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Unsung Heroes

Unsung Heroes – Louisiana

In Western society it’s difficult to do life together, but it does happen, it can be sustained and it can be life-changing. I pray these stories encourage you to keep meeting, keep searching and start gathering. This story is told by my good friend Zack Armoney.

My name is Zach Armoney, I am a humble servant of Jesus, devoted husband and father of six beautiful children (three sons and three daughters). We live in Pine Grove, LA where we home school our children and host house church. Hollie and I met almost 18 years ago at a local church youth camp where she was leading worship. We met again a few months later at a local Bible college, MTI School of Ministry in Baton Rouge, LA. We immediately hit it off, delving into deep conversations about life, the word and the future.

A little less than two years later on October 10, 2009 we were married and our journey as a couple began. Four years after that, we already had three children and over the next 10 years we had a total of three boys and three girls. We both had a strong conviction that our children’s minds, hearts and souls were our responsibility. Who better to mold and direct their lives than their parents. It’s a labor of love, but we have had the privilege of witnessing great fruit.

My relationship with Christ began early. At eight years old, growing up in a mostly Christian home, I had the understanding of who God was but no knowledge of the cross of Christ. My parents separated and later divorced and this trial would push me closer to God. Through that difficult time I cried out to God, walked through the conviction of my own sin and was born again.

By twelve I was faithfully reading God’s word. The word was living and powerful like fire shut up in my bones. But I didn’t know what to do with that fire or the words of life that were so alive in my soul. After twelve years of faithfully attending congregational church, I had a strong understanding of the word of God and a conviction to live it out, but there seemed to be no outlet for my faith. I was later part of a church plant that began in a home and eventually moved into a traditional building. As a leader in this church I found little opportunity to live out or express the faith that I had. Each week I was only asked to help set up and run programs, sit nicely in my pew week after week, say a few amens and greet the brethren on their way in and out. Everything else was left up to the pastor the “man of the hour”.

What was I supposed to do with this word, with this revelation, with this relationship that I had? Most of my Christian experience provided very little opportunity for me to live out or even communicate the faith that I had. I felt frustrated and trapped. Sunday mornings served more as a frustration to my faith than it did to encourage it.

In 2007 I started a new job, my boss was also a graduate from MTI. Like me, he recognized some of the same pitfalls and errors of the traditional church. Daily we would share the word with each other, read through the Bible and pray together. This fellowship advanced my faith more than the previous twelve years of church attendance. In 2008 we started a home church together and this began my journey fulfilling what I believe is the biblical structure for the body of Christ. Two years later we joined a network of house churches called Oikos Ministries based out of Central LA where we served as elders.

Like the early church we met in homes, shared a meal together and prayed with and for each other. Each member was allowed and encouraged to use their gifts and share the word of God. Finally I found myself inside a structure that provided a platform for my faith and calling. But like any structure, having the right frame-work was only part of the puzzle. Lessons were learned and re-learned along the way and sometimes they were difficult lessons. Our fellowship must be filled with the spirit and word of God to flourish. Even in a good structure, like marriage, there are difficulties, there are labor pains but success happens when Christ is our centerpiece.

I soon realized that tradition and religion can be carried into any structure “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down” Mark 7:14. Do not expect that getting the structure right is the end of all your trials and labors. Each individual must passionately pursue Christ and bring to the body whatever word, calling or gifting they have in Christ. We must suffer with each other, encourage each other, endure with the weaknesses of the body and overcome.

When each member is built together in this way we can be a building built by God and fitted together as a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit where God can and will do great things. This doesn’t happen overnight and it doesn’t happen by accident. I am convinced that each believer desires to see the same zeal and passion they have for Christ be lived out within the body. I believe many feel just as I did, stuck in the religious traditions of men. They have a strong relationship with God but don’t have an opportunity to live out their faith in institutional church.

Start sharing your faith with other believers. Break bread together, share your lives with each other and see what grows in His light. This type of fellowship will produce great fruit, not only in your life but in the lives of many others around you as well. It may not always be perfect or easy but just like raising children, if you are faithful and consistent the reward and fruit of your labors will be beyond measure in this life and in the life to come.

Find our more about Oikos Ministries by clicking here.

Read more Unsung Heroes by clicking here.

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Books / Videos

The Community of the King

I recently read and enjoyed Howard A Snyder’s first book The Problem of Wineskins. This followup book is equally engaging even though it is a bit scholarly. Published in 1977, it is segmented into three parts: Perceiving the Kingdom, Understanding the Kingdom Community and Embodying the Kingdom Community. The excerpt below is from the second section and talks about the importance of community when it comes to witnessing.

If Jesus Christ actually gave more time to preparing a community of disciples than to proclaiming the good news (which he did), then the contemporary Church must also recognize the importance of community for proclamation. I would emphasize the priority of community in two directions: in relation to the individual believer and in relation to witness.

In the first place community is important for the individual believer. Mainline Protestantism, from its structures to its hymns and gospel songs, has emphasized the individual over the community. It has had a keen sense of the individual person’s responsibility before God but little corresponding sense of the communal life of the Christian. Too often the Church has been seen more as a mere collection of saved souls than as a community of interacting personalities. Christian growth has been a matter of individual soul culture rather than the building of the community of the Spirit. Saints who lived isolated, solitary lives were often placed on a pedestal above those whose lives were spent in true community. These tendencies, of course, were part of Protestantism’s pre-Reformation heritage.

But four biblical truths should call us back to the priority of community: (1) the concept of the people of God, (2) the model of Christ with his disciples, (3) the example of the early church, and (4) the explicit teachings of Jesus and the apostles. Christ’s statement, “Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Mt. 18:20) quite adequately defines the Church. Authentic Christian living is life in Christian community.

This does not mean, obviously, going to the opposite extreme and dissolving individual identity in the group. The individual emphasis is a biblical one, but a partial one.

Spiritual growth occurs best in a caring community. There are spiritual truths I will never grasp and Christian standards I will never attain except as I share in community with other believers-and this is God’s plan. The Holy Spirit ministers to us, in large measure, through each other. This is what Paul is talking about when he says “we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:15-16). This interaction of the many members in one body is body life. Karl Barth rightly points out that when the New Testament speaks of upbuilding, it “speaks always of the upbuilding of the community. I can edify myself only as I edify the community.”

This has immediate implications for the evangelistic task. The individual believer’s responsibility is first of all to the Christian community and to its head, Jesus Christ. The first task of every Christian is the edification of the community of believers. If we say that evangelism or soul winning is the first task of the believer, we do violence to the New Testament and place a burden on the backs of some believers that they are not able to bear. The idea that every Christian’s first responsibility is to be a soul winner ignores the biblical teachings about spiritual gifts. Further, it puts all the emphasis at the one point of conversion and undervalues the upbuilding of the Church which is essential for effective evangelism and church growth.

This leads us to affirm, secondly, the priority of community in relation to witness. Fellowship and community life are necessary within the Church in order to equip Christians for their various kinds of witness and service. In one way or another every Christian is a witness in the world and must share his faith. But he can be an effective witness only as he experiences the enabling common life of the Church. And this common life is truly enabling only as the community becomes, through the indwelling of Christ and the exercise of spiritual gifts, the koinonia of the Holy Spirit.

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Perspective

Where You Started

Since my wife and I became disciples of Jesus in 2002, we have always sought to understand the true meaning of discipleship. According to the dictionary, a disciple is “one who follows the ideas or imitates the examples of another.” In the case of Jesus’ followers, we are those who seek to live according to His teachings and imitate His example of life.

We know Jesus and His life and work, and we believe in Him. We repent of our independent life from Him and return the governance of our lives to Him with the commitment to live completely submissive to His will.

The church where we began our life as followers of Jesus was beautiful! All we had was Jesus and each other, which is truly all that is needed. Religiousness was not welcome. It was delightful when someone asked the name of the church and we replied: the church of Jesus has no name. Or when they asked: where is the church? And the answer was wherever we were gathered.

And discipleship was something intimate and transformative, growth was not limited to knowledge alone, but extended to faith, love, and the commitment to make new disciples. We lived this intensely for a period of our Christian journey. We were always eager to experience more of Jesus, excited to practice His words, and with hearts full of desire to share Him with those who did not yet know Him.

But…

As time went by, the enjoyable and exciting discipleship began to turn into something mechanical and robotic. Lots of knowledge, booklets upon booklets, many obligations. And the meetings started to become tiresome and boring. So much so that several times, I hoped they would be canceled. And then you ask me, “If it was so bad, why didn’t you leave?”

Ah, so… We left. For four years we were alone. In the meantime, I took a theology course at a large church institute. In a short time, I became the “pastor” of my own church. I started preaching in various churches and got to know the institutional church from the inside. What I saw and witnessed was a tremendous disappointment, but that’s a topic for another occasion.

After those years and tired of so much religious adventure, God gave us a clear word: “Return to where you started.” And when God speaks, those who have ears obey.

But when we returned, what astonished us was that the church had transformed. Many things had changed. The root of religiosity was sprouting. And so more than eighteen years passed. And the church was becoming like any other church. With buildings, with salaried pastors and elders, with programs, with various leaders, as a sister once told us, not normal people.

Some dissatisfied with this organizational structure left. Some wounded and hurt, others because they did not believe that this is the true way to be a church. Our small group that meets in our home understood the message that God had given us: Return to where you started. And we returned to the simple and true discipleship of the beginning of our journey. Where we were together, ate together, laughed and cried with each other, where the fundamental is the relationship, communion, and the flow of the Holy Spirit.

We rediscovered that our place was that church from the beginning: without denomination, without buildings, without pastors. In the living room, in the garage, under a tree, or wherever God wants. Living the life of Christ and in the good sense “contaminating” others.

We believe that the church builds itself up. We believe that this is the true discipleship that cultivates a lifestyle that pleases the heart of God and impacts lives.

Let’s embrace Jesus’ call to be His disciples, multipliers of His love, and living examples of His grace. We must transform not only our lives but also the lives of everyone around us, impacting the world for the glory of God. May our discipleship journey be a continuous celebration of the love we have received and that we have been called to share.”

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Thoughts from Others

Juan Carlos Ortiz

Below is an excerpt of an interview by The Wittenberg Door. Juan Carlos Ortiz was asked about church structure and church renewal. The interview was conducted in 1980 but his responses are still relevant today.

Door: In your books you also talk a lot about church renewal. Can you describe the renewal that went on in your own church?

Ortiz: We had experienced tremendous numerical growth in our church. But we discovered that we were running the church like a business. We were promoting Christ like we would promote a product, like we would promote Coca-Cola…We realized that simply increasing the number of people that attend church is not growth-cemeteries grow that way too.

One of the things we did right away was to change the focus of our message. Instead of urging people to come to Christ for all the blessings they would receive, we began to talk about Christ as Lord. We began to preach that people should come to Christ for Christ alone, not for a miracle, a blessing, or even heaven. We simply went back to preaching the person of Christ.

Door: What is your concept of church structure?

Ortiz: Jesus did not come to start an institution. He never intended to buy a piece of land and build a headquarters. We have to ask the Spirit today how to meet the needs of today. I must say that all structures are a hindrance to people in their search for God. If people have to accept Christ plus a pipe organ, the piano, the program, the television ministry, millions will reject Christ.

So often when a person comes into the church structure, it alienates them from their family and friends. Anything that takes the place of the Lord is wrong. For lots of people the structure takes the place of Jesus. They become meeting-centered instead of Christ-centered.

Rather than having deacons and elders, who function like the members of a board, and a minister, who functions like the president of the board, you strive for a group of people who become friends. Just like the disciples-they work together, love one another, and take care of one another.

Door: When we hear the word discipleship we think of a strong authority figure who becomes the discipler while exercising control over the disciplee, if there is such a word.

Ortiz: I would not use the word authority. That could be dangerous. I would use the word love. In my house, for instance, there is authority, but we never use the word. Authority is like soap, the more you use it, the less you have. The more you say you are the boss, the less authority you have. There is a kind of authority that lives in love, but we’re talking about a love relationship, not a military relationship.

Door: What are the signs of immaturity in the church today?

Ortiz: [One] evidence of immaturity in the church is the need for rules and laws. Children live by rules. They take a bath or brush their teeth because they are told to do it…Suppose the Lord tells me to eat an orange. So I eat the orange and sincerely believe that God has led me. Tomorrow, the Lord tells me to eat an orange again. So what happens? The next day I write down a rule to eat an orange every day. And do you see what that does? Now I don’t need the Spirit anymore. I have a law instead. Laws kill life. Laws stop growth. You end up staying with a concept, a principle, or a doctrine rather than life. What we did yesterday in the Spirit, we do today in the flesh.

Door: Can you summarize your suggestions for helping the church become a healthy and viable expression of Christ today?

Ortiz: We need to clean the church of all that is not essential or necessary. So we don’t need to waste our time on shakeable things like buildings. Buildings are just monuments to the people that build them. They are a symbol of division in the church. They are a symbol of the church’s self-centeredness.

We should strive toward a very simple structure of the church that could go underground any minute. Nobody on the payroll. No secretaries. No letters to write. We should create a church that can live through relationships so that we are connected person to person. And we can attain that by dividing our churches into small cell groups where people can build each other up.

If the church is always singing the same hymns, saying the same prayers, performing the same liturgy, and giving the same messages, it is because there is no growth. The wineskins of the church have to be elastic so we can always put in new wine.

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Thoughts from Others

From Pyramids to Fishing Nets

I’ve been doing some study on fishing nets and found this very insightful article by Carol S. Wimmer. I have included some excerpts from her article below but I would suggest you read the entire article, she makes some great points. You can find the article here and you can check out other articles and her website here.

An organizational structure defines and determines how all participants will view themselves within the organization. If this belief holds any measure of truth, then the church’s structural image is as important as her purpose for existing. If the church is to succeed in her mission, then she must know what her mission is, as well as the way in which she will structure herself.

The original organization of justice-centered leadership had no physical temple or church building where people gathered, lit oil lamps, or sang songs for an hour of worship each week. Instead, worshiping God and honoring the guidelines established for good living became a way of life. This was the baby bride’s purpose-to provide a WAY of life that honored God-a way of life rooted exclusively in a just society that addresses the care of neighbor by addressing the needs of each neighbor.

The pyramidal model strokes the egos of many pharaoh-type people in this world. Powerful people love to build empires of social control more than networks of social justice. Power is an addictive type of yeast that grows inside the human ego. Through dominance and a rigid legalistic system of religious laws, the power that comes with casting out anyone who doesn’t obey the rules established by their leaders seduced Israel’s leaders. Seduction is particularly easy when the elected leaders believe they speak for God or have the authority to speak for God.

It is humanity’s desire to select our default image of the pyramid whenever we organize ourselves in camps, groups, temples, or congregations. That choice causes humankind to miss God’s way of life for our entire species. We simply cannot give up our sinful desire to be mini-gods who prefer control over neighbor, rather than care of neighbor as we care for ourselves.

When thinking about the new image of the church of tomorrow, I suggest the Bride of Christ won’t be dressing herself in a pyramidal shaped structure. Once she fully heals from her present hemorrhaging, she will begin to make, spread, and cast nets.

Thousands upon thousands of human nets cast out upon the spiritual waters of neighborhoods, villages, towns, cities and geographic regions around the world. When Christians learn the art of net making and teach the art to others who want to learn, people will live in equitable, justice-centered societies. But first, the hemorrhaging woman must finally reach out her hand and touch the fringe of Jesus cloak. Then humankind will finally realize the kingdom of heaven on the earth.

In theory, the original net-like model created peaceful, non-violent, justice-oriented, grassroots governance. Imagine people governing themselves in the absence of any authoritarian pharaohs! When implemented effectively, the result would be an equitably-balanced society-a kingdom of heaven on earth. Hence, Jesus placed an image in the minds of his followers saying, “the kingdom of heaven is like a net,” Matthew 13:47. He also called fishermen into his inner circle because they knew how to construct fishing nets. When he called his disciples, he told them they would fish for people-those who are committed to an equitable way of life.

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Perspective

Love and Relationships

Love and Relationships – The Heart of the Organic Church

Many Christians feel a lack of true connection and live as disconnected and isolated individuals despite attending churches.

In the organic church, we are part of the same Body and members of one another. Here we can be ourselves, share our weaknesses, and find support. Often, this need is not met in traditional churches. The organic church is a welcoming and loving environment where authentic relationships are developed. This text aims to explore the meaning of love and relationships within the context of organic churches, based on the teachings of Jesus. Read the full text by clicking the link below.

https://northphoenixhousechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Love-and-Relationships-The-Heart-of-Organic-Church-1.pdf

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Perspective

A Tail of Three Dogs

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is “Will my dog go to heaven?” My usual response focuses on the fact that there are horses in heaven so why not other animals, although I’m pretty sure cats will never make it. My last dog, Spencer, may have made it; he was a bit naughty but perhaps he was able to sneak in with those big eyes.

Spencer

Spencer, a Yorkie, was a ball of energy. One of his naughty behaviors was that he would jump out of the bicycle basket. He loved going for car rides where he would insist on sitting on my lap but he couldn’t sit still on a bike. I thought of keeping him on a leash or restraint in the basket but had nightmares of him jumping out and strangling himself.

I do see pictures of dogs that love to sit still and go for rides on bicycles. They seem so happy, taking in fresh air, seeing sites and having full faith that they are safe and secure in their owners’ care.

We talked about dogs at our fellowship meeting last Sunday and it got me thinking. It seems Christians can be one of three types of dogs. The first type is the dog that just stays at home, maybe goes out for an occasional walk but never really goes on any adventures. When it’s time for a ride, he knows it’s to the vet so he’s not very happy. Dogs are happiest having adventures, playing with others, having fun and cuddling with their owners. May I suggest that it’s the same with all of us. When it’s time for you to go to church, do you feel like you’re going to the vet? Is your spiritual walk here on earth exciting and an adventure or are you just holding on waiting for your eternal reward?

Yes doggie, there is more!

The second type of Christian would be like my Spencer. They want to enjoy life and have adventures but don’t fully trust the Lord. They keep jumping out of the basket thinking that Christ will ask them to become a missionary in some foreign country. They are the ones that say “That’s OK Jesus, I can handle this life on my own”.

Hopefully, we all aim to become like the third type of dog. The one that completely trusts in his master. At 65 years old, I have finally come to the place where I can stay in the basket, enjoy life and believe that wherever the Lord takes me will be filled with awesomeness and wonders. So far it’s been quite a ride!

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Thoughts from Others

9 Common Pitfalls

Pastor to Pioneer is an exceptional ministry providing guidance for pastors wanting to transition to more relational fellowships. This article was written by Britton Smith for pastors but it’s relevant for anyone that has or would like to transition. I encourage you to read and share. You can check out the ministry here.

We know the demand to manage the current church system often feels unfruitful and burdensome. Many pastors wrestle with the idea that what they’re doing doesn’t look like what they’re reading in the Bible. We were pastors in that system, too-frustrated by the feeling of being trapped in an institution and desiring to follow Jesus and be the church in a more simple way. 

All of us on the Pastor to Pioneer team have moved from managing institutions to pioneering movements of wholehearted disciples and simple churches in our cities. We are people who seek to know Jesus, listen to what he says, and respond accordingly. We do this with others in very simple ways, often in living rooms. 

The transition from being pastors to becoming pioneers was not easy for us, but it has been worth it. We are living into God’s call for us outside of manmade religion, and we’re doing so without compromising our faith. We also see God transforming our lives, our families’ lives, and the lives of those around us. 

If you are considering making the journey from pastor to pioneer, we want to help you avoid some common mistakes. These are the top nine repeated mistakes we’ve seen pastors make when moving from a traditional pastoral role to that of a pioneer. While these mistakes are typical, you can avoid them. 

Pitfall #1: Changing Venues But Not Values 

One of the biggest mistakes pastors make when entering pioneering work is changing a model without changing the values and principles that the church should embody. If you don’t examine the Bible and adjust the principles of what the church is supposed to be and do, you will build a new model on an unstable foundation. Your actions might look different, but your spiritual DNA will remain the same. 

New Values 

When you pursue new values, you will embody a healthier way of interacting with Jesus and each other. Living according to biblical values will lead to more Christlike fruit. Here are three main values that we see needing emphasis: 

  1. Everyone listening and responding to Jesus. 

  2. Everyone pursuing relationships, not programs. 

  3. Everyone empowered to use their gifts. 


If you don’t shift your values as a family and community, you will bring consumerism, competition, and celebrity culture from the prevailing model into your living room. 

Different Values Will Lead to a Different Venue 

Different values will inevitably lead to a different venue, but simply changing a venue doesn’t automatically shift values. Meeting from house to house is not the point. However, we have found it to be the most helpful way to walk together in relationship with Jesus and to know how he calls us to interact with each other. Meanwhile, it is challenging to live out many of the values we are pursuing in the prevailing model of the church. 

Next Steps 

Before jumping into the newest model, return to the New Testament. As you read, what values does the earliest church emphasize? How do the people of God interact with him and with one another? 

As you do this, be humble to acknowledge where you have been misguided. God will give you the grace to see and then live differently. You must allow yourself to detox from the old ways of operating and thinking. You will bring the institution’s baggage into the living room if you don’t. You might not realize how entrenched you are in old ways of thinking until you step out of your current church context. This takes time you can’t make this shift overnight. You will find that some old ways of thinking will crop up and you will have to work through them. 

Pitfall #2: Inviting People to an Event But Not a Friendship 

Many pastors think the weekly service is the pinnacle of the church. They believe people will grow and connect with others if they attend a church service. When the people aren’t growing enough from a weekly service, pastors fill the church calendar with other events for them to attend. 

Events Rarely Lead to Transformation 

Rarely do these events translate to deep relationships or personal transformation. Even if they have some fruit, these events model a need for church staff to organize and execute programming for others to attend. Instead, when people are confident to foster friendships with each other, events will naturally flow out of those relationships based on the needs they discover. 

Transformation Happens in Relationship 

Transformation comes as people are in relationships, spurring each other toward Jesus, not just attending events together. Maturity comes when people feel safe sharing their weaknesses and struggles, and the group gently comes alongside them to help them grow. 

Building genuine relationships can be challenging, but it is essential for creating a thriving church community that focuses on loving and serving one another. 

Next Steps 

Prayerfully consider the people in your life. Who are some people you can invite to a meal instead of asking them to be part of your church or network? Bring them into your life and family rather than into some manmade organization. Many often naturally become part of our church networks as the relationship grows. 

Pitfall #3: Planting Churches Rather than Making Disciples 

In recent years, the Western church has focused heavily on church planting. The usual pattern involves a church planter gathering a core group and starting in a living room or a small rented space. The goal is to grow as fast as possible. Those involved will consider the church plant successful when it becomes financially self-sufficient. 

The Goal is Christlikeness 

The goal in the New Testament never seems to be church planting. The church in the New Testament aims for the people of God to grow in maturity in Christlikeness. Some call this 

discipleship. We aren’t talking about trading small groups, Bible studies, or Sunday school for new events or tools. We are talking about living our lives in deep connection to Jesus, worshiping, beholding, and responding to him together as a Jesus-centered community. He will then bear the fruit of Christlikeness in our lives (John 15). 

House Churches Aren’t the Point 

Many pioneers are tempted to start as many house churches as fast as possible. But when we operate in such a fury, many groups fizzle out over time. The pioneer should instead begin by pouring deeply into the few and modeling for them a life of transformation that comes from listening and responding to Jesus. You can then teach them how to gather with others in a Jesus-centered community. These small communities tend to be healthier and have greater endurance because they are built on the foundation of a relationship with Jesus and maturity in him, not just gathering in a house. 

Next Steps 

Start by focusing on your maturity and the transformation of your household. What does your time with Jesus look like? Are you spending time beholding him and responding to him? What changes do you need to make? 

Pitfall #4: Wanting the Treasure Without the Cost 

The status quo of church ministry often focuses on attendance and other metrics, as well as expectations around the quality of production for events and programs. But God is inviting you to follow him without the burden of manmade religion. 

He desires you to have a life-giving relationship with him though Jesus full of joy and peace. As you grow in your relationship with him, you get to respond to his leadership and direction. You no longer have to maintain a checklist of religious duties and obligations to keep God happy. He is glad to be with you because you are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus and cleansed by his blood. Jesus has done what is required for you to have a restored relationship with the Father. He doesn’t expect us to try harder to change on our own. He has given us the Holy Spirit, who produces the fruit of Jesus in our lives. 

No More Manmade Religion 

This kind of life will likely demand a different church structure than you are currently experiencing. We don’t need a manmade intermediary. We have direct access to the Father through Jesus. The people of God don’t need manmade structures and programs to facilitate our relationship with God, and you don’t need to be the hired help to run them. You don’t have to be the lynchpin that keeps the whole church machine running and bear the burden of keeping it going each week. You can be part of a community where everyone hears and responds to the voice of Jesus. You don’t have to be under the pressure every Sunday of people coming to you to be fed because they don’t know how to go to Jesus and have him feed them. 

This New Life Comes at a Cost 

Stepping into something new requires leaving behind the old. Before there is new life, there is the death of the old. Before the Israelites could enter the Promised Land, they needed to leave Egypt. 

The cost will be high for you to begin pioneering. It may mean giving up your title, financial security, and even friendships. It may mean leaving behind the familiar, the comfortable, and the stable. However, the high cost is, of course, worth it because God is the treasure. 

Next Steps 

Take time to reflect and allow the Lord to reveal the areas in your life that need to change or die. Title, reputation, security, and control (among other things) likely need to die before you step into pioneering. What are those things for you? 

Pitfall #5: Sharing Before Doing 

Pastors are notorious for passing things on to others without first living them out themselves. You have probably felt the pressure to teach something new every Sunday without having enough time to apply what you are learning first. 

Live It Before You Share It 

When you grow in conviction about living into different principles and values as a church, giving a sermon series on these things is tempting. But people grow by seeing and experiencing something different. Remember, you are modeling entirely different principles from those we typically practice in manmade models. 

Don’t Announce a New Vision 

Don’t make the same mistake many of us have by announcing a new vision of disciple-making and gathering in simple churches before you have lived it and allowed the new DNA to infuse the church relationally. Embody the culture and values you want to see replicated. Don’t start by teaching them just yet. 

Next Steps 

Start small. Start by listening, obeying, and sharing Jesus yourself. Start by being the church in your own home. The family is the hub of discipleship, community, and mission. You will reproduce in others what you are living and modeling. As you pour your life into the few, you will see deeper, healthier things grow and multiply. Don’t advertise it. Don’t try to start a network. Just live it out in your own life. Until you do this, you won’t have anything to pass on other than theory. 

Pitfall #6: Calling Yourself Pastor 

Though many consider the pastor an indispensable role in a church, the New Testament does not have a position like our modern-day pastor. Even if you intend to operate differently, the title of “pastor” comes with a lot of baggage and expectations. 

If people call you pastor (or any similar title), their expectations of your behavior will reflect their understanding of what a person in that role should be. They will be tempted to have you run an organization, lead church services, or be the hired hand that keeps everything running. These things do not help the church function in an empowering, decentralized way. 

Jesus Is the Only Person Given the Title “Pastor” 

The term “pastor” is better translated as “shepherd” in the New Testament. A shepherd is a gift given to care for those in need within the church, listed among many other gifts (Ephesians 4:11-13). It is not elevated above other gifts. Nor are shepherds appointed as church leaders. No one in the New Testament has the title of pastor other than Jesus (John 10; 1 Peter 2:25, 5:4). Therefore, we should reconsider using this title for ourselves. 

Being Called Pastor Comes with Added Burden 

If you take on the title of pastor, you will be tempted to think of yourself as more central to the work than you should be. You likely will feel the burden of trying to produce and control what happens in these churches. 

To avoid this problem, start by being a disciple of Jesus who makes other disciples as you operate in a spiritual family from your home. Don’t call yourself a pastor or church planter. By the grace of God, as you make a disciple, teach them to make other disciples and how to meet together in simple ways. 

Elders, Not Pastors, Are Appointed 

Once a church in an area grows from house to house, a group of elders will emerge from that new work. Their role is to shepherd, oversee, and serve as an example to the rest of the community. They don’t control everything but empower the church to use their gifts and listen to, obey, and share Jesus. The goal of shepherding is to teach and equip the church to be able to feed themselves rather than relying on others to do it for them. Elders functioning in these ways helps the church mature and prevents the elders from being the bottleneck as the church grows. 

Next Steps 

Is giving up the title of pastor (or any similar title you hold) difficult for you? Consider why this might be. 

Pitfall #7: Skipping the Grieving and Focusing on Leaving

The journey towards pioneering goes beyond just acquiring new tools and methods. It’s about your own personal transformation, healing, and maturity. As you pioneer, it will come with losses. The process of grieving and letting go of your old life as a pastor is challenging and takes time. Acknowledging your feelings and allowing yourself space to process your emotions is essential. 

Many pastors ignore the transformation the Lord wants to bring to their inner lives. It feels easier to focus on “doing things” for the Lord rather than allowing the Lord to address the things in their hearts. 

Jesus Will Comfort Us in Our Loss 

Let him minister to your heart, affirm your strengths, and encourage you through the challenges. He can provide comfort during grief and heal any wounds you may carry. This process requires vulnerability and openness that may sometimes feel uncomfortable, but it’s necessary to embrace the journey ahead fully. Remember that the Lord is with you every step of the way and wants to see you thrive in this new chapter of your life. 

Don’t Grieve Alone 

If you step into pioneering, you must have a support system on which you can rely. When grieving potential or actual losses, sharing your feelings with someone you trust can be helpful. The coaches on the Pastor to Pioneer team serve in this role to help pastors navigate their journey. You can also turn to your spouse for support and talk to them about the sadness and grief you’re experiencing. Pay attention to your emotions throughout the journey and try to understand why you feel these ways. 

Next Step 

Make a list of losses you have experienced or will experience if you transition to pioneering. How do you feel about losing these things? Who can you share these losses with? 

Pitfall #8: Not Sharing with Your Spouse 

As a pastor, when you start questioning the values, structures, and outcomes of the existing church model, you are essentially challenging the source of your community and financial support. If you are married, you might mistakenly try to keep these questions and thoughts to yourself so that you do not burden your spouse with concerns about losing financial stability and friendships. 

The Danger of Moving Too Far Ahead of Your Spouse 

Starting without your spouse may seem more straightforward at first. However, if you don’t involve your spouse in wrestling through these big questions, you may develop beliefs they do not share. Such a difference in beliefs can become a significant barrier if you desire to move away from the traditional model of the church and pioneer something new, but your spouse is not on board. 

Start the Conversations Early 

If you are married, we recommend you have conversations with your spouse early on in the journey to wrestle with these issues together. You don’t have to lay everything out immediately. Start small and have regular conversations about your feelings and thoughts. Open up and share the deep parts of your heart, including your fears, excitements, and questions, and then invite your spouse to do the same. 

Starting Together Helps You Journey Together 

The key to successful pioneering as a couple is to embark on the journey together. Although it may take longer to reach the destination, starting the journey together helps you pioneer together. 

Next Steps 

Allow your convictions to grow together with your spouse as the Holy Spirit reveals truth from the Word. Read through Acts together and talk about how you see the church functioning. How does it compare to your experience? 

Pitfall #9: Thinking Organizationally Rather than Relationally 

When you start dreaming of a simpler, more relational way of following Jesus and being the church, it’s tempting to begin branding the work. As a pastor in the prevailing model, you have been trained to establish a name, non-profit, website, etc. We encourage you to hold off before placing an order for t-shirts and mugs with the logo of your new house church network. 

No Church Names 

There aren’t fancy church names in the New Testament. Gatherings of believers in homes don’t seem to brand the ministry or have a church sign out front. There are very generic ways of describing different gatherings. When it is a gathering in a home, the believers refer to it as “the church in so-and-so’s house.” When someone writes a letter to a group of believers in a city, they are called “the church in __________(city).” You see examples of this throughout the New Testament, such as the church in Rome, the church in Ephesus, and the church in Corinth. They considered the believers in a city as part of the same church, and they didn’t come up with different names, brands, or structures. They understood themselves to be connected relationally rather than organizationally. 

The Church Is Like a Family 

In the New Testament, we see the church growing organically and relationally. The church operates like a family unit. While there is undoubtedly structure and routine that goes into keeping a household running smoothly, what truly makes a family thrive is the emphasis placed on building and nurturing strong relationships. 

A Necessary Shift 

Moving from an organizational to a relational mindset is a huge but necessary step when shifting toward pioneering. Keeping things relational can make growing and adapting to specific situations easier. It also empowers the people to respond to the Spirit rather than expecting the organization to do it for them. The church might add organizational structures later to help the body function well. Creating rigid structures too soon often adds complications and can hinder the work. 

Next Steps 

Are you tempted to brand a new work in any way? If so, why? Are you willing to let go of the need for a brand and simply adopt generic references like those in the New Testament? 

Conclusion 

These mistakes are common because chasing a new model is tempting. But this is a journey of transformation. It starts with personal transformation and transformation in your home, and ministry flows from there. 

We invite you to embody new values and principles, not simply try a new model. We are inviting you into a life-giving relationship with Jesus and others. You can experience a life and ministry marked by joy, peace, and freedom rather than duty, exhaustion, and burden. You can be on a mission together with your family in an integrated way where they don’t get your leftovers. 

It is challenging to learn a new mindset and way of operating on your own. We have found it helpful to have someone who has navigated these common pitfalls to help guide you on your journey from pastor to pioneer. If you need someone to be that guide for you, reach out to us at www.pastortopioneer.com.

Pastor to Pioneer 

Many pastors are feeling burdened and trapped managing institutions that aren’t producing the fruit they desire. At Pastor to Pioneer, we help pastors live into God’s call for them without compromise by empowering them to pioneer movements of wholehearted disciples and healthy simple churches in their communities. 

For more resources and to get connected, visit: 

www.pastortopioneer.com 

@pastortopioneer
© 2024 Pastor to Pioneer 

Categories
Books / Videos

The Problem of Wineskins

This book by Howard A. Snyder was written in 1975 and contains many valuable insights. The excerpt below explains sacrifice, priesthood and the tabernacle before and after the church was born. Highly recommended for those considering stepping away from institutional church.

Sacrifice, priesthood, tabernacle-all instituted through Moses in the Old Testament. Theologically, all passed away with the coming of Christ and the birth of the church.  Historically, all passed away with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. They had become irrelevant, anachronistic.

And so the church was born without priesthood, sacrifice or tabernacle because the church and Christ together were all three. The church faithfully embodied this truth for more than a century, and overran the Roman Empire.

The great temptation of the organized church has been to reinstate these three elements among God’s people: to turn community into an institution. Historically, the church has at times succumbed. Returning to the spirit of the Old Testament, she has set up a professional priesthood, turned the Eucharist into a new sacrificial system and built great cathedrals.  When this happens, a return to faithfulness must mean a return-in both soteriology and ecclesiology-to the profound simplicity of the New Testament. Usually, however, reformation in doctrine has not been accompanied by sufficiently radical reform in church structure.

The significance of the tabernacle must be singled out for special attention here-partly because it usually is not but primarily because it has significance for the church, for ecclesiology. Why should God be represented by a physical structure? Why a tent?

In the Mosaic covenant the tabernacle was the symbol of God’s presence. “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex. 25:8). The central idea was God’s habitation with his people. God could not actually dwell in the hearts of his people because of their sin and rebelliousness; his habitation had to be symbolic. So God ordered the tabernacle built and laid it out to Moses in extravagant detail. It was to be made according to the blueprint revealed on the mount (Ex. 26:30; Acts 7:44; Heb. 8:5).

But for the church the tabernacle is fulfilled in the body of Christ, as we have seen. So the necessity of a physical tabernacle has passed away. Why? Because now God dwells with his people in the hearts and bodies of the believing community, through the inhabiting of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit “dwells with you, and will be in you” (Jn. 14:17), Jesus said. If one loves and obeys Jesus, the Father and Son “will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn. 14:23). “I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

Howard A. Snyder

Clearly, the central idea of the tabernacle is God’s habitation, but in the New Testament God dwells within the hearts of his people, not just symbolically among the people. The veil has been torn in two; the stony heart transplanted with one of flesh. So the church is “a dwelling place of God in (or through) the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).

There will also be an eternal, eschatological fulfillment of the idea of God’s habitation. For when John sees the holy city descending from God, the first words he hears from the throne are, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men” (Rev. 21:3, AV; compare Ezek. 37:27-28). This is the meaning of the holy city: God’s habitation eternally, spiritually, really and perfectly, with his people. Therefore naturally there is “no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Rev. 21:22). And has this not ever been God’s design: a city without temples because God himself is its temple? Here all limitations of time and space have evaporated. God and man are in perfect communion. Eternally, there exists the fellowship, the koinonia, of the Holy Spirit.

So we see a threefold progression. First, God symbolically dwelling among his people in a physical structure called a tabernacle. Second, God actually dwelling within the hearts of his people through the Holy Spirit. Third, God dwelling eternally with his people, in perfect spiritual communion, in the age to come. The first reality points to the second, and the second to the third.

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Categories
Thoughts from Others

The Sin of Self-Sufficiency

Since the beginning of humanity, the sin of self-sufficiency (of having, power, and being) has been a constant temptation, first manifested in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan, cunning in his strategy, used these same devices to tempt humanity from the start, leading our first parents to fall by suggesting they could be like God, knowing good and evil and independent of His will.

Christ faced the same temptations in the desert, where Satan tried to seduce Him with the offer of power, authority, and personal satisfaction. In each of these temptations, Jesus remained faithful to the Father’s will, rejecting self-sufficiency, the pursuit of having, the desire for power, and false identity.

The passage in Luke 14:33 reminds us of the importance of renouncing all we have and following Christ.

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33

It challenges us to abandon the mindset of self-sufficiency and the relentless pursuit of having, power, and being, placing God at the center of our lives and fully trusting in His provision and guidance. By doing so, we demonstrate our faith and dependence on God, overcoming the temptations that surround us.

To overcome the sin of self-sufficiency, it is essential to cultivate a life of faith and obedience to God. We must seek humility, acknowledging our dependence on the Lord in all areas of our lives. Additionally, prayer, the Word, and fellowship with other believers are crucial to strengthen our faith and resist the temptations that come our way.

Therefore, when facing the same temptations that plagued Adam, Eve, and even Jesus, let us remember that our victory lies in following Christ’s example, renouncing self-sufficiency, and fully trusting in God. May we find strength and encouragement in faith, overcoming the snares of sin and living a life that glorifies the Lord in all things.

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