So I fully understand how bright-eyed young men (and an increasing number of young women) go off to seminaries and Bible colleges, study the art of preaching—including both the preparation and delivery of sermons—and take up posts in churches throughout the world to begin their careers as what really amounts to professional Christian speech-writing. Admittedly, while many may prefer the pastoral elements of the job—visiting the sick, comforting the elderly, and counseling—everyone understands the importance of the Sunday sermon. When a “local church” considers calling someone to fill a vacancy as senior pastor, the search committee spends a lot of time listening to sermons, visiting a worship service to hear the prospective pastor preaching in his own pulpit, and then inviting him to “preach in view of a call” if they like what they hear. At least that’s how we do it in Southern Baptist life.

Here’s what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christ-followers who lived in Ephesus:

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. [Eph. 4:11–13, New Living Translation]

There’s no way to ignore this passage of Scripture. God has graced some believers with amazing insights, patience, communication skills, effective persuasion abilities, powers of logic, and penetrating intuition to be employed in their interaction with fellow Christians. Many of us have been taught that this “five-fold ministry” of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers is essential to the wider body of Christ; although many ultra-conservative evangelicals would say that apostles and prophets have passed off the scene and, honestly, they really don’t know what to do with evangelists except invite them around once a year for a four-day “revival meeting” to blast some of the barnacles off the old Gospel ship being piloted exclusively by the pastor-teachers.

Amazing, isn’t it? Jesus lavishly provides five unique gifts for His bride, described here by Paul as “the body of Christ” and what do we do with them? We ignore two gifts altogether, put the third one outside the mainstream church, and we compress the last two into one super-hired-holy-man that we proudly refer to as the “senior pastor” or “the preacher” (say that with a Southern drawl) if you live in the southeastern United States. Instead of viewing them as gifts to the entire body, we have invented special “offices” or “holy orders” or a “calling to full-time ministry” and created career paths complete with salaries and benefit packages and manses/parsonages with neatly manicured lawns.

Paul outlines both the responsibilities and the duration of these multi-faceted gifts to the body of Christ: (1) to equip and build up those who belong to Jesus, and (2) to do so until every believer reaches the standard of unity and maturity that reflects Christ in His fullness. Is there anything in the Ephesians 4 passage that limits these wonderful gifts to one particular group of people? Yet the institutional nature of what we often call “local churches” requires a stifling corporate structure that puts one church in competition with another church in the same community. We no longer view “the body of Christ” as I believe Jesus intended, or even as the Apostle Paul wrote about. We have embraced a historical model of “church” that we unconsciously force upon every passage of Scripture where the word “church” or “body of Christ” appears.

What would happen if every 501(c)3 non-profit corporation (in the USA) or every registered charity (in Britain) or whatever-it’s-called (anywhere else) with the name “church” in its legal description ceased to exist? The pastors and staff of those organizations could get regular jobs like everyone else, blend into the landscape of their local communities, and begin exercising their Spirit-bestowed gifts in the lives of every believer God brings across their path, assuming (of course) that they truly were Christ’s gifts to His body. No more jockeying for power, prestige, recognition, and status…just the free-flowing influence that builds up, encourages, equips, unifies, strengthens, and matures the entire body of Christ in a given community. Unfortunately, I’m afraid we’ll never see it happen, because “there’s too much money in the soul-saving business” according to one disillusioned facebook acquaintance of mine.

So what about the question, “Don’t we need pastors to equip the saints?” The answer is “Yes! We need every single gift that the Lord Jesus has given us as members of His body.” But never assume that someone with “Reverend” or “Pastor” or “Elder” in front of their name is one of those gifts, because you don’t become an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher by going to Bible college or seminary. The Head of the church, through the work of the Holy Spirit, implants those gifts as He wills in the hearts of His people, wherever they are needed and without fanfare being made over them. They just are! And none need the approval, or credentials, or ordination of man-made religious institutions…they simply function in the gifts God has given them in the strategic places where they already live and serve their King.

I have been significantly involved in the house church model over the years, including the deliberate planting of one rural house church and the transition of one brick-and-mortar congregation to weekly home-based meetings (we disposed of the building completely). There are wonderful examples of house churches around the world that are loving fellowships with open, participatory meetings that encourage every-believer ministry to flow naturally when they gather together. So I’m not going to rail against these dear brothers and sisters who believe they have rediscovered the New Testament model of church life, because many of them have recaptured missing elements of community that have long since been buried under layers of religious ritual.

The early days of house church are usually amazing for most participants: the sense of community, the intimacy of fellowship, the transparency of sharing with one another, the hunger to grow as followers of Jesus, and the fresh expression of worship. It’s the “rose-colored glasses” effect that accompanies any new venture. People are eager to sacrifice the time it takes to clean their home twice each weekend (once before the meeting and again after everyone leaves), do the practical set-up routine every Sunday (extra chairs, song books, PowerPoint or overhead, Lord’s Supper, meal preparation, and a dozen other things), and make every effort to engage with everyone who attends the meetings. Burn-out and disillusionment will inevitably set in, no matter how spiritual and committed the core group is during those early days.

There’s something within us, at least in the American culture, that wants to package every good and wholesome experience, turning it into a program or a best-selling book or the latest seminar. And that’s what ruins house church for me. As great as it can be, the frequency and the expectation of meeting every single week in someone’s living room (or any other venue) drains the spontaneity and life right out of it. So I’m not saying it’s necessarily wrong to meet with other believers in this way, but that it can quickly become just as institutional (or boring or ritualistic) as the mega-church on Prosperity Boulevard.

Those who have embraced the truth of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection by faith already are members of His body, the Church of the Living God. We don’t have to meet anywhere with the same group of people according to a strict weekly timetable in order to be the body of Christ. Should we gather together as brothers and sisters? Sure! Does it have to be weekly? No, we just need to be careful about going it alone. We need each other, but I need fellowship with others on a daily basis, something we might remember reading about in Acts 2:46. The early church got together every day in the temple courts, a large public gathering spot for Jewish people in those days, where people would socialize for hours on end. Sort of the First Century equivalent of Starbucks or a popular shopping mall or a public park.

I know there may be questions about discipleship, worship, and evangelism in such a loosely structured lifestyle, so I hope to address those issues in the near future, along with my understanding of what many people call “the fivefold ministry” (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers). One step at a time. And please understand that I’m also still going through a process of transition in my own mind about many of these things, so if you have insights that you would be willing to share with others, please feel free to leave a comment below.

So you’ve been sharing the good news of God’s grace with a co-worker named Maggie over the past year and you begin seeing evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in her life. Not so much the externals (she often brings her Bible to read during breaks), but things the Bible describes as the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-26) in a life that was clearly devoid of these things a year ago. She has become a trophy of God’s grace and you’re absolutely thrilled over this wonderful transformation in her life.

Maggie has never attended any sort of church service except the typical Christmas and Easter productions at a local mega-church, but she knows that many of her neighbors “go to church” because she sees them leaving their homes, almost simultaneously, during her Sunday morning jog. She’s often wondered why these people they invest so much time in church activities—purely on a practical level—knowing that Sunday is the only real day off for many of the parents. Their kids are involved in the same intramural sports teams, piano lessons, martial arts classes, and the whole raft of birthday parties that seem to occupy every Saturday. So she cringes when she thinks about waking her nine-year-old and his two teenaged siblings every Sunday morning to get them ready for Sunday School.

So Maggie decides to ask you a few questions, since you’re the one who introduced her to Jesus:

• “Do I have to go to church to be a real Christian?”
• “Where does the Bible say that I have to go to church? One of my neighbors keeps inviting me, saying that God shows up nearly every week at their church, but I can’t find anything in the Bible about church attendance.”
• “Where do you go to church?”

How would you respond to this new Christian?do

But I was wrong to do that. As I deeply desire the fellowship of others, I have no right to such fellowship and camaraderie if it has to be forced. I have always enjoyed the liberty and freedom of making up my own mind about things; and sometimes I end up going completely against the flow. What I have come to realize is that I should cherish the same thing for others…to respect their journey and what God is doing in their hearts through the amazing influences of the Holy Spirit. This is my journey, not their journey!

So I have laid down my “weapons” of persuasion and “surrendered” my friends into the same gracious care of the triune God that I myself enjoy every day. If I were able to convince them to join me on this journey outside the box, then either (1) someone else along the way may persuade them to take a completely different path or (2) they may grow to resent me for pressuring them into something they were not ready for. And it’s just not worth it.

That won’t happen until pigs fly!

I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you!

So hell finally froze over, huh?

Never in a month of Sundays!

One guy posed a challenge to Wayne Jacobsen, saying that the closure of institutional churches would have an irreversible and detrimental effect, causing the church to lose its presence in the earth and replacing all the good works done by Christian institutions with a bunch of disgruntled, uncommitted Christians. I’ve gotten to know Wayne over the last two years, so I couldn’t wait to read his response. Here’s an excerpt:

Let’s say today everyone stops attending our Sunday (or Saturday) morning institutions. Would the Church lose its presence in the world? I don’t think so, and in fact I think you could argue that it would have both a greater and more effective impact. Admittedly there would be some chaos with so many support staff out of work, and dealing with buildings that would be difficult to sell, but once we got through all of that, I am convinced the church would take on a GREATER presence in the world. Our world wouldn’t have a daily reminder driving down their streets how fragmented Christianity is into its various institutions because people simply wouldn’t learn how to love each other they way they are loved by God.

Those who really love Jesus would find themselves liberated from all the machinery that consumes a huge amount of time, energy and resource and find their lives in more spacious places where they would have time to get to know and love their neighbor, their colleagues at work and people they pass on the street. Admittedly that wouldn’t be everyone’s response, but the reason I don’t fear people not being ‘committed anywhere’ is that they will get to find out just how committed to Jesus they really are. And that’s good for them and good for the world. Many Sunday-attenders have no idea they are missing out on what it means to be truly committed to Jesus. They think that attending a service and dropping some coins in the offering basket validate the depth of their faith. Yes, some would end up disgruntled and fragmented, but they wouldn’t be mistaken for those who really ‘get’ this journey and live in the increasing reality of being transformed by Jesus.

To survive, people would have to become more active in their faith, seeking out opportunities for growth, for relationship and for sharing God’s life in the world. They would lose the passivity that allows people to sit through a meeting on Sunday and live unchanged the rest of the week. New believers would be taught to know the Lord in small groups who share the life of the family together, rather than as cogs in a big machine. And we would have so many more resources to do whatever God might ask us to do, like reach out to AIDs patients, build hospitals in third world countries, feed the poor or host an outreach in a local park where others might come to know him. Leaders would emerge not by their education, vocation, or ability to draw a crowd, but because they have a gift to help people grow and live hospitably so that they actually come in contact with real people.

In summary, the Church would take on a greater presence in the world just because of the number of active believers scattered throughout it every day to make him known. And it would be more authentic as well, since it would be Jesus demonstrating himself through transformed lives, which I think is far more powerful than ornate buildings, spurious TV preachers, or the excesses and failures of our institutional leaders today.

So what do you think? If you’re interested, you can read the original blog post here.

Geez, I thought my past life was bad which was one of the reasons i became saved. After experiencing the church, the world is not so bad after all. At this point, I have lost most of my faith and am a lone ranger with no desire to set foot in a church again. I watch church on TV and that makes it a safe place. As far as the “world” is concerned its not that bad at all really because unbelievers can show just as much love and honor friendships and they know how to be “cool.”

Simply Be. To be what God is transforming me into. To yield to his touch and hold the form. To rest in him, be content in him, end striving, to hear his voice and be ready and willing to obey – even if I don’t see a big picture and I don’t take ownership of what God is having me do.

To see the Kingdom of God increase and our own kingdoms decrease. To see the reality of the Kingdom of God manifested not in doctrinal beliefs, Biblical knowledge or activities done in his name, but in who and what we are and are becoming in Christ. To disciple new believers instead of just teaching or preaching to them. To equip the body of Christ for ministry instead of making them dependent on our ministry. To cast off the shackles of religious obligation in order to embrace a life of walking in the spirit by faith. To honor the Word of God by letting it speak to us and mold us instead of speaking for it and molding it. To Simply Be.

What if someone steps outside the well worn paths? What if we stop assuming that the Sunday gathering should be the pre-eminent experience of the Christian life?

Suddenly a lot of other answers that were taken for granted are less than obvious. The journey in search of Christ outside the structures is not an easy one. I’ve found the journey to be far more emotional and upsetting to my life than I thought it would be.

First I dealt with guilt and self doubt at leaving the church. Am I a rebel? Do I just have trouble fitting in? Is there really a serious problem with this structure or am I getting paranoid?” There were plenty of voices willing to answer those questions in the affirmative!

The inner dialogue heated up. Who am I to think I can do better? Aren’t I just being divisive and proud, thinking a few are finding the answers when the many are not, but are lost in the system or merely going through the motions?

The internal questions didn’t stop. I could clearly see that I had not become perfect, and that I didn’t have all the answers. In fact, if anything, I had fewer answers than ever.