Sprouting

Recently a new "sprout" of the Church began to emerge in one of our homes. Some co-workers of my wife started gathering with us after work to share life together over a meal and to interact with the Scriptures. A few know who Jesus is, others don't, so during our time together we seek to understand and follow the Jesus revealed to us in the Scriptures (particularly the Gospels), which is captivating to us all. Our conversations are rich and the questions raised are deeply profound. The presence of God is almost tangible when we gather.

The reason we consider our gathering a sprout is because the body of Christ has not yet fully emerged. Could it become a gathering of the Church? Absolutely, and that is our desire. But we're not there yet.

What we hope will emerge out of this gathering is a community of disciples that regularly gathers together for at least four purposes: to celebrate God and his activity (including sacraments), to encourage one another (prayer), to grow in our knowledge of and obedience to Jesus (interaction with Scripture), and to pursue lives of service while proclaiming the gospel in both word and deed.

This way of being the Church may seem too simple, but perhaps that's because the standard way of doing church has become far too complicated by things that really don't matter all that much in God's Kingdom. Call our approach simple or organic or missional, or whatever. We're simply trying to follow Jesus as best we know how and we're discovering that his way of life is the best way to live.

Roots

We have been reminded recently in our gathering times that we need to continually cast vision for what we are about as a church. Because networks of missional house churches are so new--new as in "so old it's new"--very few of us have a clear idea of what they might look like.

Sometimes images can be helpful. The image shown here is of an aspen grove. The grove is actually the world’s largest organism as the entire grove shares one root system beneath the surface. Above the earth’s surface, the trees each appear separate, yet each tree contains the exact same DNA as the tree next to it, all because they share the same roots.

So what is the root system of missional churches? In the case of ViaCordis, the root system is made up of coaching relationships and monthly leadership community gatherings. That’s where the leaders grow and are challenged and nurtured. The root system is what keeps us connected. From there, we sprout above the ground in ways that each look a bit different, spreading out as sent people. Some may start small house church gatherings that engage in transformational initiatives (personal and community), others may begin by serving together in areas of need in hopes of seeing another "tree" (i.e. community of disciples) emerge in the grove. Each tree looks different—and separate—above the surface. But underneath they’re all connected and nourished by the same roots.

The nutrients that flow through the roots--those elements that we rely upon for our community life--are simply the commands and commission Jesus gave us: love God, love others, and make disciples as you go. Again, the expression of these elements in each tree will look different depending on the context, but the elements are the same.

Our goal has never been a large Sunday morning gathering. It’s never been a Sunday morning gathering at all. We deeply desire to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus throughout the week, at the odd times of day and night when we can best serve those in the world around us. As we serve and express the elements Jesus gave us, others will begin to know Jesus as well and new communities will form.

Right now there’s only one tree in the grove. But the roots are spreading and new sprouts are beginning to break through the top of the soil. A new grove is in the making.