family and in your community?

Sorry, we can no longer try to patch a sinking ship with bubble gum or duct tape, we no longer can cure the sickness of today’s church with a band aid or some new translation or paraphrase of the text. It requires drastic measures this time.

Whatever we have been doing, whatever we have been perpetuating, and whatever we have been paying for is not and has not been working.

We must demand a full refund and must start all over. From a full court biblical advantage, full court biblical worldview and a complete New Testament perspective.

is time we must give the old system a timely burial, a final “adieu,” a complete “buh bye.” And step up to the bar, as the best wine has been preserved to the last (John 2:9, 10).

This time we have been given permission to do church differently in the 21st century, and with brand new wineskins.

Gary Goodell is a former evangelist, pastor, college dean and instructor involved in ministry stuff for almost 50 years. He and his wife Jane live in San Diego, California USA and he is a father of two and grandfather of seven. As an author and consultant he is an itinerant mentor working with the international church planting movement known as Third Day, that he and some friends founded in 2001. Third Day International now involves leadership and ministries in over 20 nations.

His two books, “Permission Granted To Do Church Differently in the 21st Century,” and “Where Would Jesus Lead?” are both available online.

Besides this one time I do not see Jesus doing much about how or what was being done WHEN people went to temple, to synagogue or to homes for fellowship, breaking bread, hearing of the Word, or ministry. Another words, He didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about the “methods of their meetings” or “where” or “how often”. He was more interested in the WHY, the motivations of the heart, the HEART of the matter, not just the outward manifestations. Unfortunately we are most of the time concerned with only the outward manifestations. Things like, how good the sermon was, the power-point presentation, the air temperature of the sanctuary, the orderly check in process at the children ministry, the energy of and selection of the youth programs, the layout of the bulletin and the seats. Didn’t that worship band sing that song last week? The music was too loud, too soft, too long. Too many announcements, the guest speaker seemed boring, what’s for brunch after?

That’s why He said don’t pray in vain repetitions thinking that will get it done. No, instead He went to the heart of the matter. Know who God is, He is your Father, know that He knows what you need before you ask. So ask like a child asking their father instead. This is the heart of the matter. It has more to do with changing the way we relate to God than just giving us a formula to pray so we get what we want, like going to a vending machine and choosing from the many options.

When you worship, don’t harbor unforgiveness toward a brother or sister, leave the offering on the altar (don’t make the sacrifice of worship yet) the true act of worship would be to go a forgive a brother or sister just as you’ve been forgiven by God. He always in all things went to the heart of the matter. This is the change Jesus came to bring, a change of the heart. And don’t worry about the place where you worship (John 4). Worship should take place where ever you are in the moment because you are interacting with the Spirit always. Find the freedom to do this and where you are won’t matter, ever.

Later but not much later, after Jesus turned the water into wine in Cana, it says of Jesus that He didn’t commit Himself to many who believed in Him for the sake of the miracles He was doing. Sounds a bit harsh at first. But it goes on to say WHY, that there was no need for anyone to come to Him and testify of man to Him for He knew what was inside of man (humanity).

Radical Change

Here we begin to see the area of change, radical change, that Jesus for. The inside of man. The soul, the mind, the spirit, the heart.

In changing man there, in the inner most being He would then be bringing change to EVERY area of life that humans went, interacted with and had influence in. “For OUT of you will flow rivers of living water” Jesus would tell us, teach us and ultimately show us.

“Church As We Know It” needs a change. But how do we bring it, how did and does God bring it? Through the person of Jesus Christ. Where do we and God bring it? To the person of man, individually and ultimately corporately.

Many of you and many others related to you are in a tremendous season of “transitional change”. For most there is little to any clarity as to why this change is taking place. “The Kingdom of God is within you”. Do not forget this. The increase of His Kingdom takes place first and foremost within our lives towards God first, and towards others second. How we live in response to Him, towards Him and towards others is the result of this increase. Isaiah says that the increase of His Kingdom shall see NO END. It is an ever increasing expansion! So then also is the process of change within us, ever increasing! Don’t let yourself settle into route and routine! Guard your heart from this in order to avoid the spirit of religion, doing things out of habit versus doing them from the heart!

Matter Of The Heart

For much of the past several years theRoots has been about “change”, but mostly in the way we do church. The focus has been upon “being” the church, not just going and or doing church. This may have, by some, been taken as a focus on lesser things, external things only. For those who have continued on the journey it is part of the process from the external towards the internal. You must first cut through the surface to get to the heart. In other words, asking questions like, “Why do we only go to church on Sundays” in order to find the answers to be because of routine, habit, ease, convenience and tradition. Now that we’re there, what do we do about it? Who do we turn to for the answer, for the power to change? To Jesus. He then begins to show and lead us into “church everyday of the week”. Why? Because God Himself does not esteem one day holier than another.

Other questions like, “Why does the Pastor or pastoral staff DO the majority of the work of the ministry”? Answers like, “Systematic tradition passed down over generations that have been left unchecked and unbalanced have allowed a caste-like structure to manifest and exist within the body of Christ that has ultimately left the majority of Christians underpowered, and in the case of ministering, unemployed”.

Again, all of this has been a journey toward the heart; the heart of the Father first, our hearts second.

So what of this change has taken place in our individual lives? Only you and the Father know. I recently read this article and it made me think of many who find themselves dealing with the daily “measure” of ourselves. By what system, scales, standards do we live by, weigh ourselves and others by, by what and by whom do we determine “success and failure” standards of life by?

For it is in the answer of this question that we find the motivations that we live our lives by. And if these are different than that of the heart of God, then we can understand why so great a change is yet to come in our lives.

For the early church, those who would find a life following Christ outside of the already present religious structure, they co-existed with people who lived “being” religious, but having no power at all, Temple worship. Why was the system powerless? Because the source of its power had left. No longer was the presence and person of God constrained to the Holy of Holies. Now instead He would reside in the temple of men, their very lives. And in turn God was building up a temple for Himself if the unified Body of Christ, many men and women.

It is amazing to me that we would be in the midst of such turmoil, testing and even times of temptation and find ourselves so isolated. That in the midst of such a “connected” (Facebook, Twitter, email and text direct to the phone) society, so many in THE Church would find themselves dis-connected. This is one area that the account of the early followers of Christ would deal with on a “daily” basis, fellowship.

Peers & Perspective

The following is an article I received from a friend. I believe it bears relevance to where many find themselves today. I pray it is received in the nature it has been sent; encouragement. To build up and to edify the body of Christ.

“You are not as good as you think when things are going well; you are not as bad as you feel when things are going poorly. Retain your perspective and surround yourself with people who will love you and will tell you the truth.”

Advice from Michael Hyatt, Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, from an interview by Mike Hyatt of N2Growth (http://www.n2growth.com/blog/ceo-decisioning/).

I recently read Jim Collins’ latest book, How the Mighty Fall, and was interested again to see how research confirms what the Bible has said for centuries. How easily I have fallen into the trap of thinking I have finally figured out the keys to success just because I had a small degree of success, not truly acknowledging that whatever I did well was only a product of God’s grace.

Then, when God gently (although I didn’t always see it as gentle) brings me back to reality, I swing to the other extreme and imagine that I am a failure. God says I am neither a great success nor a permanent failure. What I have finally discovered, and admitted, is that I need trusted people around me who won’t tell me what I want to hear, but what I need to hear. My role is to be gracious in my response, recognizing that my friends are as vulnerable as I am, and a sharp response or a deaf ear can easily damage a relationship that took a long time to to build.

Do you have trusted, peers who consistently engage with you on the topics that burden you most?

For it is with these kind of people in your life and you in theirs that you will discover the truest meaning of “Church” with, the truest meaning of “family” with, the truest meaning of “Kingdom” with, the truest meaning of “life” with.

Jesus said that a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Unfortunately the Church has been “hidden” to most of the world for far too long. Odd, when there are so many “church buildings” in our communities.

“Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and there’s the people? Is this really what God had in mind when He came to reside in us?

Change is coming, change is here. It is change at the very core of our beings…

May we each be eternally changed more and more into His likeness and from His fullness,

Tim Crozier is a surfboard shaper, owner of Blackbird Surfboards and an organic church planter. He currently leads “therootschurch” network in Leucadia, California where he and his wife Gina and their two surfing sons, Caleb and Micah live.

Me on the other-hand, I can barely make cereal or toast! But be that as it may, I decided to cook her a Valentines meal with the help of my boys. I settled on steak (really though, this meal was for her, I just shared in the benefits). Well you just can’t grill up a slab of meat and serve it up as a meal exactly now can you? So what else can I put along-side such a fine cut as a rib-eye? Salad. Yes. Ceasar. Vegetables. Yes. Asparagus & broccoli. Perfect! What else? Oh almost forgot! Appetizers! Ok, so crackers, cheese-spread, anti-pasta plate with olives, marinated peppers, salami-slices, prosciutto-mozzarella roll. Perfect! A glass of Chardonnay before the meal and a glass of red with the meal! Perfect!

Oh my gosh! I have to go buy all of this now! With the boys? At the grocery store? What have I gotten myself into! No turning back now, let’s go! Upon returning from the store it’s time to prep the food. The boys set the table, music on the stereo, praying all the way through for help, we finally got everything together and ready to serve. Appetizers first, meantime get the grill hot and ready, in and out of the back door between grill and oven, the boys had already made the brownies for dessert later and it seems like everything is going relatively smooth. Well, that was until I looked closely at the ingredients for the glaze I was about to make for the topping on the steak.

It was measured for six to eight steaks; I had two!

It seemed like everything was about to fall apart! Remember, I’m a guy. I need it to be idiot proof! Exact directions with exact measurements, times, temperature etc…what do I do now? Then it hits me; “the ingredients are the same, the measure is the only difference”. Ok! I can do this! Everything resumes and we’re back on track! Pull the meat off the grill, tent with foil (Gina taught me that too), plate the veggies, drizzle the glaze over steaks, pour the red wine, boys call Gina down to the table and we sat and enjoyed a Valentine’s Day meal together. We were able to give to her what she gives to us and so many. Love via food.

The Ingredients Are Same – The Measure Is The Only Difference

Over the next couple of days I began to hear the Holy Spirit bring this back up to me in a couple different ways. I see this in scripture and in the world around me. But one place I want to focus in on in this letter is where I see it in the Church. Yes, the Church.

For four years now theRoots has been an official “entity”. A Church. Some would struggle to see it as a church because they don’t see some of the key “ingredients” they expect to see when looking at a “church”. There’s no building to begin with. No church offices with front office receptionist. No pastoral offices because there really isn’t an official “staff”. No children’s playground or program. No youth ministry wing or youth ministry program. No parking lot, ushers, greeters, church bulletins, or tithe baskets.

There’s a post office box and a web-site. Once a month there is a gathering at our house of about 30-80 people depending on the weather and what the sport-season at the time is. Yet in some strange way there is an undeniable reality that a “church” people refer to as “theRoots church” does exist. But where is it? What does is look like? How does it work? What do these people who call their “church” theRoots do the other 29-30 days of the month?

It all begins with the ingredients.

Jesus is King of Kings. And yet the Kingdom is with Him. He brought the Kingdom with Him and then placed it within us.

Jesus is the Head of the Church; His people. And wherever two-or-more are gathered He is there with them in the midst. He is the Head, presiding over the gathering or two or two-thousand. He directs their movement through the Holy Spirit in them, upon them and with them. And it is this very thing that makes the ingredients the same but the measure different. He uses His Word, His Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. He uses whatever He desires to use in order to direct His church. Mostly, He uses love.

As we read through the New Testament we see that there are times, especially in the Book of Acts, that there seemed to be a very large multitude of people gathered in one place as something significant happened or happening. Brings to mind the Day of Pentecost, or after Peter’s message in response to the Holy Spirit’s baptism that day of about 120 people. It happened multiple times as Jesus walked throughout Israel and healed people, did miracles and taught them of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet when it comes down to it we see the “life” of the Church not just in activity but in relationship. Specifically in relationship to God and to others.

The life of the Church is not carried on the activities people alone. It is carried in the people themselves. In the OC the Ark was carried on the shoulders of the priests, but in the NC the Presence of God is carried in the hearts of men & women. No wonder Jesus said that where two or more are gathered in His name he would be in their midst. In the OC there was division of Jew & Gentile. In the NC there is One New Man in Christ. A “New Creation” in Christ. The Church. The people in Christ, the people of Christ. When Jesus looks upon the world He sees one Church; those who belong to Him.

The measure changes when we look at a nation. It changes again when we look at a region. It changes again when we look at a city, a town, a neighborhood, a home. But the ingredients are the same. Jesus and His people.

Once a month theRoots gathers in our home for “church”. People ask me what time does it start. I tell them 10:00 a.m. because if anyone comes earlier you might find us all running around trying to get dressed! But once people arrive; “church” has begun. Do you see what I mean by church is not carried on the activity of people alone? Church is when two or more gather in His name; Jesus. When we intend to be with one another because of our relationship to Jesus and to one another; this is church. It may be carried out in being together, but it resides within us too; just as the Kingdom does.

We bring food and drinks to the gathering so we aren’t hungry and can hear what the Spirit has to say over our talking stomachs! But in the same way we each bring a food item that makes the meal a banquet, we too, when we gather, each bring a “spiritual” element to the table. Each of us has been given gifts. We bring them and use them for the good of others and the glory of God. The more we bring the more it looks like a banquet. We worship, pray, bring words of prophecy or testimony or teaching or encouragement. The measure varies with how many people show-up on any given gathering, but the ingredients are the same; Jesus and His people.

Why am I going to such length to say all of this? My point? My point is I (we, the Crozier’s) don’t want to mislead anyone in any way shape or form in what Church looks like or could look like or where and how it happens. 954 Capri is not the only place theRoots comes alive. theRoots is like a zip-code, that’s all. It’s a name given to a group of people within a certain region in San Diego that have a relationship with God and each other and choose to intentionally be with one another in Christ. However that may look is entrusted to those in the relationship. But “the church” is the official name and designation of those people. The “CHURCH” of Jesus Christ is the PEOPLE of Jesus Christ.

I would suggest that you each consider how to be & do church yourselves. Start with your family. Or start with a friend. Two or more remember? The ingredients are the same, the measure scales accordingly. Find a way to bring the “ingredients” together as best as you can. Ask the Holy Spirit to direct you, lead you, empower you and anoint you. Whether you decide it is for prayer, Bible study, worship, serving, fasting, reading through a book together, sharing a meal together, going on vacation together, the beach, a short-term missions trip, it can be so many different ways and measures, because the ingredients remain the same; Jesus and His people.

Reduction = Flavor

When making a pasta sauce, a glaze or something of the sorts, you begin with a certain quantity of ingredients but then over time and with heat the ingredients are broken down to bring out all of their individual characteristics. Together, these bring an aroma and a flavor that apart from one-another could never exist. The same is with the Church. It seems that it always starts with a large amount of ingredients but over time and “heat” the reduction process begins and all the flavors begin to surface and mix together to create something unique and magnificent! All the while the “Head” Chef is carefully working and watching over the ingredients in the pan.

I want to exhort you to “pour yourselves out” on His behalf. Come together with your family, brothers and sisters in Christ as often and in as many ways as possible. Let Him be Head over all of us and our activity together. We will find all the ingredients we need within one another and within Jesus Christ.

Tim Crozier is a surfboard shaper, owner of Blackbird Surfboards and an organic church planter. He currently leads “therootschurch” network in Leucadia, California where he and his wife Gina and their two surfing sons, Caleb and Micah live.

Being church is living Christianity 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And every child of God can do just that because the Holy Spirit is not just here to stay in a believer’s life on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings but every minute of the day, even if one is just sitting down or lying in bed. We are the temple of God, and wherever we go, we stay the same-the church of Jesus Christ.

Being church is neither going to church nor doing church activities. It is not a full-time or part-time Christian, and most of all; it is not a Sunday-going believer. It is not defining worship as attending worship services in church buildings. Also, it is not having a specialized ministry (a person who specializes in specific ministry in the church or someone who is a part of an elite group that does a specific task in the church or outside the church but is overseen by someone higher in authority like a pastor).

Wherever I go, I meet tens if not hundreds of Christians who don’t care about going to church anymore. It’s not that they have lost their faith, but rather that they have kept it until now. And they’re afraid of losing it if they were to join a church! Most of these folks are not just pew sitters but have ministries in their local churches. Amazingly, I’ve also learned some have backslidden not because they were made to stumble by someone outside church, but by someone inside it!

“Eastern disciplines became popular in the 1970′s; some Christians have searched their own tradition for an inner path to the divine, hoping to balance or even supplant the sometimes-dry diet of Sunday churchgoing.” – Bart Ehrman

Millions of Christians around the world are aware of this kind of Christian Modernization. They are not ignorant anymore of the two-faced mask of hypocrisy and its effect on divisions in the body.

Let us hear from author, David Barrett, and see if the message is the same here and everywhere. He said, “World Christian Encyclopedia, estimates there are already 112 million ‘out-of-church Christians’ globally.” He expects this number to double by 2025.

New Zealand, pastor Alan Jamieson, author of the book A Churchless Faith, has been studying this phenomenon for years and says it is not the “normal churchgoers” who are leaving the church for reasons of faith:

· 94% of the Christians he has interviewed, who are currently without a church, were in positions of leadership or responsibility, such as deacons, elders and Sunday school teachers.

· 40% of them were once in full-time ministry.

· Many of them said they left the church not because they had lost their faith, but exactly because they did not want to lose it.”

This may be weird, but it’s real. (See also Barna Research Group and Andrew Strom’s book, Out of Church Christians.)

Are these people looking for a different kind of Christianity? Are they tired of being religious? Could it be attending church — Sunday after Sunday, week after week, month after month, and year after year, both now and forever, amen –- doesn’t make you a good Christian? Maybe that’s why Justin Kuek, a church planter of 20 years, comments that good Christians don’t go to church! He even wanted to write a book about that. Check out the label my friend. See if you’ve called by His Name. Otherwise, you might end up as just another brand of Christianity on the sidewalk.

“There’s a lot of interest in early Christian diversity because people who have left church, and some who are still in it, are looking for another way of being a Christian.” – Marcus Borg

Structured Christianity?

If you really want to check on Jesus life and ministry in the gospels you will find out Jesus never did the same thing twice in the same way. In other words, He wasn’t into techniques but was unpredictable. In our human strength (or perhaps more accurately weaknesses), we try to systematize everything Jesus did. For example, Peter who, after seeing heavenly glory, wanted to build Tabernacles in the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. And not only one, but three!

There’s also the time when Jesus spat on the ground and made clay and put it on a blind man’s eyes and commanded him to wash it in the pool. May I ask those who have a Healing of the Blind Ministry, did Jesus use a clockwise or a counterclockwise motion? Or maybe I will specialize with a Spitting Ministry. Do you want me to spit on you?

Jesus’ life was never structured; He simply obeyed His Father. Singing for 30 minutes may not be worship at all. Worship is obedience to what He called us to be. That is the highest form of worship. It is the expression of our redeemed lives, our way of life. We cannot just put our Lord or His ways into a system.

Churches today are like spiritual machines. Programs are their survival kits. People love to pour their money into the machine to keep it running. But in reality, church life is like a wind: you don’t know where it goes. It is a journey, a daily journey. It cannot be sewn up in the intellect; it must be uncovered during the journey.

Be Led By The Spirit And Walk In The Spirit

Have you wondered why we are to be led by and walk in the Spirit? Because a disciple is a follower, a follower of Jesus’ footsteps, we are on a journey. No wonder the measurement of our maturity is to be like Christ and the end of it is when we see Him face to face (1 John 3:2). So it’s not joining Discipleship Class 101 or working our way through a curriculum but it is a lifelong day-to-day commitment. A “take up your cross daily and follow Me” subject. The fruit of the Spirit are not there as proof of maturity but is part of the progress of your journey toward Christ. It is not the sign of your qualification as a mature person but a quality of the life you live before everybody. It is not the end of your journey; it is your endless journey until you meet met Him.

We are not only not religious, but we’re not legalists either. We are not guided by rules, but we are guarded by our freedom in Christ. Paul rightly claimed, “Everything is permissible to me but not everything is beneficial.” What a freedom we have in Christ!

You Can Be Natural And At The Same Time Spiritual

Jesus was the most spiritual person on earth and He was also the most natural person on earth. Our religious assumption is that we’re trying to separate our natural life from our spiritual life. When we have devotions, we think we are more holy and closer to God. We feel spiritual. But how about afterwards? When we “minister” we feel spiritual. But when we’re done ministering what are we?

The only valid answer is: You are religious, not spiritual — making Sunday a holy day just because you’ve gone to church, then considering Monday through Saturday unholy because you go to work. You are separating the sacred from the secular. You are not righteous, you are religious! And the danger of being religious is that it prevents you from obtaining the real thing.

The best word we have for this is “hypocrite.” One man entered a church on Sunday morning and wondered why the people there ignored and avoided him. “Ah, I see,” he realized. “They don’t like smoking.Church people don’t like smoking.” So he threw away his cigarette butts. People started to welcome him, believing he was touched by God’s presence in church. After church he went home, opened the cabinet and lit a piece of cigar. Next Sunday members thought he stopped smoking because of a touch from God’s presence. No. It was their legalism and their religiosity. What did this man learn? He learned to play the game of hypocrisy. Where? In the church. And often pastors are the biggest hypocrites there.

I Am The Church Where Should I Go?

God in heaven transferred His residence from a temple building to a temple body, which is Christ’s church on earth. Even from the beginning, God’s original intention was to stay in a Tent, which is mobile, not in a Tabernacle, which is stable. But even then God granted David’s desire, but not for long. “God became flesh and dwelt ["Tabernacled" in Greek] among us.” He wants to have a movement of people, not a monument of bricks. He wants called out ones, a community, and a nation of priests. And only God can move people into such a movement of ekklesia.

Movement of ekklesia. Who can make a difference? God’s only purpose for giving His people the Laws, priests, sacrifices, the Temple and circumcision was for them to be different from all peoples of the earth. But a short time later they intermarried with other nations. The pagans’ gods became their gods. They became friends with the world and developed enmity toward God. Is there any difference? Instead of these nations following them, God’s people became their followers. The important thing is not that we do church differently. What counts is how we live life differently.

“The Lord simply said, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.” – Mike Bickle

“Hello. I am Molong Nacua and I live with my lovely wife Lisa on the beautiful island of Cebu in the center of The Philippines. My heart is to be used by the power of the Holy Spirit to build a network of Barkadas for Jesus in The Philippines. What is a barkada? A barkada is a wonderful Filipino word for a company of friends, joined together in a common bond of friendship, loyalty and love for each other. To me it best describes the kind of companies of brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers that the Lord Jesus wants to build in The Philippines, loyal to Him and each other, carrying His life within them and extending His Kingdom throughout our nation. Mabuhay.”

There are three main values I see in each one of us that gives us the potential to saturate our country with God’s Word through Simple Church. Let us check them one by one and see how it fits in starting house churches mainly in the community.

Close Family Ties

If we define house church as an ‘extended’ family meeting together for mutual edification then our family gatherings fit perfectly. Filipino’s uphold family ties to the highest extent, we live close to each other even as individual adults. We love to gather just to have a meal together with the entire clan up to the 4th generation. And what’s more surprising is that we do not need to put it in our calendars. It becomes an instinct for us to gather and sit, talk, eat, pray [if you don't mind, or prophesy] and serve. Hmmm…it is S.T.E.P.S. on what to do in a house church meeting. We don’t even need to create a program to foster new ideas and stories. We are also good at doing surprises when we meet. We love to talk and eat. We do not need to create a family, we are family.

Community Involvement

We call it “Bayanihan” in our own dialect. It is a creation of alliances with neighbors and a helping attitude whenever one is in dire need. No one needs to teach us on how to create community, we already have one! Our celebrations such as fiestas, holidays and family reunions speak of how we are created for this idea of simple gatherings. Most Filipino’s have traditions, either Holy Friday or All Souls Day. It is a religious event yet most families gather around foods and laughter – it becomes an event that is full of surprises to bond relationships. We’re not doing it so much anymore for religious purposes but to have fun. Do you know that we Filipino’s are known for the number two happiest people in Asia? And who are number one? Me and my family .

Social Involvement

We call it “Barkada” or a group of selected friends fits most of what a house church looks like. It is church to the fullest. We normally treat our barkada as our second family next to our own physical one, though sometimes others hope it to be their real family. The value behind this group is simple, “You feel like a family.” Added to the word barkada is the word “pakikisama” which is extending support to our relatives or offering help even to our neighbors who are in need. And “Utang na loob,” meaning a debt of gratitude – or the giving of special favors to the other person regardless of the moral outcome. In simple terms, “we might hate one another yet we still love one another.”

Based on this premise, a working house church model for us will look a little different than other house churches in other countries. Even in our country, house churches in different cities and towns with different people and personalities will still look different from one another. Put it this way, I could not do house church with the street people the way I do house church with the professional people. It just doesn’t work. I must be resilient and adaptable enough to cater to different people. Like Paul, able to become wherever, whatever and whoever he is with.

Starting a house church movement in a community is only one way of doing it. In this article, several people in my circle of influence have used this approach, and some prove it to be hard [mostly to those who keep asking endless questions about it without doing it], yet to most people it works. The principles and practices behind simple church can only be answered by asking the right questions, “Is it right?” No, “Does it work?” If you believe it is right, then it will work. Not the other way around.

Houses Of Peace

In Luke 10, Jesus asked us to be sensitive enough on how to recognize a ‘man of peace’ in a house. Look for the initial sign: food. “If the man of peace offers you food, eat,” He said. Something rings in your head, right? Yes, Filipinos were made for simple church gatherings! We know that wherever we go even just passing by someone who is eating they will gladly invite you to eat with him. We know it’s not real hospitality right, but we know also that if the person urges us twice or a third time we better accept his offer for he is serious in his asking.

At times I come to think that Jesus somehow has a Filipino appetite, He came ‘eating and drinking.’ Most Filipino’s love this endless eating. He never came to a house where there is no food. Think about in Matthew’s house, they have a party! In Zaccheus’ house, still there is party with his ‘barkada.’ At Simon the Pharisees’ house also. Looks like Jesus’ barkada always has someone celebrating a birthday! And have you recognized that whenever Jesus speaks of God’s Word He always likens it to a spiritual food? Huh! Yummy ha. [Matthew 4:4]

Now Let’s Start The Process

Starting several home Bible Studies around the community or village is one of the best ways to start a house church movement in an area. Targeting 3-5 family hosts that are close enough to gather them for the future celebration is an ideal attempt. Leave your ‘religious doctrine’ behind, but do not forget to bring your ‘doctrine of food.’

Honestly, food might be a stumbling block for the family host because they might be out of budget to prepare a meal. But honestly, it is the best way to start a house church. Do some variety next time you come, or ask them not to prepare the next time. Remember, you are going to visit different houses in a day and you don’t want to get sick. I tried getting sick because of the different drinks that they offer. I learned my lesson. How to ‘tweak a bit’ of your Bible Study method to look like a house church setting: Most of us who are Christians from denominational streams have a way of doing Bible Studies in someone’s house. So I included at least five ways you can change your approach.

Do It All In A Day

If possible, the schedule for your Bible Study in these houses can be done only in one day, each can end up for one hour at least to one and a half hour at most including fellowship time.

Be Relational

Take more time asking normal questions such as: “How are you today?” “What have you been doing these days?” and “How’s the children?”

Stay Normal

Make sure you will not look and sound like a ‘heavenly man’ especially if you are preparing these families as ‘God’s own family’ on earth as it is in heaven when you finally start a house church. Don’t be religious, I mean.

Be Quick And Gracious

If you can run a 20 – 30 minute ‘open Bible discussion’ it is great to start with good participation. ‘Open Discussion’ means that you do not appear to them as one who knows better than anyone else who are present.

Searching Together

Do not talk too much and do not worry if the discussions go off the topic. Be sensitive enough especially if you allow them to ask questions. Remember, most questions the person asks are his own personal struggles inside his heart. Make sure you ask questions that can reveal God’s intentions to human illusions.

On-Going Follow-Ups

A couple of ‘quick’ visits at the family during the week are very helpful to build some rapport. ‘Go with flow’ might mean sitting with a mother while she’s washing clothes or cooking. She might appreciate a helping hand and affirmations from you like one I love: “You look blooming today Nanay, what did Tatay do to you today?” This wife is in the middle of cooking some food for dinner while I gave her a hand helping chops some veggies. The husband sits around watching TV and hears me speak these words and answered teasingly, “Of course, I took good care of my wife.” though behind my back they often fight.

As soon as the father affirms my statement I directly admonishes them saying, “That’s good because Paul says in the Bible that husbands should love their wives, and wives should submit to their husbands.” And both them nod and answered me back, “Really?” And a long discussion ends up having a meal together with them. This does not become a ‘quick’ visit then but becomes more intimate with the family, which is much better. These kinds of visits are not for ‘religious’ purposes or to earn their trust for them to go to your church. This is church already, in real life situations.

Unbelievers Are The Priority

To reach the unbelievers quick and fast, house churches are the ideal. To encourage believers to attend your house church is the surest way to have a debate, unless he or she is tired enough of doing traditional church. Simple Church then is for non-believing people. You do not need to share to them about a “holy man dressed in a holy robe, to speak in a holy place for a holy message in a holy day for a holy fee,” as Wolfgang Simson suggests. They know nothing about these matters. In other words, they have no traditional ‘garbage’ in their mind.

I was once an aggressive house church guy who loved to roam around and whatever Christian person I’m in contact with I would always share enthusiastically about house church and how it is simple enough for anyone to just do it. Honestly, I ended up having big arguments that lasted from 5 in the afternoon to 2 in the morning. I won the argument but lost a friend. Not a good way on ‘how to win friends and influence people!’

After that experience, I decided to just be quiet as much as I could but at the same time sensitive enough to listen to their heart’s cry. Often they needed a change in the way they do church ‘as we know it.’ Our level of hunger is not the same as someone else’s so we cannot just use the same words that changed us to change other people’s hearts.

Christians are saved people already, that’s the simple fact. They do not need to be saved again. In the Philippines, there are still 80% of the people who don’t really know who Jesus is to them. Let’s focus our target to the lost and let Jesus Himself deal with His church about its monthly bills and expensive problems, uh, programs. Let Jesus creates a hunger for reality in His church through its shortcomings.

Someone Needs To Go With You

The job of a church planter is to ‘leave’ as fast as he can after the house church has been established. Since I started in 2000, only three house churches out of 13 that I established still continue to this day. The problem? I did not prepare others to do what I was doing. A responsible servant of God will not remain in insecurity about the ministry that God has prepared for you, but will give others the permission to do the same. My principle in training is, if I know how to do it, why should I do it? Let him who knows not what to do, do it. For how can he learn if I do it myself? God mostly then will give each of us the work and the work will teach us how to do it.

Jesus sent the disciples ‘two by two.’ Why? For prayer and encouragement and of course for modeling purposes – learning from each other [2 Timothy 2:2]. A good leader leads others only for a while, and the lets the Holy Spirit take charge of his own disciples life and training. The ‘natural father,’ is trained in real life situations, not as a professional clergyman from the seminary. He first leads his own extended family. Only then can the leader leave and come back once in a while, to see the growing life of the church

A simple success principle: Always bring others with you on the journey.

Establish Relationships

Church is about relationships, nothing more and nothing less. Loving God, loving your neighbor, and loving your enemy. Stop specializing in some liturgy and special outlines for your Bible Study. But start specializing in building healthy and devoted relationships with each other. You can win a person’s heart in a day quicker than a hundred sermons in a year. “Sermons does not produce disciples,” as Gary Goodell realizes, relational ways of life is.

In the Philippines, respect and honor can be seen in two ways: When you enter a house ‘leave your slippers or shoes’ outside and greet. Second, bless the hand of the elderly. Leaving your slippers outside especially if the house is clean can earn you great respect. Though most of the family host doesn’t really care, but ‘attempting’ to do it is a sure way that you are welcomed at their house.

Blessing the hand of the elderly is a Catholic tradition for many years, but not now, at least in the Philippines. Yet it is showing respect to your elders, and parents and Lola’s and Lolo’s love it. And what in return? The elder’s/parents who are in charge pf most of the house will treat you as their son or daughter instantly!

Establishing relationships with the family you’re trying to reach out to is vital in the making of a simple church. Why? Church is simply a family. This is the ultimate picture of church in the Bible! God, the Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob becomes our Father? What a paradigm shift this is. And I became his son? And Jesus became my eldest Son? We are to treat each other as brethren, I Timothy 6:1-5. And we are called the ‘household of faith?’

Remember, a house church is your extended family. It is a reflection of God’s family on earth, as it is in heaven. So learn to be one with them.

“Hello. I am Molong Nacua and I live with my lovely wife Lisa on the beautiful island of Cebu in the center of The Philippines. My heart is to be used by the power of the Holy Spirit to build a network of Barkadas for Jesus in The Philippines. What is a barkada? A barkada is a wonderful Filipino word for a company of friends, joined together in a common bond of friendship, loyalty and love for each other. To me it best describes the kind of companies of brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers that the Lord Jesus wants to build in The Philippines, loyal to Him and each other, carrying His life within them and extending His Kingdom throughout our nation. Mabuhay.”

But when we begin to call ourselves a team and not a family, too much shifts, and often too much is lost. A team is a group of people banded together for the express purpose of achievement, winning a game, accomplishing a goal, or completing a project. The Chargers are a team, so are the marines, and United Airlines.  A team usually has a coach, an owner, and of course players, all trained to accomplish a task.

If the right guard keeps missing blocks, the coach is obligated to the owner and the other team members to bench him and even eventually replace or trade him. Sometimes when churches operate as teams, the leader (lead pastor) acts as a captain or a coach, sets up goals, and then initiates the action to achieve those goals. If someone gets in the way, misses a catch, sprains an ankle or is just plain too slow, he gets let go, dismissed from his charge, is asked to leave the game and is dropped from the team.

However, if the right guard is married to the coach’s daughter, or is the son of the owner, that becomes a different subject.  Now the team is a mixture of team and family and families operate on a different level.

Whereas teams are committed to achieving goals and winning games, families are committed to each other. In fact, the goal sometimes may be no more than simply sticking together. Staying committed, as a family, staying together particularly when things are not running smoothly means everyone at all times gets to play, because participating is more important than winning, and in family it is more important for the overall morale of the family that everyone makes it. Becoming someone in the family is more important than accomplishing something, even if that accomplishment is letting the opponent score and second goal when you turn the other cheek.

Churches, who set themselves up as teams, or even institutions, are missing the purposes of God. Churches are not teams committed to a common goal, even if that goal is as lofty as winning souls or sending missionaries. Churches are families, whose basic commitment to each other in order to accomplish anything.  A son has a right to leave home, but a father does not have the right to fire him from his Sonship drive him away. The coach may bench an ineffective player, but in family when the game is over, we still eat at the same table. We are family first…team second.

Community Precedes Proclamation

The Book of Acts gives us a pretty balanced picture of the early Christian experience: evangelism and the church, proclamation and community, witness and fellowship. The two primary concerns of the early church were mutual edification and proclamation. But all evangelism sprang from community, and the community grew through its witness. Evangelism was not merely something that individuals Christians did; rather it was the natural result of the presence and influence of the Christian community in the world. The living community gave credibility to the verbal proclamation.

John Howard Yoder, “Pragmatically it is self evident that there can be no procedure of proclamation without a community, distinct from the rest of society, to do the proclaiming. Pragmatically it is just as clear that there can be no evangelistic call addressed to a person inviting him to enter into a new kind of fellowship and learning if there is not such a body of persons, again distinct from the totality of society, to whom he can come and with whom he can learn…if it is not the case that there be a given place men of various characters and origins who have been brought together in Jesus Christ, then there is not in that place the new humanity and in that place the gospel is not true. If, on the other hand, this miracle of new creation has occurred, then all the verbalizations and interpretations whereby this brotherhood communicates to the world around is are simply explications of the fact of its presence.

In other words: proclamation presupposes a living, witnessing community. If Jesus actually gave more time to preparing a community of disciples than proclaiming the good news, then the contemporary church must also recognize the importance of community before proclamation.

“Like love,” we keep looking for models of “church” in all the wrong places. We keep looking in corporate structures, in megachurch models, and even multi-site experiments, when all along we need simply look at how a family works. Families that work by actually living out the qualities and transferable values of community call to us throughout Scripture.

The Trinity

All of creation begins with an agreement in community, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness,” Genesis 1:26. Whether described as the perfect picture, the model of models or even the divine dance.  Biblically, community is three or more gathered together (Matthew 18:20). So God, the highest life in the universe, has chosen to exist in community!

As it has been said and sung, if God were one person, there could be power, if God were two persons, there could be love between them, but as God is manifest in a Trinity there is community. In fact, it seems very that possibly the only time in all of eternity when the Godhead did not live in community were those dark hours on the cross when Jesus paid for our sins.

The Garden

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created Him; male and female He created them, ” Genesis 1:27. The first man and first woman were placed in a garden to live in community with each other and with God. Satan’s real work in the garden began by an attempt to break up community, causing blame casting and a division within the created man and woman.

The Family

God designed the family so that it would always create community. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it,” Genesis 1:28. Accountability to and responsibility for each other was to be the fundamental characteristic of “God’s family”. Again, satan’s response was to incite Cain to murder his brother Abel, thereby sowing the seeds of destruction to the first family unit. Cain’s response when confronted by God about his brother was as much a statement of principle as an excuse to a question. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9.

The Jethro Principle

God instructed Moses, through his father-in-law Jethro to form an administrative infrastructure that would cause the people of God to be adequately cared for as needs arose. And of course this was already superimposed over a culture that was already tribal in nature. Exodus 18:13 – 26. These numbers were not chosen randomly, but in the wisdom of God. With a conservative estimate of 1.5 million Israelites, would mean there would be somewhere around 150,000 cells of 10, maybe 30,000 clusters of 50, 6,000 groups of 100, and according to Exodus 24:9, 70 elders who would been over the thousands.

Even in a crowd this large God was revealing His purpose to function best through a reduced sense of size and a more manageable format of relationship and reasoning.

Jesus’ Chosen

In Jesus, who could have kept a large following at any time, instead handpicked 12, Mark 3:14, that they might be with Him (in relationship) and then that he might send them (in ministry).

Jesus’ Circles

Even within Jesus’s chosen followers, there was a subgroup of 3, Peter, James and John, and a chosen ally in 1, John. He also had His 70, Luke 10:1, His 120, Acts 1:15, and at any time larger groups that He fed and ministered to, Mark 8:20. And yet in His infamous style of intimacy He spent most of His time with the 1, the 3, and the 12.

The Generations

Interesting, even without biological parents to leave, God plants within the first couple the seed for more generations as He blesses this act of duplication and multiplication, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh,” Genesis 2:24.

The Church Is Not:

1. An organization made up of programs, systems, and methods dedicated to attracting monies and members to itself.

2. Buildings and offices, departments and positions, manipulated by hierarchies given to earthly display and self-aggrandizement for the purpose of being better accepted within chosen social spheres.

3. Another worldly institution dedicated to applying a balm of humanistic principles and solutions to man’s personal and social ills.

The Church Is:

A family, a family much like the one described by Edith Schaeffer many years ago:

1. Family is the place where we no longer need to pretend that we are anything other than what we really are.

2. Where acceptance of each other is not based upon levels of performance.

3. Where we don’t have to be afraid that our relationships will be broken.

4. Where our material possession are spontaneously shared.

5. Where our unique callings in life can be sought out and called forth with another’s help.

6. Where each member’s celebration or pain is felt by all.

7. Where we are free enough to admit we are needy, asking for help and expecting to receive it.

8. Where we are freed from the horrible burden of seeing life as a demand, as oughtness, as duty, instead as a gift, a feast, and a banquet.

And, periodically these families (microcosm) gets together with other families (macrocosm), as a family of families, maybe in a larger building, a tent, a warehouse, a gymnasium, wherever they can gather in a certain geographical sphere or given locale to celebrate like a family reunion encouraging one another at a larger scale and collectively worshiping God. But all of its strength, all its vitality comes not from the numerics of the gathering but rather from the family dynamics of the gathering.

Gary Goodell is a former evangelist, pastor, college dean and instructor involved in ministry stuff for almost 50 years. He and his wife Jane live in San Diego, California USA and he is a father of two and grandfather of seven. As an author and consultant he is an itinerant mentor working with the international church planting movement known as Third Day Churches, that he and some friends founded in 2001. Third Day Churches now involves leadership and ministries in over 20 nations.

His two books, “Permission Granted To Do Church Differently in the 21st Century,” and “Where Would Jesus Lead?” are both available online.

And make no mistake; Jesus invited His followers into a different kind of community than the current flavor found in the religious infrastructure of His day. He addressed exclusive hierarchical tendencies and set His bar so high that there would be no limbo, “But you, do not be called Rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren,” Matthew 23:8. Whatever anyone thinks, however anyone acts, whoever anyone is trying to be, first and foremost in the Community of Christ, “you are all brothers.”

The Term “Brother” Best Characterizes the Relationship Between Believers

A number of key terms are used in the Book of Acts for those who were followers of Christ. They were called believers, Acts 2:44, disciples, Acts 6:1; 11:26; 21:16, Christians, Acts 11:26; 26:28, followers of the “Way,” Acts 9:2; 19:9 23. But no word so frequently occurs as “brother,” from the first chapter in Acts 1:16, to the last in Acts 28:15. Again and again, followers of Jesus refer to each other as brothers. Paul uses the term “brethren” as he speaks to the church at least 130 times in his letters to the churches.

While the 120 are gathered in Jerusalem following Christ’s ascension, Peter, standing to address the entire group (men and women) calls them “brethren,” Acts 1:16. To call them “brethren,” was so natural, as we know they were even waiting for the “Promise of the Father,” Acts 1:4. They were given His word that He would send His Spirit upon them, so they now gathered for that fulfillment. Because they have one Father, they are all brethren in waiting.

Brothers Solve Problems

The church in Jerusalem would grow and grow, and with that growth would come expected logistical shifts and changes. They faced them together as brothers and each time God gave them solutions to the problems and challenges that surfaced. When the practical opportunity arose concerning care for the widows on the Hellenistic Jews in Jerusalem, Acts 6:1, the twelve apostles suggested a division of labor so that all necessary tasks could be adhered to. A group of the brothers would give themselves to prayer and the study of God’s Word, while another segment of the brethren would address the administrative tasks required to serve the practical need of the widows, Acts 6:3. The family of God had a job to do, but they were all brothers doing their portion, their share, based upon gifting, needs and callings.

Not only did the brotherly relationship bridge the clergy/laity gap in the early church, it also provided a definitive parity in which the idea of brotherhood brought both an equality and unity not seen in those days with a common tendency to draw attention to elite religious practices and posture. Isolation and distinction and faction and separation were now addressed by a brotherhood.

Even when problems grew in nature and difficulty, it was the leadership of the church gathered as brothers, in an atmosphere of brotherliness that addressed the challenges and experienced an unprecedented efficiency, Acts 15. So whether it was deacons feeding a neglected segment of the church, or the more complicated issue of circumcision and the inclusion of Gentile believer, it was brethren working together as brothers. They were not a group of dictators vying for absolute power, nor even a political structure paying deference to those above them on some non-existent organizational flow chart. In the great Council of Jerusalem, both Peter, Acts 15:7, and James, Acts 15:13, addressed the “brethren,” the brothers.

In the Book of Acts even major doctrinal decisions did not fall into the hands of some elite clergy class where class theologians imposed their will on the less tenured, less matriculated masses after the style of the Pharisees, but brothers who shared consensus and the consequences of their conclusions.

Brothers Have The Same Father

This concept of brothers seems actually almost automatic and the earliest believers were all Jews and brother with Abraham as their father, and now as believers whether Jew of gentiles we are all brothers because God is our Father. Abraham is the father of a race, a people, chosen by God to fulfill a specific mission on the earth, but his descendents are necessarily limited to the natural descendents of him, his children, and his grandchildren. However, the brotherhood of the church does not depend on the fatherhood of Abraham, but on the fatherhood of God, so all racial and ethic limitations have been blown. All men (and women), regardless of earthly ancestry are candidates for this brotherhood as God is their Father.

As we have all come to learn that racism is a sin problem and not a skin problem, it was God the Father that succeeded in getting the early brothers past this monumental upheaval. It is interesting as we give a closer look at the discussion in Jerusalem in Acts 15, that even before the issue of circumcision verse non-circumcision was settled, these early Gentile believers were already being called brothers. “And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved, Acts 15:1.

And the solution, penned in a letter later reads, “They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia,” Acts 15:23. How you approach someone is connected to how you see them, and how you see them is often connected to how you relate to them. So here we have both Jews and Gentiles, fellow believers in Jesus Christ, having God as their Father, addressing each other, regardless of family of origin as “brothers.”

Brothers Do Mission

As the church grew and expanded even the pattern of choosing, commissioning and sustaining ministry for mission is still revered in the context of brotherhood, Acts 15, 16, 17. “Timothy was well spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium,” Acts 16:2. Paul initially chose young Timothy to accompany him on his missionary journeys because he was highly recommended by the brothers who knew him best.

“Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of the Lord,” Acts 15:40. Another missionary journey begins not only with a brother but is launched by the blessing of brothers. And even when they got in trouble, the brothers protected them, and watched their backs, “The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea,” Acts 17:10.

It Is An Invitation to Brotherhood

When Paul recounts his own story of conversion, telling how the Lord Jesus had directed him to the town of Damascus when a devout Jewish believer named Ananias was sent to him by God, the amazing thing is, that here we have Sault the Persecutor greeted by Ananias as, “Brother, Saul,” Acts 22:13.

“Brother” in Acts is used primarily as a word of address, or what believers called each other. But obviously, it is more than that. It appears to be an outward designation representing an inner reality of the depth of their relationship in the family of God, and unlike other followers of religion in their day. As we have seen that the family if the church of God, we are now beginning to see as well that the church is the family of God, and that we are in word and in deed, truly “brothers.”

Gary Goodell is a former evangelist, pastor, college dean and instructor involved in ministry stuff for almost 50 years. He and his wife Jane live in San Diego, California USA and he is a father of two and grandfather of seven. As an author and consultant he is an itinerant mentor working with the international church planting movement known as Third Day Churches, that he and some friends founded in 2001. Third Day Churches now involves leadership and ministries in over 20 nations.

His two books, “Permission Granted To Do Church Differently in the 21st Century,” and “Where Would Jesus Lead?” are both available online.

Even after He says it again, there remains more confusion, and more questions.  He indicates, “and where I go you know, and the way you know,” (John 14:4). Oops, yet another inquiry from Thomas, who says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5).  So emphatically, yet in classic consoler style Jesus is direct as He answers, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” (John 14:6).

For centuries, defective Christology worldwide has attempted to tamper, to alter and to contaminate this all-important truth about Jesus, Jesus the God man, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Immanuel, Jesus the Messiah. Subtle as they may think they are, oh yes He is “a” way, and even, “sure He is one of the ways,” and after all remember, “all roads lead to Rome,” these attempts all fall short of the promise for those who put their trust in Christ.

Those what have received Him as Lord and Redeemer have received the gift of eternal life, and He is the ticket, the only ticket, the only flight available, the “only way.” When Jesus says He is the “way,” He really means the one and only way. There is no other way, there is no other path, there is no other alternative, or access to God the Father. That is it, done, finished, and stubborn as it sounds; Jesus is the only way to God.

When we look at the Christian life, and not just the gift of eternal life in our heavenly home, the question might be, is He just the way to heaven, or when He says He is the way, does He also mean He is the way to life, or even, that He is the way of life, or the way of living. He suggests in Matthew 7:23, 24, that following Him is not just an exit strategy, but an actual path, a path or way that is chosen from other paths and other ways. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in my it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The writer of Hebrews sheds even more light on this sense of a way as more than just a way to heaven when he writes, “…by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh” (Hebrews 10:20).  So, we must conclude, it is a difficult way and a different way. It is the way to heaven, our hope is built on nothing less than that truth, but it is also a way to life, and a way to living.

Followers of the Way

In the Acts of the Apostles, the early followers of Jesus were known as, “people of the Way,” (Hebrews 9:2), “Way” even being capitalized a couple of times in Acts to indicate and enhance its obvious distinctive (Acts 18:25; 19:9, 23; 24:14, 22). This way of life lived by these earliest followers of Jesus “the way,” was so evident that Saul (Paul) was able to spot them, find them and arrest them because of their reputation of living this unmistakable way of life, it was so obvious and so distinctive that this way of life or way of living set them apart from all others, Acts 9:2.

The call to be a Christian is to live the Christian life, or a Christian lifestyle and not only our cherished prize of eternal life in a prepared place for us in eternity (John 14:2). It is a designed way for us to live in preparation for our place in our Father’s House.  As someone once said, “before he gets us to heaven, He wants to get heaven in us.” “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

I know we are going to heaven, and regardless of your definitive eschatology, we will all eventually get there. The problem is, why not sooner? I admit I have a pretty weird sense of humor, or lack thereof, and have often wondered way God didn’t choose to kill us as soon as we received Christ as Savior. I had this picture of the evangelist with a loaded 44 magnum, saying, “If you would like to receive Christ and go to heaven, please come forward.” And as soon as we confessed that we believed that Jesus died and rose again for our sins that the evangelist or preacher pulled the trigger, quickly shipping us into eternity with God. Think about it, not a bad idea? No discipleship, no tithing, no nursery duty, no inter-church conflicts, no forgiving your brother, no church clean up days. What a deal? Instant conversion, instant inheritance, instant passage, that includes an immediate exit into the plans and purposes of God for us in our heavenly home.

But no, we have actually been called to live the Christian life in two dirty places, the flesh and the world, and are even surrounded by three constant enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. God has a plan that we walk with Him on this earth, live in community with other followers while we are here and live in such a way as to impact and influence others to follow Christ as well.

Christianity is a way of life, never intended to be equated solely with the routinization of ecclesiastical rules nor the passed along creeds of historic religious organizations, but was designed to be a distinct way in which believers, followers of Christ, were empowered by the Holy Spirit to actually live differently while here on earth before we ever get to heaven.

The Family Way

Well, let’s figure it out. Less this way seem nebulous, metaphysical or just mystically weird, what if God did not hesitate to outline throughout His Word from the very beginning, what this way of living, or way life was like. God created two institutions, first the family and then the church. And as infatuated as we are about the church, long before God created church, He created a way in which people would live, the family. They would live in families through the generations. He gave families ample guidelines, principles, values, and distinctives. As you keep reading in both Old and New Testaments these characteristics get reinforced that these family and generational guidelines are actually prototypical of how the church was later to function. Not only are we were to live in families, but also in His family, the family of God, the community of faith, the church. We are called to live in a certain way as families that follow God, and a certain way as communities of families for generations through what we call the church.

A way of life, or maybe even as Henri Nouwen titled his classic book in 1981, “The Way of the Heart.” This view of following God as a way of life, as opposed to simply a way to pretend to act a certain way within an institutional setting for a few hours a week, becomes not only the way an individual lives, but also to emulate those qualities from generation to generation and from Christian community to Christian community.

New Testament Terminology Indicates A Family Way

Look at the nomenclature, the terminology, and the language. God doesn’t hesitate to be called Father, and even husband in the Scriptures, Matthew 6:9 and Jeremiah 3:14. Jesus does not hesitate to call us His brother in Hebrews 2:11. We live in a “son-household,” as members of a “son-family, Hebrews 3:6. Perhaps one of the most famous New Testament passages on the marriage relationship is found in Ephesians 5:22, 23, with Paul pointing to the startling conclusion in 5:32, that the picture, or metaphor, or model being addressed here is actually not just about a man and a women in holy matrimony, but about Christ and His Church.

Paul uses tender familial parenting language as he describes his own apostolic/pastoral ministry in I Thessalonians 2:7 – 12, when he describes his actions of that of being, “a nursing mother,” and a “father with his children.”

Howard Snyder in his book, “The Problem of Wineskins,” states, “Marriage and family are the basic personality-forming institutions God has given us, and they must function hand in hand with the church. A great need today is to rethink the family on the basis of the Biblical understanding of the body of Christ.”

We are not talking here about the family as Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, or Ward and June Cleaver, or Ma and Pa Walton, we are talking about what God, the creator of the family and the church has to say about how we are to live by His very specific selection of family terminology and language.

The Old Testament Opens and Closes With Family Generations

When our Creator God prepared the world, He crowned His creation by forming Adam and Eve, and placing them together on the new earth as our first family. God seemed to be making it clear that His purpose in the world was to be revealed through the family, and perpetuated as these values or characteristics would be passed along through the generations of more families.

The Abrahamic Promise (the fountainhead of God’s gracious plan) begins with the generations, to Abraham and his seed (his descendants), Genesis 12:2, 3, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God’s plan was to build a family of people who would pass the “way” to ongoing generations, Genesis 15:1 – 6; 22:16 – 18. Even His divine choice of Abraham was predicated by what God knew about Abraham and his ability to charge his children. “I have chosen him that he might charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord,” Genesis 18:19. His propensity to pass the covenant onto to succeeding generations was criteria for being chosen as the covenant progenitor.

The emphasis on the family generations is consistent throughout the entire Old Testament, from the commands of Psalm 78:5 – 7, “For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make known to their children; That the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and that they may not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

The Old Testament even closes with a warning about the generations. Malachi 4:6, “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

And with Malachi, the Old Testament curtain is rung down with a final message about what God ultimately desires, Malachi 2:15, “He seeks godly offspring…”

The Focus on Family Generations is Also Consistent Under the New Covenant

The promise of salvation is thrown out to a man and his entire family (“oikos”) in Acts 16:31. The promise of sanctifying power is placed within marriage and family relationships in I Corinthians 7:14. Parents, especially fathers are assigned the responsibility of bringing up the children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, Ephesians 6:4. In fact, it is the parents as the natural leaders within the family generations that are the primary authorities and not other surrogate spiritual leaders.

According to I Peter 3:1 – 6, even an unbelieving husband is the primary authority to a believing wife and not a surrogate leader. With I Timothy 5:3 – 16, indicating that the case of the widow conclusively shows the centrality of family generations.

Church then is a fellowship of believers in Jesus, represented by a family of families. The essence of the church is that family units living through tested family realities with home life as their center become the essential exhibit of relationships that the church is to mirror to the world.

The family being the primary unit of culture, with fathers and mothers as the natural leaders and is also the central venue through which God’s redemptive purpose of the full revelation of Himself is to be passed along posthumously to each embryonic generation. The plan of God is to build the generations.

Gary Goodell is a former evangelist, pastor, college dean and instructor involved in ministry stuff for almost 50 years. He and his wife Jane live in San Diego, California USA and he is a father of two and grandfather of seven. As an author and consultant he is an itinerant mentor working with the international church planting movement known as Third Day Churches, that he and some friends founded in 2001. Third Day Churches now involves leadership and ministries in over 20 nations.

His two books, “Permission Granted To Do Church Differently in the 21st Century,” and “Where Would Jesus Lead?” are both available online.

When we see the church as a family of families our ecclesiology takes a shift away from the corporate business models that infatuate us and moves us towards seeing the relational phenomena of the nuclear family as the complete microcosm or building block of the larger macrocosm of the church. The church becomes a family of families.

It seems that God could have chosen to reveal His truth about the church and how it functions in so many ways, yet the most obvious way, was the way that was foundationally behind His intent, his purpose, His plan. He was not looking for a marketing firm or an ad agency, or an elite group of scientists or engineers to try to explain how he chose to be manifest among the earth.  He wasn’t looking for a club; a society; a fraternity or a sorority. He wasn’t looking for a conglomerate; a consortium; a service agency or a think tank. He wasn’t even looking for a cluster or a cloister of people who saw “eye to eye” and lock-step in head knowledge or in doctrinal sync.

Nope! He said, just give me a family. I’ll begin with mom and pop and the kids. God seems very satisfied to faithfully use this little sound-bite or segment of our culture, especially as it learns to rely on Him, learns about Him, and discovers how they are designed to relate to each other as man and wife, as parents and as siblings as His lesson plan for the ages. How the family grows in treating one another through the good times and the bad times, how they learn to honor one another with mutual respect, tenderness and nurture, and thus how they grow closer and closer in support of each other, will be His chosen model.

As this couple welcomes offspring, boys and girls come into the family with a different “birth order,” different giftings, personalities and needs, and how the growing family learns to respond to those needs and live in sacrificial harmony will becomes a visual model of church and community. That imagery, that forethought, that expression guides God’s matrix. How they as a working family give and pass along all of these challenging qualities and values to the generations of families that are ahead of them will be God’s way of taking Who He is to the nations.

For generations to come, they will have something to follow as they learn to live in their individual nuclear families, and as they reinforce those families realities learning to encourage, stimulate and provoke one another to deeper family harmony, and in response,  ”all the generations of the earth are blessed.”

Definitions Are Extremely Important

There is an old saying, “he who controls the language controls the argument,” so redefining the church in terms of the family is radical, crucial, even fatal! Definition always determines relationship. If you see the church as a machine, as a business, a set of programs, a series of meetings, even as a building a place or an address will determine how you will out your life as the church.

How you define something determines not only how you think about something, how you relate to something. We are going to end up becoming what it is we decide we are going to be. Jesus decided that His church would be the family of God, rather than a smooth running institution to be proud of or a successful business to invest in or even an organization with great efficiency. Plain and simple, He offered a family, a way of relating, and a way of being, and He still does.

Gary Goodell is a former evangelist, pastor, college dean and instructor involved in ministry stuff for almost 50 years. He and his wife Jane live in San Diego, California USA and he is a father of two and grandfather of seven. As an author and consultant he is an itinerant mentor working with the international church planting movement known as Third Day Churches, that he and some friends founded in 2001. Third Day Churches now involves leadership and ministries in over 20 nations.

His two books, “Permission Granted To Do Church Differently in the 21st Century,” and “Where Would Jesus Lead?” are both available online.