I have a new friend, Brian, who recently told his pastor that God told him to leave that church and start a house church. I met this friend because he has been visiting one of our house churches to get a feel for what we are about before launching out on his own.
He has done everything he can to explain this vision to his pastor who is also a friend of mine. But, oh, how hard it is for many pastors to understand. Brian simply wants to launch out and start a house church, be the church, live for Jesus, gather with people in his neighborhood. No building, no formal "spiritual covering," no defined denomination, not even a set of bylaws.
But, you see, this just doesn't fit into our old pastoral paradigms. We can understand a church that has many small groups, or "house churches" that meet during the week and whose participants gather as one larger congregation on Sunday mornings. It's amazing how many churches now use the term "house church" to define their small groups or cell meetings. But this is simply a small group church or a cell church. Nothing new. Same old wineskin. The church and the church's control mechanisms remain at the center of the hub of these small groups as does the primary, weekly, all-church Sunday service.
Brian has done his best to explain to "his pastor" that God is asking him to do something different than this. He is not rebelling, he has not been hurt by the church... he has simply had his eyes opened to some of what God is doing today and he wants to jump in.
Brian is not looking to start another traditional church, he just wants to get out there and be the church in his neighborhood. He wants to live the Christian life relationally. He wants his family to be the focus of his spiritual life and he wants that life to touch and draw others. He wants to be in relationship with all other Christians. He wants to be in relationship with spiritual leaders, mentors, and fathers who will guide and care about him without some hierarchical structure. He wants to love God and teach others to love God. He just wants to be the church everywhere. It's really quite simple! It really does not have to be complicated.
So, why is it so hard to grasp for so many who have been entrenched in our church system (I have certainly been there). That's an excellent question! Is every church leader a control freak by nature? Not necessarily. Is it religious deception? To some extent. But let's not throw stones... let's acknowledge that we all see through a glass darkly. I think it's just the religious culture that we have inherited and that God is only now beginning to break us out of. It's a system of church that has come down from Catholicism right on through our Protestant heritage. It's just the "way of church" we have inherited not from Scripture but from the last millenium of people trying to impose a structure on what is meant to be a living organism. We simply have difficulty seeing this because it's just become part of our church culture. It's like a fish that is born in a fish bowl being told about the ocean. He can't imagine it. And if he tries to grasp it it would certainly scare him to imagine water without boundaries.
My point is this. God is doing something new. He is doing it and He is only just beginning. He is breaking people out of old and worn paradigms. He is calling people out of the cultural box that we have called church. He is helping his church to see the cultural structures that we have labelled "church" so that we can again become the living, breathing life-giving, everywhere-flowing people-of-God we are meant to be.
But let's be patient with people. Especially pastors. This is a big leap. It's hard to see beyond what we have known. It may be easy for some of us to see new possibilities, but that's because God, by His grace, brought us through some things that have opened our eyes. If others do not see it it's because, 1. It's not time for them to see it yet and God wants to use them right where they are, or 2. They are in process. God is only getting started with them. Either way we want to be patient, humble, not condescending, firm about where we are headed, and humble about the fact that God is the one orchestrating all of this.
My new friend, Brian, is exemplifying this. He has patiently done everything he can to explain to his pastor what God has asked him to. His pastor, to his credit, is trying hard to understand. He is grasping bits and pieces and, fortunately, is sending Brian out with a blessing. This is a great step since this pastor really does not "agree" with what Brian is doing. So, both are in process. Brian is lovingly standing firm in what God has asked him to do. His pastor is learning some things (perhaps slowly) but he is also in process in discovering some of what God is doing today.
It's all good. It's all God. It's all His plan unfolding.
All of us need to just keep learning, keep explaining, be patient, and let God continue to break his church out of the box into the wide open spaces of powerfully free and potent God-living-- in His time and way.
