DO SIMPLE CURCHES HAVE EVANGELISTIC IMPACT?
A Case Study
What is a "simple church?" In our "Essentials" and "Turbo" training we identify 4 general models of church. The first is the "simple church." A simple church is a small community of faith that gathers to be a "church." It is usually not led by a "professional" pastor, but by everyday Christians who desire to follow Jesus with all their heart! It is not dependent upon a facility, usually meeting in homes, dorms, coffee shops, restaurants, club rooms, the workplace, etc.
A simple church is just that, simple! There is not a large organizational structure to it. There are usually no complex systems or programs. It is not hierarchical, but is relational and community based. It does require leadership, but not the typical type of leadership that more conventional churches require. Usually believers from conventional church backgrounds form simple churches to try to better emulate the church we see in Acts. New Christians somtimes form simple churches because they don't know what else to do. Either way, the simple church has at times been controversial within our Western, Christendom culture.
Individuals and groups in the U.S. and around the world are forming simple churches for "missional purposes," to reach a growing segment of culture that is not touched by more conventional Western type churches. One such group is the Emerging Church Network (www.emergingchurchnetwork.com). This group is focused on planting churches "within" culture for the purpose of evangelism and fulfilling the Great Commission. These are not "house churches" being started by disgruntled or reactionary Christians. These are truly missional communities. They like to call them "Authentic Faith Communities" or "AFC's".
I have had the privilege of working with the Emerging Church Network (ECN) now for 3 years, helping them to figure out how to do this in a way that results in evangelistic fruit and church multiplication. The ECN team are wonderful, gifted, passionate people who love God and care deeply about the church impacting culture. As of May, 2005, ECN has 96 simple churches (AFC's or pre-AFC's) reaching approximately 1,200 people weekly, most of whom would otherwise not be touched by the conventional, Western church. They have developed and deployed 82 "lay" leaders/pastors for these simple churches, and in May alone reported 16 professions of faith (what they prefer to call "life transformation reports.")
Do simple churches have an evangelistic impact? They can! However, like any other type of church, they must be missional! They must be started for the sole purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission. Otherwise they become like most conventional churches, ingrown, self-serving, and even institutionalized.
We believe that there is not "one" single model of church that is the "right" model. But every church can have an impact in the world if it is missional! To know more about how we can help you plant "missional communities" (of all models), or to know more about how we can help your church become a "missional church," contact us at info@nciglobal.org.
back to top |
