The Church in the Field
Written by: Mark
May 19th, 2009
How does a community of faith begin? What is the motivation? Who are the people involved? Some of the people we’re in connection with here in Chicago are looking for a community, and some know they’re supposed to help form one, but don’t know where to begin.
We usually sit down for a cup of coffee, and pretty early on I make sure to say, “Church begins in the fields, not in the barn.” What do I mean by that?
At one level, I mean that churches are healthiest when their minds and hearts are honed in on the harvest field from Day One. If they form around another idea (being a place for contemporary worship, or being an intimate community for each other,) they will never get around to mission as a primary raison d’être, and usually fold in on itself as it continues to center inward rather than outward.
At a second level however, I mean that God designed the church to begin in the harvest field, meaning among the harvest. The first churches were made up entirely of non-Christians, who became Christians in the process through participating in common life with the church family. Paul went to town after town, finding just one person or one family that was passionate enough for God that they invited their friends and relatives over for dinner to hear about him, and before long, they were ready to sign up for the Revolution of Love.
Most church planting today starts “in the barn,” meaning they go for a large group of churched Christians and ask them to parachute into a new context and be the “launch group” for a new community of faith. New believers may come to faith at this church plant, but individually, and not usually as whole people groups or families. The launch group from the barn influence the culture, worship, and leadership of the new church so much that there is little wiggle room for new unreached population segments. All of this is fine, and has worked in amazing ways in the past, but we are beginning to see that starting in the fields allows God to take his gospel across wide cultural chasms, soften hearts and develop radically organic churches.
Give it a try! The church begins in the harvest field.


