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I spent some time with your parents last week. It was very nice. And GVR sent me your blog address. Look, I’d like to sit down and visit with you via phone concerning what is happening at Storyline. I’m leaving a comment so that you can have my e-mail address. Contact me, I’d like to talk. Grace and peace.

Sean

I really like this – I wish I’d made it to that class.

I’ve already been talking to Chappotin about the starting of new house churches. To me there needs to be some very clear distinctions between house churches and a small group ministry. The primary distinction is that the house church is our basic source of community. Small groups, which are a great ministry of the settled church, provide an opportunity for people to develop deeper relationships than they previously had with the people they go to church with every week.

But we do not live in the settled church; we are seeking to exist on the edges of God’s advancing Kingdom, and the community of the house church – a beautifully messy mixture of people at various stages of their journey with Christ…or even friends who are not yet acknowledging Jesus – is an essential not a luxury.

But that cannot be an excuse to simply cling to our small community and somehow hope that we can figure out ways to start new house churches. If we are seeking to be a part of church planting movement and not just a church plant then our DNA must involve sending at every level. We have entered the journey of planting churches that plant churches…so our house churches should also plant house churches.

This is really helpful Charles – thanks!

To your second question: Yes, we had planned this from the beginning. We had hoped the first one would take place this fall.

I’ll copy and paste part of what I wrote on another comment below to address your first question:

“Numbers is part of the determination. You sacrifice relationships if the house church size gets too big. So when the group grows to about 20 people regularly, we have one indicator of readiness.

The other (larger) part is purpose: is the house church embodying the values of the kingdom? The particular manifestation of those values in the Storyline community is dependence on God, mission, life change and genuine relationships.

To translate those values into questions:
1) Are people growing in their relationships with God? (dependence)
2) Is the community serving, loving and participating in the work of justice? (mission)
3) Are non-Christians becoming Christians in the house church, or at least joining the life of the group to explore further? (mission)
4) Are people being spiritually formed? Is transformation occurring? (life change)
5) Are people experiencing deep relationships with other people in the house church? (genuine relationships)

These questions are much harder to quantify than numbers alone, but they are the right questions, I believe. Essentially we’re changing the scorecard when we add questions like the above–to win is no longer to grow bigger (necessarily) but to embody the life of the kingdom.

If answers to these questions are no, then a house church is not ready to [send]. It may be big enough, but it is not embodying the life of the kingdom. It begs the question: what is attracting people to this house church if it’s not the kingdom of God? Such a scenario might require that the house church disband and roll into other more healthy house churches.”

I like the model you’re using and I think it makes so much sense. It’s the way successful small groups at our church have been established.