I Want You…To Plant A House Church
Maybe I haven’t said it before. Forgive me for not being more up front.
A major reason that I write is I believe God is calling many, many more people to the front lines of the harvest. It starts by leading unbelievers to Jesus, discipling them, training them to reach others, and in the process organic churches are formed.
Think of all the people that don’t know Christ. I know in the West we think everyone is a believer, but they’re not. Not even close. And the more relationships you build outside of the church, the more you realize there are more broken people far from God than you could count. But many of these people want Christ, they just have a misunderstanding of who He is. The harvest is gigantic.
The church as it exists cannot handle the harvest that could come in if the lost truly did come to Christ. Imagine a church of two hundred that meets in your city or town. Now imagine that church growing by another two hundred new converts. It would be chaos! The nets that we currently have aren’t strong enough to hold the catch.
But imagine a church of ten or fifteen disciples who have their hearts fixed on Christ and are growing as disciples. That church can add ten or fifteen new converts and become two or three house churches quickly without much difficulty. And as those new converts grow, they have the ability to start a house church just like the one they are part of now.
But the workers are few. I’ll tell you even though the harvest is great, the number of people actually following Jesus into the harvest, working among the lost, and discipling new converts is small. And if the harvest is truly great, we don’t have enough laborers.
So, don’t be surprised, if every once and awhile I look around at my followers on the blog and say, “Why haven’t you started a house church yet?”
There might be some good answers. But there might be some good excuses, too.
Existing House Churches Should Be Fragile, Too…
Every church plant is fragile. But truth be told, every house church I’ve ever been a part of was fragile, regardless of whether it was brand new or not. And it was good that it was fragile.
This flies in the face of our Western pragmatism. We feel like we should be able to start something of significance and twenty, thirty, or fifty years later come back and find something that looks very familiar to what we started.
But everything that is truly alive is fragile: From the smallest seedling to the newborn baby to a mature elephant. Massive as they are, an unseen virus or hidden cancer can end the life of each of these living things. There is a fragility baked into life that makes it both alive and risky.
Because the church is a living thing, the same thing is true of her. If she ever grows to the place where she cannot die, we do not have a living breathing bride of Christ, but some kind of zombie bride that’s not fit for Jesus. Again, there’s a risk in life, but it’s worth the cost.
I can’t take you back to the first house church I ever started. It doesn’t exist. It didn’t fall apart because of moral failure or lack of money. It grew into several churches that are alive and growing. The people that made it up are still walking with Christ, but they are starting churches and making disciples in different contexts.
In order for new life to emerge, often things must die. So as a follower of Jesus, I have to embrace the idea that not just the churches we start among the lost, but the house churches we are part of right now are fragile. Eventually, what is living will die and give way to the seed of something new that God will plant and cause to flourish somewhere else.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.
-Jesus, John 12:24
Church Planting Log: Fragile
We were sitting around in our house church meeting listening to my friend describe his new attempt to start a house church. Our spiritual family had questions, which is natural, and as they asked him questions, he didn’t have all the answers. Not having all the answers can make some people nervous.
And as I sat there, I was reminded of another friend of mine who would never consider himself a church planter but he finds himself working with two guys who have shown interest in starting a church. And every time I sit down and talk with this friend he’s got one word to describe what’s happening: fragile.
What does he mean by fragile? He means it could all fall apart. His two guys are either very early in their faith or they’re not even believers yet. The possibility that absolutely nothing could come of it is high.
So I pipe up in the house church meeting and say “Guys, this thing is fragile.” And I go on to explain what is going on with my friend who has coined the term. And I tell our house church how we’ve tried to start several other house churches with people we believed were people of peace over the last few years. None of those have panned out. But I explain it this way: “We don’t ever want to get out of the place where our church isn’t fragile. It means we aren’t living on the edge of trusting God.”
The problem is most church planting in the West is built on transfer growth. We take established Christians from one church building and go and meet in another. We hope that lost people come but many times other established Christians are the ones who join us. There’s some risk that the church might fail, but for the most part those establish Christians will join another church down the street. That’s not fragile.
The fragile part comes when you preach the gospel to unbelievers. Church only happens when people repent, so we always hope that church lasts. But experience tells us that some people will respond to the Gospel quickly but have no root. They will get mocked or persecuted for following Jesus and they’ll stop. Experience tells us that some others will start strong in following Jesus but have life choked out by enjoying the world too much or pursuing things that make them happy. Only a percentage actually go on to follow Jesus long term and show fruit in their own lives.
So any time we attempt to start a house church with people who are showing interest in Jesus, there’s one word to describe it: fragile. We never know if the people who seem excited one day will stick it out. But the alternative is to never plant churches among the lost. And I’m not willing to settle for that. I hope you’re not either. The harvest is so large that we need everyone we can get.
I’m writing this morning about a couple of different scenarios that are going on in our midst. But I’m writing these stories to encourage you about the context you are in. It’s okay if things are fragile. Get really good at following Jesus into fragile situations and trust Him that as the one who builds His church, He will get it right. Institutions are stable. Graveyards are stable. But you’re not trying to become one of those. If you’re planting a church (and I hope you are) you are planting a living thing. There will always be a chance it could die. But trust Jesus that He knows how to turn tiny seedlings into oaks of righteousness. Some of the seeds you plant will multiply 30, 60, or even 100 times. The payoff is worth it.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 