| CHAPTER TWO: A Great Commission Vision for the Church
CHAPTER TWO: A Great Commission Vision for The Church
Chapter 2 A Great Commission Vision for the Church If we are going to have effective church planters making up our teams, they need to come out of churches whose hearts beat for Christ's ultimate purpose: filling the land with the Gospel of Jesus Christ until ultimately "the Kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever". Revelation 11:15 There is a danger today for the church to loose sight of its calling. Church Growth, meeting felt needs, marketing the church, deeper holiness, charismatic gifting, revival, the Toronto blessing, etc, etc all vie for attention. Yet Jean Vanier in his book Community and Growth says "the community which exists for itself will die". There is a danger that the church will loose sight of God's calling and substitute its own, self-centered calling. House churches are no less susceptible than others to the pressures the evil one brings to rob the church of her heritage rather than to be what our Lord has called us to be and do what we can only do through His sustaining grace and power. And what is it that Has called us to be and do? He has called us to be His people, His vanguard through whom He will return to usher in His Kingdom. How we look forward to the day when "the Kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15). And when will this be? "And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). It has always been easier for the church to substitute maintenance programs which serve the existing saints than do the work of extending the kingdom. In this chapter we will focus on how the early church acted upon this call, an example from more recent times which can be an encouragement to us, and finally an outline for us to respond to the Great Commission calling in our day. This vision needs to undergird everything we do, or we are likely to find that church planters alone are the only "keepers of the flame". Indeed the churches we plant must constantly have this vision before them: Reproducing churches which are sending out teams that are reproducing are essential to the great commission. The Early Church The early church established by the apostles had no difficulty understanding God's call upon them. We are familiar with the Great Commission given in Matthew 28:18-20: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The church had her orders: expand, reproduce, fill the land. The strategy is implemented in the book of Acts. Acts 1:8 "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria even to the ends of the earth." The implementation began in Acts 2 with the day of Pentecost, but really picked up steam when the persecuted church scattered (Cf. Acts 8:1-4). Who were these scattered ones? It is explicitly stated that the apostles remained behind in Jerusalem (v.1). (So much for those who state Acts 1:8 and Mt. 28:18-20 were commands given only to the apostles!). It was the church that scattered??every day people like you and me! Many probably went back to their hometowns from which they had come perhaps as far back as that first Pentecost Passover. Others probably went to where they had family or other connections. Likely many used the pattern which the Lord had used with the apostles and went out two by two to the towns and villages thus functioning as the first church planting teams of the new era. And what do we suppose they did? They shared the good news. When their relatives, friends and acquaintances heard and saw what the Lord was doing, many responded positively to the invitation to become part of His Kingdom. The "ekklesia" would gather in homes sharing the simple meal together as well as the stories of their Savior which they had heard from the apostles. Philip preached to the Samaritans (8:5-16) in fulfillment of the Lord's command in Acts 1:8, and Peter later opened the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10). But it is these nameless scattered folk from the Jerusalem church which reached out into the areas of Judea and Samaria and ultimately started the first church made up primarily of Gentiles (11:19-21). We ought not to be surprised that it is from here that the team of Barnabas and Paul are sent evangelize the gentiles. The sending out of Barnabas and Paul (Acts 13:1-4) seems to us to be a watershed, a quantum leap forward. But is it really? We need to keep in mind that the writer, Luke, is trying to recount how the early church fulfilled its mandate by carrying the gospel to the ends of the earth. He is detailing how this occurred primarily through the avenue he personally witnessed, Paul, through whom he came to faith and with whom he traveled until they finally reached the capital of the Gentile world. Luke concludes his story having fulfilled his purpose, expanding on how the church carried out Acts 1:8. In fact the sending out of Barnabas and Paul as an apostolic team was not a quantum leap forward, as important as it was. Rather it was the natural continuation of the pattern employed by the Lord Jesus with his disciples (a prototype?type of the apostolic band) and carried out during the persecution of Acts 8 through which the Antioch church was begun (Acts 11:19-21). When Paul and Barnabas split up, they went out as two apostolic bands (Acts 15:37-40). In the early church these apostolic bands (or teams of church planters) proliferated. From some of Paul's letters we can see that not all of them were good! But he doesn't claim that his band is the only one or that all others are not genuine. This would seem to show that such bands were not uncommon. This would also help explain the phenomenal expansion of the early church. It seems that the normal pattern of the early church was that followers were instructed in the stories of Jesus, had experienced the Power of the Holy Spirit in their lives (Acts 1:8), and answered the call of God to be witnesses wherever the found themselves. New churches were established as new households were added to the Kingdom. Some went out in teams of two or more to establish "ekklesia"in far flung areas. The church expanded spontaneously without mission organizations, clergy, seminaries, or any of the trappings we feel essential today. It expanded as each member saw God's Great Commission as including them. They did not wait for the Apostles to lead the way (Acts 8:1). Rather the apostles had instructed them and empowered them so that the simplicity of the gospel (2 Cor. 11:3) coupled with the simplicity of the early church structure (meeting in homes with a very simple format) could expand rapidly anywhere. How did the church expand? There seem to be two ways. One was through the natural sharing of good news with friends and family bringing new households into the kingdom around which new house churches formed (for more on this I would recommend Robert Banks Paul's Idea of Community or The Church Comes Home). The second way was through apostolic bands being sent out from these naturally expanding networks of churches to penetrate the regions beyond. Using a military metaphor we could say that Apostolic bands invaded new territory and then moved on after establishing churches which reproduced and subdued the land. New people might join the apostolic band as it moved on (Such as Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila, Luke, etc.) or other apostolic bands might spin off from these churches directly to penetrate outlying areas (e.g. Epaphras) later networking with existing bands. How few names we have in the New Testament of these folks who moved out under the call of God and the direction of the Holy Spirit. Who planted many of the churches of Judea? Who started the Antioch church (we know it was group of men. Cf. Acts 11:20 "some of them"...)? How many churches were started by these nameless men? We have no idea! But who can argue that here was a powerful movement of the Spirit unencumbered by the wisdom of men! Can it happen again? The Moravian Movement A good way of answering this question is to ask if such a spontaneous expansion of the church has happened since that time. Perhaps the closest thing is the Moravian movement. The Moravians began in 1722 as part of the pietistic movement which emphasized the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Moravians had a huge impact lasting until WW I. In the opinion of LaTorrette ,it was perhaps the most extensive missionary movement ever since the first centuries. Certainly it was the most extensive in Protestantism. Beginning before any of the great Awakenings, and before the great mission societies formed in Great Britain and the US, it was instrumental in all these events. Moravians missionaries had a great influence on John Wesley as he visited the Americas in 1738 leading to his "awakening" which led the First Great Awakening! Before 1800 Moravians had taken the Good News to Indonesia, Ceylon, India, Central Asia, Russia, Lapland, The Gold Coast of Africa, South Africa, Greenland, Labrador, the colonies in North America, several Indian tribes in North America, black slaves in North America and the Caribbean, and Indians in the Caribbean and South America. They also had works amongst the Jews and Muslims of Europe! After 1800 we find them scattered as far as Alaska and California! All this with none of the western institutions which are considered essential today and in less than 80 years! The Moravians were the first Protestant group to embrace the mandate to spread the Gospel to all mankind. All Moravians who were part of their fellowships (called Herrenhuts) were committed to propagating the Christian faith wherever they were and to go to wherever God called them. Their membership included many with crafts, skills and business ability which opened up doors of opportunity to work in other parts of the world. They would often set out in small bands of two or three after having sought the Lord and determined that He had called them to a particular place. They would settle there, learn the local language and customs and trade and develop businesses, sharing their faith and gathering the faithful into communities. Often they suffered the fate of those with whom they identified. Stories of persecution, being sold into slavery to reach slaves and being slaughtered along with the Indian tribes they lived with in North America are all part of the Moravian heritage. Many Moravians were martyred, some by whites who were furious that they would take the Indian's or slaves part in disputes over land and human rights. Others were expelled by governments who saw them as a threat. But still they persevered on; a Pilgrim people in a barren land, seeking to bring good news to those in darkness. They did this without paid clergy, without Bible Colleges or Seminaries, and without Mission Societies. There was no centralized denominational structure, and they planted no "churches" by the day's standards. They started small, intimate communities which had no buildings and no clergy. They focused on the unsaved, especially those who had never heard the Gospel. They were not interested in winning converts from other Christian denominations. Remember at this time the bulk of the energy of Protestantism was spent winning Catholics over to Protestantism and defending themselves from the same! But Moravians were willing to work with and help other denominations. They were theologically inclusive, willing to fellowship with any who displayed evidence of the new birth by a transformed life. They worked closely with Quakers, Baptists, Mennonites, Methodists, etc. When the state churches and established denominations in the 19th century showed little interest in missions, many missions minded Christians from these denominations were influenced by the example of the Moravians. The result was that these folks began the independent mission societies in Great Britain, the USA, and the other countries of Europe. Very few are well known names to the world today. Count Von Zinzendorf is perhaps the best known as an early patron, but he was not the head of the movement. The movement had no head other than Christ. It was truly "grass roots" in that simple believers drawn along by the Holy Spirit would go as God directed in small teams and begin to preach the gospel and gather those who would follow into simple communities. In some cases they saw thousands come to Christ, in other cases they saw but a few baptisms. Often new converts would go out in bands trying to reach the next distant people groups. The first Indian missionaries in North America were sent out by Moravian groups to reach the more western tribes. Truly this was a movement like the movement of the first centuries of the Church. A Model for Us As we try to discern God's call upon the house church movement today we should note some patterns between the early church expansion and the Moravian expansion which should be an example and an encouragement: 1. They were both lay led movements. There were some supported people, but they were not considered superior or more committed to building the kingdom than those who were self supported. All who became partakers of Christ were expected to be engaged in the expansion of the kingdom no matter where they were or what their occupation. Likewise any could expect the call of God to "go" and participate with a team taking the kingdom to the regions beyond. Those remaining behind helped in any way possible. 2. They established simple communities where people were expected to be transformed into the image of Christ and further the work of the Kingdom. These were not complex, programmed institutions requiring extensive administration and professionalism, but rather a simple community. Apostolic bands of the first century and Moravian missionaries bands were able to start communities that were thus self?sufficient and able quickly to send people on to still other regions. 3. They did not use extensive helping organizations such as seminaries and mission societies in order to carry out the great commission mandate. Some Moravians did go to Bible schools, but this did not give them a different status from the regular non-schooled Moravians. These did, however, bring new ideas to cross pollinate with older Moravian ideas. We have already mentioned that the cross-pollination went both ways as Moravian mission ideas fueled many in other denominations. 4. They did not compete with other Christian churches, and groups, but rather cooperated with them and were a blessing to them. There was a spirit of co-laboring for the King. Applications to Us The above all represent values which are highly esteemed by those of us who are involved in planting house churches which reproduce. Because of this I believe that we may very well be in a position to contribute greatly to the expansion of the church throughout the world today in what may indeed be the last harvest. But if we are going to do so, we need to consciously embrace a great commission vision just as the Moravians did. Below are several steps that might be taken: 1. Clusters of house churches need to continue to focus on ways to reproduce. From our experience it would seem that a minimum of three house churches should be networked to insure reproductive vitality. We need be encouraging these networks of churches to recognize, train, and release church planters to work in bands and plant churches through out the USA. These church planting teams should be mostly made up of self supporting men who hold jobs and thus set an example for the leaders of the house churches which will have to balance job, family and ministry responsibilities. 2. When families need to move due to job changes, perhaps (in keeping with the 2 X 2 principle) another family or a single person could be recruited (even if from another house church or fellowship) in order to use the opportunity to extend the kingdom by planting new house churches in a new city. Or we could check to see if there are already people starting reproducing churches in that city. As we see other house church groups pop up in the US, we need to see that neither our approach nor our area are unique. Therefore we should seek opportunities as the Lord leads to network with these. It has become apparent that house churches working in cooperation with a loose confederation of church planting teams (Fellowship of Church Planting Teams) can have a nationwide and worldwide impact. 3. We need to encourage some of these teams to go cross culturally to other countries. Here we also need to encourage most of these church planters to be at least bivocational, in not fully self?supporting. (By bi?vocational we mean have a job which provides for at least some of their support.). This will enable the team to set a good example for the leaders of the churches they are planting, who for the most part should be self?supporting, as well as provide a model for teams of national self?supporting teams to form and plant churches throughout the nation and beyond. There is no question that by making fully supported pastors and church planters the norm and ideal, the expansion of the Kingdom has greatly suffered. While God's Spirit desires to thrust laborers into the harvest field, we send them on years of deputation. The next generation of church planters need to have skills which will enable them to get full or part?time jobs in the international job market. 4. House church networks need to find ways to communicate far and wide to recruit new church planting teams to go to the regions beyond. Ways we have found thus far to do this networking: A. The electronic bulletin board presently operated by the Rhode Island Fellowship of House Churches. B. Regional meetings of church planting teams and house churches such as we have in New England. C. Publications like our Church Planting Bulletin (put out by FCPT New England) and the Courier, a newsletter put out the RI churches promoting mission opportunities. 5. We need to encourage Christians with business abilities to become more involved in finding ways to be involved in the expansion of the Kingdom. Business has always been important when the church has expanded. George Patterson has found businessmen often make the best church planters. The early church made the most of the Roman commerce as they traveled the Roman roads in business ventures which led to the rapid proliferation of churches throughout the empire. Many in Paul's band (including Paul) were skilled craftsmen able to labor with their hands when they needed to. Likewise their skills often gave them entrance into unreached communities. The Moravians also had a large number of merchants, craftsmen and businessmen among their number which enabled them to travel far and wide with great freedom. Many of today's restrictions on missions arise from the fact that we rely too much on fully supported people who have difficulty finding a niche in society from which to declare good news to the lost. We need to ask Christian businessmen to lead the way in getting their eyes onto the fields, looking at how to penetrate new markets, not simple for financial profit, but for Kingdom profit. If we are going to push the Kingdom of God forward it will require a concerted effort by churches and church planting teams to saturated ground already penetrated and send new teams out to penetrate new ground. Principles 1. Churches have a mandate from Christ to fulfill the great commission. 2. Churches should be reproducing locally. 3. Reproducing churches should be sending out teams to do extra-local church planting. These teams will be made up of bivocational, self-supporting, and in some cases, fully supported church planters (The latter should be the exception and not the norm.).. 4. Reproducing churches should be sending out teams to do cross cultural church planting. 5. These teams should have as their goal starting churches which carry out #1-3 above. Questions for further thought Have you been part of a growing, reproducing church movement? 1. If so, what do you see as the key components which aided this? How are these components part of what you are doing or passing on? How conscious is your team or churches of the importance of these? What are some things that you can do to keep the churches moving forward? 2. If not, what has prevented your efforts from growing or reproducing? What help have you enlisted to identify these barriers? What things have you tried to break through these barriers? What kind of evaluation of these efforts are you engaged in? What new things are you trying? 3. Have you written a Vision Paper (see chapter 15) which includes the effective components of reproducing? Back |