How the other side lives

Why do I practice New Testament style church? Big subject!

Here's one approach, though: it's about as different from this as a church could be. (Read it - it's quite thought-provoking.)

• No brand.
• No 30-ft waterfalls.
• No "inspiration" about which you feel guilty later.
• No Big Chief around whom everything revolves.
• No stadium seating.
• No staffers with walkie-talkies.
  
• No commercial breaks.
  
• No CDs of the music for sale.
• No abuse of the word "awesome".
• No trouble finding a parking space.
• No tithing.
  

I'll wager that our coffee is better. He may have us beat on the hair, though. OK - he may have me beat. BUT - we have food, friends, and family-like fellowship.

PC? Spoof Commercial

HT: Jilliefl1

It's interesting how controversy makes a thing more popular than it might have been if left alone. Did that happen with this book?

BW3 on PC? PART 1

"[O]ne of the top evangelical scholars in the world," Dr. Ben Witherington III (photo left modified from BW3's site), weighed in on Pagan Christianity? here:
PAGAN CHRISTIANTY: by George Barna and Frank Viola.

Here's a taste of BW3's perspective on some of the problems with PC?:

[T]here are no such thing as ‘institutional churches’. Churches have institutions of various sorts, they aren’t institutions. Furthermore, the Bible is full of traditions and many of those developed after NT times are perfectly Biblical. It’s not really possible to draw a line in the sand between ‘Biblical principles’ and traditions. The question is which traditions comport with Biblical tradition and which do not. And there is a further problem. It is ever so dangerous to take what was normal in early Christianity as a practice, and conclude that therefore it must be normative. It may have been normal in the NT era for non-theological reasons, for example for practical reasons. (paragraph 7, original emphasis)

Read what follows on his blog, if you haven't already. Pay special attention to his description of holy or unholy spaces (paragraph 37f). Who do you agree with on this issue, BW3 or the authors of PC?? Take part in the poll at the top of the main page; it closes October 31, 2008 at 11 PM EST.

Home (Simple, Organic, New Testament, Biblical) Church Beginnings

George Barna of The Barna Group thinks that there is a Revolution happening and that North American Christianity is in for or in the midst of a change...church without church as we know it.

I became familiar with the emergent (emerging, or however it is referred to now) movement and the organic church while serving employed working as Student Ministries Director at a church, spring 2003. One of my compatriots had been reading a lot of emergent literature from many of the well known authors of late. He expressed many of the same frustrations I had through years of growing up in the church, Christian college, and into professional life as a Christian and eventually into professional ministry at a church.

Truly most frustrating are the obstacles to discipleship and increasing faith within the church. That is to say, it is exceptional to find a conventional church set-up that disciples Christians to be more like Christ than they are like the world. Perhaps, then, the rule might be that conventional church set-ups are designed to make nominal disciples. (What do you think?) The obstacles I encountered as a church employee included counter-factual accusations about (perennially) shirking responsibilities listed in the job description and (once) mismanagement of budget accounts, committees, lack of assistance (usually in the form of volunteers), squelching attempts to follow biblical imperatives, seeking a particular type of parishioner ("Those are the kind of people we want at our church; it's your job to follow up with that doctor and his wife."), marginalizing people who are "not like we are", prioritizing events over relationships, lack of love for one another, divisive votes on different superficial yet all important decisions, shrinking participation with increasing ideas for ministry teams, the stress of performing on Sunday morning, and I could go on.

After about a year of prayer, thoughtful reflection, and seeking guidance from others, I decided to leave the position. During my transition from SM Director to whatever it was God was calling me to (I didn't know what was next really), a friend approached me about giving home church a try.

That's one way to begin my story relating to home church...What's yours?

Feel free to comment and add similar stories or links to other sites and blogs here.

Link: "Simple/House Church Revolution:" Introduction

Next time: The first in a series of posts on the ever more popular, revised and updated Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna.