Author Archives:

Spectator Church

May 23, 2013 By in Fellowship, Institutional Church, Organic Church 2 Comments

church-service“Years of sitting in traditional church has not prepared us to do church in the manner described in the New Testament. We have been taught to come, to sit, to watch, and to listen to what others have prepared. This is Spectator Church.

By contrast, the church described in the Bible invites us to engage in a kind of Participatory Church, where everybody talks, laughs, eats, worships, in an atmosphere where all learn, all minister, and all grow.

These groups are not cell groups, or even just Home Groups. They are real churches, complete and autonomous.”

~ Graham Cooke and Gary Goodell, Permission Granted to Do Church Differently in the 21st Century

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Jesus at the Fringes

May 22, 2013 By in Faith Leave a comment

Reblogged from Crossroad Junction:

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It's amazing how ekklesia takes root in the fringes of society when you empower Christ in existing community rather than trying to bring "church" to them, take them to "church" or do "church" for them.

When some of us started changing our perspective, we started seeing dynamic, participatory, indigenous fellowships emerge in the jail, among the homeless, and with ex-offenders - as well as other improbable existing communities.

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The Prophets?

May 20, 2013 By in Courage, Faith, Prophetic 7 Comments

German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Where the world seeks gain, Christians will renounce it; where it exploits, they will let go; where it oppresses, they will stoop down and lift up the oppressed. Where the world denies justice, Christians will practice compassion; where it hides behind lies, they will speak out for those who cannot speak, and testify for the truth.

Do we really want virtue, justice and truth – especially when they challenge the status quo of our settled lives, churches and ministries?

Do we really value virtue, justice and truth – even if they challenge any self-affirming relationships with Jesus and each other?

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:5-6)

May God send prophets among us yet again.

~ Jim

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Roots

May 17, 2013 By in Discipleship, Fellowship, Missions, Organic Church 4 Comments

The last several years have been a wonderful journey of seeing folks come to the Lord and fellowships emerge in highly improbable places. In my own life, the roots for this go back to my dad and mom, Bob and Mary Jane Wright.

tree_rootsIn the 1970s and 80′s, the Lord used them as pioneers in what we’d now call “organic” church – before that term became popular (even though today it unfortunately can mean nearly anything).

Forty years ago, they helped birth a regional network of open, participatory fellowships in Maryland, where people could find and express the vibrant life of Christ in dynamic gatherings as everyone ministered one to another – rather than having directed, hierarchical meetings.

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Jon Zens and Frank Viola – A Public Response

May 15, 2013 By in "Beyond Evangelical", Authority, Church, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse, Warnings! 1 Comment

May 15, 2013 (updated May 18, 2013)

Re:     Author and “Apostolic Worker” Frank Viola

Dear Mr. Zens:

I am providing this preliminary response, both personally and on behalf of our fellowships, to your letter of May 10th and to your many related statements on Facebook. I thus write for myself and as an elder within those fellowships.

Your letter was on behalf of Christian author and “apostolic worker” Frank Viola and your fellow “worker” Milt Rodriquez, and was co-signed by Bart Breen.

The context of your letter, and this response, is our ongoing belief that the facts and public warnings asserted against Frank Viola for abuse and sexual exploitation by his former church were properly issued.

Furthermore, those warnings have not been factually refuted and thus warrant an open response by Mr. Viola. Any such response should be at least as public as his own public claims of being a leader in, and to, the Body of Christ.

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Good Fruit, Bad Fruit, No Fruit

May 13, 2013 By in Faith, Fruit, Patience 4 Comments

Fruit seems to be a touchy issue these days.

faithful_prayer

Being Faithful

Jesus tells us to be fruit inspectors, and even says that we are to be known by our fruit. See Matt. 7:15-27.

We shouldn’t, therefore, be bashful about looking for and asking about fruit when discerning someone’s ministry, doctrines and practices – even if they find that offensive.

However, it’s one thing to look for fruit, but it’s another thing to be wise fruit inspectors.

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I Confess: I Killed Ekklesia

May 7, 2013 By in Church Planting, Gifts, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Ministry, Organic Church 11 Comments

Yup. It’s true. I killed ekklesia (the Greek word often translated in the New Testament to mean a local “church”). Now, several years later, it’s time to finally come clean and confess.

my_confessionAlthough we all love the “glory stories”, we also need to tell of our failures – because it’s our failures which often teach the most.

So here’s my sorry story of having killed a fellowship.

Maybe, by owning up to my failures, it will help others trying to form an organic fellowship, home group, simple church – or whatever you want to call an open, participatory gathering of believers ministering one to another in smaller, relational fellowships.

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Home Grown Organic

May 3, 2013 By in Church Planting, Community, Great Commission, Missions, Organic Church 12 Comments

David Lim, an international leader in “organic” missions, wrote an important and probing article called Towards Closure.

cookie-cutter

Conforming to Someone’s Grand Vision

Basically, he discusses (from a more academic but still very pragmatic standpoint) the difference between an “imperial” and an “incarnational” approach to church planting, the Great Commission and bringing Christ into new communities and contexts.

Like me, Dr. Lim is an advocate of organic (or simple) churches because he sees them as not only faithful to New Testament examples and principles, but as best able to fully express Christ in all His gloriously diverse ways in different communities and cultures.

According to him, when such churches emerge within the context of local communities, Jesus then becomes more fully “incarnational” (i.e., embodied and alive) in and through those communities.

He also makes another very important point: By allowing the Lord to adapt to each culture and setting, without imposing some intense, cookie-cutter concept of Him – and how His Church must look and operate – we avoid the trap of “imperialism”.

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Intentional Ministry

May 2, 2013 By in Counseling, Discipleship, Fellowship, Mentor, Ministry 1 Comment

Last night was the second week in a semester-long class Marianne and I are teaching, through Nathan’s Voice and our fellowships, on pastoral counseling. We had a full house (literally!).

counseling-picture

The Art of Pastoral Counseling

We previously taught this two years ago, and many are now ministering grace and healing in our county to those trapped in the bondage of addictions, past abuse, and controlling emotional wounds.

About half of the class comes from our fellowships, and the rest from other churches in the area.

But this morning, I’m tired…

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When Ekklesia Matters

May 1, 2013 By in "Beyond Evangelical", Abuse, Predatory Leaders 4 Comments

Everybody’s all for “ekklesia” (the Greek word in the New Testament often translated to mean a local “church”).

Folks blog about it, post on Facebook about it, create online groups about it, and write books about it.

Yup. They all love “ekklesia”….

Except when a particular “ekklesia” follows Biblical procedure and issues a pubic warning under the mandate of 1 Tim. 5:19-21 against some leader the “ekklesia” boosters have placed on an untouchable pedestal – but who had been part of that church, only to then immediately leave and refuse to be accountable when it tried to address his issues of abuse and exploitation.

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How to Become a Cult (Part 6)

April 22, 2013 By in "Beyond Evangelical", Cult, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse 1 Comment

cult_image
Create a fractured persona. Falsely project empathy, expertise and success as a trusted church leader – while covering up a pattern of infidelity, sexual predation and exploitation, persistent detachment from any accountable local fellowship, and failed churches. Appeal to unity and loyalty, personalize everything as hateful attacks against you by spiteful people, and turn on your well-rehearsed charm (and if that doesn’t work, fall back on lies, threats and intimidation) to silence those who dare ask troubling questions. Work behind the scenes and through others to purge all dissenting voices and any contrary information – both in your churches and on public forums like the Internet. As you then bamboozle folks with your enticing but fraudulent persona and fictitious history, they’ll became compliant pawns to your narcissistic deceptions.

Related articles

The pattern outlined above is something I have seen time and again with inflated church leaders who learn to manipulate people and then cross the line into sexual exploitation and predation with what eventually becomes a personality cult – which they sustain through outward charm and behind-the-scenes intimidation. The documents found at this site are yet another example, involving Frank Viola.

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