Thy Kingdom Connected makes a case for the church in a world where Facebook has replaced the primary commons for people to connect.

Studies everywhere are bemoaning Generation Y’s unprecedented exodus from not just the church, but of Christianity. They posit that kids these days are just fed up with the church’s hypocrisy, its close-mindedness, boring worship events, and the like. The truth is – that the church has been like that for generations! That may be their explicit reason for leaving church, but if church has always been just as mind-numbing, why is it that this generation in particular is dropping like flies?

With this question in mind, consider the unprecedented use of smart phones, Web 2.0 technology and social media. Think about it – the very thing that people “went to church” for in past generations now is at your finger tips! Facebook is “My Kingdom, Connected.” My photos, my status, my events, my ‘friends’…”

And yet Dwight J. Friesen prepares us with new metaphors and language to connect us to a different kind of Kingdom. He plays in other fields of study, from biology, physics, mechanics, ecology…even knitting…and teases out rumors of God’s networked-Kingdom.

Missiologists and church planters could use new vocabulary to describe the fresh vision of God’s people in today’s world – and while Friesen’s language at times leaves you wondering if “there was a single English word in that last sentence…” he seems to invite his readers to explore a new landscape of metaphor and paradigm for living as a networked ecology of Christ.

I am an organic church advocate and practitioner, helping facilitate a network of faith communities meeting in homes, coffee shops, and other places life happens… I found great encouragement in Thy Kingdom Connected and found myself setting aside some of the metaphors and descriptors as a means of under-girding our theology and ecclesiology here in Chicago.

So often in theology and in church planting we pick apart models, theories, Scriptures, and just about everything else…leaving the issue just about as lifeless as a dissected frog in biology class. But Friesen takes a page from the “Science of Life” – asking the question, “What would it take to develop a theological vision that enhances life?” At the core of life-centered theology is one that cultivates life in context, rather than picks it apart – seeing theology and ecclesiology as inherently relational and therefore, not approachable as an “it” — as would have been done in the typical modern worldview — but as a “we” – and a dynamic, open-ended and even divine “We” at that. We are in the petri dish, we are in the linked network we are ourselves exploring.

In Friesen’s understanding of leadership, we are to engage our community the way Google engages its users. No one goes to Google for its own sake – it is a springboard to resources and information. Leaders too are a linking catalyst…a hub to the resources to the very best that God has to offer. This is more than the leader having a big library – this is cultivating a culture (ecology) of a organic, spiritual system, fully connected as an “all-channel network” — meaning giving not only your resources but pointing to each other as resources to access for strengthening the links of a church network. This is the nature of leadership – influencing the people-system for catalytic transformation.

I disagreed with Friesen’s approach (if not his content) regarding the Christ-Commons and Christ-Clusters. He seemed to say that Christ-Commons were regularly scheduled events whereas Clusters were serendipitous fly-by-night collections of Christians. I agree that there are both kinds of “groupings” in the Church – the folks walking to Emmaus on Easter may be to him what is known as a “Christ-Cluster” – which is fine – but to call that “the soul of the church” is a little much if you ask me. Spontaneous engagements with community and the Spirit is simply a natural overflow of family life together – which can happen in a regularly scheduled event or in an impromptu worship night at a friend’s house. People grow from both “quality and quantity” time together and with the Spirit.

Our network in Christ extends beyond our little crew that meets in my living room – it is more than our network of organic churches in Chicago. It is broader than the global church in our day, and reaches further back than Pentecost and beyond the 2nd Coming of Christ. It is the Church Universal – it is the Bride to Be. Entangled in the Network of God, who was, is, and is to come.

Thy, not My, Kingdom Connected!

This is the third section on my reflections based on the content the Greenhouse Story 2 Training Weekend (Feb 19-21st).

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Take a look at the back of almost any Bible and you’ll see a map of the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea.  You’ll see four squiggly lines drawn in different colors and a little key at the bottom indicating that these lines are the apostle Paul’s missionary journeys.

As a kid, it always reminded me of those scenes out of Indiana Jones movies, where there would be a soft fade from a smirking Harrison Ford onto a parchment map, with a red line moving slowly over a map, indicating a plane’s path from Germany to Austria or some other beautiful locale.  It helped convey the story’s progression and the vastness of the tale.

But merely showing each movie’s mapped journeys would no doubt strip the Indiana Jones tales of their richness – the time between journeys, the relationships built in each movie, the enemies defeated…and of course, the explosions!

As nice as it is to have a map of Paul’s journeys spanning 30 years smashed on top of each other, we need to carefully consider the lives and happenings of Paul throughout Acts and the New Testament Epistles to see what those journeys mean – and it might just reveal how God develops a leader in the harvest that finishes well.  (As a side note, I highly recommend the 1981 TV movie Peter and Paul.)

First Journey

Paul’s first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-14:28) from 47-48 CE took place in Southeast Asia and was the start of the churches in the Galatian region.  See Paul during this time as a learner, and not a teacher.  A team covered 1500 miles as traveling evangelists leaving clusters of undeveloped disciples behind who were desperate for leadership.

The team felt that it was necessary that they revisit these churches several times to provide leadership, nevertheless, the churches suffered from immaturity and vulnerability, a weak understanding of the Truth, and was influenced at the hands of very strong and legalistic leaders.  Even though the team saw fruitfulness, it did not see its churches multiply.  The sickness of these churches and personality differences in the team seemingly caused frustration and division.

Lessons:

• The First Journey leader often tries to do it all himself, which leaves behind weak churches who are open to other “do-it-yourself” leaders who want to dominate others.
• The apprentice leader on his first journey beings to flex his own leadership muscles and become a leader in his own right, stepping away from his mentor.
• First Journey leaders are often in a hurry to move on.
• The First Journey leaders is where the leader gains the know-how to pass on to others – you cannot skip the first journey.

Second Journey

God begins the team’s second journey through the disagreement over John-Mark’s readiness for another mission trip.  It can be read about from Acts 15:36-18:22.  As it turns out, this spurs Paul to multiply his mission team and cover more ground.  This time, Paul’s team is much bigger, dropping a member off in each city rather than leaving churches alone.  This worked out well at first — Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke…which became… Paul, Silas and Timothy…which became…Paul.  Stuck again – alone and frustrated.  One night in a dream, Jesus gives Paul the answer to his perpetual loneliness and frustrations with the finiteness of his mission teams.

In Acts 18:9-10 Jesus teaches Paul a valuable lesson in multiplication growth.  Stay in Corinth and develop a team from the harvest!

Lessons:

• A Second Journey leader realizes that his plans are not God’s plans.  Learning to listen to God makes him more flexible and prepared for producing spiritual fruit.
• Don’t be surprised if the Second Journey emerging leader steps out from under their mentor and starts doing things on his own – a seasoned, godly mentor will allow this “rebellion” and pray for the emerging leader’s success.  Over time, they will be restored and their relationship will be even stronger than it was before.
• The lesson of the Second Journey is learned through aimless confusion, emptiness, pain, conflict, loneliness, and fear.
• You can’t skip the Second Journey either.

Third Journey

Paul’s third missionary journey (Acts 18:23-21:16) is very different from his first two.  He is learning the role of an organic, catalytic missionary. This time no team is mentioned, and he doesn’t travel from Corinth for over 3 years!  This time, he didn’t even start any churches – instead he recruited indigenous followers of Christ to start the churches, which kept them from being overly dependent on him. In 3 years, all of ASIA IS REACHED with the Gospel! (Acts 19:10,26)  All this, and Paul does not even leave the school of Tyranus.  How??

1. Paul established a regional base for church planter development in a global city (Acts 19:8, Acts 20:18)
2. Mentoring one-on-one became central to his strategy, by life example, and by formal teaching.
3. Missions, evangelism, and discipleship became less ethereal and more “on-the-job” training. (Acts 20:21)
4. Now the Holy Spirit was allowed to pick the teams and to call people to mission.
5. Paul empowered leaders to connect directly with God, so that he was no longer necessary (Acts 20:32)

Lessons:

• Third Journey leaders attract more quality leaders.  God gives his best to Third Journey leaders because they now give everything to the emerging leaders.
• Third Journey leaders have an ever-expanding influence as others take their message further than they could ever go themselves.
• Though they may do less work, Third Journey leaders are now more focused and the work they do is more fruitful and reproductive.

Fourth Journey

This is where things go really wacky.  The Paul’s fourth missionary journey is as a prisoner from Jerusalem to Rome. (Acts 21:17-28:31)  Its hard to think of this as a missionary journey, until you realize it was his intention from day one to make it to Rome, and that doing it this way all his expenses were paid by the Roman Government!  As he was under house arrest for 2 years or longer, he spoke with church leaders and helped encourage the largest church network of the First Century.  According to Paul, this was his most effective missionary journey (Phil 1:12-14)…yet he never left his apartment!

Using his influence as leverage to speak to new levels of human authority, he got the Gospel even into Nero’s household!  He used set-backs like imprisonment and a shipwreck in Malta to start new churches!  He even used his confinement to pump out FOUR letters that would carry his message throughout the world, and history.

Another less obvious blessing of the Fourth Journey leader is that they’ve been sidelined, yet their influence continues to grow. Like a former basketball player who became the coach – Paul’s being ‘locked up’ compelled others to take up his work.

Lessons:

• Most Christian leaders never make it to the Fourth Journey – they usually die or plateau on a previous journey.
• Daily provisions and preparing for the future is no longer a major concern. (Phil 4:10-19)
• Their influence now grows also in the eyes of secular world leaders, and they humbly find expansive, possibly international influence.
• Fourth Journey leaders write more than ever before – multiplying their message, wisdom, experiences, and maturity into countless lives.
• …And he’s not done yet.

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Stay tuned for the next part of the Greenhouse Story 2 Coverage!

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?”