Nickelback’s, “If Everyone Cared” stirs in my mind the possibilities of a tidal wave of committed followers of Jesus who see God’s Kingdom being ushered into this world; with his peace and wholeness reigning across the earth and in each heart.

“Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.“

— Margaret Mead

Chicago has more and more tables these days.

While reading the latest exposé from ABC News (a great read by the way) on organic churches multiplying around the country, I noticed that Randy Frazee, a pastor at Willow Creek Community Church has been finding new ways to make their 20,000 strong membership feel as if each member can participate and contribute in healthy ways. Boy, I would not want that job!

But Frazee seems to be taking a page from the house church movement sweeping across America and running with it. He has constructed “Neighborhood Life” a sprawling neighborhood ministry made available to anyone who can ring a doorbell or make a phone call. This is how Frazee plans to lead “an effort to restructure the church’s small group programs toward more holistic church experiences centered in homes“. Apparently, these are stand-alone churches of their own right, and yet they have an indirect connection with Willow Creek Church through the 21 area pastors who oversee the groups and provide occasional guidance.

In some ways, this kind of partnership between house churches and a megachurch is a wonderful example of how the two models can work together. The Tables’ vision for multiple pastor system spread over focused neighborhoods also gives us a glimpse into one kind of emerging leadership structure that is blossoming out of this new way of “doing church.” And people are responding. In fact, in the year and a half since this program has begun, there are already about 7,000 who attend an extension of this ministry throughout Chicagoland.

But there are a few major flaws as I read deeper into Frazee’s vision for Neighborhood Life and the “Tables” (house churches) that are being introduced. First, this is for Willowpeople, by Willowpeople. Willow Creek members can go to The Willow Neighborhood Life website and sign up to “Host a Table”. Once approved by the higher-ups, are then contacted by other church members who have noticed their presence on the Willow website and connect there. Sounds okay, right? …But when do we ever meet our own neighbors? When do we bump into lost people? This is a system designed to keep our garage doors closed and our backyard fences erected. When we have to “apply for community” on the internet, we are too afraid of each other.
Second, it is a monthly event, hosted by Willow Creek leaders focused on Willow Creek materials. What can a group of strangers do once a month? What sort of discipleship occurs in a two hour block once a month?! The curriculum for the evening’s conversation is given to approved Willowcreek leadership to be followed and completed each time they meet…

::I can already tell people are excited::

…in the end this comes down to keeping this Neighborhood “Life” firmly in the grips of Willowcreek, rather than in the hands of the people who chose to gather together that night.

Maybe this is just the first stage of something much bigger; maybe this is a good way to ease into learning to become the Church God has called his Bride to be.

Then again, maybe its like Martin Luther King’s fear of the northern white brothers who thought that the current compromise was good enough.

I am still thinking through all this. I want to commend Randy Frazee for working so diligently at dragging people off the pews and into the intimate setting of people’s homes. But is he doing them a disservice if he never gives them a vision that they are truly and fully capable of starting a new church with their neighbors down the street without Big-Brother-Willow-Creek’s consent? Will these Table groups forever have to fill-in-the-blanks of some workbook when all they want to do is hear what Jesus has been saying to each of them? My prayer is that of the 7,000 people involved, a few will catch a whiff of what God is doing worldwide:

He is giving the Church back to his people.

I had another one of those pump-you-up kind of conversations just a few days ago. You know the kind that you have in the midst of a “none of this is going right” kind of situation?

Chris and I have been worshipping together as part of a church for most of the semester now. It’s been difficult to get to know Chris, because we both live such frenetic lifestyles, and are invested deeply as students. He and I have had several chances over these past few months however to sit down and discuss our lives and what it means to be a vibrant family of Jesus.

Our little faith family of about 10 has been meeting now for just about one full year. In that year we have gone from just me, my wife, and one of my closest friends, to a broader and much more diverse family. Among us as we worshipped have been students, adults, little kids, the poor, the rich, the lost, the saved, alcoholics, foreigners…the mix has been great and we have loved it. And we have hated it. It is the business of seeing community as the real people you’re living with, rather than the ideal world we all tend to live in.

Bonhoffer’s great quote, “He who loves community, destroys community” could not have been made more real than in my own heart this year. I wanted so badly for our church to move beyond the superficiality that we as Americans all struggle with. Many of us wanted this, but Fear and Anxiety kept us from digging deeper.

So as Chris and I sat in his truck, discussing where our little family in Christ will go as we move into the New Year, it hit us. “It all comes down to opening our eyes.” Unless we have open eyes, we’ll never be able to see the hurt inside our brother or sister and name that for what it is. Unless we look with eyes wide open, there’s no way we can think about church outside the box of what we’ve grown up knowing. Unless our hearts truly desire the change from community-as-program to community-as-life-in-Christ, we will continually neglect and ultimately destroy each other.

Jesus seemed to be okay with people not getting it – though he didn’t let them get away with it! He was constantly drawing people out of their own selfish circles and into a world where they could learn to love others more deeply. A world where God was the center, and everything else flowed from that.

Lord, I want to see. I want to see you at the center. I want to see you at the center of our simple, little church.

No one can make someone desire something they don’t internally desire. (Believe me, Trina just doesn’t seem to get as excited about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as I do, no matter how much I try to convince her how cool they are!) For those who are ready to commit to being a family together, I am ready to go deeper. For those not interested, I bless them and send them. Not everyone has what it takes to face the brutal world of life together.

This means some big things for my life. It means a major reorienting of my lifestyle. I had planned on another very full semester this spring. It may be that I could learn more outside the classroom from my brothers and sisters. I had planned on continuing on in this life of isolation without much getting in my way; looks like that’s going the way of the dodo bird. I had thought I would get to Chicago before discovering community…maybe I’m supposed to find it right here in the desert of West Texas.

I love community – but I love my church family more.

In my discussions with others about organic church, I will sometimes be asked, “Why don’t you guys just have small groups?” It’s a great question. It’s an important question.

For many large churches, small groups are the answer. Church leaders have been honing the small group method for several decades now, and currently there is a section in just about every Christian book store on how to lead small groups, small group curriculum, small group retreats, cooking for small groups, small groups and Bing Crosby: the Christmas album; a veritable small group smorgasbord.

This is awesome. Many people have for many years realized that the “big Sunday event” just won’t do it when it comes to moving people along a path towards deep spiritual maturity. We simply can’t expect one-hour of jam-packed, highly intentional preaching/teaching/worship will stimulate the spiritual growth for the masses for all the other hours of the week. John Wesley was doing small groups back in the 18th century, and prompted the powerful and vibrant early years of the Methodist Church. Yes, we’ve known the power of small groups for a long time.

But what is it about the small group that makes it so alluring and satisfying for the Christian? I’m guessing it is the family that is born through the shared meals, prayers, laughter and tears. The very architecture of our pew-style church buildings (which is rooted in Roman government buildings, many of which were given to the Christians when they became a legal religion) promotes an attitude of “audience” or “spectator”, leaving the original family style “small groups” seen in Acts behind for the pizzaz of a impressive performance. Is it any wonder that our on looking world sees church-going Christians as “spectators” and not practicioners? Is it any wonder that for many people Christians are just “putting on a show” with their faith?

So the small group was born. In the hopes of many mega-church pastors, the small group was going to bring the best of both worlds - impressive, fine-tuned worship on Sunday mornings, and intimate heart-felt fellowship in the evenings. Who could ask for more? Apparently, no one.

Even the best churches find that their small groups still includes only the most committed, and usually the most over-worked Christians at the church. For the vast majority of mega-churches, the small group has become simply another “program” tacked on to an already overextended core church membership. No one would ask for more because for many, just making it to Sunday morning was all they could squeeze into their schedules, and only the very spiritual would dare show up at a small group gathering! While there is meaningful worship times in the morning, and intentional family focused care in the evenings, small groups seemed like the dessert menu only the overeaters wanted to peruse.

So what makes simple churches different than small groups? In a word, its all about life. I realize that there are many churches out there working hard to see their small groups remain vibrant and healthy, and cheers to them! I only question the necessity to work to find that life through a program, when people find life naturally in the midst of life! Small groups still see themselves as secondary to what is actually the REAL church - the activities done the building. This is true! Have you ever been a part of a small group and not a part of the membership of the church? I would guess that you felt pressured to join the “church proper”. Healthy, vibrant, simple churches are not reliant on the “big brother” to sustain them; they are learning to feed themselves spiritually, and more importantly, they are learning to let the Lord feed them!

In other words, the reins are taken off the “small group” when there is no “big group” controlling them. Allow Christians to flourish on their own, and suddenly a surprisingly organic explosion begins to take place! Soon these “small groups” are realizing their giftings from the Spirit. Not long after that they are serving and loving each other, and building each other up to full maturity in Christ. Before you know it, they are raising up leaders, and sending others out to begin a new “small group”. Essentially, simple churches are just what they say they are - they are simply the called-out people of God, without all the exhausting additives and preservatives found in programmatic churches that sustain their life artificially through their “small group ministry”.

I am not ragging on the existence of small groups, because I know how important they are to the lives of the many Christians that are a part of one. But please: don’t fool yourself or others that a “small group ministry” is something Jesus intended when he sat around the table in the upper room of a home to dine with 12 of his best friends who had been on a daily journey with him for the past 3 years.

In my opinion, small groups are the crutches for many Christians who are beginning to believe in themselves. They are slowly getting up off the cot, and wobbling around in community with others and with their Lord. They are piping up in spiritual dialogues, contributing what the Lord has given them to say. These are exciting times, and to be honest, I still have a lot to learn from my brothers off the cot and on the run towards God.