The heartbeat of Christian mission.
What if a church took the apostles' teaching seriously?
Amidst the cornfields and small urban centers in the heart of the American midwest there is a small, faithful church shaping their entire lives around being Jesus’ family to one another and their communities. I stayed with them while I participated in some specific vocational training, and I was left speechless at what I experienced. I’ve since pulled myself together and found some words to describe things. This post is what I reported back to my base church in New Jersey.
This was an unexpected Part 4 to the series of essays on 1 Corinthians 11:17-14:40. What I found in this church looked like they had understood and built their lives around what Paul is saying in these passages and across his early, middle and later letters… the things we see in the book of Acts.
Hello Everyone,
I wanted to give you all a report from my trip. I will try and capture in words what I experienced last week when I traveled to the mid-west and spent five days with a church there, staying in the home of one of the key leadership families.
The church there currently has about the same amount of people that we have, although more than half of their folks are in their 20's & 30's. They have a team of serious leaders (shepherds, a couple of apostolic-type leaders and a number of coworkers) all of whom have jobs and fund themselves, but are somehow always available and interacting with everyone in the church. They all live daily-life together, helping each other with both large crises and small everyday tasks. Their households are spread across a 40-50 mile radius, but somehow they prioritize one another in such a way that each of their individual needs and the needs of their households are secondary to being available to one another. And their households (husbands and wives) are one-minded about prioritizing the lives of others in the church family and together these husband/wife teams work to accomplish this. Because they all prioritize one another, families get help from other families, or from some of the 20-something singles, which then allows them to be available to serve others in their church and in their sphere of outside relationships. Each household still has their needs met and accomplishes their necessary tasks, but rather than each family focusing on its own lives and interests, they all focus on and help one another. I've never seen anything like it. It looked exactly like Acts.
They meet each week on Sunday evenings around a meal and discussion time, like we do. Right now, they have one simple church of about 40 people, but they are poised to expand into four simple churches. I expect this to begin happening in the next few months and probably by next year, they will have 4-5 simple church gatherings spread across their area. They have targeted the nearest strategic city and are intentionally planting churches in that geographic direction, so they can eventually begin to influence those in that city and create a cluster of churches throughout their region.
One young family from the church was recently looking to purchase a new home. This family of six (with four young children) already had a house in mind, but when the church leaders asked them to reconsider, and think about the possibility of buying a house in a strategic location about 25 minutes away, they dropped the house they were looking at and within three days had found and purchased a home in a strategic location - a home with large open spaces, so that they could host gatherings.
They all love each other so well that nothing gets in the way of their relationships or their focus on multiplying churches together. (I was quite moved by this, and still feel my emotions well as I'm writing this email to all of you.)
No one is compelling them to do these things. There’s no arm-twisting by the leaders. They all do these things because each of them is convinced in their own hearts and minds that living together this way is Jesus’ plan, and they all understand that when they live this way, the gospel is visibly acted out with such quality, that their very lives together are a more effective apologetic than any verbal defense they might make for their faith.
Everyone there has a solid grasp on Christ's plan, on their own church's expansion strategy, and on each person's participation in that strategy. Their mission strategy is strong households and everyone intentionally developing relationships with those in their jobs (with colleagues and customers), neighborhoods, marketplaces, community associations, etc. A number of their young people have made significant sacrifices to engage in developing their own thorough understanding of Christ's plan (some even getting a degree or completing a certificate program from Antioch School or using the EQUIP system in BILD Cloud). And their young people are freed up to participate in Christian camps or other ministry opportunities in the area, as a way of "going to the synagogue"[1]. There is no concern that any of those young adults will be drawn into one of those traditional situations, because even the young people can recognize how broken many of those traditional Christian ministries are. Many of the Evangelical churches in the area are either dying out or struggling with significant divisions and conflicts, and this gives opportunity for their young people to speak into these other Christian situations with wisdom and clarity. Out of this, some have become a part of their weekly gatherings and others have at least been challenged to shape their own church relationships around the idea of household or family as the social structure of Jesus' church.
Spending time with this church reminded me of this quote from Tertullian:
"But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another (for they themselves are animated by mutual hatred); how they are ready even to die for one another (for they themselves will sooner put to death)." - Tertullian from Apologeticus (197 A.D.)
Outsiders that encounter this small church family in the mid-western United States, and see how well they all love one another, intuitively recognize and often become convinced that Jesus is King... with some even becoming part of the church family there.
Together they've developed several small businesses to help fund those in need of work (not just to fund the leaders, but as opportunities for all who need stable work), and they all pitch in and help one another with running the businesses to make sure the entire community has stability and livable income. No one is concerned only for their own job or financial security. They are all looking out for one another.
The church owns no buildings or properties, so all their resources go toward stabilizing the lives of those in the church there, in order to build a mature and sustainable church network and to partner with other leaders and networks, deepening relationships from network to network. At times they've made significant contributions to both the global work and to other North American networks.
I went there with no expectations except getting a few days of targeted training. By the time I left, I had become part of their extended family, and by extension, so are all of you. They are deeply invested in what we are doing here in New Jersey. They saw my entire trip as an opportunity to strenthen the connection between our two networks and invest in my apostolic-type work by helping me create a viable self-funding plan. They see this as a way of investing in Christ's mission and the progress of the gospel. On the way to the airport, the leader I had been staying with handed me a significant check from the church to help me begin shaping some opportunities here in New Jersey. They are investing in me, and through that, into our church here and on out into the NYC hub network we are building.
It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. It will be a long time before this deep and moving feeling passes, and I pray it never will.
Some of the folks from this church will hopefully be coming out to stay with us next year. I'm looking forward to you all meeting them.
Once again, what I witnessed and participated in there was powerful and moving and reminded me of this passage from Acts 2.
"The believers studied what the apostles taught. They shared their lives together. They ate and prayed together. Everyone was amazed at what God was doing. They were amazed when the apostles performed many wonders and signs. All the believers were together. They shared everything they had. They sold property and other things they owned. They gave to anyone who needed something. Every day they met together in the temple courtyard. They ate meals together in their homes. Their hearts were glad and sincere. They praised God. They were respected by all the people. Every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved." - Acts 2:42-47
I wish I could send you all there to spend a week with them and experience what I did, to jumpstart your hearts like mine has been. To let you all be the recipients of the love they radiate. There's a knowledge gained by studying, talking and planning, but there's also a knowledge gained by experiencing something "in the field". I wish I could take you all into this field with me. But I suppose that instead, what we should do is work on our own field, creating a similar environment here together. Figuring out how to prioritize one another in this way, so that we become a community filled with His power and Spirit, that will be so attractive to others in our lives, that they can't help but be drawn to what we are doing.
His blessings on you all,
Scott
…vigorous for the work
[1] “Going to the synagogue” refers to Paul’s habit, when entering a new city, of first going to those who had prior knowledge and commitment to the God of the Jewish Scriptures. Paul did this as an attempt to quickly establish a group of believers who could become a church, with leaders present, and be a base for the progress of the gospel in their city and then partner with him and his team to take the gospel into new regions. If those in these circumstances rejected Jesus and the new family He is building, then Paul would turn and go to those with no prior knowledge or commitment to the God of the Jewish Scriptures. It was a strategic move on Paul’s part, not a hierarchical move.
Scott Canion is based out of the NYC area and is part of the METRO equipping team, a network of global leaders who are establishing churches that are families, patterning themselves after Acts.
I'd love to know more about this group, as it was an inspiring read. Is it possible for me to get more info without compromising anyone's privacy?
Sounds like a Missional Community ala Jeff Vanderstelt and the SOMA communities. I like their heart and purpose--I would be interested in hearing more about their day to day function. It sounds like the believers organise this themselves 40 individual, adult believers doing this intentionally would indeed be impressive.