TILL HE COMES Blog

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. I worked 75 hours last week. Whew! Thankfully, I got off early today, so I have time to write a blog post, and (more importantly) spend time with my wife and three girls!

In a previous post, Randy Siever made the following comment:

St. Patrick seemed to accomplish this by allowing outsiders to be part of his community life. This was not the usual way the church did evangelism, but he allowed people to belong before they believed. He just went into an area and considered everybody “in”. You had to opt out to not be part of his community (this is where the “parish’ idea got developed into it’s modern understanding, and historically why some areas of the US still refer to geographic areas of their cities as “parishes”…if you live there, you’re part of the parish.)

What would a church look like if that were the strategy? What would evangelism look like if people could actually belong before they believed? I don’t really have many answers here, just questions. But I think we have much to learn from our fathers before us when it comes to this kind of issue.

This is exactly right and where I see myself headed as a pastor church planter carpet cleaner…or whatever.

Belong Before Believe
At a recent Glocalnet church planting conference, Bob Roberts talked about how churches are generally made up of three things: Believing, Belonging, and Blessing. In other words, they focus on doctrine, fellowship, and service. The typical church requires that a person believes the same way they do before they will allow that person to feel accepted in their fellowship or to get involved with service in and through the church. They require belief as a prerequisite to belonging and blessing.

Bob Roberts suggested that the biblical model, and true discipleship, allows people to enter into “church life” through any of the three areas (Note that “church life” is NOT to be equated with “eternal life.”) So in this way, if a person longs to be part of the close-knit fellowship of the church, or join the church in building homes in the community, they can do so without signing a doctrinal statement. Discipleship churches allow people to belong or be a blessing without first believing.

Bounded Sets and Centered Sets
I ran into the same idea in The Shaping of Things to Come by Frost and Hirsch in which they talked about Bounded Sets and Centered Sets. Most churches are Bounded Sets, where there is a set of guidelines and rules (doctrinal, behavioral, political, etc) and everybody who agrees with those guidelines are allowed “in” and those who do not, are kept outside until they conform. A Bounded Set is like a fence which separates tame horses from the wild ones. The fence keeps the tame ones together, controlled, and countable.

Frost and Hirsch go on to recommend moving to a Centered Set. In a Centered Set, there are no boundaries, but only those who are closer to the center than others. Those who are closest to the center are involved and active. The center in “church life” of course, must be Jesus and following Him. Anybody can be part of a Centered Set as long as they want to live like Jesus, love like Jesus, and learn from Jesus. (Again, remember that “church life” is not to be confused with “eternal life.”) They don’t have to believe just like you do, or behave just like you do to belong to your fellowship or join with you in blessing the community. Following the agricultural imagery, think of a Centered Set as a watering hole in an arid wilderness. Ranchers in such areas know that they don’t need fences and barns. All they need is a well or a spring, and the livestock will not wander more than a one day walk from the water.  Some live and remain right on the edge of the water, while others may only visit once a day. In such a set, there is much less control, oversight, and expense.

I really think this paradigm shift could really help many churches become more missional in what they do and how they interact with others who don’t agree with them doctrinally. For more on this topic, here are some links:

Next Reformation 
John W. Morehead

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I finished reading How Women Help Men Find God today. It’s a book written for women, but as a former (and future?) pastor, I wanted to read it because it is packed full of ideas on how women  (and churches in general) can help men become followers of Jesus.

Such a book is desperately needed because the average church today is seeing a massive drop-out rate among men. We are not just losing a generation; we are losing an entire sex.

Of course, if your congregation is bucking the trend and is comprised of at least 50% men (in all age groups), then chances are good that you and your church are already doing some of the things mentioned in this book. Read it to affirm what you are already doing, and maybe to provide insights on some other areas that could be tweaked to encourage greater involvement by the men in your church.

But if your church is like the vast majority of churches in the United States, and your congregation consists primarily of women, this book is for you. It is full of practical suggestions (often written in a humorous way) to help men see that following Jesus is not just for women and children.

For example, most men don’t mind singing in church, but songs about being held by Jesus, and kissing Him, and Him being our lover will keep most men from singing too boisterously. As Michael Frost has said, Jesus is NOT my boyfriend.

In a similar vein, don’t invite men into a “relationship” with Jesus. Such terminology is attractive to women, but men respond better to the more biblical invitation to “follow” Jesus. This is especially true when the dangers and risks of following Jesus are emphasized.

Also, simple things like changing the way the church is decorated can go a long way in showing men that church (and following Jesus) is for them as well.

The book is also full of helpful suggestions on how to evangelize men, how to disciple men, and how to encourage them to take the role of spiritual leader in the home and in the church.

So do you know a man who needs to become a follower of Jesus or take a more active spiritual role? Do you want your church to become more effective at reaching men, making disciples, and raising up leaders? Read this book.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out David Murrow’s two websites: www.speakingofmen.com and www.churchformen.com

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I had lunch today with several great people: Dr. Carl Raschke, author of The Next Reformation and the soon to be released GloboChrist, Tony Brown, author of the eventually to be released Poseranity, Stephen Hammond, pastor of Mosaic Arlington and co-director of Square1 Church Planting, Carey Gable, pastor of The Vine Community in Paris, TX, Nathan Laughlin, facilitator of the Open Circle Network, and Joe Bryan, NAMB missionary in Bonham, TX.

We came together to talk about Rhizomic Networks. Apparently, this is what Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, authors of The Tangible Kingdom, are doing in Denver with Adullam. A rhizome, from what I gathered, is a type of plant that spontaneously spreads through sending out shoots which then multiplies and sends out more shoots. Potatoes, vines, and St. Augustine grass are rhizomes. From what I gathered, rhizomes spread amazingly fast, are able to adapt to nearly any sort of climate or soil, and it is very difficult for the farmer to get the rhizome to go where he wants it to go. The best thing a farmer can do is figure out where the plant is naturally going, and then nurture it in that direction.

This can be applied to living as followers of Jesus. A rhizomic believer seeks to develop relationships, with no strings attached to that relationship. While the believer may desire to see others believe in Jesus and follow Him, if the friendship doesn’t go that way, we have to be okay with that, and maintain the friendship. Otherwise, it’s not a true friendship. But if we’re patient and observant in such friendships, we may begin to detect where God is at work in our friend’s life. But we can’t try to get ahead of God, or ahead of our friend, but should instead let God and that person initiate when, where, and how spiritual investigation takes place. In this way, discipleship is not something we have a program for, or something we can force on anyone, but is rather a product of God being at work in and through our genuine friendships with other people. 

So the catch phrase of a rhizomic approach to friendship and church planting is this: ”Where it goes is where it grows.”

What are your thoughts on all of this?

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