5 MIN VIDEO: Starting An Organic Church

 Are you desperate to find an Organic Church in your community but having no luck? Are you unsure about how - or if - you could start one yourself?

Take (about) 5 minutes and listen as Keith offers some advice about what to do if you feel all alone in this pursuit of ekklesia, community and koinonia.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH>

5 THINGS NO ORGANIC CHURCH EVER WORRIES ABOUT

As a response to an article sent to me by a friend that was written to leaders of small traditional churches that want to grow their numbers, I felt compelled to write my own list.

The original post identified 5 areas that pastors of small churches struggle with when it comes to growing their churches. 

I’ve summarized his conclusions in these 5 categories:

1 People believe that small churches function best as one big family. They are wrong.

2 When people who don’t hold office wield power in the church, you have a problem.

3 Pastors need to stop trying to do everything by doing less.

4 Those who want the church to stay the same need to catch the vision of what the church could be in the future.

5 Don’t add new programs/complexity as you start to grow. Do less things better, not more things half as good.

Honestly, not everything in this list is objectionable to me. I can agree with his assessment that people should let go of their expectations of what their church should be, or that people should not dwell on the past, or that adding new programs is a bad idea. But I disagree with his entire overall assumption that there should ever be anyone “in power” or that anyone should “hold office” in the church, as a basic premise.

I’ll take his list of 5 things and try to respond to each one:

1 “People who believe the church functions best as one big family are wrong”

I can’t help but wonder what the author of this blog believes the Church should be if it’s not supposed to be “one big family”? Honestly, he never really explains why the Church isn’t one big family, or why those who think it is are wrong, or what the more accurate model for Church should be if it’s not the Family of God. What he does suggest is that the larger [200+ size] churches need to gather in smaller groups and start to establish stronger relationships with those fewer people. That sounds like a good idea, but it’s not the only idea. It’s also possible, for example, for those same small groups to break off and become their own organic churches without any need for a building, a professional pastoral staff, or denominational ties. In fact, if the authors main point is that people in those larger churches really never know one another anyway, then what’s the advantage [to the congregant/church member] in belonging to a massive group of Christians that they will never actually have any real relationships with?

2 “When people who don’t hold office wield the power, you have a problem”

Yes, you do have a problem. But your problem is that people are wielding power, not that the “wrong people” are wielding the power. Where do we see anyone “wielding power” in the New Testament church other than Jesus? All authority in the Church is in Christ, not in any of us. Even the Apostles appealed to the Body as brothers and sisters, not as authoritarians who “lorded it over” the rest of the Body. The greatest among us is the servant of all, right? So, where does “wielding the power” come into play? Answer: It doesn’t. Not if you’re following the model where Jesus alone is the Head and the rest of us are members of His Body who work together to build one another up by serving one another in humility. [See 1 Cor. 12-14]

We are all called to submit to one another. As my dear brother in Christ, Jon Zens, once said: “Submission is something you grant. Not something you demand.”

3 “Pastors need to stop trying to do everything and start doing less”

Again, I totally agree. And to be fair the original post did talk about handing over some of the duties [like visiting people in the Hospital] to the members of the Body. But I would take this a step further and say that Pastors need to just stop being elevated above everyone else and everyone else needs to be taught to practice the 58 “One Anothers” in the New Testament so that the whole Body will be equipped for “works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” [see Eph. 4:11-13] In other words: Everyone in the Body of Christ needs to be deputized and empowered to put their own Spiritual Gifts into practice so that the whole Body can actually behave like a Body.

4 “Those who want the church to stay the same need to catch the vision of what the church could be in the future”

Again, I agree, “sort of”. I would take this a bit further and say that no one – even the Pastor – should be casting the vision of what the Church could be in the future [which I believe is implied in the original post].

I can’t help but remember a conversation I had once with a dear sister in Christ who was hosting a new organic church group in her home. She was concerned because everyone in her organic church family had a different vision of what the Church should look like. In a moment of rare clarity, I heard the Lord say to me: “Tell her to ask her brothers and sisters what they think Jesus’ vision for His Church is, and not to assume it’s exactly what their vision for the Church is.”

None of us should attempt to lead the Church because it’s not “our church”, it’s “His Body” and “His Bride” and “His Church”. We are all brothers and sisters in the Family of God. We are all members within His Body. He is the Head.

Honestly, my experience is so totally different from this blogger/pastor’s.

From the beginning I determined that our little house church was not "my church" and I worked hard to keep my hands off the steering wheel. Instead, Wendy and I prayed and we asked the Lord to do with us – and in us and through us – whatever He wanted.

Our house church has never worried about size, or about money [because we don't need money to operate, only money to give away to others when/if there's a need], or about anything else, really.

We've done all we can, and gone to whatever extremes necessary, to ensure that Jesus really is our leader. We don't make any decisions without seeking Him first. We don't allow anyone to take charge. No, not even me.

Certainly, we've made our share of mistakes and we've learned from those and made adjustments as we move forward with Jesus.

But it's His Church. He promised that He would grow His church. So, since that's not my job, what IS my job? I'm called to build up my brothers and sisters. I'm called to help them - as they help me - to follow Jesus daily and to let Him be the Lord of everything. I'm called to love them, and to help them love God, and one another - and also to learn how to receive love from one another and from God, too. [That last part is the hardest, I'm learning].

It’s no surprise that the guy who wrote that blog isn’t on the same page as I am, but I had to write a response just to share my perspective in contrast.

-kg

Episode 17: "Warning Signs of Unhealthy Church" - Dan Notti and Keith Giles

NEW IMPROVED AUDIO FILE

What are the warning signs of an abusive or unhealthy church?
How do you know when to run - not walk - to the nearest exit?
How can you make sure that your house church doesn't become unhealthy or abusive?
What is it that makes a church safe for everyone to be who they really are?
All this and more in Episode 17 of the Video Skype Podcast series with Dan and Keith.

Episode 10: Dan Notti and Keith Giles "Too Much Jesus?"

Do Christians today put too much emphasis on Jesus and not enough on the Father or the Holy Spirit?

Is it really possible to have "too much Jesus"?

EPISODE 7: DAN NOTTI AND KEITH GILES: "THE DONES" AND "SUSTAINABILITY"

In this episode, Dan and Keith talk about a variety of subjects, including:
*What happens when God gives the same scripture to 2 different people, 2 weeks in a row?
*Who are "The Dones" and how should the Church respond?
*How can Organic churches sustain and retain membership and engagement?

Painting Women In A New Light

From the earliest days of our house church gatherings we have always encouraged everyone to share a testimony of what God has done in their life, or to talk about what God is teaching them, or share from scripture what they’re learning in their daily walk with Christ.

Because we’ve rejected the modern practice of elevating a pastor or teacher above the rest of the Body, the issue of women operating within their gifting as members of the priesthood has never been an issue for any of us.

Within the Organic Church movement the emphasis is on Christ being our Leader, therefore everyone else is treated as an equal within the Body. Teaching is not seen as "exercising authority over" anyone, so the question of whether or not a woman can teach in that context has never been a problem for us.

Our goal has been to live out of the reality of the priesthood of every believer found throughout the New Testament. As Peter said at Pentecost, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was a fulfillment of God’s promise to empower the Church, and that promise was made to “all people,” including “sons and daughters” (Acts 2:17). Quoting from the prophet Joel, Peter went on to say:

“Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” (Acts 2:18)

From the beginning, God’s intention was that women and men together would equally receive the outpouring and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Women are included among those who the New Testament authors refer to as “a holy priesthood”:

“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” ( 1 Peter 2:5)

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” ( 1 Peter 2:9)

“And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 1:6)

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:10)

“The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)

Therefore, women in the New Testament church are not only allowed to behave as priests, but they are highly encouraged to do so. Why? Because the health and well-being of the Church is dependent upon one very important practice: the mutual sharing and serving of every single person in the Body of Christ. (See 1 Cor.12)

Without this practice of operating as organs that support and strengthen one another, we cannot rightly call ourselves the Body of Christ, can we?

We don’t believe so.

-kg

THIS SATURDAY: INTRO TO ALT CHURCH

INTRO TO ALT CHURCH
Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011 – 9am to 5pm
$10 at the door (lunch included)
at Anaheim Vineyard Church
5340 East La Palma Avenue
Anaheim, CA 92807
NOTE: The 91 E. fwy is under construction. Please plan your trip accordingly.

Presentations by:
>Bill Faris - Five Characteristics of Alt - Churches
>Don Sciortino - Building Nets That Work
>Keith Giles - Being Church: Discovering Your Mission in Your Community
>Eric Brown - (topic to be announced)
>Jerry Paumier - Small Drop, Big Splash
*Ken Eastburn of The Well will be joining in our panel discussion

RSVP HERE

ILLEGAL CHURCH?

You may have heard that a home bible study in San Juan Capistrano is being ordered to stop meeting in a local home or face hundreds of dollars in fines.

Since we live just up the road from this bible study and live in the same county (Orange), it's likely that the outcome of this pending case before the court could impact our little house church family.

At first glance it appears that that this family (incidentally the publishers of Worship Leader Magazine) are being singled out and persecuted for their faith. That may be so, but after watching this local news clip I learned that it wasn't as simple as I originally thought.

For example, the gatherings regularly draw up to 50 people. Their home is laid out with chairs just like a church service. Plus, they claim not to be a church but simply a Bible Study where they can "enjoy one another's company" and read the Word of God together. But they meet on a Sunday morning. What Bible Study draws 50 people on a Sunday morning?

Are they a church? Does that make any difference? What if they had 100 people showing up every Sunday morning? What then?

In our case, we have about 28 people at most gathering in our home on Sunday mornings (or in one of the other homes where we gather regularly). Where the family in this case claims that they are not a church, we claim the opposite. We are a church, although we have no 501c3 status or bank account and no one leads our meetings (other than Jesus) and no one takes a salary.

The Bible Study in San Juan Capistrano does not take any offering, but our group does, although all of that money goes to help buy groceries for the poor in our community, or to help those in need within our house church family or otherwise.

If the city rules that this "Bible Study" is a church according to their definitions and forces them to pay a fine or apply for a conditional use permit (which would also cost them potentitally thousands of dollars for environmental impact studies and wheelchair accessibility ramps), then I wonder what it might mean for us. Would they knock on our door next? Would they demand that we either stop meeting or pay the fines, or incorporate our church?

The bigger question for me is what we do if this happens to us.

Needless to say I'll be watching this case closely.

-kg

Introduction to Alt Church - October 8th

On Saturday, Oct. 8th I will join Bill Faris (Vineyard at Home) and others as we gather for an Introduction to Alt Church (or, a day long conversation about organic church).

I'll be leading an hour long discussion entitled "Being Church: Finding Your Mission In Your Community" which will cover the concepts of "being church" versus "going to church", and how we as a body of believers can impact our actual neighbors, serve the poor and bring the Kingdom to our community by "being the church" right were are.

DETAILS:
Intro to Alt Church
Saturday, Oct 8th
9am to 3pm
COST: $10 at the door (Includes a light lunch)
*No child care provided

LOCATION:
Vineyard Anaheim
5340 East La Palma Avenue
Anaheim, CA 92807-2021

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
Vineyard at Home is excited to announce a one day conference on House Church / Alternative Church to be held on Saturday, October 8th, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The location for this event will be on the campus of the Anaheim Vineyard Church in Anaheim, California.

“Introduction to Alt-Church” will be an opportunity for you to learn about – and share about – simple churches, house churches, hybrid churches and other non-traditional church structures that focus on bringing the ministry of Jesus deeper into the lives of believers and deeper into the fabric of the neighborhood, nation, and world.

TOPIC COVERED:
* Leadership in the Alt-church milieu

* Biblical principles of Alt-church ministry

* Being Church in the Community

* and much, much more.

WHY THIS CONFERENCE?
Mainly, we just want to gather people who are interested in starting Alt-churches, joining them, learning about them and sharing about their experiences with them.

Let’s see what God will do!


TO REGISTER: Use the Facebook page to indicate that you're coming so we can plan lunch, etc.
FACEBOOK PAGE
HERE

Or, email Bill Faris at Bill@vcmn.org to let them know you're coming, or to get more info.

Hope to see you there!

9 MARKS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH

What are the marks of a healthy church?

About a year or so ago, a friend of mine on Facebook posted a video clip for something called "9 Marks of a Healthy Church" by a popular christian leader.

Of course, on this guy's list "The Gospel" came in at #3, right behind "Expositional Preaching" at #1 and "Biblical Theology" at #2. In the #4 slot was "Conversion", followed by "Evangelism", "Membership", "Church Discipline" and (finally) that crazy idea that Jesus came up with - "Discipleship" at #8, and "Church Leadership" closed out the list. (We can't leave that one out, can we?)

So, of course, after some reflection I had to come up with the 9 Marks of our Mission House Church:

1- Giving 100% of our money to the poor
2- Loving one another
3- Loving others
4- Making disciples
5- Serving one another
6- Encouraging one another
7- Knowing and using our spiritual gifts to bless one another
8- Sharing meals together
9- Learning to be the family of God

BTW- Our house church has no expository preaching, no youth group, no paid staff, no programs, no board of directors, no building, and no bank account.

This is still the best thing I've ever done with the word "Church " on it!

kg

NOTES FROM THE OC/OC FORUM

Here are a few notes to reflect what those who attended the Orange County Organic Church Forum on Monday night of this week had to say about our topic:
“Learning to Put Jesus at the Center”

What Can We Do to Put Jesus at the Center?
*It starts with an inner relationship with Jesus that flows outward into the Body.
*Participation is essential
*The principles in 1 Cor 14 reveal that “encouragement” is the fruit of this participatory expression.
*Embrace those who are different and who disagree with us. (No “Party Line”)
*Have the courage to believe that Jesus really IS already at the center and acting out of that reality is key.
*Real fellowship (see 1 John) – “Walk in the Light as He is in the Light...”
*Going first, being transparent and real and authentic is crucial.
*Let Jesus lead the meeting.
*Be Church.
*Church is not a performance.
*Christ in us = Christ in the meeting.
*The quality of my intimacy with Christ influences what I bring to the Body and the Assembly.
*Embrace simplicity. Following Jesus isn’t a riddle to be unraveled but a life to be lived one day at a time.
*Explore what it means to have “Christ in me, the Hope of Glory” by asking Jesus daily to show you.
*Listen more than you speak.
*Allow everyone the opportunity to share their portion of Christ with everyone else.
*Be ok with waiting for God to lead. Uncomfortable silence is ok.
*Embrace spontaneous moves and break your liturgy easily and joyfully.
*Discover Jesus in one another.
*Encourage the hunger to experience loving God, loving others, and being loved by God and others.

What Does It Look Like When Jesus is At the Center? [Breakout session]
*Let the church be what God is forming not what meets your expectations.
*Take off your mask.
*Kill the hymnbook, songsheet, liturgy and remove any other crutches where your comfort reigns.
*Uncomfortable silences are great!
*1 Cor 14:26 – “Not one of you comes not ready to bring something to share...”
*Seeing Jesus in everything daily, not just in the meeting.
*Confess your weakness and sins and failures to others often. They’re not surprised and it makes it easier for them to be real too.
*The Church should be a safe place to be real and human with everyone else.
*How do we prepare? More quality and quantity time with Jesus during the week.
*Find ways to break your unspoken liturgy with joy. "Behold, I make all things new..."
*Find creative ways to involve children of all ages in every part of the meeting.
*Pray together and ask Jesus to lead you in everything. Then make sure to actually let Him!
*Have the courage to trust Jesus as your leader in the meeting, and in your daily life.
*People shouldn’t be allowed to act religious. Instead everyone should be honest, human and humble.
*Recognize that people want so badly to belong that they will assimilate to almost any group to be accepted. Therefore, accept everyone on the basis of their place in the Family of God, not on their allegiance to the party line or the culture of the group.
*Have courage not to create hoops in order to belong.
*Let go of expectations - no model.
*Drop your religious mask.
*Disagree in love, respectfully.
*Share food.
*Mentor the young people.
*Focus on following Jesus, not tradition.
*Church never "begins".
*Let love be the guide.
*Love, acceptance and forgiveness are freely practiced.

ORGANIC CHURCH FORUM: MONDAY, OCT. 11TH

You're invited to join us at the Orange County Organic Church Forum (OC/OCF)
- MONDAY, OCT 11TH, 7PM to 9PM

This will be an opportunity to gather with local organic, simple and house church practitioners.

Our topic will be: "Learning to Put Jesus at the Center"

This free event will be an open dialog style meeting. No speaker or experts will take the stage. Instead, we will sit in a circle and allow everyone to interact with one another.

This evening fellowship and dialog is a united gathering of various members from differnt organic church groups including the Mission, The Well, Vineyard at Home and many others.

Details:
OC Organic Church Forum
Monday, Oct.11th, 2010
7pm to 9pm

Location:
215 S. Glenview Place,
Orange, CA 92868-4615

PLEASE RSVP - We need to know how many people to plan for so please send an email to elysiansky@hotmail.com if you are attending.

For more info:
e-mail: elysiansky@hotmail.com
web: www.OCHouseChurch.com

10 THINGS I'LL DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME WE PLANT A CHURCH

Over the last five years, my wife and I have been helping to facilitate a church which started in our home and has now begun to grow outward into various other expressions recently.

Like most people, what I've learned has mostly come from making mistakes. So, while I'm certain that I'll make more than my own share of new mistakes the next time I plant a church, here are the things I've learned from our first time around. Hopefully this will encourage some of you as you consider planting a house church.


1. Don’t call yourself the pastor.
If you're "the pastor" of your house church this means everyone will look to you for everything and it will paralyze the Body life of the Church. Instead, identify yourself as one of the functioning members along with everyone else. Involve others for sharing, teaching, testimonials, etc.

2. Don’t host every single meeting in your own home.
For most of the last five years, my wife and I have hosted a meeting in our home twice a week. That's a lot of meetings. We've only recently started rotating our Sunday gatherings. This allows others to share responsibility and to practice hospitality. The next time we plant a house church (assuming there is a next time), I will encourage others to open their homes as early as possible. As new people join, I will invite them to consider hosting as well. Sharing the hosting responsibility also reinforces the concept that anyone can facilitate the gathering and that they don’t need you to be present in order to gather as a Body.

3. Involve the children more.
In our group, the children have always shared scriptures alongside the adults and many of the greatest insights have come from elementary-age children. Even so, I wish we had involved them even more in our conversations, in prayer times for one another, in the communion of the Lord’s table, etc. I don’t think it’s really possible to have too much involvement from our kids. House Church provides the perfect opportunity to give our kids a hands-on experience of what it means to “be the Church” every single time we gather.

4. Have more fun together.
Over the last five years we’ve had occasional game nights and a couple of afternoons in the park, but I wish we had scheduled even more times to come together and just be the family of God. No songs, no teaching, no liturgy, just laughing and food and genuine intimacy with one another. Sharing life together is huge and later on as you grow deeper into Christ, those relationships will become even more important and necessary for keeping one another accountable and for loving correction. It's also important to reinforce the idea that we are the Church all the time, not just when we're reading scripture or praying out loud.

5. Talk less, question more.
I am plagued by a disease which compels me to answer every single biblical or theological question that anyone asks. I wish I had just shut up whenever a Biblical question came up. Instead of attempting to stun the inquirer with my Biblical expertise, I wish I had turned to the group and said, “I don’t know. What do you guys think?”

6. Emphasize the Gospel of the Kingdom more.
In my experience, people who really understand the Gospel of the Kingdom are able to grasp all the other concepts of the Kingdom more easily. I wish I had spent more time emphasizing that in our fellowship, and I know I will major on this more and more in the future.

7. Major on practicing our faith and less on theorizing.
Being the Church is so much more necessary than attending one. Because this is one of the core values of New Testament Church life, I would encourage everyone to live out their faith in more practical ways in the future – and make more room for sharing testimony and for continually challenging everyone to do so daily.

8. Pray more.
Jesus said that His house would be a house of prayer. If we are His Body, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, then we should be on our faces before God more and more. “An open meeting requires more time in prayer together, not less.” That’s why I would encourage every home church to gather for prayer as often as possible. Jesus is our Head, without Him we can do nothing. That's why we need to be on our knees, seeking His leadership and listening for His voice.

9. Confess my own weaknesses more.
For too long I’ve kept my own personal struggles to myself instead of opening up to the rest of the Body whenever I felt hurt, or depressed, or discouraged. My wife knew when I was having a hard time with things, but the church was mostly oblivious. In the future, I will openly confess my struggles and allow the Body to comfort me and to heal me and to strengthen me.

10. Share the duties of sacrament with the priesthood of all believers.
In our next house church, I will not perform the baptisms. Instead, I will encourage the Body to operate as equals and to baptize one another and to take turns leading all of us in Lord’s Supper together. Again, if I am the one doing these things, I am behaving like the “pastor” or the spiritual superior and that's the last thing I want to communicate. Instead, I'd want to emphasize the truth that any follower of Jesus is already ordained by the Holy Spirit of God to preach the Gospel, baptize new believers and administer the Lord's Supper to the saints - among other things. The less I am up front, the more the Body can be empowered to step into their priesthood and utilize their gifts in love.

Of course, all of this presumes that I will ever help to plant another church in the future. I'm not sure if I ever will, but if not, perhaps some of this advice can encourage those of you who are feeling called to step out in faith and follow God's calling on your life to do so.

The single best piece of advice I can offer is this: Stop trying to grow the Church on your own. That's not your job. Jesus said that He would grow His Church, and over the last five years I've learned that this is exactly what He will do...if we can get out of His way.

Peace,
kg

MISSION HOUSE CHURCH UPDATE

Our house church was started about 5 years ago. My wife and I really felt God calling us to plant a church where 100% of the offerings would go to help the poor in our community. So, we stepped out in faith to obey Jesus in this vision. It wasn't easy. We lost a few friends along the way who didn't understand what we were doing, or why. But God was faithful. He brought many others to join us who shared this vision.

It's been very exciting, and encouraging, to know that God has brought so many to join us and to share in this simple vision to give all of our offering to bless the poor and help people we can touch and see and know and be in real relationship with.

I've learned a lot during this time. Especially about how to take my hands off of the wheel and allow Jesus to do what He promised - to build His church. In fact, the less I am in the way, the more Jesus takes control. He truly is the Head of the Church! He also is faithful to build His own church without my help.

Non-Denominational
We're not part of any denomination at all. The only church we're part of is Jesus' Church...because that's the only one anyway. In fact, we're all from wildly divergent streams within Christianity including Church of Christ, Baptist, Vineyard, Calvary Chapel, Pentecostal, Lutheran, etc. In spite of the fact that most of us disagree on many peripheral issues such as eschatology, spiritual gifts, etc., we love one another and consider one another to be family. Why? Because we've made a decision that the only criteria that matters is whether or not one loves Jesus and is following Him daily. If so, you're in the family. The rest doesn't really matter to us as much.

This means that not everyone agrees with me on everything. Most people don't share my views on every single point. We're not seeking agreement or homogenization. My goal is not to be part of a church family where everyone is just like me. (Can you think of anything more depressing?) No, our goal is to follow Jesus together and to encourage one another to seek Him and obey Him daily.

Missionaries
We believe that everyone who follows Jesus is a missionary. Your personal mission field will be different and unique. Your actual neighbors and co-workers are the people you're called to love and serve. Our hope is to encourage one another to discover our mission and to continue to work daily in our misson field by the grace of God.

Sending Out/Multiplication
One family recently felt called to leave and move to Indiana. They're praying that God might breathe life into a Church in their home soon. However, they are not part of my network....because I don't have a network. They're part of whatever God might be doing in His Kingdom, so that's enough for me to support them and pray for them. But, I don't expect them to answer to me in any way. I know that this brother will follow Jesus and that if a house church is formed in their household it will be exactly what God wants, not necessarily what I might want. That's the way it should be.

Also, another man recently felt God calling him to start a house church in his home with another family, locally. He still joins us on Thursday evenings, but on Sunday's he is gathering with a new church in his home. Still, they do not answer to me, nor do they follow any patterns established here in our house church. We do love them and pray for them and support what God is doing through them, but they are not part of my network. I am not their pastor, or their leader, etc. Just a brother who loves them and supports them and encourages them to follow Jesus.

So, neither of these house church groups are called "The Mission", (I'm not sure either will ever have any name at all, actually), and they do not consider me their leader. I am not their Pope or their Father. I did not plant these churches. Jesus has, or will, as He directs. I'm only one of the many brothers in the Body of Christ who love them and support them and encourage them in their efforts to obey Jesus.

New Chapter
Just a few weeks ago, the very week after we said goodbye to these brothers and sisters who left us to follow Jesus elsewhere, the Lord brought another wonderful family to join us. We're not sure if they will stay with us, but we're hoping they might decide to call this home.

I have no idea what the next five years might look like, but I'm excited to find out what God has in store.

As I've often said, this is still the best thing I've ever done with the word "Church" on it.

Our house church website is:
MISSIONHOUSECHURCH.COM

I also put together a website to help local believers find or start their own house church at OCHOUSECHURCH.COM

-kg

The House of Eleven Windows

The wife’s name was Ethel. She and her husband were once missionaries to Mexico, many years ago. Ethel was one of the few people I’ve ever met who had a genuine prophetic gifting. This means she would often have words of encouragement for people that included details only God would know. One evening, as we were having dinner in her home, Ethel told us why she had invited us over to her house.

“I have a Word for you,” she said.

After dinner she began to tell us about a vision God had shown her several months earlier on a Sunday morning. It happened when we were still on staff at the Vineyard church in Tustin – before we left to start our house church. In fact, at the time of her vision, no one knew were leaving, and no one knew we were thinking of planting a house church where 100% of the offering would go to help the poor in our community.

Ethel started by telling us how her vision began. Wendy and I had come and sat down in front of her and her husband during worship. She told us how, during the worship, she kept seeing a large, three-story house with eleven windows all over it. She kept seeing it in her mind every time she closed her eyes and so she started to pray and ask God what this picture meant. God spoke to her heart and said that it was because Wendy and I were going to be leaving and that we were going to start a house church.

Sitting there at her dinner table, Wendy and I slowly turned to look at each other in amazement. No one was aware that we were leaving to start a house church at this point in time. This was quite an on-target word of encouragement to us.

She wasn’t finished. She said that she then asked God why there were eleven windows on the house. God spoke to her heart again, as we were standing in front of her worshipping, that the eleven windows stood for eleven windows of opportunity that He was about to open up for us in this new ministry.

At the time of this dinner with Ethel, Wendy and I didn’t know where we would end up living. We had just been told by our then-current landlord that we needed to move because they wanted to sell their house. Ethel’s word of encouragement meant a lot to us because it meant that God had confirmed our calling and that He intended to bless us in this new adventure.

Soon enough we moved out of our old house, stored our belongings in a storage unit, and began searching for a new house. In a few weeks we moved into our new house in Orange, a few miles away from our old house. After a few more months we began our first house church meetings and called it “The Mission”.

After being in that new house only a few months, my family and I were leading a “Kids Club” in our home to reach out to the children in our neighborhood. We were having Thursday evening house church meetings with a handful of others and things were going pretty well.

One night, I couldn’t sleep and I got up to pray. It was about three o’clock in the morning. I went into the den where we normally host our house church gatherings and I began to pray about that word He gave us through Ethel months before. I prayed and asked God to show me more about what those “eleven windows of opportunity” really meant.

Suddenly, I realized something amazing. I started to mentally count how many windows there were in this new house we were now living in. I counted eleven windows. I mentally did the count in my head again, adding up the windows in each room one more time to be sure. Again, the number was the same. Eleven windows.

The simplicity of this realization washed over me like a flood of emotion. I sat on my couch, in the dark and began to shake my head in wonder and disbelief. All those months ago, long before anyone knew we were even thinking of starting a house church, long before we ourselves even knew where we’d end up living next, long before we’d ever started to walk out our calling to be missionaries in our city, God had this house in mind. God held this place for us. He intended for us specifically to be in this neighborhood, to minister to these children, to lead the house church in this very place. He even counted the windows and told us about it months in advance so that we’d know we were in the right place at the right time.

As I sit here writing this, in the house with eleven windows, I do not know what God is about to do next. But I do know that God has us in the right place. I do know that God has seen the end from the beginning and I know that He will carry us in His arms, as He always has before.

Just this morning, I got up to pray again. I went into the den and knelt in front of the same sofa to pray. I again remembered the word about the eleven windows. Then I started to count the doors in our house, just out of curiosity.

Can you guess how many doors there are in this house?

-KG

Answering Questions about Our House Church Family

Someone asked me some questions today about our house church and since I've already taken the time to write up these answers I thought I'd share them here on my blog, too.

If you have any questions that aren't answered here, feel free to add your own.

Do you have a leadership team? Elder/Deacon board, or what?

No, nothing formal. However, we DO have people who function as elders and overseers/facilitators, we just don't call them that or recognize these officially.

Why? Partly because we don't want to create any artificial offices and create the impression that only a select few of us are authorized to serve in the Body. Everyone can serve without reservation or hesitation as God leads them.

What authority do you have over your church?

None, really. I mean, I suppose I do have influence, but not authority. In other words, I wouldn't tell everyone "this is what we're doing now" but I might make some suggestions and ask people to weigh in on the subject so we can decide what to do.

This has changed since our first years together, however. At first, I really did mostly tell people what we were going to do. Now I try to ask the Body to make decisions.

Who makes the decisions?

We, the people, make most decisions together. On some issues people have requested that Wendy and I handle some things because they trust our judgement when it comes to working with the poor, etc. However, we try to involve them whenever possible.

For example: We recently went to the Body on a Sunday morning to ask whether we should use collected funds to help someone that we knew personally but not everyone in our Body knew them.

As we discussed the situation, we made sure that everyone knew that we were open to helping this person out of our own personal money and allow Mission funds to be designated for other things.

We all talked openly, people asked questions about the situation and the consensus among the Body was that we should go ahead and use our Mission funds to help this person out.

I WOULD ADD: We are striving to allow the Body to make decisions collectively rather than assign a few among us to decide for everyone else. So far this is has been wonderful and people appreciate being part of the process.

How do you handle church discipline?

Ah...here's the real test of "leadership" in the Body, right? In the last 4 years we've had to employ church discipline about five times. In some cases Wendy and I handled this ourselves privately, but in most cases we involved others in our Body whom we felt could speak wisdom and truth to the person/persons who required the discipline. In other words, who would they most likely accept/receive loving advice and correction from? This is always based on relationship.

I would also add that there have been a few other times when Wendy and I were not involved at all but one brother would ask another brother out to coffee to inquire about the spiritual health and well-being of someone and to offer loving counsel and correction.

Those times are sweet and I love hearing about them after the fact.

How are your roles defined?

My role? I've intentionally worked very hard over the last 4 years to graduate myself from founding pastor of the Mission to one of the many active and contributing members of the Body. I am now officially one of the brothers in the Mission Family.

How does your church handle finances, offering, tithes, etc.?

We're a cash only operation. We do not have a 501(c)3 and we do not have a church bank account. If people need to receive a tax break at the end of the year we encourage them to give their money somewhere else.

However, if people do give to our house church, we guarantee that 100% of every single penny given will go directly to help the poor in our community - and sometimes even others in our own church family who are in need.

We have complete transparency with all funds received and we give regular updates for how much is received, where it was spent and how it impacted people.

As people begin to see their offerings being used to help actual people in need, their desire to give increases and they become 'hilarious givers' to the work of compassion.

Why don't you have a non-profit status?

Several reasons. First, we don't need the state of california to tell us that we're an official church. God has lavished us with His love and we have been called the children of God. That's enough for us.

Second, since we do not use our funds to cover salaries, utilities, rent, etc. there is no benefit to us in receiving tax breaks. We do not operate as a business so there's no need to register ourselves, or run ourselves, like a business.

Who is your pastor?

Jesus is our pastor. It used to be me, but I finally realized that the only leader among us was Jesus and since it was His church anyway, it was time to surrender things back over to Him. He's done a much better job than I have, anyway.

Who is your spiritual covering?

Jesus is our spiritual covering. We do not require the authority of any person or denomination to make us an official Body of Christ. Jesus is what makes us a Church, and we are covered by His blood and filled with His Spirit.

The concept of Spiritual Covering is not a NT concept. Covering is not required, but accountability is. I am accountable to everyone in our Body, and they are accountable to one another and to me. We are also accountable to our brothers and sisters in Christ for our behavior and our witness of Christ in the community.

Who does the preaching?

No one does. We do not have sermons, or a pulpit. We do spend a lot of time in the Scriptures together. Anyone who is present in the meeting has the authority to open God's Word, share an insight, give a testimony, or encourage the Body as God's Spirit leads. Our fellowship is blessed to have a great number of gifted teachers and once in a while one of them may bring us a study on a passage or a topic as God leads, but not every time, and not the same person every time.

Children, women, and men are all free to share from God's Word with the rest of the Body and all are free to comment, agree, disagree, or continue the conversation as God leads.

**
If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask below. I'd love to share what God is doing in our midst.

Peace,
Keith

NEW ORGANIC CHURCH ONLINE RADIO

Bookmark this online radio program for the ongoing series on Organic/Simple/New Testament Church.

Search the archives for the Jon Zens' interview too. It's a great one!

Not Perfection, Just Obedience

I had a wonderful lunch meeting today with my friend Jim Belcher. Jim's book, "Deep Church" is the number one book on Amazon.com right now in the religion section. His book is an attempt to find a middle ground for the traditional and emerging christian church to dialog in civil tones.

Jim himself is an ambassador, and an embodiment, of such an idea. I met him a few months ago when he interviewed me and visited our house church family while he was writing his book. That first meeting at Starbucks (which he recounts briefly in his book) came at a time when I was at odds with some brothers in Christ who would not sit down with me and make peace. Here was Jim, a total stranger to me, and not only did he sit down and have coffee with me, he openly, and lovingly, disagreed with me on matters of ecclesiology. When we were done I had made a new friend and discovered a new brother in Christ after spending over an hour disagreeing on the very same issues that divided me with other men of faith.

The difference was that Jim honestly believed that he and I were brothers in Christ in spite of our differences on the practice of church. It was refreshing beyond belief to hear him say, "We may disagree on ecclesiology but we still serve the same Lord. We're still Family." I must confess I nearly burst into spontaneous tears when he said that.

Today over lunch Jim and I met again. He handed me an autographed copy of his book and, once more, we shared as brothers and rejoiced over the (mostly) peaceful dialog that God was creating through his book and the ideas represented. Although I haven't read the book I'm sure there are some things I agree with, and probably a handful of other things I disagree with, but that doesn't change the fact that Jim and I are still family. I love him as a brother and I left today's lunch meeting feeling that Jim felt the same.

Driving home after work I couldn't help but think further about the different ideas of church that Jim and I have. I'm in the process of putting the final touches on my own book about the church. In it, I am sure that there are many ideas that Jim would agree with, and probably more than a few ideas that he might disagree with. Still, there's room for open dialog and honest disagreement between member of the Family of God. Jim has wonderfully demonstrated this to me and this inspires me to do the same as I look towards the inevitable backlash my book might create.

One final thought: Our ecclesiology doesn't make us better people. One look at the New Testament will proove this. You can have the most New Testament model church since the one in Jerusalem and you will still have weak, foolish, selfish, broken people who need to be constantly immersed in the presence of Christ and daily in need of forgiveness and grace.

What our ecclesiology can do is to help us to be more like what Jesus intended His Church to embody- a family where He is the Lord, a body where He is he Head, and a temple where He is the center of everything.

At minimum we who are called by His name are commanded to be known by our love.
My hope is that God will continue to show us, especially me, how to love in truth and not just in word or tongue, especially when it comes to the household of faith.

Peace,
Keith

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY...?

CLEARING UP CONFUSION- On my blog and elsewhere I often identify myself as “a pastor who doesn’t take a salary at a church where 100% of the offering goes to the poor in our community”. Some people have been confused by this and I felt it was about time to address these questions.

What do you mean by ‘Pastor’?
I mean this in the most New Testament way possible. I have the spiritual gift to pastor the Body. This means I do what I can to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ and I care for and encourage their spiritual development.

It does NOT mean that I preach or that I am the CEO of our Church. In fact, I never preach anything and we all practice the priesthood of the believer. So, when I refer to myself as a "Pastor" I mean that I, like many others in our Body, have a gift from the Holy Spirit to serve the Body as a foot-washing equal.

What do you mean by ‘Offering’?
I mean that we have a basket at the back of the room and randomly people will place their offerings in this basket. We do not pass the basket or observe an offering time. If people give they give, if they do not that's between them and the Lord. We do not keep giving records and we also do not give tax exemptions (since we also are not a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Wendy and I started this house church because we felt a calling to plant a church where 100% of the offerings could go to help the poor in our community. For the last 4 years we've seen giving increase exponentially - not because we've emphasized giving or taught on giving - but because people can see for themselves that every penny they give is going to help and bless actual people in need every week.

Why aren't you a non-profit?
Well, we know many house churches that are. In fact, nearly all of them we know of are registered with the State as a non-profit organization. Our conviction is that we do not need the State or any Government body to declare us a Church. We're a Church because we are called by God and we have placed Him at the Head of our lives.
Secondly, we feel strongly that Church is not meant to be a business, therefore we have no need to operate as one. Furthermore, since we have no expenses to "write off" there's no point (or benefit) to us for being a registered non-profit organization. All of the money that comes in goes right back out to help buy groceries or help people in need.

If you want to know about the Mission House Church and how we function I've posted an MP3 from a recent House Church weekend where I answered questions in detail.

The message, "House Church: How it Works" is available as a free MP3 download at the link on the lower left sidebar.

For any other specific questions, please email me directly at "elysiansky" (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Blessings,
Keith

**

SERMONS ON MP3

My friend Bob Moffat has kindly uploaded a handful of my sermons online for your edification and spiritual encouragement.

There are currently 12 sermons on various topics
HERE


Titles
1 Conversatio Morem 44:20
2 Finding the Cross 40:55
3 The Fullness of His Love 33:03
4 Get in the Game 38:04
5 The Gospel: For here or to Go? 32:40
6 House Church: How it works 50:29
7 Hunger and Thirst 30:51
8 Missional Life 41:59
9 My Spiritual Journey 51:42
10 The Church Jesus Built 33:31
11 The Gospel of the Kingdom 40:12
12 Worship and Justice 34:08

*Two sermons are pending:

13 Love One Another
14 Love Your Enemies

I hope these encourage and edify you in your walk with Christ.

NOTE: To avoid confusion let me explain in advance that most of these sermons are several years old. So when you hear them introduce me as a pastor on staff, please understand that I am no longer an on-staff, paid pastor at any church, including my own.

Peace,
Keith