I'm concerned that we are trying to re-structure church instead of re-learning what it is to live the Christian life.

House churches, simple churches, organic churches can easily become just the "new way" to do church, the next-wave model of churchianity. It's easy for us, if we have been doing church for years, to want to simply come up with a "better way to do church." But that really misses the whole point.

As I travel among the body of Christ one of the questions I am asked the most is, what do I see Jesus doing in his church today? Am I excited or discouraged by what I see?

Before I answer that here, let me admit at the outset that my vantage point is in some ways incredibly blessed and in other ways severely limited. While better traveled than most, perhaps, there is much I don’t see and certainly my teachings, writings and web postings put me in touch believers who have a specific kind of passion. But I do get to sit down fairly often with some of the most incredible followers of Christ on the planet—those who are experiencing a depth of relationship with him that is transforming how they live in the world. Many of those had been in ‘positions of ministry’ at some point, but found themselves unable to fit into the religious landscape that proved insufficient for their hungers even though few others could validate their passion or obedience.

Participatory gatherings: wonderful, biblical, necessary. Do we really know how to do them?

One of my greatest joys in house church is the participatory nature of the gatherings.

My own transition to participatory church came after many years as a pulpit pastor. I echo the words of Scott William who said:

It seems easy on Saturday night to prepare three points on how to fix your marriage or how to quit sinning. On Sunday I have delivered the message, felt good about it, been complimented for it… but did it really change anything? Really?...

He was a religious leader who sought Jesus out in the dark of night. He knew Jesus’ miracles were proof that God was with him and he wanted to be part of his kingdom. But he had no idea what it would demand from him.

Perhaps Nicodemus wanted some instructions to follow, new rules that would let him in on the life Jesus lived. But Jesus didn’t offer any. He simply told him that he needed to be born all over again. The idea sent Nicodemus’ head spinning as he tried to conceive how he, an old man, could be born a second time. Jesus must have smiled at the thought.

I was asked to write an answer to this question because of some thoughts I’ve developed over the years but have never written down. Quite frankly, I am hesitant to write them down now. I am confident that my words will hit a sore spot in the church today. I am writing nonetheless, and, actually, for that very reason. Not to ignite division, but to challenge us to see something about ourselves that may not be healthy. This is a very critical question for the church to ask today. In order to approach this subject with cooler heads and calmer hearts, may I suggest we commit ourselves to addressing this from the New Testament rather than from our traditions, practical challenges and emotional bias. Can we read the New Testament as if we never read it before?

The Kingdom of God is the rule of God. And it rests upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God produces the church . . . the community of the King.  The church, in turn, submits to the sway or rule of the Kingdom. As it does, the church expresses, represents, and advances God's Kingdom on the earth.

Properly conceived, the church is the community of believers who possess Divine life. This community joyfully enthrones Jesus Christ, expresses His sovereign rule in the world, and as a result, enjoys the blessings of the future age here-and-now (Rom. 14:17; Heb. 6:5).

"You mean I'm not nuts!" No statement has been spoken to me more often by such a wide variety of people than this one.

Sometimes it's a question. Sometimes it's spoken with great joy, other times with quiet relief. I've heard these words in virtually every state of the union, and from countries half way around the world. Every time, I hear them, I am blessed to be there. Because for a long time, I wondered if I was nuts, too.

"It would be true to say that during the last twenty-five years or so amongst those churches which would own the label 'evangelical', a significant change in understanding has taken place over the meaning of the word 'worship'. If a few decades ago the person leading the service had said, 'We are now going to have a time of worship', most people would have looked on in utter bewilderment. Now everyone would know exactly what to expect: a lengthy time of contemporary Christian songs, maybe interspersed with a few prayers and exhortations, perhaps with hands held up in the air and a far-away look in the eyes."

Life in Christ is all that he promised! Just don't stop short on your way there!

Sara and I heard it over and over again as we struggled up the trail to Hanging Lake outside Glenwood Spring, Colorado. The trail winds uphill 1,000 feet in about a little over a mile. It's a tough climb with so little oxygen at 7,000 feet. But hikers who passed us going back down the hill kept encouraging us.

"Keep going."
"You're getting close."
"It's so worth it."
And it was!

Each word of encouragement lifted our spirits and lightened our steps as we traversed the rocky ground steadily climbing to the top of the cliff until we arrived at the waterfalls spilling into Hanging Lake and looked back out over the canyon we had scaled.

There are many definitions for simple church, our preferred term for what is sometimes called house church. One of the best comes from the Dawn North America Web site (it is also found on the House2House Web site). Rather then reinvent the wheel, I list their definition below.

• By "simple church," we mean a way of doing and being church that is so simple that any believer would respond by saying, "I could do that!"
• By "simple church," we mean the kind of church that is described in the New Testament. Not constrained by structure but by the needs of the extended family (oikos) and a desire to extend the kingdom of God.
• By "simple church," we mean a church that listens to God, follows His leading and obeys His commands.
• By "simple church," we mean spiritual parents raising spiritual sons and daughters to establish their own families (oikos).

Picture yourself this fine day at the hospital and you have just come in from the waiting room to the doctor's office. What's the first question the doctor has for you?: "Tell me where it hurts?" You answer, "Oh, Doc, I had some bad food last night and my stomach hurts terribly." Now imagine that your "condition" has no obvious symptoms and that you have had this condition from birth.

Also imagine that it has been passed on to you from your father, who got it from his father, etc. If your doctor were to ask you where it hurts, you couldn't give him any answer, even though he could clearly see the problem on your X-ray. In some ways, I think this small scenario accurately describes the Church today, 2000 years after its inception. We aren't aware of any major "hurts" (i.e. symptoms) and, therefore, can't get an accurate diagnosis of our condition.

The premise of this e-letter is to explore with you the idea that New Testament Christianity died in the year 313 A.D., the year Constantine the Great issued the Edict of Milan and made Christianity a legal religion. The tragedy is that so many of us are completely unaware of the global impact this event had on the church of Jesus Christ for the last 1,700 years.

Have you heard recently these common phrases after church: "Have a great week!" or "See you next Sunday..."?

Nothing imaginable makes me cringe more than hearing these statements over and over again, like "going to church" is something akin to next weekend's "golf outing". Until the church - be that simple, house, or regular - sees Christianity as more than a meeting, we will have little to offer the unsaved masses around us.