Subscribe to Every Post:We are three months into the launch of house churches (still extremely early), and I think we are ready to take another intentional step in the right direction. Scott Jester and I learned many things from our trip to England 6 weeks ago. We are still in the midst of processing everything we learned, and I have spent some time applying some of these things in the life of my family as a first place to start.
I have communicated previously that three main areas rise to the surface for me as I think about the main takeaways from the trip. They revolve around 1) missional focus, 2) High bar discipleship and 3) Sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit. I expected to be impacted by the first one, was surprised by the second one, and was most surprised by the third one. I plan on addressing the sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit some tomorrow and next Sunday in our services.
For those in a house church at Grace, I would like to cast a little vision that is more practical in nature with regard to high bar discipleship and how meetings are organized. I think this could be a very positive step in our house church journey.
First, imagine what it would be like if everyone at Grace was being personally discipled in the faith and also was regularly reaching out to unbelievers in our world. Sounds basic, but typically this is regularly happening within only a small percentage of church goers.
Here is what this could look like within a house church setting. Instead of meeting four times a week and trying to balance all the elements of UP (relationship with God), IN (relationship with one another), and OUT (relationship with the unbelieving world), here is a suggested alternative:
Two times a month the focus would be on personal discipleship. In this setting the male mentor would meet with the male participants of the house church, and the female mentor would meet with the female participants. The mentor would challenge, encourage, hold accountable, and nurture each participant in the area of spiritual growth.
This would be areas such as the biblical disciplines, family life, sexual purity, personal applications of UP, IN, OUT, and many other areas of Christian integrity and what it means to live a Spirit-led life. Over time this would lead the group to greater degrees of vulnerability, authenticity, and deeper applications of what it truly means to follow Christ in all areas of life.
The men and women could meet at different host homes the same night, a different night, or at the same host home but in different rooms. There are many ways it could be accomplished, but the point is that every member of the house church is being discipled by the mentor twice a month in this kind of setting.
The other two meetings a month would be opportunities to focus predominantly on the OUT as a larger group together. This may include an outreach event, doing something more social and inviting others, more focused prayer for the lost, etc. The sky is the limit, but the point is that two meetings a month are centered on the OUT, and they are the only two times the whole group meets together.
One may ask, if two meetings a month are focused on UP (discipleship) and two meetings a month are focused on OUT (outreach), then when does the IN take place? The IN is the most natural of the three and almost always flows from the establishing of relationships. If people are truly being discipled and are opening up and getting personal, and if people are serving next to each other in the attempt of reaching out, the IN will be the easiest of the three. It will happen as a byproduct of the other two. In fact, if people are getting closer to each other due to the increase in personal interaction, it will create even more IN opportunities than ever before.
Moving in this direction doesn’t mean the group never does a study together or the group never organizes its meetings differently for a season, but this kind of structure as a routine diet and norm could be instrumental in preserving the UP,IN, OUT focus.
If a house church spent two meetings a month on discipleship, two meetings a month on outreach, and if IN occurred as a natural byproduct, every house church member would be in a position to experience the power of life transformation. Could you imagine every church-goer discipled, involved in outreach, and also loving one another through it all? Wow, I would love to be a part of something like that!
I encourage your house church to discuss this kind of a new format perhaps beginning in September.