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What is Organic Church?
There are many names associated with the "organic church movement"
Some call them house churches. Some call them
organic churches. Some call them simple
churches. The name is not as important as
the function. They are rapidly multiplying,
simple communities of believers, meeting in
homes, offices, campuses, wherever God is
moving. This is the pattern common to many parts
of the globe, and is now becoming more and more
common in the U.S. as well.
They are not defined by a building, space,
time or staff. They are defined more by
who they are and how they live than by where
they meet and who their "leader" is even if they
continue to meet in a conventional building with
a traditional leader.
They are bound together by a common "DNA".
Where "DNA" is present among people, there is
church. "D" = Divine Truth
(loving God/Jesus)
"N" = Nurturing Relationships
(loving one another)
"A" = Apostolic Mission
(being on Jesus' mission)
Organic Church
By 'organic church' we mean - "without
additives"
By 'organic church' we mean - "natural"
By 'organic church' we mean - church focused
on the planting of the gospel seed into the
fertile soil of our communities and allowing God
to produce the fruit.
By 'organic church' we mean - church that is
focused on remaining connected to the vine
together allowing the sap of the Spirit to flow
through us to those around us thus impacting
their lives by our proximity to the vine while
reaching out to them.
Simple Church
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, 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.
House Church
House Church is a term sometimes used in the
way we use the term Simple or Organic Church. It can be
confusing in that:
A Simple Church may or may not meet in a
house (it can meet anywhere).
Does this mean lower quality?
Absolutely not! While no structure or format
can guarantee quality, we believe that the
small, participatory, family-like environment of
a simple, organic, house church is ideally
suited to the goal of helping people become
passionate followers of Jesus Christ who are
equipped and trained to teach others to be
followers and makers of followers.
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Organic Essence Of The Church
Luke 10:2
"Pray that
the Lord of the Harvest will send out workers into the Harvest"
Over and over Jesus used parables to teach about his
Kingdom. These parables often had an "Organic nature" to them.
The parable that best defines the Organic Essence of the church for
me is the Parable of the Sower. This parable is in fact
a foundational parable in understanding Jesus parable teaching on
the Kingdom. Through this parable we discover that the organic
essence of the church is its reproductive nature.
Mark 4:1-12 describes the farmer scattering his seed
and it landing on four different types of soils.
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The path
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Rocky places
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Among thorns
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Good Soil
In verses 13-20 he explains this
parable. It reads as follows:
"Then Jesus said to them,
'Don't you understand this parable? how then will you
understand any parable? The farmer sows the Word.
Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is
sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away
the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sow on
rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
But since they have no root, they last only a short time.
When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they
quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among
thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the
deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in
and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it,
and produce a crop - thirty, sixty or even a hundred times
what was sown."
The organic essence of the church is
its reproductive nature. From the beginning of time God
created a reproductive process by which seed would reproduce
according to their kind. In this parable it is
interesting to note the third soil. I believe that this is
where much of the church world lives today. They fill the
sanctuaries and homes across our nation but have been sterilized by
the things of this world rendering them "unfruitful" or non
reproductive. They look like plants, they smell like plants,
they have all of the markings of a fruit bearing plant minus the
fruit.
The organic essence of the church,
whether it meets in a conventional manner or in a home, is
reproduction. The fourth soil, the "good soil", is the church
at its purest. It is producing a crop - in exponential
amounts. It is when the church gets back to its organic
essence that it will change the world. Satan is not threatened
by three of the soils. It is the fourth soil that scares him
and causes him to fight so hard to deceive the church into believing
that they can continue to live in one of the other three and be
fine. Many today are deceived, believing that more people
sitting in a building is reproduction.
The heart of the Organic Church
movement is to rethink what it means to be and "do" church and to
rework the soil of our lives allowing the seed of God's word to
penetrate and naturally reproduce a crop - thirty, sixty or even a
hundred times. "For the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are
few."
"Ask the Lord of
the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field."
Let's go be the organic church
everyday, everywhere |
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