New Way to Think About Church

I have been reading with interest about a growing movement around the world to redefine how church is done. Books like Revolution by George Barna; Organic Church by Neil Cole; The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch and The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll. These books and others have challenged conventional thinking about how a church should be organized and executed.

In summary, these authors make the case that the institutional, attractional model of church is in decline. The organic, missional model of church is in rapid growth. In this blog, I will attempt to outline some of the important ideas that I learned from these books and also define some of the terms that surround the traditional church growth model and the organic church growth model.

First, we should start with a definition of church. Wayne Grudem writes in Systematic Theology that church is the community of all true believers for all time. Grudem goes on to write that the church is local and universal; visible and invisible. The visible church is as Christians see it. The invisible church is as God sees it. The church may be a local group of believers meeting in a private home. It may also be a large group of believers meeting in a large building.

Grudem writes, "We should not make the mistake of saying that only a church meeting in houses expresses the true nature of church, or only a church considered at a city-wide level can rightly be called a church... Rather the community of God's people considered at any level can be rightly called a church.

There is an unhealthy debate going on in some circles about what constitutes a pure church. Many who have embraced the "house church" movement believe that this is the only viable church model. Others who have been trained to think of a church as only a large building and institution believe that you can only have church in this context.

Common sense would lead us to believe that the model is not the issue here. There are heretical, scripturally unsound house churches and institutional churches. And there are many biblically sound, Spirit-filled churches of both types as well.

But a bigger question is this: what is the most effective model to reach our culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we not supposed to follow the Great Commission that Jesus commands in Matthew 28:19-20 to go and make disciples of all nations?

Let's look at two methods of accomplishing this task: the traditional church growth model that has been prevalent in America; and the organic, missional church model that is rapidly gaining interest especially on the West and East Coast.

Traditional, Institutional Church Growth Model (Attractional)

This is the model we are all familiar with. The way the model looks in 2007 is that you build a church that seeks to attract believers and non-believers. Churches that have large growth usually follow this formula:

• Excellent preaching on subjects that relate to the real life experience of hearers.
• Inspiring worship by professionally trained musicians
• Parking facilities that minimize inconvenience in finding a parking spot
• Emphasis on children and youth programs
• Cell groups where you can connect to church members socially and build community

There are some great churches that have built dynamic organizations upon this model. Thousands perhaps millions have come into the kingdom of God through these type of churches. I praise God for the faithful men and women who have served Christ and continue to serve Christ in these type of churches. I have been members of these type of churches and have grown spiritually through my involvement in them.

There are some potential weaknesses however. First, the model can promote passiveness among church members. Trained ministry professionals do the teaching. The rest of the people do the listening. This can stunt the spiritual growth of those who are not actively participating in church.

Second, many of the fastest growing churches are growing through pew-swapping (attracting other Christians to leave their current church and join this fellowship). Some churches are doing a great job of seeing growth through new converts. But other churches are seeing numbers increase without the conversions.

Also, this model is becoming increasingly ineffective in reaching an unchurched culture. Adult church attendance is at 18% nationally and dropping. Some churches using this attractional (let's bring them to us) model are growing. This gives inspiration to the 80%+ traditonal growth model churches that are stagnant or in decline from an attendance standpoint.

Organic Model of Church (Missional)

Frank Viola defines organic church to mean: a non-traditional church that is born out of spiritual life instead of being constructed by human institutions and held together by religious programs. Organic church life is a grass roots experience that is marked by face-to-face community, every-member functioning, open-participatory meetings, non-hierarchical leadership, and the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as the functional Leader and Head of the gathering.

This model is gaining acceptance and interest in the West. It has been the primary model for church in the East for financial and political reasons. The model has been inspired by two great church growth stories:

1. The early church grew from around 25,000 Christians in AD 100 to 20 million by AD 300. It did this under intense persecution, without buildings, seminaries, Bibles, books, etc... People were attracted to the devotion, community, love and integrity of these early believers. As these early believers lived out their faith, the Spirit was active in bringing multitudes into the truths of Christianity.
2. The Chinese underground church. Estimates say that there were 2 million Christians in China when Mao Tse Tung tried to expel all religious life in the 1940s-1950s. Tung killed, imprisoned and tortured many Christian leaders. Yet, the number of Christians grew rapidly. It is believed that there are as many as 100 million evangelical Christians in China today- most of whom worship in small house churches. The similarities to the early church are many: persecution; no church buildings; no evangelical seminaries, etc...

Alan Hirsch in Forgotten Ways says that this explosive growth happened for six reasons:

• Simple confession: Jesus is Lord.
• Focus on disciple making. These churches worshipped Jesus and wanted to become like Him.
• Outward focus towards others. The emphasis was how can we connect to the world of our friends, family and co-workers and share with them this life-changing truth.
• Passionate, Spirit-filled leadership. Leaders were filled with a vision to see lives transformed daily by the gospel.
• Organic system- no centralized institution to block growth through control. The early church and Chinese house church stories spread like viruses and were structured like networks and not organizational charts.
• Communitas- shared mission that lies beyond self. Persecution helped to create tighter focus and mission among Christians as they were reminded daily that faith cost something.

There are potential weaknesses here as well. The organic church can lack organization, focus and leadership. Without a continual focus on biblical Christianity, these types of churches can quickly venture into unhealthy cults.

Many of the books I have been reading advocate a return in mission and focus to what made the early church and the Chinese church such great Jesus movements. It appeals to me because I am convinced that we make things more complicated than they have to be. I have absolutely nothing against professional Christian workers. I think they are needed. I have nothing against church buildings. They are often useful to accomplish the purposes of ministry.

But I believe every Christian should be asking the question: what are we doing here? Are we creating an environment where people can learn to love God with all of their heart, mind, strength and soul and love their neighbors? Are lives being transformed for the better? Are we becoming more useful servants to our world? If not, change is needed. May God raise up churches and people to effectively do His work irregardless of the type of church model used.

For His Glory,

Ashley Hodge