A "WOW" Resource
"Organic Church -'Growing Faith Where Life Happens'" By Neil Cole
A MUST READ FOR EVERY DISCIPLE MAKER!
I'm sitting on a plane the other day heading for Portland to meet with Pastors after having about 3 hours sleep the night before. Did I sleep on the plane? Hardly, I picked up Neil's book and found myself awake and reading as fast as I could as if every word was and every Scripture began to take on meaning with relevance for today.
In the book I found this amazing quote by Howard Snyder.
"The Gospel says 'GO,' but our church buildings say, 'STAY,'"
"The Gospel says, 'SEEK THE LOST,' but our churches say, 'LET THE LOST SEEK THE
CHURCH.'"
This is followed by Neil Cole's writing, "It is time that we see that the Church starts in the fields, not in the barns (Proverbs 24:27). We spend so much time in building nice barns with padded pews, air-conditioned halls, and state of the art sound systems, yet we have neglected the fields. We are asfoolish as the farmer who builds a barn and then stands in the doorway calling all crops to come in and make themselves at home."
Instead of focussing on what we bring to the table we should focus on what Jesus brings to the table. The church in America has a predominant focus on what we bring to the table namely on Sunday then what Jesus brings to us everyday of our lives. Neil continues, "The better question is, 'Where is Jesus atwork in our midst?' Where do we see lives changing, and communities transforming simply by the power of the Gospel? Where do we see father's restored in holiness and responsibility? where do we see daughters reconciling with their fathers? Where do we see addicts who no longer live under the bondage of chemical dependancy? Where are wealthy businessmen making restitution for past crimes that went unnoticed? These are the questions that lead you to the presence of God's Kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven."
I'm for all of us becoming the Church where the presence of Jesus is among us and where His people are called out as a spiritual family pursuing His mission on this planet."
What are your thoughts?
posted by Bob Carder @ 11:59 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
This was one of the books that I read shortly after leaving my church plant in Illinois. Just yesterday I sent Neil an e-mail telling him that the reading of that book was a turning point in my life and ministry.
His ministry on the web is located at www.cmaresources.org
A must read for anyone who desires to be a part of exponentional multiplication of the Kingdom.
I think every church leader ought to ask these questions of his or her church leadership: Where is Jesus at work in our church? Where do we see lives changing?
Identify those areas, if any, and focus on them.
Convicting.
Agreed...Neil's book is one for the ages.
It shines a glaring light on how we have it all misunderstood...this church-planting thing in America...as to how we think that "if we build it they will come," which is simply not the truth.
While we in America suffer from the Wal-Mart idea of what has wrongly become known as "church" (i.e., large, consumer-oriented, consumeristic, etc.), the masses are turned off because when they look at these monstrosities (or rather monuments to the men who built them) they see Enron and other corporations that are, at their very core, cold, calculating and view people as a means to an end (i.e., larger "ministry").
I'm reminded that my former fellowship back home in Louisiana has decided that the "vision" that God gave them is to build a 20-million dollar complex that will "radically change the world."
Such utter waste...spending that obscene amount of cash on ONE location, when they could spread it out over the city and fund dozens of smaller, more intimate fellowships and REALLY change the city.
It's gluttony, pure and simple.
Ricky - I grieve over the fact that I was part of a large building expansion at my last pastorate. It was a 3.3 million dollar addition.
Since those days of serving the already reached and building buildings for ourselves (even though we did reach some lost people) I am repentant.
I am saddened that I spent 23 years doing what was expected of me thinking I was fulfilling the Great Commission a doing it right.
Well, I have no intention of going back into an environment where lost people are not being transformed to help reach those who are lost. There is no room for a pew sitting ministry in my future and building big monuments to make ourselves look good..
I pray and you can pray with me that in the last half of my life I will get it right.
After all I did to serve my last church -in the end the professing acted more like the unreached and the unreached acted more like the New Testament believer. The church shot a wounded servant and left him for dead. The world has brought me healing, love and acceptance. The church I pastored threw us away.
All of this and my heart and motives were pure. The feeding frenzy was born in sin.
For me, the building that was built was more about how we look than how we truly are. I'm with you. How many souls could be won and how many disciples made with all those wasted resources.
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