I have some "concerns" which haunt me from time to time, and they all have to do with the notion that the House Church (organic church, emerging church, pick-your-church-moniker) movement will become only a shadow of its potential. Here's what I mean. First,  the HC movement runs the considerable risk of becoming a newsletter & book writing (is anyone in the HC movement NOT writing a book right now?) and conference sponsoring movement that revels in its novelty and new-found popularity while failing to live up to its call to be a new vehicle and channel for the River of God's Spirit, the River of Ezekiel 47, to fill and flow through. Second, the HC movement could become in small what the traditional, institutional church has often been in large - a religious box where tradition and conformity trump transformation and spontaneity. A "religious rut" can be large enough to accommodate 1,000 people in a large building, or small enough to trap 10 people in someone's living room. One is not necessarily better than the other. Third, (and this one really is my point) through all of these meanderings the HC movement runs the substantial risk of becoming an in-grown "heal-me-bless-me" club where the wounded enter but never really leave. The calling of the ekklesia is not simply to heal and to bless (although that is certainly part of what we do), but to build up and to equip the healed and the blessed for the work of service. And that speaks of outreach, which is what I want to briefly discuss. I wanted to take a little time to BRIEFLY describe some of our upcoming ministry plans. I want to do this for several reasons, not the least being that it helps me to put things on paper where I can see them, think on them and pray about them and realize that "The mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps." I think our plans need to be specific enough to be achievable while being fluid enough to be changeable. In addition, I hope our ideas, plans & activities will "stimulate others to greater love and good deeds" (O.K., that's a paraphrase of Hebrews 10:something, but it's close enough to give you the idea!).

Revisiting Our "House Church Manifesto"

As I do this I want to remind you of our paper entitled "A House Church Manifesto: Towards An Apostolic Strategy For Rapidly Multiplying House Churches In Spokane."  Some of you have even taken our paper and adapted it for your local situation. (If anyone else is interested, I will gladly e-mail you a WORD file containing the updated current working revised Manifesto so you can adapt it to your local situation). The current working revision is posted on our website home page in a PDF format. I am mentioning it here because we are actually working to implement it, revising it as we go, here in our local area. The plans described here are part of that implementation process (remember: think "work in progress"). The phrase that has stuck with me lately is: "A vision without a strategy is just a dream without a plan." Our "House Church Manifesto" is simply our attempt to take our vision of a multiplying house church movement and to design a "strategy" that we can implement along the way. I am daily confronted with the reality that, despite all of our plans and strategies, we are in desperate need of a genuine outpouring of His Spirit that will turn us into an Acts 2 church.

Attractional Christianity VS Incarnational Christianity

In their seminal work "The Shaping of Things To Come" authors Frost & Hirsch talk about the difference between what they call "attractional" Christianity and "incarnational" Christianity. Most of what passes for "church" in tradtional western circles practices "attractional" Christianity. Simply put, that means we structure our church activities in such a way as to make them "attractive" to unbelievers in the hope that our latte bar in the lobby and our elaborate stage production will "attract" the unsuspecting unbeliever into our building, and once there they will be so impressed with our "program" that they will stay for more. Does it work? Sometimes. At the CMA Conference in Long Beach Alan Hirsch made an interesting observation regarding "attractional" church involving the popular "Alpha Course". In England (where it originated at Holy Trinity Brompton) some 3 million people have attended Alpha Courses. Of those, some 1 million were unbelievers. But there has not been 1 million new believers added to the church. What happened? People "came to Jesus" but did not "come to church." Why? Apparently, the "attractional" model (of which Alpha is an example) is good at attracting "de-churched" people who have some form of church background, but it is ineffective among "un-churched" people.

Of course, there is a second attractional model which targets not the "seeker" but the "believer" who is in search of a good "church home". This variety seeks to attract people by offering "excellent Bible teaching and preaching". One attractional model seeks to attract unbelievers. The other seeks to attract existing believers. Both are practicing "attractional" Christianity. The "funny" thing is: these two models can basically apply to house churches, too. So take a minute and think about this last statement. House churches can fall into the "attractional" pitfall just like any other model of church. Who are you trying to "attract" to your House Church? Why? In their book, Frost & Hirsch contrast "attractional" Christianity with what they call "Incarnational" Christianity. What does this mean? Rather than trying to create a long, detailed explanation, let me offer the following short comparison of the two models: 

Unity, Outreach & "Homothumadon"

There is considerable talk today about unity among churches & believers, even the possibility of creating a "city church". There are efforts afoot to create city-wide prayer and worship gatherings in an attempt to bring "the church in the city" together. The problem with such efforts at "unity" and building a city-church is that "unity" (nebulously defined) appears to be a goal-and-end in itself, and appears to be defined as "lots of Christians in the same room". In the New Testament there is actually very little said regarding "unity" (but see John 17:33; Eph 4:3, 13; Colossians 3:14). The New Testament concept isn't "unity" but "one-mindedness," expressed by the Greek word "homothumadon" (often translated as "in one accord") from homo meaning "one" and thumos meaning "mind." It communicates the idea of doing something "with the same emotion" or "unanimously." In Classical Greek, the word focused on a common material interest in a specific action. For example, when Philip of Macedon threatened to invade Greece, the great Greek orator Demosthenes called on the people to set aside their personal feelings and work "with one accord" to resist Philip. The idea is of a "common concern" which supercedes our personal interests or feelings. This concern was usually based on an event which comes upon a group from without, provoking a common response or reaction. This Greek word appears 11 times in the N.T., 10 of which are in the Book of Acts. It is used to describe the early church coming together in the upper room in obedience to Christ's command to wait and to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit(Acts 1:14), but also of the Church praying together as a result of persecution (Acts 4:24). The Apostolic Council at Jerusalem was of "one-mind" in their response to the Judaizers (Acts 15:25). And Paul exhorts the church at Rome to be of "one-mind" in serving one another (Romans 15:6). Much of what I see in the way of efforts towards "unity" today produces what I can only describe as "pseudo-community." I personally believe that God wants to bring about a genuine "homothumadon" - a biblical "one mindedness" - that will only come about as the "available church" (a small segment of the "visible church") steps out to pursue Kingdom outreach together in the community. Genuine one-mindedness and "unity of spirit" only come about as believers lay down their individual agendas and work together. You really don't have genuine "community" until you're up to your eyeballs in an outreach, something goes wrong, problems arise and believers begin to respond according to their nature and their gifts. Leadership gifts (and their accompanying character flaws) are best seen and identified in actual ministry situations. Who wants to be led by "leaders" who have never been tested "outside the box" in real battle and real ministry situations? I have seen (and experienced) outreach that destroys a ministry because the participants come to the realization that they have little or nothing in common, that some members of the leadership team are walking in a spirit of control and self-interest and that their "fellowship" was really nothing more than the "pseudo-community" of a "happy-clappy" gathering that was untested and, in the long-run, untenable.  On the other hand, last Summer during our "West Central Summer Blast Days" we experienced genuine homothumadon among people, ministries and organizations who came together to pursue neighborhood outreach. I believe that God desires the unity of homothumadon as His available church networks together in outreach outside of the box in a one-minded goal of bringing the Kingdom of God to those in need.

"West Central Summer Blast Days"

Yep, we are again planning a major neighborhood outreach in the West Central Neighborhood of Spokane the week of July 21 through July 28. Neighborhood transformation (and the planting of house churches) needs to start somewhere, and I can think of no better place than a neighborhood block party in the "worst" neighborhood in the city! Last year nearly 1,000 people came, and many ministries and agencies participated. If you want to see what last year looked like, click on this link: http://www.spokaneblessingnetwork.org/West_Central_Coalition.htm We actually have a video of the event and hope to upload it to YouTube soon so you can see a little more (although even the video doesn't do justice to everything that happened.

Our goal this year is to "do it better" (notice, I said "better" not necessarily "bigger")  We want to see more ministries involved & participating and more practical outreach to the neighborood. We've begun the planning much earlier this time around. If you live in the greater Spokane area and want to be involved you are invited to attend our planning meetings every Thursday morning at 7:30 AM at The Service Station In north Spokane (check the website for possible change in meeting times & location). We are looking at broader community involvement, including:

• A 3-on-3 basketball clinic and tournament for neighborhood kids
• A youth leadership camp (a VBS . . . but not),
• An evangelistic concert,
• A neighborhood clean-up drive (we're calling it "Random Acts of Kindness" or RAKE) and much more.
• A "social services" fair with booths & representatives of various community agencies
• Ministry booths, such as a prophetic coujnseling ministry that is going to do a "Dream Interpretation" booth.

Serving "The Least of These" -  I've already expressed my thoughts and feelings about the importance of House Church and "good deeds" in my October 19 newsletter, "House Church, Good Deeds and The Least of These" (posted on our website). This includes our work with Feed Spokane which is continuing and growing. I am beginning to see churches and ministries catching the vision and coming on board, and this is encouraging. In April (yep, next month) Feed Spokane will be launching a major awareness and participation campaign to the Spokane Chapter of the Washington Restaurant Association. I continue to believe that the call of God upon His church in this season is to reach out to and to embrace "the least of these" (Matthew 25). In keeping with this God has also led me to become "hands on" involved with an outreach to homeless men on the streets of Spokane called Truth Ministries, a local men's homeless shelter started roughly 3 years ago by Marty & Julie McKinney when they began distributing sandwiches to the homeless out of the trunk of their car in a parking lot in downtown Spokane.

I would love to hear what you and your house church are doing by way of outreach. Hey, I'm a shallow well in need of as much input as I can get. Share some of your ideas and I'll pass them on to the list!