Community, Mission, and Christian Formation

Finished Randy Frazee's The Connecting Church a few weeks ago, and really liked it. I have to be honest, i wasn't expecting a suburban church pastor (who a little over a year ago was on staff at Willow Creek) to make the kind of assertions he made in the book... but i was refreshed by what i found. So many books emphasize theory to the neglect of practical realism. Others strive to present a system that has very little, if any, grounding in Scripture. What i liked about this book was that Frazee truly integrated the two. He is biblically-solid, culturally-astute, and practically-illustrative. Oh, and he implemented it, and did it successfully.
I emailed a local pastor-friend of mine, who got some of his buddies together, to talk about some of Frazee's ideas (not new to him) over lunch. Specifically, i wanted to explore the relationship of community to the mission of the local church in forming followers of Christ. These are some of the concepts we wrestled with. I'm eager to hear your thoughts.

First, respond to this statement (True/False):
Our church’s program/system/practical philosophy of ministry is making sufficient progress in the mission of making disciples—quantitatively and qualitatively.

Frazee, paraphrazing Bob Buford of Leadership Network, says that "Whatever we measure is really our mission." The "church growth" world measures attendance and assimilation numbers. At best, they measure success based upon percentages of members involved in small groups, or rapidity of multiplication of small groups. Again, numbers. The best among them are growing by conversions. But are any of them effectively making disciples of the majority of their members? Do they have and effectively utilize tools to evaluate the qualitative success of the church (i.e. the spiritual vitality and progress of their members)? If so, what are the results showing? Willow Creek did this recently, and the results were alarming. That's old news now. But is anyone else doing it?

I attended a workshop yesterday on Developing a Reproducing Culture in a Rapidly Growing Church, led by Dave Ferguson of Community Christian Church and New Thing Network, multi-site phenoms. For them, and for an increasing number of church leaders and organizations, "multiplication" is the measure of success... multiplication of churches, that is. Of course, this is necessary for the expansion of the kingdom, but is this what Jesus called us to do? Not simply that, no. "Make disciples" is the mission he gave us. We can continue to move from field to field, reaping the harvest of souls until the soil is depleted, allowing churches to die their "natural deaths" and move on to greener fields, but are we really growing God's kingdom? Are people continuing to follow more and more closely after Jesus once they are born-again? Do we even care, or have we fooled ourselves into believing that filling buildings, and even homes, is accomplishing the Great Commission?

I would not be surprised if all but very few churches are missing the boat altogether, including many of the rapid multiplication ones. This is not about to change, i believe, until we recover authentic, biblical community as the non-negotiable base of our churches. Let me unpack this, with the help of Pastor Frazee.

Authentic: not artificial, not an event (small group). Frazee emphasizes five primary characteristics of authentic community:
  1. Spontaneity of interaction
  2. Availability to one another
  3. Frequency of interaction
  4. Geographical proximity (critical for the 1st three)
  5. Interdependence of life
Biblical: Community does not exist as an end in itself, nor does it automatically form Christ in people. It must be recognized as the means for higher ends, and must be done according to the wisdom of Scripture. Frazee notes five aspects of a community's common purpose:
  1. Clear, common understanding of and respect for an agreed upon authority structure,
  2. Common creed (foundational beliefs and practices),
  3. Common traditions (symbols, festivals, activities, etc. that reinforce the community's values, practices, and purpose),
  4. Common standards which define expectations of community members, and
  5. A clearly defined, common mission.
One of the most important concepts Frazee identifies is the need for individuals and families to "move toward one main circle" (p. 34-35), i.e., to consolidate our worlds into one.  The reason for this is that most urban and suburban Americans have too many "worlds" to manage (i.e. are over-extended relationally and emotionally), and are suffering psychologically and spiritually as a result.  Depression is at an historic high.  Divorce rates and family dysfunction continues to soar.  American individualism has become isolationism, and we are falling to pieces—as individuals, families, and as a society.  It is only as we rediscover and embrace an interdependent lifestyle, in which relationships are natural, normal, and necessary, that we will relearn how to be human—and learn how to be truly Christian.

I could go on and elaborate on the many, serious challenges which face the Western church—challenges which are not being adequately addressed by even the most rapidly growing churches and movements (e.g., youth/young adult dropout/retention, gross biblical illiteracy)—but time and space here do not permit.  Suffice it to say that all our elaborate means to structure, plan, and organize our churches via programs—and cure sick souls via counseling and support groups—are but scotch tape holding together a dam that is about to break under the tide of hyper-modernity.   They fail to address the root of the problem: our fundamental disconnectedness in every arena of life.  Oh, we have connections.  We have more than we can sanely manage.  What we lack is true, deep connection—the kind of connection that heals and inspires and grounds us.  The kind of connection through which Christ in me finds Christ in you—soul on soul.

Comments

  1. Bet you counted on a comment from me... (I like the new look, by the way.)

    I wanted to add a characteristic of authentic community that is not present in your synopsis (although it may be present in the book itself.)

    To use language borrowed from chemistry, Authentic Community should have a solid nucleus, and a semi-permeable cell wall.

    Let me be more specific. A meaningful Community of believers needs a well-defined circle of decision-makers at the center, with, of course, Christ at the very center. This circle should be both relationally tight and well-protected. However, it should not be cliquish or elitist.

    Surrounding this nucleus should be an array of other "bodies", small circles of relationship and caring, which are more permeable than the nucleus, in terms of people moving in and out, but still tight enough to allow deep relationships to form.

    The people in these various circles all need to have an eye on what happens at the cell wall. It should be known that everyone is welcome, but there are certain standards of respect that must be obeyed while inside the cell. Some bodies multiply these standards unnecessarily and turn a church into a clique. Others have no standards at all, and the community becomes indistinct from any other random, unChristlike grouping one might find in the outside world. But to split the difference is what makes the cell wall semi-permeable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, man. The thing about community is that everything is "common" (Frazee adds, for the Christian community, common possessions...though not in a communistic sense). You can't have everything in common with everyone. It's the complex, expansive web of relationships that draw us away from a centered, communal life. We can only keep so many commitments. The more we make, the less substantial and meaningful they are. Technology is dangerously seductive in this way... great tool, ruthless god.

    The semi-permeability issue is where ecclesiology and mission meet. You can't be missional with a rigid well, and you can't be Christian with a nonexistent one. It's got to be just permeable enough that people can see in, want in, and get a really close look (enough to "belong" in a real way), but impermeable enough that they recognize that what binds the community together is the blood and Spirit of Christ.

    Thanks for adding this contribution to the discussion! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. *rigid wall... my bad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3:13 PM

    Matt,
    The vision of CCC and NewThing is not just to reproduce; in fact it is to "reproduce genuine biblical community." We have also been greatly influenced by our friendship with Frazee. I think if you got to know us a little better you would see that. Thanks. Dave

    ReplyDelete
  5. Really appreciate you stopping by, Dave.

    Didn't mean to jump to conclusions, but i thought the vision was helping people find their way back to God? I guess in our 4+ hours together i just did not hear any discussion (outside of a brief answer to a question from Dr. Swanstrom) about spiritual formation in Christ, i.e. maturity. Granted, the topic was steeply slanted toward reproduction, so that's what you discussed. I'm just afraid that if we aren't continually cognizant and explicit about what is we're actually trying to accomplish—making disciples, and not just converts or re-converts—we will make strategic decisions concerning numerical growth that may end up stifling spiritual growth. If you all are assertively facilitating community that goes beyond the small group experience, that's extremely encouraging. I'm unconvinced that small groups are sufficient for the kind of community that sustains and empowers the mission.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts