Alan Hirsch, “The Forgotten Ways” explains the core of the radical Jesus movement.
missional
Do We Still Need Churches?
I read the following article on whether businesses still need websites and the very last line summarizes what seems to be bubbling inside me for the past couple years about church. I suspect that many of today’s churches die if they continue in the “come and see” model. They need to move towards the “engage with us” model. The church is supposed to be an organism, a family, not an institution or an entertainment centre. Sure, some churches may grow in numbers, but in the meantime, many die in living out their faith and in living out Truth. They grow larger for themselves and remove themselves from a dying world who is waiting for hope. Churches instead, may grow a mile wide but only an inch deep. That’s like a dead website with no engagement with it’s visitors. No relationship means no life. We need churches that engage in people’s lives and this requires people willing to be vulnerable, humble, authentic and edifying; people who are willing to let the Spirit lead them.
Here’s the blog post I read on websites…
Megachurch or Homechurch?
September 1, 2010
I’ve been wrestling with what is the best and most effective ‘function’ or ‘format’ of a church? What is the most healthy? I’ve been reading authors such as Alan Hirsch and Eddie Gibbs who speak of going missional as a church rather than attractional. Recently, Francis Chan walked away from his megachurch ministry in order to start a homechurch movement. Here is a video of him talking about it very candidly with other pastors. They asked him some very direct questions. I appreciated watching this video and his response…
Update:
Wow! … Fast forward to today, Francis Chan’s house church movement is growing with disciples multiplying and Mark Driscoll’s church imploded because of his bullying leadership control and was forced to break into smaller churches. Now a new leadership is focusing on disciplemaking movements also! How… interesting… and also how both men’s personalities come through in this video… Francis admits pride, while Mark succumbed later to his pride which led to his firing.
(Note: I’m not entirely against large churches, just leery of ones with a focus on building their own kingdom, rather than God’s, and/or on one man’s preaching rather than teaching people how to hear from God.)
Also, interesting is that Josh Harris, the other interviewer, has completely walked away from God’s calling on his life.
Following and Trusting 