Homogeneous Community vs. Gospel Community - Timmy Brister One of the undercurrent movements of evangelical renewal in local churches has been the rise of missional communities. These small communities are distinct from your typical home groups or small-groups because what unites them and defines them is a common mission. I resonate with this kind of missiologically-informed structuring of the ekklesia scattered as those who have been sent. Here at Grace, we have been transitioning to similar communities to have a broader and deeper impact in Southwest Florida. Part of the developmental process has been to listen and learn from other churches who have embraced some form of small groups to foster community, whether it was life-on-life discipleship or a more incarnational lifestyle in engaging the community at large. One of the things that has confused me about some of the philosophy behind leading models is how they are formed or constituted. There are various filters that one can use to encourage members to participate in these groups. What seems to be the leading filter has been for members to choose the groups according to what they have most in common (e.g, affinitybased). So there would be the young married groups, elderly groups, ladies groups, mens groups, college groups, and so on. These groups are shaped to bring the most homogeneity and thereby promise to be more effective and fruitful. What I find troubling about this filter/model is twofold: First, there is an assumption that what believers will have most in common is something rather superficial (age, stage in life, etc.). The classifications of homogeneity are basically no different than how the world seeks to divide us. Second, this filter is has an orientation that is inherently consumer-driven. I want to be in community with people who are most like me. I want my community to be clean, cool, efficient, not messy, stretching, and challenging. But what is it that believers that most in common? It is the gospel! And what does the gospel do in the church? Breaks down the barriers and forms a counter-cultural community, a new humanity, where genuine unity is displayed in the midst of radical diversity. A gospel-centered church is one that does not substitute the gospel as the greatest common denominator among believers. And when the gospel shapes the church, it will define the communities and operate as the filter for their constitution. True fellowship among believers comes when shared life is sharing the gospel to one another, and the necessary fuel for the mission comes from the gospel who takes consumers of God’s Word become doers of God’s Word. Gospel communities, then are constituted with deep unity and radical diversity in the following ways: 1. Diversity in spiritual maturity (fathers, young men, and children as seen in 1 John 2:1214 all together)
2. Diversity in stages of life (elderly with families with young professional with single mom etc.) 3. Diversity in race and ethnicity (black, Hispanic, white, Asian, etc.) 4. Diversity in socio-economic status (wealthy, poor, blue-collar) 5. Diversity in political views (Republican, Democrat, Independent) Why is this so crucial? By being around people who are not like us, we are reminded that Jesus came to a people completely not like Himself. He came to dwell among us, to serve us by giving His life, and accomplished His mission and then entrusted it to His followers to do as He had done. When we prefer a low-maintenance, spiritual “clean” and mature group of believers to fellowship with, we are acting contrary to the gospel. It does not put it on display. We put the world’s categories on display. The clean and supposedly low-maintenance and knowledgeable people (the religious folk) Jesus avoided, but instead He got messy with the tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and demon-possessed and formed a community that had been transformed by the gospel of the kingdom. So when an elderly white woman is praying over a black young professional who is baby-sitting for a Hispanic family with six kids, what does this say to a non-Christian when they first encounter it? When the poor have equal standing with the rich, when the new believer struggling with his new identity in Christ and the sins of the past and is encouraged and established rather than looked down upon and judged, when the home-schooling family shares a meal together with the public-schooling family, when things like this are being done in community, what is on display? The gospel which has transformed their lives, informed their new identity, and formed a new humanity where walls of division have been broken down. This is so much harder than homogeneous groups. It is so much messier and challenging. But is so much more glorious and gospel-honoring. It is not efficient, so pragmatism will not be it’s best advocate. It does not have as its reference point your personal needs, so the spiritual consumer will not like it. But those driven by the gospel and genuinely want to see it lived out in their lives will love it. Jesus loved, served, and gave. His focus the Father first, others second, and Himself last. And the attitude and actions of Jesus are manifested in a community where His reign and rule brings a new order in a new community when the kingdom has been established in their hearts. We will commend Christ to sinners and put the gospel on display when we, as repenters and believers, show the change He has brought in our lives in a corporate witness of renewed communities conformed to the kingdom ethic rather than the schemes of this world. God’s designs put us in a position where God’s power to transform and God’s love to give up our lives must be operative for us to be God’s people in this world. Gospel iron that sharpens, stretches, and shapes one another is what we need, not more people just like ourselves to make us feel comfortable and resistant to change. When deep unity is formed by the gospel, the radical diversity therein will be like facets of a diamond that display the brilliance of God’s glory in the redemptive work of His Son and the restoration work He’s begun.
Hub and Spoke Paradigm One of the biggest paradigm shifts for a traditional church to becoming a church planting church is (1) how the leadership is perceived by the congregation as well as (2) how they function in their calling. The “hub-and-spoke” model of ministry is most common in churches today, and it is also a significant reason why churches are not reproducing. Below is a simple diagram showing how the HAS model works:
Basically, the HAS model is a centralized philosophy of ministry where the majority of the work in ministry is done by those comprising the hub. For the traditional Baptist church, this hub is the pastor or pastors in leadership (and maybe deacons). The arrows are pointing inward because the spokes represent the needs and opportunities of the church being met through the competency and capacity of the hub. The result of HAS is that those who are not in the hub do not think they bear any responsibilities in the church. They don’t have to be active participants, perhaps because they don’t feel they have the professionalized training or education of those qualified in the hub. The idea of “lay” people sets in, marginalizing the work of the church to a very small number while leaving the majority of the church in passive, low-expectation mode of existence. Disciples don’t necessarily have to be made because the investment of the work is not delegated to anyone outside the hub. The HAS model therefore necessarily leads to two things: control and maintenance. Those in the hub feel pretty comfortable with the direction of the church because they control all of it. It’s in their hands entirely. If they don’t do it, it won’t get done. They are looked to as the engine behind the machine. Moreover, HAS leads to maintenance mode because there is only so much those in the hub can manage without things starting to fall apart. The average solo pastor is said to be able to pastor 75-100 people effectively. Once you get to 150-200 people, it feels like the wheels are falling off because the pressure on the hub from the spoke causes the paradigm to breakdown. That is one large reason why most traditional churches struggle to break the 200 barrier in attendance—they simply cannot manage any more growth in maintenance mode. One option to address the problem is to make the hub bigger—to add to the centralization with more “professional” staff and personnel qualified to be in those positions. This is the approach of
Drafted by Tim Brister | www.timmybrister.com | www.plntd.com | Updated September 2010
most mega-churches today. As the hub gets bigger, the roles get more specialized, but it is still only those in the hub who are considered the “doers” of the work of the ministry while it is normal fare to be a member in good standing by giving money to the church, attending stated meetings, and being a good lay person by not causing any problems by rocking the boat. What reproducing churches (church planting churches) have realized is that the HAS model needs to be substituted and replaced with a “catch-and-release” approach to ministry. In the CAR model, the arrows look like this:
As you can see, the hub functions differently than in the HAS model. First, instead of being centralized (movement inward), CAR is fundamentally decentralized (movement outward). Instead of those in the hub being responsible for the work of the ministry, it is those outside the hub who carry out the work by meeting needs and facilitating opportunities for ministry and mission. Biblically, this is called the priesthood of all believers or practically “every-member-a-minister” where every person in the covenant community discharges their gifts and abilities for the spreading of the kingdom in word and deed. It is an expectation of all members to discover their spiritual gifts, find their place in service of the kingdom, and partner together with others in the body of Christ. What CAR does to the hub then is allow them to function more biblically in their job description as equippers. Paul writes,
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ . . .” (Eph. 4:11-12)
While pastors and deacons are certainly called to minister and labor along with the rest of the body, what is unique among them is the (1) work of an overseer, (2) the call to equip, and (3) modeling exemplary lives for others to imitate. Along these lines, it is important that
Drafted by Tim Brister | www.timmybrister.com | www.plntd.com | Updated September 2010
decentralization take place through relationships for the purpose of making disciples and carrying out Christ’s mission. CAR therefore focuses on mission rather than maintenance, permission-giving rather than controlkeeping. It largely depends on the stewardship of the mission through disciple-making and leadership development to facilitate the ever-expanding work of ministry with new laborers being released into the harvest fields. It is comfortable with a culture of “amateurs” and apprentices because those in the hub understand that their competency and sufficiency comes from the Lord. Instead of giving them spiritual goods and services to consume, they are given a mission to give their lives for. The differences between HAS and CAR then can be broken down thus:
HAS
CAR
Centralized Professionalized Maintenance oriented Control keeping Doing the work of ministry Culture of packing in No discipleship necessary Often results in consumerism
Decentralized Priesthood of all believers Mission oriented Permission giving Equipping others to do work of ministry Culture of sending out Discipleship crucial to spreading Often results in missionaries/planters
The challenge for those in the hub of CAR model is to create structures that encourage decentralization and systems/processes that facilitate its purpose and philosophy. For instance, how are you going to intentionally structure your church for discipleship and leadership development? How much time during the week are you going to devote to this? What kind of relationships will be necessary for this to work? Also, how are you going to teach and train your church in the transitioning process to see the need to embrace such a vision and approach to ministry? Again, this all goes back to (1) how the leadership is perceived by the congregation and (2) how they function in their calling. Church planting churches have understood that the way to organically reproduce is structure simply for disciple-making, invest in leadership development, equip members for ministry, empower leaders with “permission,” and cultivate a sending culture where the mission is celebrated. When this happens, churches are mobilized for mission and prepared to launch new churches with the kind of DNA, ministry experience, and training necessary to flourish and be fruitful in their gospel endeavors.
Drafted by Tim Brister | www.timmybrister.com | www.plntd.com | Updated September 2010