A little over a month ago, the church where I attend held an Organic Weekend, led by Neil Cole and the Church Multiplication Associates team.   As a church, we have embraced and been doing house churches (a.k.a. simple church, organic church, etc) for going on four years, and a lot of our foundations were based upon shared truths we discovered and found in Neil’s book the Organic Church.

For me, this training was timed nicely with a shift going on in our family’s journey with house churches, as the one we were attending had grown to fill one house, so we heard from the Lord and were preparing for multiplication into two churches, with myself helping to co-facilitate the new one.   We are currently meeting in our home, and have been this whole month.

At the training, much of what was talked wasn’t new to me, but it was great to hear from some folks that have been doing it longer than our church had and gain some new insights.   As I sat there the two days, this quote below was probably one of the key pieces of information I left with mulling over:

The Gospel is like a seed, and you have to sow it. When you sow the seed of the Gospel in Israel, a plant that can be called Jewish Christianity grows. When you sow it in Rome, a plant of Roman Christianity grows. You sow the Gospel in Great Britain and you get British Christianity. The seed of the Gospel is later brought to America, and a plant grows of American Christianity. Now, when missionaries come to our lands they brought not only the seed of the Gospel, but their own plant of Christianity, flower pot included! So, what we have to do is to break the flowerpot, take out the seed of the Gospel, sow it in our own cultural soil, and let our own version of Christianity grow.–Dr. D.T. Niles of Sri Lanka

Now, I realize that two people can read something and be impacted two completely different ways, but honestly, this is big stuff to me.   A few things jump out to me: 

1)  “The Gospel is like a seed, and you have to sow it.”   This is an area where I feel like God is teaching me a lot.   The house church model we currently follow has three parts:  Dynamic Truth, Nurturing Relationships, and Apostolic Mission (DNA).  All three pieces of the DNA work together, largely at the same time, to perform the functions of the church as God has called it (I have a post coming soon about the scriptural foundations of the DNA), and none of them can be separated from the other two.    Being a disciple means we are doing all three, together.

2)  “but they bring their own plant of Christianity, flower pot included!”  If you question this, then look at how America plants democracy.   It’s true.   As a nation, we tend to pass along not just our beliefs, but our interpretation of those beliefs as well.   And while I don’t know that is always a bad thing, I don’t know if it’s always a good thing.    The seed of the Gospel has the ability to grow anywhere it is planted, as long as God as prepared the soil.   If we try to bring our own soil with the seed, it is likely just adding layers on top of what God has prepared, causing it to take longer to take root as part of the culture, not just apart from it.

As we began preparing to facilitate a house church, this has been a big prayer of mine.    That I would let the seeds of the Gospel be planted and not worry about what the flower pot (our structure for house church time wise) looked like, but just that we are seeing the seed watered and taken care as we watched the DNA being lived out.   This new house church can look completely different from the last and still be planting those seeds.

During our trip with AIA Basketball this summer, I was given the opportunity to learn from our tour director, Coach Mo, in his environment.   Coach has been walking with God, and pouring his life into others much longer than I have been alive.   He's full of so many amazing nuggets that allowed him to share such godly truth into the lives of the men we brought on tour with us.

One of the key things I learned from Coach Mo was a model of discipleship that I feel is so well balanced for people seeking to walk with God.   Balance in today's fast-paced society can be so crazy at times, and if we are not careful, it's easy to pour ourselves out to the point where we become tired and empty - leaving us at times, vulnerable.

The model is simple:

• We have a disciple that we are pouring into
• We have a mentor/discipler that is pouring into us
• And a sojourner/friend that is walking day to day beside us.

I think if we have all three of the people in place, we will see a more biblical discipleship process take place.   Think about it.   The original disciples were being discipled by Jesus, walked beside one another, and were sent to make disciples themselves.  They were never alone in the mission they had before them.  

This model looks different for everyone, but it still works today. Marriage as a discipleship provides a "built-in" sojourner by our side at all times.   And within the house church environment, we have many chances to have relationships with disciplers/disciples.

Learning to live this model is a goal of mine, as I am not sure I think some of my circles are being occupied at all times.   That is a goal for 2009 for myself to really define what & who is in this model for me, knowing that some circles will be filled by more than a single individual.

So, you know those calls you receive that you hope never end.    The ones that are so refreshing, encouraging, and thought-provoking.  Yeah, that is how I would describe my call from Bethany six-weeks ago.   I am still thinking about what I learned from that call seeming everyday.

Now Bethany is not who you think.  Bethany is not an old girl-friend, or an old crush.  Bethany is a little town, two miles from Jerusalem, and about six weeks ago I was give a small book on her, and the significance she had in the life & ministry of Jesus Christ.   Bethany in a short summary is great model for what house church looks like, which is how Apex chooses to do ministry.

The book was written by Frank Viola, and is available here as a free download from his website.   I have also enjoyed reading his blog as some follow-up!

There are four clear verses in which Bethany's importance is displayed. 

The one which was most familiar is from the Book of Luke, 10:38-42.   The passage is Mary & Martha, where Mary chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus, and Martha spends her time hosting the King of Kings.  At the end of the passage Martha complains that Mary didn't help, but Jesus supports Mary's decision to sit at His feet.

But there's some other passages within the Gospel that I felt were significant to the story of Bethany too:

• John 11:1-44 : Lazarus' Death & Resurrection took place in Bethany
• John 12:1-8 : Jesus' would teach in the temple all day, and then go to Bethany each night for rest, encouragement, and fellowship during his last 6 days before being crucified.
• Luke 24:50-53 : Jesus went out to Bethany before ascending into heaven.

There's a lot packed into these four verses, which I would love to share, but I summarized some key points from the article, as well as some challenging thoughts for me and house churches!

1. Jesus is the center & supreme - when he came to Bethany they treated him like a king deserved to be treated.
2. We are to FEAST on His Word, and then RISE and SERVE.
3. Jesus came to Bethany because He loves us, and is our friend --- and we believe that!
4. In Bethany, Jesus gives us the command to set others free from those things binding them.

Challenges to Me:

• We must learn how to see God at work in our lives, and how to share it.
• Content-Time in house church is centered on real-life situations, led by our centeredness on Jesus.
• If we all study for content, it will allow Christ a better chance to lead.
• We must sit at Jesus' feet.  When things aren't go our way, it usually a sign Jesus is speaking to us about our issues, not someone else's.

My hope is that I will continue to learn, practice, and live in a way that mimics Bethany, both at house church, and at home.   The people in Bethany were so important to Jesus, that He spent His last six days on earth with them, my prayer is that we all are people Jesus' would spend the last six days with.