We ended the last Greenhouse post in the series by considering what it takes to be an “Organic Leader” – we made the analogy that it is much like working as an organic farmer.  What is involved in tending the plants once they have begun to grow?  Creating a “system of spiritual nurture” is essential to seeing vibrant families of Jesus in your context.

The organic church planter in most cases does not see him/herself as the pastor of a single house church being planted, (though each house church will be facilitated and nurtured by loving spiritual parents.

There is plenty of tending and nurturing language in the Scriptures to suggest it is a primary metaphor for God’s people.

The Four Biggest “Issues”

It seems that the four most asked questions in tending organic churches are:

1. Organizing organic churches
2. Children in organic churches
3. Finances in organic churches
4. Sound doctrine in organic churches

Each of these questions deserve their own blog posts and have been answered by others elsewhere.  Suffice it to say that usually the questions we ask regarding these issues are focused wrongly, and end up confusing us further.  For instance, with regards to children, the question is not, “What do we do with the kids?”  A better question might be, “What is our responsibility as a church family to responsibly disciple our children and listen to God as HE forms them as radical agents in the Kingdom?” /// We need better questions.

The mere formulation of a problem is far more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skills. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.                     —- Albert Einstein

Did you know that your brain PHYSICALLY creates ruts that make it easier to remain in your mindset rather than considering and accepting new irregular information and paradigms?

“Wikicclesia” and Truth Quest

Often, to arrive at these better questions (and ultimately, solutions to complex issues) you need a “community of informed judgment.“  This is a group of diverse experts from various arena coming around a particular issue or question and collaborating to arrive at a matured, multi-faceted solution.  Bring in the architect, the plumber, the farmer and the theologian and ask them “how would YOU take the wisdom of your field of expertise to appropriately organize organic churches (or approach the other issues listed above)?”

CMA Resources introduces the idea of “Truth Quest,” which is a simple theological learning system for proven leaders in an organic church network.  The scope of such a study is systematic theology applied in holistic life.  It would happen one Saturday each month for a year (9am-5pm).  Each learner (8 per year) has two textbooks from two points of view, with no duplicate books among learners.  Each learner prepares in order to (impromptu) teach on their materials. The rest of the time is spent in dialogue with learners prayerfully considering the material to tease out fresh theological insights as well as goals for living out their beliefs in their faith communities and in their mission field.

I see this as another form of a “Wikicclesia” forming in many organic church conversations, and its a great alternative to the disappointing dichotomies of either having (1) untrained church leaders, or (2) demanding that leaders go to a seminary for a decade separating “them” from “us” and condemning them to live in debt to Sallie Mae for the rest of their life!

A New Kind of Leader

The big shift for church leadership is to think of itself as not being monolithic.  Not all are to be pastors and teachers.  Apostles, evangelists, et cetera in the New Testament did their work at a regional level, helping to tend the systems of the church in that region.

1. Not necessarily doing all the teaching yourself, but equipping leaders with healthy teaching methods and shaping learning communities where people can learn together.
2. Where you are not the “pastor” but you are nurturing environments where people care about one another and healing happens.
3. Organic church planters keep churches linked to one another through:

• Content: Biblical teaching that is consistent from church to church.
• Connections: Relational interdependence that allows for time together.
• Collaboration: Mission efforts that allow resources to be maximized for a greater harvest!

The Microscope and the Telescope

Where you start makes all the difference.  Take the simplest organism and multiply it enough and it quickly becomes complex (just look in the mirror for an example).  But under the microscope, your complexity is really just simple cells reproducing at the smallest level.

Reduce the church to its smallest, most basic unit — the Micro Layer.  It is essential that the smallest unit of kingdom life be infused with the whole DNA of a healthy church, then the whole church at large will be healthy, strong, and able to reproduce.  Truly, it is our sinful nature that gets in the way of God’s healthy DNA he puts in us with his Holy Spirit when we accept him.  So infusing healthy DNA is really about removing our own mutations and living deeply into what God has already instilled in us!

A great strategy for the Micro Layer is the Life Transformation Group (see also Church of 2 (CO2)).  It infuses the D.N.A. (Divine Truth, Nurturing Relationships, Apostolic Mission) of the whole Body of Christ into a group of two or three.

Take your current goals and multiply them by 100,000.  If you do not have a system that can take you to those kind of numbers, then you don’t have a system that can catalyze a spontaneous church multiplication movement.

What are some signs of a reproducible system? CMA suggests your tools/strategies/methods be…

1. Received Personally — it has a profound effect on your own life.
2. Repeated Easily: you can pass it on to others after just a brief encounter.
3. Reproduced Strategically: it transfers to other cultures and languages.

These 3 simple principles can be extrapolated out from the “Micro” to all layers of the Onion, attending to the natural span of relational care.  Use the word “chaordic” to describe such systems – they are both thoughtful and intentional, yet out of control of any person or organization.

“The more I considered Christianity, the more I have found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”                  — G.K. Chesterton

Let the DNA of Christ permeate every conversation, every worship gathering, every act of social justice.  Let it baptize every layer of your church’s community.  As Ed Waken was quoted saying at the conference — “What if discipleship was nothing more than the lifelong balance of the DNA in your life and in the lives of others in your circle of influence?”

The Church is a thorn in the world’s side.

Okay – now that its written and out there, let me explain what I mean.

I like to think of the Church as an alien race, or a immigrant citizenry.  We have no green cards, no real rights in this world (though we fight for the rights of others).  We live, eat, sleep, breath, vote, and more through the lens of living “in the world, but not of it.”

That’s the idea – but too often we fall off one side of the horse or the other.  For instance, we may become so embedded in our culture that we lose our heavenly citizenship – forget our allegiances, and start taking on the values of Wal-Mart, Hollywood, or an earthly nation.  Or we may swing the other direction, holding so tightly to our heavenly home-world that we disconnect and judge the world… in which we are still very much entangled.  Its easy to get so hopeful about heaven that we miss our point on earth. “We become so heavenly-minded that we are of no earthly good.”

These are only two ways to fall off the horse…there are many…many more.  But how do we stay on?  I think this metaphor is helpful –

The Church is a wedge into our culture.  A thorn in its side.  We are embedded into a culture without necessarily being overtly visible.  We are very much in the world, but we are foreign, alien, and a nuisance to the prevailing power structures and systems of brokenness.

The Church as a thorn may critique the values of greed, pride, selfishness, hoarding of resources, the destroying and devaluing of human life, bigotry, and more.

We may as a thorn introduce other things that irritate the skin of the “world.”  Things like peace, reconciliation, justice, abundant life, family, healing, hope. This alternative life is announced as the “Gospel” (Good News) and like a thorn begins to infect parts of the local body – spreading its infection like a virus throughout the system.  This is, of course, an offense to the world, and something it cannot understand. (John 1:10)

And by the way, a thorn only goes deeper into the darkness when pressure is applied.  It “incarnates” itself by being immersed (baptized) with flesh (taking after its Lord, Jesus).

So!

Plunge deeply into the world as a wedge – prying open the doors leaving the world in the dark.  See yourself and specifically your church as a part of a thorn – charging ever deeper into the flesh of the world, irritating and paralyzing the dying corpse, and introducing a virus that leads to unending life!

60 Minutes did a piece recently interviewing Patriarch Bartholomew, the official leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, a body of about 300 Million people – the approximate population of the United States.

You’d think that with that kind of following they’d be in good company, but no – they are in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople).  This city in Turkey has been the dividing line between East and West – Muslim and Christian.  Istanbul stands at 99% Muslim, with only about 4,000 Greek Orthodox dotting the city landscape.  While 60 Minutes was taping the interview, Bartholomew was informed another attempt had been made on his life.

How do you love your neighbor in such a circumstance?

In fact, this is one instance when we can literally ask, “What Would Jesus Do?” because there is a record of this exact situation.  Surrounded by people furious at his very existence, Jesus used the opportunity not to lay down and die, but to be crucified on a hill for all the world to see.  This wasn’t self-righteousness, it was displaying what love looks like in public.

Some might say that Christianity always has the most trouble truly communicating it’s raison d’être in an environment where it is generally accepted or revered as the cultural norm.  Christianity was born into a political and social circumstance where exile, humiliation and persecution where expected by all followers of Jesus.  That’s why in Matthew 5:11 when Jesus said “When (not IF) you are persecuted you are blessed by God.”  He supposes that each person who chooses to live the alternative lifestyle of Jesus Christ will by their very nature be targets of mockery and destruction by others.  And what do you do when (not ‘if’) it happens?  Two things: remember that prophets who came before you were also persecuted, and then turn the other cheek.

But what about in America?

Even in an age when statistically few people are actively engaging a Christian faith, most see America as a “Christian Nation” if only in name.  Even still, you can bet that Christians living out the Christ life will have it confirmed to them when they find themselves being persecuted.  Live different, and there will always be dissenters trying to rope you back into the mainstream.  Our political system might keep you from getting executed (by the Government anyway,) but keep showing your love – and you will be attacked.  It will take you to jail, make you misunderstood and maligned by friends, and harassed by cynics, hypocrites and nay-sayers. You will be given threats at every level to stop shaking up the status-quo.  You will be underfunded and overexposed.

And if you’re reading this today and can’t think of a time when you were brought down to your knees for your beliefs – maybe its because that’s all they were — beliefs.  Put some of your radical beliefs into action.  Loving your enemies, being a peace-maker, mourning with those who mourn…it will quickly make you see just how surrounded you are by people who don’t understand you – but nevertheless keep at it – they are desperately in need of Love.