This past weekend Trina and I made a trip out to the DFW area to see our new buds Andrew and Heather get hitched! Andrew and Heather met at Harding and have connections to us through their friend Jonathan, who is the little bro of Daniel, my undergrad buddy and co-conspirator for the Kingdom. Together, Andrew, Heather, Jonathan, Chelle and Lucas have formed a mission team to Chicago while they were together at Harding University through the Outreach America program there.

We’re only really acquaintances at this point, and though we have similar passions and visions (however rough the drafts may be) for mission work/church planting in Chicago, we don’t know exactly what God has in store for us just yet. So how do we move forward from here?

We COULD draw up the blueprints of a well-oiled strategy, that drums up support from lots of churches and creates a sense of purpose and gives us outcome-based goals that move us forward intentionally toward a planned future.

OR we could find a weekend a few weeks down the road (and let the newly weds have a honeymoon!) and plan a weekend together. The only planning is what food to bring - the rest is up to the Holy Spirit. What might happen if we just got together and had a picnic? What sorts of strategies would emerge from a game of putt-putt (besides “bank if off the clown’s nose and through the windmill”)? What if training for team-missions was centered around a barbecue? I think the most strategic focus for missionaries is to simply be friends who like Jesus. The rest will grow from our time in friendship and in shared imaginations.

It’s like the Fellowship of the Ring. In that intense moment when leaders of men, elves, dwarves and hobbits sat in circle around the Ring, they began with strategy. Almost instantaneously a fight broke out among the dwarf and the elf, and before long everyone was in a distrustful fight against how they would proceed.

It took a humble hobbit, too small to fully understand his actions, to volunteer not a strategy, but a fellowship.

“I will take the ring…but I cannot do it alone,” Frodo said. It melts everyone’s fear and hate, and transforms the fighters into a fellowship; a fellowship that would have to learn to trust over time, but before it was over they were willing to give their very lives for one another.

So could this be an irresponsible way of building a mission team? Might this be expecting too little? Too much?

So maybe I’m the delinquent here. Has EVERYONE else already heard of Meetup.com? It is the neatest new discovery on my travels through the web. In case the one other person on this planet who hasn’t heard of this nifty service just so happens to find this post, let me fill you in on what its all about.

Let’s say you’re new to the area, and you want to meet some people - but the people you work with are all losers or snobs, and you aren’t sure how you managed to have so time to be in clubs/ activities way back in your High School days. Enter Meetup. You have an interest in pugs, or antiquated lawn gnomes, and you search for these topics locally. Meetup hooks you up with those in your area also interested in your strange hobbies and let’s you join in on their events! Before long, you’re standing in a sea of old lawn gnomes and new friends.

I’ve already used this tool as a way to find others who are interested in sustainable architecture and farmer’s markets in my area. Tons of fun!

Check out this video below:

Wouldn’t this be a neat way to naturally and relationally connect with other Christians in your area who are searching out God down similar pathways? Those in more organic-styled church networks are finding it difficult to coordinate times for everyone to get together, but this opens the door, AND it communicates to others in your area about your gatherings. I like this because it allows just about anyone in the Meetup group to organize an event, and let everyone else know about it. It takes the attention off the “leaders” pulling off all the events, and allows Joe to invite everyone over for burgers or Lucy to call all the women to pray over her new-born child.

Are there some down sides to this? Maybe. Should we be so concerned with meeting people who have similar interests? Is it really SO hard to find friends these days that we look people up on the internet to check them out before meeting with them? What ever happened to baking cookies and knocking on our neighbor’s door?

Any other thoughts?

So what might leadership in an organic, Christ-centered network look like? When the “preacher”, “elder” and “deacon” as we have traditionally come to understand those terms have been uprooted, what might emerge from the soil? That is the question that we have been wrestling with lately, and there have been some interesting responses surrounding this that I thought I’d toss around.

Over the last few years, we have truly seen a wave of Christians leaving church-as-we-know-it and moving into a smaller, more intimate community of friends. They meet as the Church in their living rooms, parks, coffeehouses, and anywhere life happens. We’re also seeing the un-churched or the new believers skip right over institutional churches in favor of simply living life with God and friends.

But it usually stops there - from my limited research, at this point, no one has anything very developed on missional, organic leadership (save this guy) that extends beyond the local house church.

My instinct says that if this is to be anything more than a flash in the pan; if there is to be any type of meaningful spiritual nurturing happening, eventually, Christians in these churches realize that they must connect to believers outside of their own little group in order to thrive. That is where leadership comes in.

Followers of Christ realize that Christ is the ONLY head of the Church, and no one can be a mediator (priest) between Christ’s disciples and himself. If that is the case, if preachers and bishops and pastors and all that aren’t here to predigest God’s Word for us, or to function as judge for God, then what good are they?

They listen to Jesus, and do what he says.

It’s that simple, and its a project that will last for the rest of time.

Some leaders (like missionaries/apostles) will work as catalysts; spreading the vision for God’s New Life anywhere and everywhere they hear Jesus calling them. Paul lived and worked like this. He never pretended to be a church’s Father, (only God could fill that role). He made it clear that God broke through the barriers that separated man and God, and nothing could separate them again. Apostles will start new communities by looking for a “person of peace” (Lk.10, Mt.9) and plant inside them the seeds and the DNA of the Kingdom. Before long, they are moving on.

Apostles usually gather around them other leaders: prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They work together as a team of missionaries to resource an emerging network that is spawned out of others who are listening to Jesus and doing what he says. Working around missional prayer, incarnational friendship, and pastoral discipling, a missionary resource team can participate in seeing a relational network of churches grow. Without preservatives, without burning out, without false structures…this is God’s family at work. (Eph 4:11-16)

As long as these leaders serve the people they are in connection with by providing resources and opportunities for deeper involvement in God’s family, they will be “organic leaders”. They are the nitrogen in the soil, whereas the seeds are the new communities that are birthed deep down within God’s good earth.

Spiritual moms and dads will naturally emerge from each of these churches, working with those God has entrusted to them. Usually, they will be the people who have been Christians the longest, though this might not always be the case. Working with a single faith community, these guides into Christ’s life will grow close with those in their spiritual family and transformation will happen!

–People still like Google because it offers services (like Gmail and collaborative online documents) for free. Even more importantly, they don’t take up your screen with pesky ads like some of the other websites that offer free content or services. They clearly are keeping their patrons first in mind, not their advertisers. In this way, Google is like the missionary leaders of the future. As long as missionary resource teams can function for the network, and not the other way around, you will see healthy growth.

–Leaders in traditional churches are like an exoskeleton, which allows for structure in an organism (good), but restricts how an organism can grow (bad). Endoskeletons function like leaders in organic church networks, serving “behind the scenes” and allowing the organism to grow and take its own shape.

The only way for Jesus to truly be the head of his Church, and yet to have leaders who guide networks to become the Bride of Christ that they were called to be is to allow leaders to simple be the PEOPLE they were called to be…deep listeners of Jesus Christ.

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SO! This is written as a draft - what do you think about it? Can leadership function in this way? Is it possible to have grassroots networks that don’t do the whole corporate heirarchy mess? Do people need human leaders at all? Fill me in and help me think this through!

Trina and I spent our Saturday down in Waco, TX with Kent and Karen Smith meeting up with Homestead Heritage, a community of about 30 years that has sustained an alternate way of living to the larger American culture. They have about 900 people in their community that participate in the simple life of raising animals, barns, crops, and their own children. In fact, everything at Homestead was focused on growth.

Their story: they started out as a couple of guys as converts to Christ (one of them with Anabaptist background) through the Jesus Movement that swept through the nation in the 70’s. They moved up to New York City and began an inner city ministry of sorts. Over time they felt the need to create a residential community that gave people in the oppressive urban centers a place to identify with God through nature, working with their hands, and shared projects. They moved first to Colorado, and then to Waco, where they have been for the last two decades.

We met with Howard and Jim, two of the 22 ministers for this group. Throughout our conversation, I kept being surprised by the modern day conveniences like cell phones, lights, central air…the works. While we WERE in the main visitors center (where 40,000 visit every year), I had admit - they weren’t Amish, or Mennonite…they were something new.

They talked to us about their journey, and about the TRUE struggle of being “in the world, but not of it”. They mentioned the many visitors who see their strange, “antiquated” way of life lived, not just a historic village reenactment. They regularly go into Waco, and have a urban ministry outreach there. Through their contacts in the city, they work diligently to extract those imprisoned to the culture and show them a new way of life.

They have a “School for Essential Education” that many in the Waco community respects. Apparently, back in 1999, Waco officials announced that if anything devastating happened in Y2K that Homestead Heritage would be the ones to teach people how to grow their own food, etc.

Makes me think some of the 411 Project - 1 Thess 4:11 - “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, working with your hands just as we have told you so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders…”

Isn’t that what the Christian culture is missing? ANYTHING that is respectable to outsiders? There is nothing tangibly different in the world of Christianity from the world’s culture. The stats are the same. There is nothing to respect there. But what about a whole culture that allows people a chance to find grace and time to grow? What about an extended family that has opportunities for you to work with your hands; to feel the accomplishment of a job well done?

To answer Leanne’s question here, I think that Homestead Heritage is trying to be VERY different, and yet be VERY much on display before the world. While, I think there are downsides to extracting someone from their circle of friends (possibly a new convert’s best audience to display the Gospel before), I have to admit that when I participate again in Christian communal living, I hope that it would be situated in a context where people could visibly see a radically different culture being lived out.

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To do a little brainstorming here: What if there were a community like this just outside of Chicago? Or better yet, a network of communities of about 30 or so each that focused on family, God’s family, with deep appreciation for work, rest, and sustainability? Many of these families had committed on living “out on the homestead” while other preferred to live as missionaries in the urban center. These missionary families look for those desperate for Jesus and to kick their addiction to the world’s poisonous culture. Missionaries discerned whether or not to send them to this Homestead as a “retreat center” where they could find some perspective. Upon returning to the city (or staying in the community on the farm), these new believers could grow in their own giftings and learn new skills for life living; centered on Christ and sharing Him with others!

It’s been over a week since the last post, so for this post I’ll quickly just write some of the things going on:

I’m in a Life Transformation Group with (we’ll call him) B, a new friend from the restaurant I work at.   An LTG is simply just a friendship that is specifically focused on remaining authentic with each other, reading together from God’s Word, and praying for our lost friends.  It stays small (2-3 people, the 4th person is a sign that its time to grow into two groups).  Take a look here for some more info on all that.  B is fighting against some major addictions, and is ready to see Christ change his life.  Already he is interested in bringing a few other friends into our group.  Could this be the “person of peace” I’ve been praying for the Lord to show me?

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The 411 Project is coming along!  Yesterday some of us met with Monty Lynn, a business management professor from ACU.  We were interested in hearing his opinions on how to fund the 411 project, and how to incorporate ownership of land and property.  I was expecting some pretty straightforward legal mumbo-jumbo coming from a BUSINESS professor.  But Monty, being the man of God that he is, wanted us instead to really focus on listening to Jesus and discovering how best to move forward.  What a trip…now BUSINESSMEN can be Christians too? (I’m only joking!)

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Trina and I are thinking about making a trip down to Waco, TX in the near future to see a community that takes Acts 4 seriously.  That means that they share all of their possessions, and live in co-housing arrangements.  I’m excited to meet them because I’m always fascinated to see alternative ways to live the Christian life (they’ve been doing this for over 3 decades!).

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There are new friendships and relationships that are really going deep this summer.  My friend Sean and I are spending more time together - something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now.  He was in MRNA as am I, and so we have a lot of the same dreams and impulses.  I hope that we have a chance to talk about possibilities for shared ministry in the future.

Not only that, but this summer I’ve been given the chance to do more reading, more praying, and more discernment for what Katrina and I have in store for us in the future.  I’ve been hearing from God pretty loud and clear lately that we’re to spend our time in Abilene doing two things: heal and equip.  If you want to summit a mountain (or spend your life in mission in one of the world’s global cities), you’ve got to have a strong healthy body, and the right equipment. Katrina and I are not interested in only going up a 1/3 of the way.  We want to reach the peak without burning out.  We see our time here in Abilene as real life and ministry, as well as training and healing for what is to come.

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Well, here’s hoping some more posts are on the way!