I just finished reading“The Blueprint: A Revolutionary Plan to Plant Missional Communities On Campus” by Jaeson Ma. Ma suggests that a simple church model of missional communites (aka. church) is the best model to reach collegians. He has planted over 300 missional communities on 80 plus college campuses. This model is similar to organic church and house church models. you can understand the movement better by reading Organic Church by Neil Cole. The book is practical, inspirational, and has great food for thought in terms of methodological discipleship. While the simple church movement is largely inter-denominational in nature, charismatic theological tendencies are evident throughout most of the movement according to Ma. His chapter tItles include prophetic worship, apostolic preaching (which is participatory and interactive), and demonic deliverance are just a hint of his theology. His associations include “the Call” in Nashville Tn. and IHOP ministry in St. Louis, Mo. His theology is only important for this post because it directly affects his ecclesiology. The book spends alot of time discussing the interpretation of his dreams and interpreting prophecies that his spiritual fathers/mothers have provided. While there is much to be learned by a house church movement, there is still much to be critiqued and considered.
Are simple churches the future of church? what are the dangers of simple churches?
Let’s talk about the POSSIBLE dangers of the simple church movement. We all know the statistics of declining mainline churches in America. We also have read all the conceivable church growth strategies that try to combat these declining numbers.
It may be possible that this economic crisis may lead to a new church strategy that has intentionally retaliated against the rockstar/concert style mega-church ministry. Simplicity is in, Complexity is out.
It appears to me that ecclesiastical trends seem to change with the season and they all claim the be apostolic. Ecclesiology, not culture is theological.
Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia, describes Simple Church this way: Sociologically speaking, simple church could be seen as a subset of Emerging church[8] (although many in the simple church movement would not see themselves as part of emerging church[9]), a phenomenon rising from the conversation between Christianity and the culture and worldview of postmodernism. Many in the emerging church movement would consider simple church to be represented in expressions such as house church and unique gatherings like Church in a pub.
Practically speaking, which I am a pragmatist, the average lifespan of a simple church is merely 6 months to 2 years.
Some of the concerns with simple model include leadership responsibility and polity. What are the qualifications for leaders, pastors, etc?? ...what is the leadership structure? what is the church polity? Sure, it’s easy to say biblical, but what qualifies a person to accurately interpret a biblical system without the proper training and tools to do so? I guess you could Wikipedia the greek/hebrew?
One of the greatest concerns with inadequate leadership training is the susceptibility to abuse, cultism, and heresy which invades these churches much more of a higher rate than other ecclesiastical systems according to one study.
Another practical point is this... People are simply attracted to good teaching. History proves this because crowds tend to flock toward them..ie. Billy Graham, George Whitfield, etc. or whoever your fav. teacher/preacher is... umm maybe Peter?? or Paul??
If the Word is presented only through participatory/interactive styles rather than a typical preaching style , then there is the availability to welcome Chaos and tension will build from different hermeneutical practices. Being a part of an inter denominational ministry has validated my concerns.
How is education and discipleship formed w/o any sort of structure or doctrinal statement? Under this model, seminaries are often discouraged. I know that many resources in this movement have provided sufficient answers to my concerns; while being a pragmatist, I have present what I have seen firsthand. I will allow you to decide based on your ecclesiological belief.
While organized and institutional denominations surely has it's pitfalls, we have all reaped the benefit of organizational unity and ecclesiological programs.
There is obviously a correlation between the simple church movement and postmodernism because of a refusal to propositional and pastoral authority. This may require a new posting later.
In conclusion, Jaeson Ma's simple church model would be a great model for discipleship groups rather than a church model. We are essentially taking corporate worship out of the traditional approach with simple church...if that is traditional church does her part to disciple..
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