Principles of Simple Church

In Alcoholics Anonymous, The 12 Steps are read out loud at every meeting.

For those of us who are still in detox from programmatic Christianity, there is value in repeating what we have said before:  the simple church revolution (reformation?) is not about doing conventional church in a home. It's not "Honey, I shrunk the church!"  It's not 20 minutes of singing, 30 minutes of Bible study, 10 minutes of prayer and then refreshments.  (Or, any other prepackaged way of meeting.)

"OK.  If it's not about that, what is it about?"

When we started a church in the low income housing projects, the first thing we did was to prepare the ground in prayer.

In Matthew 12, Jesus gives an illustration in his defense against an attack by the Pharisees. They accused him of casting out demons by the power of the devil. He replied, "How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his goods." (verse 29)

We are excited to announce the publishing of a new book in Russian- Reimagining the Church by Frank Viola. The book will be available in April, but until then we would like to share with you some excerpts to give you a taste of the book.

It’s important for you to know that reimagining the church as a living organism isn’t a pipe dream. The church actually can express herself organically just as she did in the first century. That said, the following letters were written by various people who have experienced organic church life in recent years. These are their impressions:

Letter 1

I never planned on leaving the old way of doing church. I wasn’t looking for a new church and couldn’t even conceive of what an organic church would look like ...

What immediately comes to mind when you hear the word ‘church’?

If you are anything like me, a whole bag of things – some wonderful, some neutral and some unhealthy.

Unfortunately the unhealthy and negative connotations have some elements of truth to them.  For instance, how often have you talked with someone who is open to following Jesus, but who is not interested in being part of a church (usually driven by their previous experiences)?

For the first Christians, church meant a Jesus-centered community on a common mission. Built around the oikos – or extended household – these were flexible, vibrant communities of faith, where Jesus was followed and glorified in the everyday realities of life.  The key glue was Holy Spirit infused relationships with one another.  This meant that friends, neighbors, colleagues and family could easily be folded in, as they experienced for themselves the Kingdom of God in their local context.

The problem came with the institutionalization of the church.  Dynamic body-life was increasingly exchanged for (clerical) control, centralization and complacency.  Jim Palmer has produced a fantastic summary list of 10 Implied Messages of Institutional Church – quick to read, far longer to transform.

We are excited to announce the publishing of a new book in Russian - Reimagining the Church by Frank Viola. The book will be available in April, but until then we would like to share with you some excerpts to give you a taste of the book.

The Bible draws a careful distinction between Christ’s headship and His Lordship. Throughout the New Testament, the headship of Christ virtually always has in view the Lord’s relationship with His body (Eph. 1:22–23; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:19). The lordship of Christ virtually always has in view His relationship with His individual disciples (Matt. 7:21–22; 10:24–25; Luke 6:46).

What lordship is to the individual, headship is to the church. Headship and lordship are two dimensions of the same thing. Headship islordship worked out in the corporate lives of God’s people.

By Brian Anderson

The traditional Protestant worship service today strongly resembles a show business performance. In both we find ushers, programs, music, costumes, lighting, a chorus, a stage, a script, an audience, and a master of ceremonies. (Christian Smith, Going To The Root, Herald Press, p.88.) The congregation sits passively as the audience while the pastor performs. When the congregation is permitted to participate in the meeting, they are restricted to singing in unison, antiphonal readings, dropping money into the offering plate, and taking notes during the sermon. The ordained clergy are expected to perform all significant ministry. Meanwhile, ninety-nine percent of God's people attend worship services Sunday after Sunday for years on end, without ever contributing any true spiritual ministry to the body of gathered believers.

Whenever I read through the gospels I am amazed at how little Jesus said about the church. Only Matthew records him even using the word and then only twice. Why didn't he tell his followers more about how to organize a church, run its ministries and plan its services?

I think I know why. He didn't talk about it is because he was too involved living it. He became a friend to Zaccheus, James, John, Peter, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Nicodemus, a rejected woman at a well who remained nameless and countless others that came into his proximity. Look at the ways he engaged them, built relationships with them centered in the Father's love and served them with no thought for himself. That was the power of his kingdom and the secret to living in the joy of his family. "I no longer call you servants... I have called you friends," (John 15:15) and in that simple declaration Jesus identified for all time the nature of the relationship God has always desired with those he created-intimate friendship.

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).

Let us begin with a very important fact. The goal of the site is not to criticize traditional or institutional churches. Yes, some of the articles make comparisons and some of the writers do strongly question traditional practices. However, those of us who have created this site did so for several reasons: