[About your book] I really loved it and recommended it to everyone in our organic home church. We've had to miss a few meetings due to two families vacations but we came together tonight and briefly discussed it. Three people didn't finish it yet and they have printed it out on paper to finish reading it instead of on the computer for when we next meet.
I must say that your perspective filled in a few gaps missing from all the other works I've read so far. No one can completely cover any subject about Yahweh so I enjoyed your explanations and insights tremendously.
Anyway, thank you for your service to God and the work you do. Whether we ever meet in person here on this side of Heaven or not until the other side, I'm glad to be serving with you I this.
Michael Cooper
**
DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK VERSION OF "THIS IS MY BODY: EKKLESIA AS GOD INTENDED"
HERE
**
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
READER REACTION: Paul Luttrell
I finished your book, and loved what you had to say. As I read, I could not help but think of all the people I know who would benefit greatly from your thoughts.
After receiving it from you Thursday night, I was 1/2 way finished by 5:30 the next morning.
Don't stop "bringing it" to us.
-Paul Luttrell
After receiving it from you Thursday night, I was 1/2 way finished by 5:30 the next morning.
Don't stop "bringing it" to us.
-Paul Luttrell
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Reader Reaction from South Africa
Hi Keith
In South Africa I'm finding extremely limited amount of resources in regard to organic/simple church. Thank you so much for your ebook (This Is My Body:Ekklesia as God Intended). It has affirmed so much in my own heart and it is a great resource. What I enjoyed about it is the manner in which you condensed and affirmed much of what Frank Viola and Felicity Dale have said in this regard. I'm referring others to this book for this reason.
If I may add some thoughts out of my reading this morning from Matt.9:14-17. If organic/simple church is a new wine, it would explain why existing church structures cannot contain the fermentation of this new wine. The existing structures have already been stretched, possibly to their limit. They have the inability to contain this new wine due to their inflexibility. Because the structures are already in place, there would be no accommodation for this type of flexibility and unpredictability of organic church.
There will be those who would try to accommodate this idea - they would be a type of reformer where they would just move the furniture around in the same house. They would not have a revolutionary mindset where an entirely new house needs to be built.
I came across a saying a while ago; "Man's idea, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
I hope you don't mind me sending you this via email. I'm one of your 'silent' followers on Twitter and regularly receive your blog post. You will not know how much your thoughts are valued.
Blessings,
Your name sake
Keith McLachlan
KwaZulu Natal, Africa
In South Africa I'm finding extremely limited amount of resources in regard to organic/simple church. Thank you so much for your ebook (This Is My Body:Ekklesia as God Intended). It has affirmed so much in my own heart and it is a great resource. What I enjoyed about it is the manner in which you condensed and affirmed much of what Frank Viola and Felicity Dale have said in this regard. I'm referring others to this book for this reason.
If I may add some thoughts out of my reading this morning from Matt.9:14-17. If organic/simple church is a new wine, it would explain why existing church structures cannot contain the fermentation of this new wine. The existing structures have already been stretched, possibly to their limit. They have the inability to contain this new wine due to their inflexibility. Because the structures are already in place, there would be no accommodation for this type of flexibility and unpredictability of organic church.
There will be those who would try to accommodate this idea - they would be a type of reformer where they would just move the furniture around in the same house. They would not have a revolutionary mindset where an entirely new house needs to be built.
I came across a saying a while ago; "Man's idea, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
I hope you don't mind me sending you this via email. I'm one of your 'silent' followers on Twitter and regularly receive your blog post. You will not know how much your thoughts are valued.
Blessings,
Your name sake
Keith McLachlan
KwaZulu Natal, Africa
Sunday, June 26, 2011
UnInstitutional by Jon Zens (Guest Article)
We expect the proliferation of institutions and hierarchies in the human realm — business, government, the military, education. But there is no place for such things in the Lord’s ekklesia because it is not a human organization. It is a spiritual temple whose Builder and Maker is Christ.
Probably most of us have been part of some group in school, college, church or society that started out with excitement and verve, but after a period of time ended up in stagnancy and micro-management. The members found themselves maintaining the shell when in fact the original vibrancy was gone.
Bob Lupton makes some astute observations along these lines in his article, “The Cycle of Life.” However, there is one fatal flaw in the article: he assumes that when a group moves from its organic beginnings to its institutionalization that it somehow always remains organic. Not so. Becoming established as an institution is a retrogression that kills organic life. Listen carefully to what Bob says:
The Western church is in such a decline. Viewed against the backdrop of history, however, the current demise of denominations is predictable. In time, all institutions follow a similar pattern. They begin as fresh movements, new and exciting, abundant with vision and creativity. But in order to survive, a movement must development structural strength – mission statement, doctrinal distinctives, leadership structure, decision-making processes.
Vigorous change takes place during this organizational phase as a seedling becomes established, sinking its roots and spreading its branches. Staff are hired, budgets are created, policies are instituted, goals and objectives are set, property is purchased. As the organization matures it becomes a source of security for its employees. Health insurance, vacation pay, cost of living raises, retirement benefits are negotiated. Gradually the mission shifts from the founding visionaries to hired employees and with each subsequent ring of management the passion that originally inspired the movement becomes slightly diluted. Marketing, management, and funding consume increasing amounts of organizational energy. With its own sturdy root system, it now commands its fair share of sunlight and space on the forest floor.
By the time the organization enters the institutional phase of its development, it is fully vested in its own self-preservation. Instead of a movement spending itself on behalf of a noble cause, it has become a respectable institution consumed with preserving its own viability and legacy. It may still use the same stirring language of its past movement days, and it may still perform important work, but it spends the lion’s share of its energy on buildings, communication systems, internal politics and self-promotion to ensure its longevity. Good stewardship demands its preservation. It is the way of all institutions” (Bob Lupton, “Cycle of Life,” September, 2010, http://fcsministries.org/urban-perspectives/page/2/).
I think an overview of human history would justify the observation that people have a propensity to move from simple beginnings to bureaucratic mazes at the end of the day. This is certainly what occurred as history moved on from the early church to the post-apostolic church.
Take the Lord’s Supper, for example. What began as believers remembering the Lord in a simple meal morphed into a complicated liturgical “sacrament” which had to be officiated by a specially ordained religious person. Emil Brunner documented many such occasions where simplicity was overtaken by complexity in The Misunderstanding of the Church (1952).
James D.G. Dunn noted that “increasing institutionalism is the clearest mark of early Catholicism,” and that “such features were absent from first generation Christianity, though in the second generation the picture was beginning to change” (Unity & Diversity in the New Testament, Westminster Press, 1977, p. 351). Bob Lupton suggests that “in order to survive, a movement must development structural strength – mission statement, doctrinal distinctives, leadership structure, decision-making processes.” These are the crucial questions we must face: Must the communal life of Christ in believers be institutionalized in order to survive? Was the movement from early church simplicity to later church bureaucracy inevitable and good, or a terrible distortion and tragedy?
The truth is that in our practice we have tried to institutionalize the living Christ. That which is organic cannot thrive in an institutional environment. The DNA does not match. Of course, it must be said that there are people in many church-institutions who are expressions of the living Christ. But the living Christ is not a fit for institutional structures. It would be like hoping that an orchid would flourish in a barren desert, or that a cactus would do well in a rainforest.
If we believe that the simplicity of Christ is truth worth continuing, then we must resist our tendency toward institutionalism with every fiber of our being. If believers were satisfied with Jesus Christ alone, institutions wouldn’t have a chance of taking over.
Frederick Buechner pointed out that churches could learn a lot from support groups like AA. They do not own buildings and have virtually no overhead. “They make you wonder,” he went on to say, “if the best thing that could happen to many a church might not be to have its building burn down and to lose all its money. Then all that the people would have left would be God and each other” (cited in my A Church Building Every ½ Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick? 2008, p.72).
Mary Pipher perceptively noted, “Too often [health] institutions are about the needs of the institution, not of the patients” (Another Country, 2000, p. 167). Jesus did not come to start another religious institution with every candle and pulpit in its proper place. By giving his life in crucifixion, taking his life back in resurrection, returning to Father by his ascension, and pouring out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost – he assured that his people would express his life in them as the Body of Christ on earth – organically, not as an institution.
– Jon Zens
**
Originally appeared on Jon Zens' personal blog. Republished here with permission.
Visit Jon's blog
HERE
Probably most of us have been part of some group in school, college, church or society that started out with excitement and verve, but after a period of time ended up in stagnancy and micro-management. The members found themselves maintaining the shell when in fact the original vibrancy was gone.
Bob Lupton makes some astute observations along these lines in his article, “The Cycle of Life.” However, there is one fatal flaw in the article: he assumes that when a group moves from its organic beginnings to its institutionalization that it somehow always remains organic. Not so. Becoming established as an institution is a retrogression that kills organic life. Listen carefully to what Bob says:
The Western church is in such a decline. Viewed against the backdrop of history, however, the current demise of denominations is predictable. In time, all institutions follow a similar pattern. They begin as fresh movements, new and exciting, abundant with vision and creativity. But in order to survive, a movement must development structural strength – mission statement, doctrinal distinctives, leadership structure, decision-making processes.
Vigorous change takes place during this organizational phase as a seedling becomes established, sinking its roots and spreading its branches. Staff are hired, budgets are created, policies are instituted, goals and objectives are set, property is purchased. As the organization matures it becomes a source of security for its employees. Health insurance, vacation pay, cost of living raises, retirement benefits are negotiated. Gradually the mission shifts from the founding visionaries to hired employees and with each subsequent ring of management the passion that originally inspired the movement becomes slightly diluted. Marketing, management, and funding consume increasing amounts of organizational energy. With its own sturdy root system, it now commands its fair share of sunlight and space on the forest floor.
By the time the organization enters the institutional phase of its development, it is fully vested in its own self-preservation. Instead of a movement spending itself on behalf of a noble cause, it has become a respectable institution consumed with preserving its own viability and legacy. It may still use the same stirring language of its past movement days, and it may still perform important work, but it spends the lion’s share of its energy on buildings, communication systems, internal politics and self-promotion to ensure its longevity. Good stewardship demands its preservation. It is the way of all institutions” (Bob Lupton, “Cycle of Life,” September, 2010, http://fcsministries.org/urban-perspectives/page/2/).
I think an overview of human history would justify the observation that people have a propensity to move from simple beginnings to bureaucratic mazes at the end of the day. This is certainly what occurred as history moved on from the early church to the post-apostolic church.
Take the Lord’s Supper, for example. What began as believers remembering the Lord in a simple meal morphed into a complicated liturgical “sacrament” which had to be officiated by a specially ordained religious person. Emil Brunner documented many such occasions where simplicity was overtaken by complexity in The Misunderstanding of the Church (1952).
James D.G. Dunn noted that “increasing institutionalism is the clearest mark of early Catholicism,” and that “such features were absent from first generation Christianity, though in the second generation the picture was beginning to change” (Unity & Diversity in the New Testament, Westminster Press, 1977, p. 351). Bob Lupton suggests that “in order to survive, a movement must development structural strength – mission statement, doctrinal distinctives, leadership structure, decision-making processes.” These are the crucial questions we must face: Must the communal life of Christ in believers be institutionalized in order to survive? Was the movement from early church simplicity to later church bureaucracy inevitable and good, or a terrible distortion and tragedy?
The truth is that in our practice we have tried to institutionalize the living Christ. That which is organic cannot thrive in an institutional environment. The DNA does not match. Of course, it must be said that there are people in many church-institutions who are expressions of the living Christ. But the living Christ is not a fit for institutional structures. It would be like hoping that an orchid would flourish in a barren desert, or that a cactus would do well in a rainforest.
If we believe that the simplicity of Christ is truth worth continuing, then we must resist our tendency toward institutionalism with every fiber of our being. If believers were satisfied with Jesus Christ alone, institutions wouldn’t have a chance of taking over.
Frederick Buechner pointed out that churches could learn a lot from support groups like AA. They do not own buildings and have virtually no overhead. “They make you wonder,” he went on to say, “if the best thing that could happen to many a church might not be to have its building burn down and to lose all its money. Then all that the people would have left would be God and each other” (cited in my A Church Building Every ½ Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick? 2008, p.72).
Mary Pipher perceptively noted, “Too often [health] institutions are about the needs of the institution, not of the patients” (Another Country, 2000, p. 167). Jesus did not come to start another religious institution with every candle and pulpit in its proper place. By giving his life in crucifixion, taking his life back in resurrection, returning to Father by his ascension, and pouring out his Spirit on the day of Pentecost – he assured that his people would express his life in them as the Body of Christ on earth – organically, not as an institution.
– Jon Zens
**
Originally appeared on Jon Zens' personal blog. Republished here with permission.
Visit Jon's blog
HERE
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Steven G. Owen Responds to My Book
Keith, thank you for presenting how the New Testament church is supposed to function, in a way that the Lord originally ordained. Using the Old Testament references and tying them into the New Testament in showing how God always intended to build his church was great.
I have a great appreciation for what the Lord is doing in his church and your book is a great tool for those who want know more about the Body of Christ.
There is definitely a voice on the hill declaring the truth and you are one of them.
Thank you,
Steven G. Owen
I have a great appreciation for what the Lord is doing in his church and your book is a great tool for those who want know more about the Body of Christ.
There is definitely a voice on the hill declaring the truth and you are one of them.
Thank you,
Steven G. Owen
Friday, June 24, 2011
CRAIGSLIT AD: CHURCH GOING OUT OF BUSINESS
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS
The Christian Church in America is (finally) going out of business.
EVERYTHING MUST GO!
The Christian Church needs to liquidate all worldly assets including:
*The pulpit
*The building
*The giant screen plasma televisions
*Even the pastor!
DETAILS:
WHEN: As soon as the Christian Church realizes that God doesn’t live in temples built by human hands. (Acts 17:24)
WHY: Because every believer is already the living temple of God and priests in His Kingdom. (1 Peter 2:5)
HOW: By the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
For more information, download a free e-book
HERE
“When the Greeks got the Gospel, they turned it into a philosophy; when the Romans got it, they turned it into a government; when the Europeans got it, they turned it into a culture; and when the Americans got it, they turned it into a business.”
– Richard Halverson
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