Death to Small Groups!!!

I haven’t really been writing very much of late, and I almost passed over my blog again today.  But for all of you who subscribe through your Google Reader and those regulars who actually read and respond to some of my post, I decided that I would throw something out there for you to think about and respond.

First, I just want to throw a little side note for everyone out there.  I want you to know that often what I post up here are new ideas or things that I’ve been mulling around in my head.  I wouldn’t want anyone to assume that what I post is what I believe to be absolutely true or biblically mandated.  I started this blog as an outlet to post some ramblings and share some great resources/music.  So please always take what I say with a grain of salt, and feel free to react and respond in whatever way you see fit.  Moving right along…

I write this blog in response to a dream that I had last night.  I remember being in a room discussing the church and ministry with several fellows.  I don’t remember much of the discussion, with the exception of the following line:  “We don’t really understand community.  Community is a very Eastern concept.  We think we have the answer, but I’m afraid we’ve missed what it really means to live in community.”  I don’t remember who said this in my dream, but I kind of resonate with these words.

Yesterday, Leadership Network released an article containing a list of the “Top Kingdom Ideas”, and I must say I was disappointed in the list.  These were supposed to be the Top 10 kingdom ideas over the last decade.  I must say if these are the best ideas that reflect the kingdom, then we’ve got a really average view of the kingdom.  Surely we can come up with better new and innovative ideas than these.

One of the ideas that I want to question is the idea of community and small groups.  The last entry on the list was, “Deeper penetration and shifts in small group models (life groups, cells, etc.) into a broad variety of churches.”  Tell me something.  Hasn’t the idea of small groups, home groups, cell groups-whatever you want to call them-been around for a while now?  And yet we still are groaning about the lack of authentic community in the church.  Everyone seems to think that small groups are the answer to the problem.  But what if they not the answer.  What if the answer is something different?  What if it is something we have not thought up yet?  I titled this blog Death to Small Groups not because I think every church needs to shut down their small groups ministries.  But to really catch your attention to suggest that we might need to start at least entertaining this idea:  We may be wasting all our creative efforts on starting something that has not and may not lead us towards community in the end.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Do you agree or disagree?

What do you think about when someone says the word, community?

What’s been your best experience in a small group?

What’s the biblical definition of community?  Or better yet, can you even find the word community in the Bible?

Christian Accountability Sucks!

Mike Foster published a two part article for Conversant Life on why he doesn’t believe in Christian accountability.  You can read Part One & Part Two here.  What do you think about Mike’s thoughts?  Agree?  Disagree?

Get Ready

As much as I am disappointed that I did not get the job in Seattle, I am very excited to stay here in Dallas for the foreseeable future.  I’m stoked to remain a part of the community that God gifted to me.  I’m very excited about the passion and zeal that many of these folks possess for authentic, gospel community.  I’m excited to get back up to Dallas to get settled in for the next year.  But what I am most excited about is the smaller opportunities that God has opened for me.  This last year was a great year for me, what I call a healthy year.  However, I’m not ready to settle for what I’ve experienced up to this point.  I want more.  I want to go deeper.  I want authentic.  I don’t want to settle.  Seth Godin recently commented about settling on his blog:

Along the way, we settle.

We settle for something not quite right, or an outfit that isn’t our best look, or a job that doesn’t quite maximize our talents. We settle for relationships that don’t give us joy, or a website that’s, “good enough.”

The only way to get mediocre is one step at a time.

You don’t have to settle. It’s a choice you get to make every day.

I don’t want to settle for another year of the same stuff.  (as great as it was)  I want to see something greater, and more beautiful than what I’ve experience last year.

I can feel there’s something brewing.  I know God has me here for reason.  I can feel it just around the edge.  And I know two things that desperately need…

1) More of the Gospel

2) More people who won’t settle

Let me know if you want to join me.

De-tracking from the Gospel

What if Jesus only broke into existence through a pamphlet?  How would that have changed things?  How would that have impacted our salvation?  How would that have changed our relationship with the Father?

I would submit to you that it would have changed EVERYTHING.

I have seen, received from, and been with an unbeliever when someone handed out tracks in order to encourage them to consider Christ, or to come to church.  I witnessed this happen again today.  It deeply disturbs me every time I see someone hand out a track.  I believe that the use of tracks for evangelism is the biggest indicator of our lack of understanding of Jesus’ as the GREAT missionary.  I believe that it depersonalized Jesus to some piece of information that someone needs to read, pray the prayer at the end, and punch their “ticket” for heaven.

I believe it is very insulting to the person who receives it.  Using such a method, conveys to the unbeliever that they are really not that important.  The amount of time you spend with someone is probably the biggest indicator of expressed value.  Handing out tracks only screams out: You are not worth more of my time than this short encounter.  It also reflects how much we value the message contained in the booklet.

We must reflect on Jesus, as the GREAT missionary, to form our understanding for evangelism.  Jesus was sent to us.  Jesus lived among us.  Jesus served us.  Jesus died for us.  “Track bombing” is totally counter to the form of evangelism model by Christ.  If it was a preferred form of evangelism, Jesus should have avoided the mess of humanity, and miraculously appeared to Johannes Gutenberg in 1439.  He could have instructed him to use his revolutionary invention, the printing press, to publish as many pamphlets as possible, rather coming during the first century.

I believe Philip is an excellent model for all of us to follow as we seek to share the Gospel.  You can find his story in Acts 8:26-40 and these are the principles we can take away from this story:

1) Philip listened to the direction of the Spirit.

2) He engaged the Eunuch in conversation.

3) Philip asked questions.

4) The Eunuch invited Philip, Philip did not force his way through the conversation.

5) WHEN THE EUNUCH ASKED, Philip explained Jesus.

Weekend Update

I had quite the long couple of days this weekend.  Most of that time was occupied by studying for Greek quiz this morning.  I worked at Crooked Tree on Saturday morning, and watched quite a bit of football this weekend as well.

I had two extremely high points this weekend.  The first was getting to see one of my good buddies BJ Rector tie the knot on Saturday evening.  It was a great ceremony that was performed by one of our close friends, Zack Nigliazzo.  I got to see a ton of random people that I haven’t spoken to in a really long time, and some that I thought I would never see again.  And was privileged to attend the greatest wedding reception that I will ever attend, this will probably include my own.  We were treated to complimentary valet parking, a massive buffet that included all-you-can-eat shrimp cocktails and brisket sandwiches, free wine, and a kick ass performance by the 80s cover band, The Spazmatics (found here).  Thank you BJ & Karen for a killer party!

The other high point of the weekend was getting to participate in Northwood Church’s home makeover.  This 24 hour project took place in Haltom City, near Fort Worth.  Around 1,000 volunteers descended on four house in this low income area of Ft. Worth to completely remodel the houses of some very needy families.  Northwood has been partnering with Haltom City for several years now.

I was put in charge of remodeling the doorway to the attic.  I was not able to take a picture, though there was a gentleman taking pictures of my work.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to post those later on, if I can get my hands on those photos.  For someone who has no knowledge of how to build that out, I was pretty impressed with my work.  I think I’m going to go out and buy a table saw now.