I recently read a book by Thom Rainer - Simple Church. Like most books there are things you agree with and like and things you don't. I am convinced - and was before reading the book - that we have complicated how we "do" church. I have believed for years that we need to be intentional and simple in our church form and function. Rainer is huge on this, as the title might tell you. My conviction for sometime has been that as churches we have programs - sometimes many, many programs and events - but no real process.
By process I mean gradual steps of change that lead to a certain result. In the context of a missional church process I am thinking of moving people to be missional individuals. The obvious is that when we have a body of missional individuals, we have a missional church. I think of Jesus and the first disciples - He did not gather them together as missional followers - he led them through a process. That process took them from being fishermen, tax collectors... to being missional individuals who were "making disciples" and "teaching them". In turn those who heard the message of the disciples and believed also made disciples and taught them - and on and on until - I heard the gospel and believed.
So, what will New City's process look like?
As I think about this in light of the ministry of Jesus and those first disciples I see many of the elements that Drew Goodmanson's blog - Triperspectival Ecclesiology - Being the Church as Corporate, Intimate & Group talks about. There are the large gatherings where Jesus taught his close disciples as well as the multitudes. There was an attractional element to Jesus - and hopefully there still is! While corporate gatherings will be Christ centered, I hope that because they are also culturally relevant and engaging - they will also have a certain attractiveness to those apart from Christ.
We will develop home gatherings which will be much more intimate. Jesus spent much time with a small group of followers. These were much more intimate times. These were times a deeper instruction and application - this was the place that disciples were truly made. This small group prayed together, ate together, worshipped together, and did life together. They also did mission (situational) together. So our home gatherings will take on the same characteristics. They will be places of disciple making and teaching. They will be intimate gatherings of people living out their faith. And as they do, they will (by intentional implementation) take on local mission/service projects in the downtown area.
We will also encourage/investigate/always put forward culturally engaging situational opportunities for our people - as an example: round table discussion at a local pub.
The forms will serve to fulfill a process - the process is make disciples/teach disciples/send out disciples to do the same.
In this process we will indeed see the gospel transformation of ourselves, our church, our city and our world (thanks for wording that Sojourn Louisville)
