My last post defined the model I believe the church should return to in these last days. I advocated a return to the church model defined clearly in the New Testament because, regarding mission results, it worked. It seems logical that the model documented in the Word of God is there for a reason – that this is the standard that He has defined and will bless. It worked because it operated as God intended.

If we truly want mission results, and I have no doubt true Christians do, then we must return to the basic biblical model: no seminaries, no professionals, no permanent facility, meeting in home churches, dispersed, agile, mobile, no believer in need, completely reliant on God, Word centered, worshipping in spirit and truth, sanctified by the truth, on-mission, and supernaturally effective.

In contrast, the church model in the west today has become so heavy with materialism and bureaucracy that it bears little resemblance to the first century structure and practice. As a result, the mission of the gospel is almost at a point of complete failure in western countries. We cannot continue to pursue a resource intensive model that is ineffective in accomplishing the mission. Also, resource intensive models are at great risk when a deep recession, depression, or greater financial crisis comes.

The day will come when the massive finances required to maintain facility and payroll in today’s churches will collapse along with the rest of the economy. It has happened before, and apparently churches learned nothing from the financial crisis of 2008. I was part of a mega church at that time that had heavily invested in real estate and facility. When the collapse happened, the pastor was scrambling to keep a financially over extended church afloat, forced to lay off people and cut payroll while guilting the congregation for more giving of money they didn’t have. When you are spending every ounce of energy to preserve facility and church jobs, then the mission of the gospel stops, and the church likely misses out on huge opportunities to bring the hope of the gospel to a hurting society around them. But here we are again on the precipice of another collapse.

A Stunning Messianic Revelation About Facility

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:21-24

Jesus was an itinerant preacher that went to the people. He and the disciples had no mega church facility and were funded only for the necessities: food, clothing, and an occasional place to stay. This was a time when worship of God was facility centric. God’s presence was in His Temple and that’s where people went to worship God. The Samaritans had a rival temple on Mount Gerizim (destroyed centuries earlier by a Jewish king) where they worshiped. The Jews rejected the Samaritan temple as invalid.

In John 4, Jesus apparently does not reject the Samaritans for their own worship on the mountain where their temple used to be. I think they had a heart for God and were waiting expectantly for Messiah. Jesus does not rebuke the Samaritans for worshiping as they did. But he does indicate to the Samaritan woman that their knowledge was incomplete. He completes it by direct revelation of himself as the Messiah, something I believe the woman already knew. Jesus came to her, not to rebuke her for false worship, but for a remarkable revelation he made to her personally that would forever put to rest a centuries old dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews about where to worship. He revolutionizes the practice of worship in that it would no longer be facility centric but instead would be spiritual and sanctified in Truth.

And yet here we are again with our magnificent top-dollar facilities totally missing the point about worship and the advancement of the gospel. Such has it been throughout most of the history of Christianity. Do our beautiful facilities really glorify God? Many pastors would say yes which then justifies the crushing expense. Temple days are over. They ended with the death and resurrection of Messiah. We are now the temple of God. God’s presence is within those who believe, not in some building or gold box.

In many places in the world where there is persecution, the church in its structure and practice is very similar to the first century church. They have no choice. Its not like you can acquire a building for a mega church in Iran. And yet the church in Iran as well as many other countries where there is persecution is supernaturally empowered, simple, mobile, and effective. Can we say that here in western countries? Maybe we should learn from the persecuted church and rethink our own concepts of “church”.

If we truly want to get back to the mission Jesus gave us in the Great Commission, then fundamental change must happen. Its time to make biblical reforms to the western church. Churches that implement biblical reforms as suggested will be better positioned to advance the gospel when persecution comes. But it does require a rejection of the resource centric model.

What should big churches do? Move to a home church model, get rid of your web site, sell your facility, and use the proceeds to take care of believers as you advance the gospel in various neighborhoods throughout the cities where you live and make disciples.

The Home Church – Salt and Light Where it is Needed

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

Matthew 5:13

When you season a recipe with salt, how do you apply it? Do you spoon the salt onto one focused part of the food? Of course not. Salt is sprinkled and worked evenly into the rest of the ingredients. The home church is like working the salt evenly into the rest of the ingredients. Home churches scattered evenly throughout a city, acting as preservative against corruption. When the preservative is removed, then corruption and death set in. If I salt only half of a fish, then the other half, without salt, rots.

Home churches, neighborhood churches, restrain evil where they exist locally. Where there is no restraint, evil moves in and grows stronger. So when a neighborhood biblical church fails or moves elsewhere, that neighborhood is worse off than before. It has lost some restraint against evil and corruption.

Anything that consolidates churches pulling a community of believers out of their local context, removes salt and light and is counter productive to the mission. In my opinion, mega churches have done exactly that. They have done more harm than good. Big churches don’t grow through evangelism, they grow by pulling Christians from smaller churches, causing smaller churches to fail and likely disappear for a long time if not permanently. The New Testament model is the opposite of the western church model. What is the New Testament model for church? The home church!

The home church is the fundamental building block of the New Testament model. Groups that could become home churches go by different names such as bible studies, home groups, growth groups, etc. If your church has these already, then its a good start. That program should be strengthened. If your church does not have a home group component, then the first step a church should make in transitioning from a resource intensive model to a Great Commission focused model is to put home churches in place.

Putting in a home church structure cannot be a 5 year plan. It has to be the 5 month plan. It’s a crucial step towards a future state that is structured more biblically.

I described the future state of the church in the last post. The future state is really just getting back to the original, biblical model. Here is how I would describe the structure and function of what I call the standard biblical model. The standard biblical church:

• Is made up of small, dispersed home churches of no more than 20 adults, that can meet comfortably in a home setting.
• Is led by unpaid pastors trained to equip believers in conducting ministry.
• Includes oversight across multiple home churches (no more than 12) by a small leadership team of elders.
• Keeps focus on the biblical mission of evangelism and making disciples.
• Worships God in spirit and truth.
• Ensures all believers have what they need to sustain themselves and their families.
• Intercedes for the local neighborhood around it.
• Conducts active outreach to the surrounding community with a focus on evangelism.
• Is not only survivable in a hostile environment of persecution, but highly effective in advancing the mission.
• Immune to financial crisis.

The Change Process

I am advocating a huge change in how we here in the west operate as the church. How does an organization move from a current reality to a desired future reality? I need to briefly talk about the change process. You will have to forgive me for including a little humanistic change management process but there are some principles I can offer that will improve chances for making a successful transition from one model to another.

Change does not consist only in vision statements, mission definition, procedures, processes, leadership structures, etc. That is what I call the science of change, which is very important, but its not really hard to put that together. Its the implementation of change that is incredibly difficult and woefully underestimated. The bigger the change, the harder it is.

Change is mostly psychological and spiritual because it affects people. What makes successful change so difficult is it upsets the applecart of an entrenched way of thinking and operating. Its hard for people to throw all that away and do something completely different, even when it makes complete sense from a mission standpoint. Organizations, especially churches, rarely ask the fundamental question about their existence: how do we know we are accomplishing the mission?

Because of the difficulty of overcoming the psychological and even spiritual obstacles to meaningful change, understand its hard to be successful. There is risk here, but as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Probability for success is greatly improved if the following is true:

• The goals, vision, mission align with the Word of God. God will absolutely bless anything that brings His people into closer alignment to His Word.
• Church leaders are intellectually honest about both the successes and the failures. If you aren’t doing the mission then be honest about that and confess it. If the emperor has no clothes, then say so.
• Church leadership and the congregation are willing to prayerfully step out in faith and do what needs to be done for the sake of the mission. As God told Israel before crossing the Jordan: “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6). We often don’t know what to do and want every step confirmed by God and so we wait upon the Lord as we should. But the time comes when I believe God is waiting for us to “cross the Jordan”, that is, to take a step of faith with some courage, even when you don’t know how things will turn out, but knowing that God will bless any endeavor that aligns with the Word and the Mission.
• The congregation is involved every step of the way. People in the pews have a stake in agreeing on why the changes are needed, what changes will be made, what their role will be in the future model, and how the church will operate. You will likely lose some people along the way because people don’t like change. The default response of people to big changes is fear. The best way to allay fear is communicate specifics about their role in the process and in the new model.
• The church is 100% committed to success. Saying it another way, failure is not an option. Once the decision is made to proceed, all bridges back to the old model are blown – there is no going back.
• Everything else is subordinated to the change initiative. Major change must be accomplished as the top priority, quickly, and with a lot of energy. There should be a short, intense effort to make the changes. If it takes longer than about six months to become fully operational on the new model, its likely to fail because momentum tends to erode quickly. Its best to implement the new model as quickly as possible and then make adjustments as needed to normalize the new model as it begins to operate. Have a “go-live” date as a target and do whatever it takes to hit the target with the essentials in place.
• You have a good plan. Plans shouldn’t be super detailed because things will change in implementation. Understand that implementation is never perfect and adjustments are required along the way as issues emerge. Find someone gifted in administration and management – with all respect, this is not usually the gifting of pastors.
• Issues, problems, concerns, and obstacles will emerge. Don’t panic and throw in the towel. Just prayerfully find solutions when needed, recognizing that often the best solutions come from the people in your midst, as long as they understand the problem.
• Leadership must be involved in the daily implementation of change. Lead by example. Manage well. Encourage people. Empower and commission them to resolve problems. Gently insist on results. Be visible and available.

Is Your Church a Candlestick?

Have you ever been to one of those Christmas candle lighting events where a candlestick is given to each person? Sometimes the lights are turned down in the church and its dark. Then a few people up front light their candle and pass on to another person which continues until in a short time, the entire church is lighted evenly in every corner by small candles everywhere around the church. It reminds me of the metaphor Jesus used about himself.

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

John 12:46

He would also say that we are the light of the world. He would later appear to John the Apostle with a message to the seven churches that are depicted in the Book of Revelation as golden lampstands or candlesticks. This message has resonated throughout history, even to our own day.

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Revelation 2:4-5

The example of the candle lighting ceremony at Christmas is a good picture of home churches operating everywhere. The Book of Revelation has seven messages from the Lord to seven different churches represented by seven lampstands. I’d like to think wherever there is a church there is a golden lampstand before the Lord. Where there is a home church in a neighborhood, there is a lampstand in that neighborhood. When it is removed then the darkness returns.

What would be the message to your church from the Lord today? Is your church submitting to the culture or is it still burning the light of the gospel from its lampstand?

We need many lights, many lampstands throughout the cities in which we live, just like in church during the candle ceremony. Home churches can be many lights pushing back darkness in the neighborhoods where people live. We need light everywhere; in every neighborhood. This was the original model that changed the world. Lets get back to it.