I proposed biblical reform of the church in the last post – reform in accordance with the original model depicted in the New Testament, particularly in the Book of Acts. The primary reason I am proposing reform is for the church to put its full attention back on the mission of the gospel. Most of the church in the west is ineffective regarding the mission, a mission which has been subverted far too long by the resource intensive, comfort and entertainment model.

What makes this doubly shameful is the dire conditions of the persecuted church in most other countries around the world. They don’t have facility because they never did or what they had was destroyed through a terrorist or government act. Far too many pastors in Africa or Syria stand in the rubble of what used to be their humble facility. No album sales, no seminary degrees, no leadership summits, no book sales, no laser light shows and misty platforms with soaring guitar solos. Just poor, simple people meeting together to worship God in the middle of a field somewhere – and seeing the supernatural power of God healing people, setting them free from demons, bringing them into right relationship with God through the preaching of Christ crucified. Which model do you want?

While we invest tens of millions of dollars in expensive seminary degrees, top shelf facility and pastor salaries, brothers and sisters in countries hostile to Christianity are hunted down, imprisoned, tortured, and killed for the sake of the Name and the advancement of the gospel. And yet in the midst of that harsh environment, the church grows. Its strong in the Lord because it is His strength that manifests in human weaknesses and vulnerabilities. A church that remains faithful to the bible and is fully and completely reliant on the Lord for everything is a church that becomes supernaturally effective and protected.

How many people here in the west in their bistro churches give any thought at all about fellow believers persecuted in China, North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, India, Nigeria, Somalia, the Sudan, Ukraine, Syria, Egypt, etc. Remember the 10-40 window? Conditions for Christians in other countries has not gotten better. But for us in the west its out of sight and out of mind.

The resource intensive, entertainment based model for the Christian church is obsolete and irrelevant. Many just don’t know it yet. Two things threaten the resource intensive church: persecution and economic collapse. Both are coming and the western church is not prepared. Large churches will be unable to withstand the pressures coming from economic and governmental forces. But for churches that are no longer in denial about the culture and what is coming, what would operations in a hostile environment look like? Quite different. Let me try to describe church operations that might work in a persecution environment.

Home Church Structure, Operations and Leadership

The home church would become the foundation of the church. The home church leader is the pastor for a group of 10-15 people and their families. Home church pastors are not paid professionals in this model. Nobody is. Children are included in home church meetings. Children need to witness what happens in a home church with adults setting the example for them.

The mission of the home church is two fold: evangelism and making disciples. The role of the home church pastor is to train believers in how to effectively share the gospel, pray for one another, and understanding the Word of God. When the size of a home church reaches a consistent 20-25 people, another home church is stood up in another neighborhood with a core group of mature, trained believers and a new pastor who has been mentored and prepared in a home church setting to lead a new group with the same goals.

The goal is to grow home churches primarily through evangelism. Each new believer that comes into a home church will be assigned a mentor – a mature believer wise in the Word of God, upright in their conduct, and willing to train.

Home churches are autonomous in their operation but they must have oversight to ensure they remain on track doctrinally and on-mission. Elders will perform the task of oversight. Each elder should provide itinerant and hands-on oversight of 6-9 home churches. When 9 home churches under a particular elder is reached, then a decision is made to commission an additional elder to keep oversight workload manageable. There should be no more than about 3-6 elders for a particular church structure. Each elder would have about 6 home church pastors, each home church pastor would have about 10-20 people. Doing the math, the church size comes to 18-36 home home churches totaling about 180-360 adults. This is manageable. If church numbers get much more than that, a split should be considered.

The responsibility of an elder is to observe, guide, and mentor the home church pastors, ensure doctrinal integrity, to provide access to additional expertise home churches may need, and to help solve problems that may be beyond what a home church can handle on its own. This means elders show up at home churches on a regular basis. Home churches are established and dissolved as needed on the authority of the full board of elders.

In this model, there is no senior pastor, only a board of elders that are focused on ensuring the church stays on-mission, provide on-going oversight of home churches, hear issues and complaints, commission new home church pastors and deacons through prayer and the laying on of hands, ensuring equitable care and feeding of all believers across all home churches, and resolving disputes within and across home churches as they arise. Elder terms of service should not be life long but on a rotational period of about 5 years. Elder requirements should remain biblical as identified by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. In fact, all leadership and operations should remain in alignment as described in the scriptures.

There are no regular offerings taken. However, there is shared responsibility for all believers across all home churches under a board of elders to ensure bona fide needs are met. This applies across the board. Home churches are responsible for internal care of their members to the extent possible and surfacing above and beyond needs to elders as required. Deacons within each home church are commissioned for the purpose of ensuring needs are identified and met.

Periodically, plenary gatherings are called by the elders for the purpose of corporate worship and prayer, airing of issues and complaints, formal commissioning of new home churches, empowering home churches to research problems and propose solutions, testimony of what God is doing in the church, etc. No need for permanent facility. This can be done in a park, on someone’s property, or a facility rented for the event.

Training, Mentoring, and Commissioning

Leaders in this model are identified, trained, and commissioned from within. There is no requirement for formal seminary education. In fact, this model is discouraged. Mature believers and elders wise in the Word of God can provide proper training and understanding of core Christian doctrines and ministry of the Word. There would be no financial cost for training and mentoring.

Home church pastors, when deemed ready for home group leadership, would be publicly commission by Elders laying on of hands and prayer, preferably during a plenary meeting of the church. Mentorship remains on-going.

Conclusion

I’ll have more to say in upcoming posts. At this point, I am sure I have missed some things but my intent was to be detailed enough to understand what I am proposing. I hope this series can perhaps stimulate some thought and prayer among churches in western countries about what we are today contrasted with what we need to be to better support the Great Commission and become more resilient during financial hard times and persecution which are coming.

Change will come one way or the other and my sincere hope is that the church is able to make some hard changes now while there is still time to do it deliberately and wisely. I do hope the Lord does finds biblical faith in action on the earth when he returns for us.

Comments?