I've been off and on thinking about this question of what a new church plant might look like. Here's some thoughts...
-Pastor's Role - Totally depends on the gifts and passions of the person considered the pastor. More than likely this person is the one who has the vision of that particular church. For instance, it could be that this person is not a great preacher, but is great at counseling. The pastor in this case would be the counselor. Other's within the body would fulfill roles based on thier gifts and passions - ie. teacher, preacher, finances, children, teens, organization, service.
In essence what happens is we no longer have a pastor as we currently define him or her as. Paradigm shift.
- Where to meet - I'm thinking you start out in somebody's home and maybe migrate to an empty building/school/warehouse as the need arises. Or maybe you never migrate, you just split and have another house church begin.- Structure - This comes about organically, depending upon the gifts and passions within that particular body. Ideally I guess there would be different parts within the body that seek to be the Church as it pertains to a missional objective. Specifically, I see these parts as teaching, worship, service (within and without), gift & passion recognition, finances (within and without), young people, children, ???
- Gathering Times - I like the idea of having small house churches gather together for a larger corporate worship time. But let's just say there is only one house church. Again, it depends on the gifts and passions of that group. It could be that there are no musicians so any music is simply played via CD/Podcast/Etc... for the purpose of bringing the group into an attitude of worship. There would be a teaching and discussion time. Communion would be shared on a regular basis (you make the call on how often). Who knows, maybe you spend the time in meditative prayer. I see this varying from week to week.
3 comments:
I know thats one of my favorite cereals!!!Erika Just :)
TJ - Thanks for your thoughts on this subject. I think that you are right on with the role of the pastor is to act in the areas in which she or he is most gifted.
I appreciate your preference toward a house church. I think that this will continue to be an increasing vital way of being the church, but I am still trying to wrap my head around how that would really work. Would there be a distinction from a small group? Would there be different types of gatherings? I do like the way that this lends itself to doing all of life together.
In any case, thanks and hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!
Andrew,
yea, i'm still trying to figure out how all that works as well. i like the idea of having a house churche living life together and then coming together on a regular basis for corporate worship in a larger gathering of many house churches.
as far as a distinction from a small group - yes, there certainly is althought my idea of a small group may be different than yours. i see small groups as a short term topic centered group. i think the biggest distinction is really living life together, sharing financial responsibilities, taking care of eachother's kids, etc...
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