I've had a few conversations with family and friends concerning what kind of church life my family is involved in these days. As most of you are aware of changes we made back in March of this year. If you aren't aware of them or need a reminder CLICK HERE and read the Thoughts On Church section.
Frank Viola is one of several authors who write on the subjects of God's Eternal Purpose, Organic Church, and Radical Church Restoration, among other things. Because he has years of experience at writing about it, living in it, and sharing it with others...he is very good at communicating it in ways that are clear and to the point, yet filled with grace and love.
One of his latest articles communicating the differences between "organic" church life and "organizational" church is very good and available in a PDF file HERE. It was written for Neue magazine. As you and I both know the term "organic" is being tossed around and attached to so many different things it difficult to know exactly what people mean when they use it. This article does a great job of expressing exactly what is meant when the word "organic" is used to describe church life.
So if you would like another example of what my family is doing and what we are pursuing, I suggest reading the article by Frank Viola, "Organizational vs. Organic". As I mentioned in my previous post, this is one of those things that has come into focus for us.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!
In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The Journey
I've been reading back over some of my previous posts. Some are good (my humble opinion) and some are not so good (again my opinion). As I read some of them I think to myself, "Man, you really were growing/learning some stuff then and it shows." But then there are other post that I read and I think to myself, "Man, you were learning stuff, but you didn't have all the pieces of that puzzle when you made that post." And this is true.I hope you (the faithful few readers/followers of re:Think) have been or are able to see a journey. For me it has been a process of growth and learning, questioning, searching, stumbling, and discovery. I have shared my struggles with faith, life, God, church life, death, friends, family and a few other things here.
I plan to continue to do so. BUT, I hope and plan for this blog to become more focused. The reason for this shift in bloginess (yes that is a word...now) is that I believe my life, as well as my family's life has become more focused over the past year. Truth be told this "coming into focus" thing is something that happens in all of our lives as we grow and gain more or better understandings of things. Most likely there will be changes made to the blog, some changes have already happened. These changes are being made to the blog because of a significant change/development in my life and my family's life, which I hope to communicate here over the course of years to come.
Thank you so much for being a part of this journey. I hope you will continue to journey with me. I really hope you share your input by commenting along the way.
And so...the journey continues.........
In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Radical Church Restoration: A Review by David Flowers
You may have noticed my list of "Books Worth Reading" has been updated recently. You may also notice the majority of these books are books by Frank Viola. What you may not be aware of is that these books were written as a series on Radical Church Restoration. With the September release of "Finding Organic Church," the series is now complete.
I have wanted to say something about these books for a long time, but do not consider myself to be very adept in "book reviewing." But do not fear! There are those who possess this rare ability and have graciously shared their talent with the masses at various points in history. One such person is David D. Flowers. Mr. Flowers, who has his own blog, has recently posted a most beneficial review of the entire series on said blog. His review may also be found in the customer reviews for the book "Finding Organic Church."
I highly recommend the entire series as it has been the most impacting set of books in my life. To get a better understanding of what the series is about, read the review by David D. Flowers. To order the complete series at a deep discount (along with audio CDs from Frank Viola) visit the ReChurch Library on Frank Viola's website. I would also suggest following Frank Viola's very own blog, where he discusses organic church, the centrality & supremacy of Jesus, and various other topics relevant to the eternal purpose of God and the Church.
In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.
I have wanted to say something about these books for a long time, but do not consider myself to be very adept in "book reviewing." But do not fear! There are those who possess this rare ability and have graciously shared their talent with the masses at various points in history. One such person is David D. Flowers. Mr. Flowers, who has his own blog, has recently posted a most beneficial review of the entire series on said blog. His review may also be found in the customer reviews for the book "Finding Organic Church."
I highly recommend the entire series as it has been the most impacting set of books in my life. To get a better understanding of what the series is about, read the review by David D. Flowers. To order the complete series at a deep discount (along with audio CDs from Frank Viola) visit the ReChurch Library on Frank Viola's website. I would also suggest following Frank Viola's very own blog, where he discusses organic church, the centrality & supremacy of Jesus, and various other topics relevant to the eternal purpose of God and the Church.
In Pursuit of God's Purpose and Passion.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Frank Viola Writes About "Postchurch" Thoughts
Recently Frank Viola wrote an article that was featured on Christianity Today's blog, Out of Ur, that deals with a "new" mentality (and vocabulary) being expressed by some who have left the institutional church system. I found this article to be very helpful for me and those I gather with.
One of the reasons I found it to be so helpful is because Frank addresses some of the very things we went through at one point in time. Some of the language being used as well as some of the thoughts or ideas that Frank argues against in his article were some of the very thoughts and language that we either were wrestling with or actually using in our conversations early on in our journey outside of the institutional church. As we have been processing through this journey we have prayed, read, gathered together, talked and examined so much. It is such a blessing to have others who have been on this journey longer, who have more experience in it, and who are willing to share what they've learned and are continuing to learn along the way.
So I figured, if we struggled with this there are probably others struggling with this as well and would benefit from hearing what Frank has brought to the table. You can find his published article in two parts. Part one is HERE and part two is HERE. You can find the entire article, prior to being edited for publishing HERE (this is a PDF file).
For those of you who are on this journey, I would encourage you to seek the Lord about what His purpose is and what His passion is for because in finding His purpose and passion we will find our purpose and what we should be passionate about as well.
Desiring to be a living stone, built together with other living stones for God's purpose and passion,
Tob
One of the reasons I found it to be so helpful is because Frank addresses some of the very things we went through at one point in time. Some of the language being used as well as some of the thoughts or ideas that Frank argues against in his article were some of the very thoughts and language that we either were wrestling with or actually using in our conversations early on in our journey outside of the institutional church. As we have been processing through this journey we have prayed, read, gathered together, talked and examined so much. It is such a blessing to have others who have been on this journey longer, who have more experience in it, and who are willing to share what they've learned and are continuing to learn along the way.
So I figured, if we struggled with this there are probably others struggling with this as well and would benefit from hearing what Frank has brought to the table. You can find his published article in two parts. Part one is HERE and part two is HERE. You can find the entire article, prior to being edited for publishing HERE (this is a PDF file).
For those of you who are on this journey, I would encourage you to seek the Lord about what His purpose is and what His passion is for because in finding His purpose and passion we will find our purpose and what we should be passionate about as well.
Desiring to be a living stone, built together with other living stones for God's purpose and passion,
Tob
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A New Way To Live
A while back I said I would hopefully give an update in regards to where we are (as a family) spiritually speaking and what we are up to these days. So at long last, here it is.
(For ease of communicating and for clarification purposes please note that the word Church with a capital "C" is speaking of the Church or Body of Christ as a whole meaning the people of God, the word church with a lower-case "c" is speaking of buildings, institutions, and/or organizations. There is no derogatory intention in making this distinction, just trying to communicate as clearly as possible. Thanks for understanding and sharing in grace.)
Our Family's Journey
In March 2009, my family and I stepped away from the mentality and lifestyle of going to church to wholeheartedly pursue community life. Some people call it Simple Church/Organic Church/House Church. In fact we used those terms early on in this journey because it was the only terminology known to us at the time. Now we don't really call it anything, we just strive to live it out as a new way of life.
What does this new life look like?
Here are a few brief descriptions to get the wheels turning:
So, you've started a new church in Altus, you're just calling it something different like house church or organic church right?
The answer to that question is a resounding, NO!
As I said before, in some of our earlier days we used terminology like house church or organic church because those were the only terms that were known to us at the time. We are seeking to live out this new life of being the Church. We don't believe we are starting anything new because the Church in Altus already exists. It has been around for a long time. The Church in Altus can be found in various places around town, as has been the case for decades. Some of the places you can find the Church in Altus would include places like the Protestant churches and Catholic churches around town. I would dare say you could probably find the Church in Altus in homes, on golf courses, in stores and at restaurants. My point is this, every true follower of Jesus here in Altus, regardless of how they do church life is part of the Church in Altus, and the Church in Altus was here long before we got here and will, no doubt, be here long after we are gone. We are seeking to live out this new life (new mentality and lifestyle) of being the Church in a shared community life.
What were some of your reasons for stepping away from what you were doing to pursue this?
My family and I started to experience the fulfillment of a longing that was deep within us when we started gathering with other followers of Jesus outside of church services and events (read the "Thoughts On Church" section HERE). The longing is to share community life centered around Jesus and his purpose in our lives with other followers of Jesus. When we started to experience this it was like finding a part of us that had been missing all along. The impact of living a shared community life was changing our lives in ways we had not experienced before.
One of the other things we started noticing is that we also started connecting with people who didn't attend any type of church for various reasons; Either their work schedules didn't allow them the time to attend, or they had a bad experience in a church they went to in the past, or they just had no interest in attending a church at all. Most of them still had a desire to connect with God and other followers of Jesus, but felt like they were out on their own with very few options available to them to help make those connections. There were also a few who were still attending church, but who were very discontent with the status quo and wanted something different, something more. As we began to share what was happening in our lives it made a connection with a longing in their hearts to be a part of something like what we were describing.
Through many conversations and prayers, we believe the Lord was and still is leading us to live out this new mentality and lifestyle of being the Church, living our lives in community with other followers of Jesus, helping those who can't or won't attend church to connect with God and with other followers of Jesus, and helping those who feel like they are out there on their own to realize they are not alone and they can experience God and community life with other followers of Jesus, even outside of the four walls of church.
There's more I can share and will hopefully make the time to do so here in the near future. In the meantime, if you'd like to read something related to this new way of living, you should check out "A Way To Do Life -- Not A Way To Do Church" by Roger Thoman at SimpleChurch Journal.
Live the Revolution. Be the Church.
(For ease of communicating and for clarification purposes please note that the word Church with a capital "C" is speaking of the Church or Body of Christ as a whole meaning the people of God, the word church with a lower-case "c" is speaking of buildings, institutions, and/or organizations. There is no derogatory intention in making this distinction, just trying to communicate as clearly as possible. Thanks for understanding and sharing in grace.)
------------------------------
Our Family's Journey
In March 2009, my family and I stepped away from the mentality and lifestyle of going to church to wholeheartedly pursue community life. Some people call it Simple Church/Organic Church/House Church. In fact we used those terms early on in this journey because it was the only terminology known to us at the time. Now we don't really call it anything, we just strive to live it out as a new way of life.
What does this new life look like?
Here are a few brief descriptions to get the wheels turning:
- We believe we are all called as ministers unto the Lord and each other, each of us has the opportunity to live that truth out when we are together, using the gifts God has given us through the Holy Spirit. As a result, there are no distinctions between ministers and non-ministers. There are no paid salaries, professional ministers, or staff.
- We are a community of Jesus followers, seeking to gather under the headship of Christ, and live shared lives together.
- We believe and seek to flesh out this truth, that we, the followers of Jesus, are the Church, the body of Christ, whenever and where ever we gather together. What we do/how we live is not run like a business, and there are no buildings to maintain. We gathering simply, in homes, at restaurants, coffee shops, parks, etc.
So, you've started a new church in Altus, you're just calling it something different like house church or organic church right?
The answer to that question is a resounding, NO!
As I said before, in some of our earlier days we used terminology like house church or organic church because those were the only terms that were known to us at the time. We are seeking to live out this new life of being the Church. We don't believe we are starting anything new because the Church in Altus already exists. It has been around for a long time. The Church in Altus can be found in various places around town, as has been the case for decades. Some of the places you can find the Church in Altus would include places like the Protestant churches and Catholic churches around town. I would dare say you could probably find the Church in Altus in homes, on golf courses, in stores and at restaurants. My point is this, every true follower of Jesus here in Altus, regardless of how they do church life is part of the Church in Altus, and the Church in Altus was here long before we got here and will, no doubt, be here long after we are gone. We are seeking to live out this new life (new mentality and lifestyle) of being the Church in a shared community life.
What were some of your reasons for stepping away from what you were doing to pursue this?
My family and I started to experience the fulfillment of a longing that was deep within us when we started gathering with other followers of Jesus outside of church services and events (read the "Thoughts On Church" section HERE). The longing is to share community life centered around Jesus and his purpose in our lives with other followers of Jesus. When we started to experience this it was like finding a part of us that had been missing all along. The impact of living a shared community life was changing our lives in ways we had not experienced before.
One of the other things we started noticing is that we also started connecting with people who didn't attend any type of church for various reasons; Either their work schedules didn't allow them the time to attend, or they had a bad experience in a church they went to in the past, or they just had no interest in attending a church at all. Most of them still had a desire to connect with God and other followers of Jesus, but felt like they were out on their own with very few options available to them to help make those connections. There were also a few who were still attending church, but who were very discontent with the status quo and wanted something different, something more. As we began to share what was happening in our lives it made a connection with a longing in their hearts to be a part of something like what we were describing.
Through many conversations and prayers, we believe the Lord was and still is leading us to live out this new mentality and lifestyle of being the Church, living our lives in community with other followers of Jesus, helping those who can't or won't attend church to connect with God and with other followers of Jesus, and helping those who feel like they are out there on their own to realize they are not alone and they can experience God and community life with other followers of Jesus, even outside of the four walls of church.
There's more I can share and will hopefully make the time to do so here in the near future. In the meantime, if you'd like to read something related to this new way of living, you should check out "A Way To Do Life -- Not A Way To Do Church" by Roger Thoman at SimpleChurch Journal.
Live the Revolution. Be the Church.
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