church

You know something new has become something real when TIME Magazine covers it with such a reasonable tone. Read their article There's No Pulplit Like Home.

Andrew over at Tall Skinny Kiwi gave voice to feelings of misunderstanding between numerous critics and leaders in the conventional church and the movement of churches known as "emerging church". I appreciate his encouragement to not only stay the course, but to speak up and help others understand what the movement is really all about.

Jewish human-rights activist Michael Horowitz praises — and pointedly counsels — evangelicals in How to Win Friends and Influence Culture. From among the abundance of "trees"-oriented talk aimed at Christians nowadays, it is refreshing to read such a "forest" view of their influence in the world. His view resonates with my observation that despite the many prominent examples of evil actions by those who claim the name of Christ, the quiet current of Christian influence over time has served the rest of humanity well.

Neil Cole provides a brief summary of his vision for Christians associating and collaborating in simple and effective ways he calls Organic Church in this Leadership Network interview. He is a key influence in the house-church direction I and my family have chosen.

Jason Evans posts this insightful as.it.is: Interview w/ Jim Henderson who reflects on the challenges faced by young Christian leaders, plus some other stuff. Here's an excerpt:

Young people intuitively know that using people to "fulfill their vision" is bogus and bankrupt but aren't sure what to do in its place. They feel caught in a double bind and think that the only way out is to drop out or sell out. I have a suggestion: Drop the money and the titles (if need be) and go lead anyway.

It looks like one of the key points of stress between the conventional church and the house/simple/organic church movement will center on a disagreement over what the goal and trajectory of the Christian church really is. This disagreement is rooted in diverging views of what Scripture tells us about God, ourselves, and God's purpose.

On the one hand, we have people who say they would really like others to respond to God but live as though they are convinced no more than a few actually will. On the other hand we have people who believe an ever-increasing number of people will respond to the call of God. East San Diego County pastor Mark Hoffman, in his book On Earth as it is in heaven presents from Scripture his view that Jesus' chief mission was to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. It was the center of His teaching and activity. He believes the Kingdom is for now, not later, and that it comes through Christians, not governmental power.

Although I hadn't heard or read anything of Andrew Strom when my wife and I decided to step out of the conventional church, his online book The Out of Church Christians (2003) characterizes, if somewhat imperfectly, the experience countless followers of Jesus Christ seem to have in common. My own experience and relationships support his suggestion that this is a major trend.

In his 2004 book Secrets of the Early Church he goes on to identify nine of the lies held by too many of the visible Christians today and proposes steps toward the recovery of original patterns of Christian association. In his own words, his book is "designed to deliberately shock and provoke you into looking at why we do things the way we do. It is designed to make you study and study your Bible to find the answers. It is designed to make you hungry for a different kind of Christianity - the kind that was actually invented by Jesus and the apostles in the beginning."

More of Ross Rohde's writings on the organic/simple/house/emergent church can be found Right Here on another of his blogs.

Our society has been saying for a long time that Christians ought to practice what they preach. Now the research is in and it turns out the society was right. In an interview with Christianity Today, Ron Sider talks about his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience (Baker Books, 2005) and his assessment of the current situation. Being confident that one knows something real and true is no substitute for loving humility. One word of caution in the interview falls on those of us outside the conventional church

The following is a letter from Ross Rohde to a guy named Joe attempting to explain the difference between a housechurch and the other types of churches we hear and know about. A friend named Ric Joline shared it with me.

Oh, I also found it here on Ross' blog.

Dear Joe,

It is exciting to hear your story and see what God is choosing to do through you. I rejoice with you brother.
What an interesting question "What is a housechurch"? I think I want to tackle that one by getting all the confusing terms out on the table so we can discuss them. Do you have a minute? This may take some time.