Reproduction
For those who care, I've added a few months worth of family photos to the photo page. June has some underwater shots taken of the kids with Amber's dad's old camera. Pretty cool.
Hmmm...there's a lot going on and not a lot going on. I've been facinated lately watching the maturing process of these little communities of faith we've all been blogging about the past few years. Specifically, I think of folks like Alan, Jason, Chris, Kevin, Palmer, Rachelle, Tom, Hanson, Bill, Rob, and others, many others in fact. These men and women all started from nothing or helped start a small network of disciples in their area and have been slowly and quietly serving these groups without much fanfare. Somewhere along the way, each has dealt with issues of how to lead in a way that's faithful to the Way of Jesus and what unique structures are beneficial for each group to keep refocusing on the kingdom of God and living out the Gospel within their everyday lives.
What's interesting is that, if they are anything like me, they are extremely excited for the future of these groups of disciples, but also still carry around a ton of unanswered questions and second-guessing about how this is all supposed to work. Any comparison between groups is really difficult and fruitless. So often what we're left with is trying to work out localized answers to very common questions...and that can be frustrating.
One of the common questions that comes up is, "What happens when your little house church gets too big?" For us, four years later, that has finally started to happen. Fairly soon, even the Freeman's rather large family room will just be too small to handle all the adults, kids, and ruckus that goes along with everything we do when we get together. So...what next?
There are obviously a million answers to that question, but like I said, only one that our group needs to discover for our unique setting and situation. We can learn from other groups - draw from their experience and wisdom - but there is no plug and play "right thing to do", no matter how much our American brains want to believe that there is such a thing. Discovery takes hard work - slugging out the answer in community. Leadership is not giving the answer, but providing the space for the answer to emerge.
It's neat to see all these little communities dealing with these hard questions and trying to stay faithful to the values they've discovered along the way. None of this happens fast...it makes me really nervous when I come across a website that has its first 12 house churches all mapped out. Having said that, my prediction is that in the next 12-18 months, we'll start seeing some of these "reproductive" questions worked out (at least for now) and groups kicking into another gear. It'll be fun to watch.
Hmmm...there's a lot going on and not a lot going on. I've been facinated lately watching the maturing process of these little communities of faith we've all been blogging about the past few years. Specifically, I think of folks like Alan, Jason, Chris, Kevin, Palmer, Rachelle, Tom, Hanson, Bill, Rob, and others, many others in fact. These men and women all started from nothing or helped start a small network of disciples in their area and have been slowly and quietly serving these groups without much fanfare. Somewhere along the way, each has dealt with issues of how to lead in a way that's faithful to the Way of Jesus and what unique structures are beneficial for each group to keep refocusing on the kingdom of God and living out the Gospel within their everyday lives.What's interesting is that, if they are anything like me, they are extremely excited for the future of these groups of disciples, but also still carry around a ton of unanswered questions and second-guessing about how this is all supposed to work. Any comparison between groups is really difficult and fruitless. So often what we're left with is trying to work out localized answers to very common questions...and that can be frustrating.
One of the common questions that comes up is, "What happens when your little house church gets too big?" For us, four years later, that has finally started to happen. Fairly soon, even the Freeman's rather large family room will just be too small to handle all the adults, kids, and ruckus that goes along with everything we do when we get together. So...what next?
There are obviously a million answers to that question, but like I said, only one that our group needs to discover for our unique setting and situation. We can learn from other groups - draw from their experience and wisdom - but there is no plug and play "right thing to do", no matter how much our American brains want to believe that there is such a thing. Discovery takes hard work - slugging out the answer in community. Leadership is not giving the answer, but providing the space for the answer to emerge.
It's neat to see all these little communities dealing with these hard questions and trying to stay faithful to the values they've discovered along the way. None of this happens fast...it makes me really nervous when I come across a website that has its first 12 house churches all mapped out. Having said that, my prediction is that in the next 12-18 months, we'll start seeing some of these "reproductive" questions worked out (at least for now) and groups kicking into another gear. It'll be fun to watch.
posted by Mike Bishop at 8:28 PM
4 Comments:
Sounds to me like you're on the right track. May we all listen to the Holy Spirit and obey.
A few like-minded friends have come together, forgiven the harshness and judgmental attitudes of said institutions here in Baden, PA. The uncharitable atmosphere in conservative pentecostal churches drove us all one at a time out of the OC.At first we met "religiously" every week. We got exhausted making our "HOME CHURCH" work. That was 3+ years ago and we have changed by the lead of Father's Spirit. We meet whenever the need arises.The group is made up of folks that knew each other but communed at different denominational church edifices. We'd said hello politely across the street(for too many years). zxThe biggest difference is that when we come together, we always have a celebratory meal(breaking bread together), and address the concerns in the lives of all who attend. Sometimes we go to Starbucks, once meeting at Eat n' Park for chili! Now we have come to believe in a Father God who loves supremely, and the "rules" are not a concern.We see Father's love for us in each other, and take care of each other. The Hoy One has knit our hearts together and we come together when ever there is a reason, sometimes just to go play putt-putt golf and laugh !We have learned so much about community and the all inclusive reconciliation Jeusu provided for us with his totak sacrific e to death. Anyway , love your post...Judy
Yeah, I started out talking like that, making diagrams about multiplication, etc. Oh my, it didn't quite work out like that, and I'm glad. So we keep on moving slowly and surely, evolving as we go. Grace and Peace to you!
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a pancake. It is tastiest when it spreads out just right, letting the right proportion of surface area to be exposed to the surrounding culture, where spiritual giftings can be browned/developed and the community can cook evenly. If the batter doesn't spread out into other homes and maximize the heat of exposure to all, then a gooey, uncooked ghetto forms inside that no one on the outside wants to taste.
In our community we recently experienced a sending-out of a group because of getting too big. It was getting too easy to be invisible and not develop through engagement. When groups get big, people can disconnect and blend into the wall. We see this happing again soon in the coming months. Its a sure sign that a "life-begetting-life" stage of group-sending is ripe. The human tendancy is to try to formula-ize this, much like the cell-group lobby did in recent decades, but we screw it up if we make it a method because sometimes God wants a big group, sometimes He needs teensy clusters. I'd say the main thing, as Bill up there said, is to listen and obey. If the Spirit is setting a handful of your folks apart to be 'sent' then DO IT! Pray with them, equip them, affirm their gifts of grace, impart your faith in Jesus through them, reinforce your unity and kingdom-solidarity with them and rejoice in the spreading of the batter accross the pan.
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