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There's a battle that's been raging for years now, over computer architecture. Most computer users don't even know about it since it's a battle between computer architectures that are "proprietary" vs. those which are "Open Source". Oddly enough, this same battle goes on amongst churches. But let's understand this battle first in terms of your computer. Non-techi people might think that "computer architecture" must refer to what the outside of the "computer" looks like, or even the design of the motherboard. But "computer architecture" is pretty much invisible to the end-user. One definition is this: The conceptual structure around which a given computer is designed. Basically -- no one can build a computer on a workbench without first having the plans for that computer. But no one can draw up a set of plans without first having mentally conceived of what the computer is supposed to do, what hardware exists (processing chips, hard drives, etc.) that can be combined together to do the job, and what software exists (or has to be written) in order to make the various parts do what the designers expect. The whole shebang is called a "computer system" and its design is referred to as "computer architecture". In today's world, many companies involved with designing and building new computers deliberately keep everything they do secret. They want to produce a computer that people buy, go and use without anyone other than themselves knowing how they did it. The "architecture" of that computer is known as "proprietary" which today often refers to keeping the design and production of a new computer as much of a trade secret as possible. Here's where the battle between secrecy and Open Source comes into the picture. Many people (Open Source) think that the fundamental design of computers (and computer accessories) should be open to all developers. Whatever is kept secret can be improved on only by whoever's in on "the secret". But when computer systems are being designed "in the open", there may be hundreds or even thousands around the world who go to work to solve problems in the design and bring a wealth of improvements to its development. Now -- churches are designed in a similar manner: each has its own, foundational "church architecture". People who go to church usually don't even realize that -- just as a computer has a "conceptual structure" around which it's designed -- churches have an internal "architecture" as well. And most churches keep their "church architecture" so private that often not even their pastors are aware of the demands and restrictions of that fundamental, internal design.
Here's an example of that similarity in action: You go to a computer store to look over the available computers. (Each one is different from the other because their designs are different -- their "computer architecture" or internal "conceptual structures" are different.) One strikes your fancy and you buy it and take it home. After unpacking it and setting it up, plugging it in and turning it on, you set out to download email. Do you ask yourself, "I wonder how this computer's conceptual design makes it different from any other computer?" No. You don't care. You don't think, "Would another computer -- built according to a different 'architecture' -- would it be more to my liking?" No. You just use it. But if after a day or so you realize you wanted it to record videos through the built-in video cam, and it apparently can't so that, you might want to return it. Only then does it dawn on you that it might not be as easy to get out of the purchase as it was to get into it. What's the return policy of the store? Can you return it and simply say you don't like it so you want out of the deal? Suddenly, the significance of that computer's "architecture" whaps you across the forehead. You STILL don't know what "computer architecture" is but you feel the impact of it anyway. Your new computer's design -- from the beginning -- never had been designed to do the one function you mostly wanted: videocam. And you might just be stuck with it. Switch over now to going to a church. If you already have one, what is its "internal architecture" and does that "fundamental design fit what you want spiritually? Look again at the definition of "computer architecture"-but reshaped to fit "church architecture": The conceptual structure around which a given church is designed. Do you think any church you go to hasn't been "designed" by someone? Certainly, when you walk up from the parking lot and look at its steeple, you know someone conceptualized that ornament before anyone bought the materials and built it. And those stained glass windows or even the pretty Lucite pulpit up front, shining in the stage lights: all these elements were conceptualized by an architect before anyone installed them. But underneath the physical design of the church, understand that the function of that particular church has been designed as well. By someone. Many church-goers assume that God designed their church the way it functions. But God didn't design Sunday School anymore than He designed the steeple or the shiny communion plates. People designed these embellishments -- and they did so following an internal, conceptual structure ("church architecture") around which every object in that church, every function or ceremony, every project and every "ministry" follows the church's "architecture". So -- who wrote the internal, conceptual framework of the church with which you're most familiar? The one you used to attend as a child or you attend now, or even the one your friend goes to and you've been pressured to try it out. What is the framework about which the entire organization (physical and functional) has been designed and now is being maintained? Probably you'll never know since it's proprietary. Hidden. Just like taking a new computer out of a
box and plugging it in and you just use it until it unexpectedly doesn't work the way you want. You go to a church for months, think you're making lots of friends -- then someone sees you buying beer at the QuickStop and tells the preacher who tells his wife who tells the women and the next time you go to church, no one speaks to you. Or someone asks you to teach a Sunday School class and you do so for three years -- and when the Sunday School Superintendent moves away, you're looking forward to stepping into that place of increased responsibility because you've been teaching longer than anyone else; but only then do you discover the pastor's wife is afraid the Pastor isn't looking at you in the dispassionate, non-sexual way you always imagined; she thinks he's enjoying your young, good looks and abruptly you find yourself not only not leading the Sunday School, but you lose your class of little tykes and the women in the church are buzzing with how you've been "coming on" to the Pastor ("poor man... So vulnerable to an unscrupulous woman like her...") Then there's the church board which sells bonds to its members until the board members are all thrown in jail by the IRS or the congregation in which the pastor urges "his people" to buy into some multi-level sales organization until the entire church is in his "down-line" and making money for him. (THAT one was in Sacramento, California, BTW.) If you've actually been in real, live churches for any length of time, you know the above illustrations hardly touch the surface of how human can treat one another within those stainedglass, religious walls. But what you might not realize is that any church that functions (misfunctions?) in a similar manner is still operating according to its internal "architecture": every local church and every regional or international denomination cannot even exist without someone first conceiving of how that religious organization will function and the structure by which it can accomplish its design. Which means that if there's discord, deceit or any human dysfunction that the internal design around which it was built allowed for that dysfunction. There is a church, though, in which you can participate, whose fundamental, internal design is wholesome and safe. And this church's "architecture" is not only visible, it's available for you to make changes and alter its look and function. This church architecture is truly Open Source. Who is its designer and where can you find a working model? You might jump to a wrong conclusion and assume that the "designer" of this "Open Source" church is "God". That's usually a safe response, but it's wrong. In 1 Corinthians, Paul (the apostle) calls himself the "architect" of the church being built in the ancient city of Corinth. In Greek, it's the word "architekton" and is often translated as "Masterbuilder". In Corinth, it was Paul who set out the fundamental plan for the Church -- its structure both visible and invisible. And he did so, openly. He wanted everyone to participate in the nature and function of the Church in which they all participated. Here's the Key and it's what you want to look for when trying to find an Open Source church: Paul kept the design incredibly simple. He clarified what the foundation of the Church had to be. Simply put, the foundation of an Open Church is the Person of Jesus Christ. That is, every person in the Church in Corinth had to first be in Christ. This is a supernatural union, one that often occurs in a person without the person even realizing it. But when a person hears what Jesus (perfect and sinless) has accomplished on the
Cross and has confidence that it worked, then a spark of Life is birthed within that person and that person and the Person of Jesus Christ are made One. That is, since sin inescapably results in the death of the sinner, and Jesus died, and I'm now One with Him -- I've also died already (in Christ) and that particular effect of sin no longer applies to me. Similarly, since Jesus removed death from my life, He's also removed the spiritual blindness that accompanied sin, and the Evil One no longer has any hold on me. To top it all off, when Jesus was raised from the grave, since I'm in Him, I've also been Resurrected. I'm already eternally alive and even now am in Heaven, because that's where Jesus is and I'm in Him. Now, according to Paul, that experiential Reality is the Foundation of the Church. That is, if you are lonely and want others to share your religious experiences, you can gather a group of people together who share similar interests and enjoy similar religious forms -- and you've got a "church" started out on the wrong foundation. The right church foundation isn't culture or shared religious forms or familiar church rituals or a common enjoyment of certain kinds of worship or preaching or even a wonderful Sunday School for your children. None of those things are the starting point for building the Church. The Foundation, the only Foundation, is the Person of Jesus Christ -- and the only people who can participate in that Church are those who start by sharing that Foundation. As we said above, Paul kept the design of his Open Source Church incredibly simple. First, its Foundation is the Person of Jesus Christ. Next, everyone can do whatever they want to do, as long as they're producing it from out of their personal, experiential Relationships with Jesus. And the evidence of that Reality is simple: Their love, one for another. Love is the Mark of Success. If what the people choose to do results in their caring for one another, using their time, talent and treasures to meet one another's needs and building one another up in love-then this Church succeeds in God's intent. Where do you find an Open Source Church? First, ask yourself if you're already involved in one. If not, start with your Foundation and begin building an Open Source Church. If you've trusted Jesus for what He's accomplished in bring you from death to Life, then trust Him to lead you into His Church. If you're in a church that doesn't pass the "Love Test" and whose activities are -- well, maybe missing the point -- then "step aside" from your church's expectations. This doesn't involve leaving that local fellowship unless your Foundation leads you to leave. But it does involve "stepping aside" from being a "cog" in its religious "machinery". The reason is simple: freedom. Jesus Christ delivered us from religious duties and pious expectations. Anytime you find yourself in a local organization in which you feel increasingly trapped, that's a good time to find out from Jesus (Who dwells within you) as to whether you're building with your time, talents and treasure on a sure Foundation-or if you're building on someone else's foundation rather than Him. Who's designed the foundational architecture of your church? If you don't know -- and if you don't know exactly what the whole structure is designed around -- it's up to you to get back to your Foundation and for the two of you to choose another internal architecture.
BTW -- since it's Open Source there are going to be others who want to become involved. Go ahead. Gather with them. Let it become a congregation as long as it's springing forth from your Foundation Who leads you all in that direction. What it looks like and how it's organized makes no difference compared to how it's being designed -- its foundational structure, its "architecture". If you and your friends continue building from that same Foundation, together you can choose to have a board and get corporate status, secure licensing with a denomination and buy property that you label, "First Church of Whatever". Or not.
"KingdomScribes" is a ministry led by Emil and Michele Swift. For further teachings concerning the spiritual Reformation sweeping through the world today and how to position ourselves to participate, go to KingdomScribes.net/ - KingdomScribes.net/ The Swifts have been called by God to minister together uniquely to the Body of Christ and share a revelatory teaching ministry-gifted in the Spirit to teach mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven in a simple, direct fashion. Emil and Michele are "Kingdom Scribes" whose hearts are to raise every Believer into living and ministering in the power of the Spirit and the Word as "scribes of the Kingdom". A passion to engage the hearts, souls and spirits of their listeners has led the Swifts into a teaching style characterized by its lack of religion, rituals and church jargon. They minister in words easily understood by those to whom they speak.
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