perhaps a point is a line after all
After discussing this small group idea with various people, I have come to a few conclusions:
1. People are still afraid of change. People like the way things are, even if other ways could be more effective in reaching people for Christ.
2. Christ does not operate by ideas or models, even this "small group" model. There is no one way of starting a church or reaching people for Christ. Therefore, there must be a greater foundation. This foundation is Christ, and His Word. We must always hold what we do to the standard of Christ.
3. God has and does use methods of reaching people even as He changes them. Would anyone argue that no one was worshipping God in the Catholic church at the time of the Reformation? We must trust that even as God transforms His people, He still uses us.
So, these happen to be my conclusions. My friend and I spoke on this subject a few days ago, and I wonder something. First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL, has roughly 26,000 members. They reach many people for Christ each year through a huge televised worship service each Sunday, a 7-block church complex, and various programs for people. However, what would happen if they shattered this paradigm and split their membership up into groups of 10 people? Each group would be responsible for reaching the 20 or so houses around where they meet for worship and community. That's 2,600 houses scattered throughout Jacksonville, reaching out to the community. And that's one church. Just a thought, that perhaps this new church planting movement, that stresses reaching people and personal discipleship, missions and love, flexibility and grace, is not a point (another idea floating around amongst a myriad of programs, models, and ideas) but a line, a call to return to a church with a mission. This line intersects the line of the new "emergent church", the line of the modern missions movement, the line of authentic worship, and the line of theology available to the masses, and creates a movement that only God could have authored.
1. People are still afraid of change. People like the way things are, even if other ways could be more effective in reaching people for Christ.
2. Christ does not operate by ideas or models, even this "small group" model. There is no one way of starting a church or reaching people for Christ. Therefore, there must be a greater foundation. This foundation is Christ, and His Word. We must always hold what we do to the standard of Christ.
3. God has and does use methods of reaching people even as He changes them. Would anyone argue that no one was worshipping God in the Catholic church at the time of the Reformation? We must trust that even as God transforms His people, He still uses us.
So, these happen to be my conclusions. My friend and I spoke on this subject a few days ago, and I wonder something. First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, FL, has roughly 26,000 members. They reach many people for Christ each year through a huge televised worship service each Sunday, a 7-block church complex, and various programs for people. However, what would happen if they shattered this paradigm and split their membership up into groups of 10 people? Each group would be responsible for reaching the 20 or so houses around where they meet for worship and community. That's 2,600 houses scattered throughout Jacksonville, reaching out to the community. And that's one church. Just a thought, that perhaps this new church planting movement, that stresses reaching people and personal discipleship, missions and love, flexibility and grace, is not a point (another idea floating around amongst a myriad of programs, models, and ideas) but a line, a call to return to a church with a mission. This line intersects the line of the new "emergent church", the line of the modern missions movement, the line of authentic worship, and the line of theology available to the masses, and creates a movement that only God could have authored.
posted by Steve at 10:33 AM
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