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My notes from the LIVE SENT/reSYMBOL Workshop

I had a great day at the LIVE SENT/reSYMBOL Workshop with Jason C Dukes and Doug Dees! I really enjoyed hearing them share from not only their books, but from their hearts. I also made some great "Kingdom Connections"! Here are some of my notes from the day:

Live Sent - Jason Dukes (you can order a copy of his book here)

"Live Sent" is a metaphor for making disciples.

Jesus said "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” (John 20:21)



"Church leaders, it's not what you teach, it's what you emphasize."

We need to do more than just say the church is not just a building. We need to emphasize that and live as though the church is PEOPLE and that Jesus intended the church to LIVE SENT.

Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This "letter" is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

Questions to determine if you are a self-church or a sent-church

• Do people ask, should I quit my job to surrender to ministry?
• When people in your church family think of "church" what three words come to mind?
• Are people in your church family generally retreating from or engaging with the culture around them?
• When you talk about missions do people think about a distant city, everyday life or both?
• When discipling is said, do people think of a classroom or daily life?
• How many people in your church family have friends who are lost, whom they introduce as friends.

Maybe we should invite people to "be the church" instead of inviting them to "come to church".

"Sometimes we are too busy trying to make the bride attractive when we are supposed to be bringing people to the groom, not the bride."

Jesus said we are known by our love through our togetherness, but our togetherness can't be the purpose of the church.

Ekklesia - people who unite around a common purpose.

We should come together around the purpose of "sentness" not the purpose of "togetherness"

What is "make disciples"?

• lecturing vs. life coaching
• linear program vs. ongoing process
• get you ready vs. listen as you go
• preachers vs. conversationalist

We are reaping what we have sown. So what we are sowing must change.

• Don't say "church" in connection to certain prepositions like to, in and and from.
• Don't say "We won't have church tonight because of ___________."
• Don't spend the largest percentage of your week focused on Sunday morning prep, or 1/168th of your week.
• Don't create more "church" stuff to take up everyone's time trying to "do church" keeping them from being able to "be the church".
• Don't emphasize becoming a pastor or missionary as the highest calling.
• Don't believe that local and global missions will happen if and only if the pastoral team creates and manages it.
• Don't ever say "They are doing well now that they are back in church."
• Don't get upset when someone in your church family doesn't show up to your "Sunday morning" gathering because they are out in the community "living sent".

Four Ways to Help "Live Sent"

1. Pray for wisdom on how to love those I live by and work with.
2. Connect with them over real life
3. Serve together locally and globally
4. Learn and live the ways of Jesus together.

We should be cultivating loving community on our street.

Our Sunday gatherings should be to celebrate the body "living sent" during the previous week and preparing to "live sent" in the upcoming week.



reSymbol - Doug Dees (you can order a copy of his book here)

Note: this session was very interactive so I didn't take as many notes.

Our churches are full of good people doing what they have been taught for many years.

Quit Comparing His Church Parts
Quit Frankensteining His People
Quit Squeezing His Bride

Discipleship: A disciple needs to be increasing in seeking the face of God, exhibiting the characteristics of Christ and following the lead of the Holy Spirit.

An Honest Question about "House Church"

One of my friends recently asked me the following question on twitter:

How does a house church not grow into a "Sunday morning church" so to speak?

I think this is a great question that everyone learning to live our Christian lives outside of the walls of the legacy churches should be asking ourselves on a regular basis. This question applies to us whether we call our expression of the Body of Christ a "house church, a "simple church", a "organic church", a "missional community" or even if we choose to avoid any type of label for the way(s) in which we gather with other believers for the purpose of mutual edification and spiritual growth.

Here is how I responded via twitter in four tweets of 140 characters or less:

Many legacy churches started as house churches, they just never called them that & they started w/ the goal of being BIG churches

I like what @felicitydale said on her blog: House churches should be neither independent, nor permanent or they will not multiply

She went on to say: Each house church is a debriefing center and a sending center that sends people out. http://bit.ly/dnzssw

So I guess to answer your question, the best way is to be outward focused and "missional", learning to "live sent" together daily

I thought this question deserved more than a few tweets for a good response, so I thought I would post it here on my blog so I could invite others to join in on the discussion here in the comments. I myself have learned that for those of us who have spent most of our lives in the legacy church it would be very easy to let our "house churches" grow into something more traditional or to find another legacy church full of great brothers and sisters that we can become a member of and worship together within the walls of that legacy church.

But, I have also learned that God has commanded us to make disciples as we are going and "living sent" in the world that God put is in. I have learned that God can work through us much better when we are learning to "be the light" in the darkness, instead of only gathering to shine our lights with other lights. I think the key to not growing into a "Sunday morning church" as the original question is asking is for us to be very intentional about being outward focused and multiplying and not inward focused and simply growing in numbers.

Please join this discussion and share your answers to this question, How does a house church not grow into a "Sunday morning church" so to speak?

The Danger of Christian Sacralism and Statism

This was recently posted on Dave Black's blog, I got his permission to re-post it here:

January 5, 1527, is a date that will always live in infamy for me. On that day Felix Manz perished at the hands of his persecutors.

The Reformation had become splintered and fractured, and the Reformers realized they now had two opponents: Rome and the Radicals. Zwingli, in a letter to Vadian in 1525, noted that the struggle with the Catholic Church was "child's play" when compared with the struggle erupting with the Radicals. As many of you know, I devoted an entire chapter in The Jesus Paradigm to the Anabaptists' views on soteriology and ecclesiology. It is my conviction that a rehabilitation of the positions of the Radical Reformers is long overdue. Whenever we downgrade good works, wherever we make sanctification some kind of appendage to justification, whenever we emphasize more what God does for us than what He does in us, we have become proponents of an unbalanced Christianity. The doctrine of justification by faith is taught in the Scripture, and I rejoice in it! But an emphasis on the forensic and juridical nature of our salvation can easily lead to a light emphasis on the "good works that God has foreordained that we should walk in them." In this regard, Luther's theology was decisively one-sided, and it was his disparagement of good works that caused him to collide with the letter of James.

The Anabaptists assailed this imbalance, as did they did all forms of state coercion. If they were opposed to "christening," it was only because they were opposed to the "Christendom" this practice represented. For this insistence upon a "Believers' Church," separate from the state, Manz was bound and sent to the bottom of the Limmat. Oh yes, there were cries of "Freedom of religion" -- as long as you supported the right religion. And thus the Christian sacralism of Constantine became the Christian sacralism of Luther and later of Calvin.

What amazes me the most is how willingly and joyfully the Anabaptists went to their deaths. Conrad Grebel, a colleague of Manz, wrote, "He that is baptized has been planted into the death of Christ.... True Christians are sheep among wolves, ready for the slaughter." Zwingli, defender of the sword, died on the battlefield, caught between two "Christian" magistrates doing their duty. To me, Manz -- call him a Rottengeist, call him a Winckler, call him what you will -- died a far nobler death.

P.S. The battle against sacralism and Christian statism fought by Grebel and Manz did not end in the sixteenth century. Here are but a few Anabaptistic emphases that I think are still applicable today (taken from chapter 3 of TJP). The Anabaptists believed in:

• serving instead of ruling
• suffering instead of inflicting suffering
• breaking down walls instead of isolationism
• biblical authority instead of ecclesiastical tradition
• brotherhood instead of hierarchy
• the towel instead of the sword
• the headship of Christ instead of that of any pastor
• the way of peace instead of "just war"
• the church as a living organism instead of as a human institution
• the reign of God instead of a political kingdom
• the catholicity of the true church instead of sectarianism
• the power of suffering instead of the cult of power
• the Bible as a book of the church instead of as a book of scholars
• loyalty to their heavenly citizenship instead of to the principalities and powers
• Spirit-orientation instead of forced structures of church life
• being a "light to the nations" instead of a Christian enclave
• knowing Christ instead of merely knowing about Him
• faith that works (in both senses) instead of dead orthodoxy
• effectual grace as a living reality instead of as a theological dogma
• every-member ministry instead of clergyism
• baptism into Christ instead of baptism into a denomination
• a unity that is lived instead of a unity that is merely extolled
• welcoming the despised and marginalized instead of ignoring them
• a hermeneutic of obedience instead of a hermeneutic of knowledge
• individual conscience instead of theological conformity
• volunteerism instead of professionalism
• allegiance to Christ instead of allegiance to the state

The Power of Praying Luke 10:2b

During the first few months of 2008 my family started praying Luke 102:b together as a family. I had first heard about the "Luke 10:2b Virus" from John White through DAWN Ministries a few years ago. For those who are not familiar with the "Luke 10:2b Virus", on October 2, 2002 John White and Kenny Moore were discussing Great Commission strategies over breakfast. In reading Luke chapter 10 the found that Luke 10:2a identified the first critical component, that is, the laborers. The harvest is not the problem. The critical missing component is an adequate number of harvest workers and Luke 10:2b says do one thing: ask the Lord of the harvest for them.

White, a former pastor who now humbly refers to himself as a "house church coach," and Moore, Southern Baptist Director of Church Planting for the State of Colorado, at that point covenanted with each other to pray the Luke 10:2b prayer together every day possible from that moment on. In the following 30 months, they followed through on this pledge about 700 or 800 times—and encouraged others to do the same, thus starting the "Luke 10:2b Virus".

I had prayed this prayer myself from time to time, but never made a commitment to really beg the Lord of the harvest for workers until the first few months of 2008 when my family made the commitment to pray this prayer together daily for our neighbors and for our city. We caught the "Luke 10:2b Virus" and here are what we can now see as the results:

Over the last 12 months I have come into contact with and have started networking with one of the pastors of a local "mega church" who has a passion and goal of planting millions of "simple churches" around the world. This is the same "mega church" that played a major role in helping produce two great online "simple church" videos for House2House Ministry.

The Lord spoke to me last Spring and told me I was going to the House2House National House Church Conference Labor Day weekend. I told him if He wanted me to go, then he would have to make it happen, because I knew I couldn't afford the airfare, hotel room, conference registration and other misc. expenses. He answered by putting everything in place in a way that He took care of 100% of all of the expenses.

Upon returning from the Conference I found another local pastor who had recently stepped down from his role as one of the pastors of a local church where he had been for the last 10 years. His reason for stepping down was because the Lord is calling him to start a "movement of missional communities in the Central Florida region". The area he is focusing on is right here in my town of Sanford, FL.

I have also been contacted by someone through SimpleChurch.com who has been learning about "house church" over the last year through the denomination he happened to be connected to. He contacted me because he wanted to meet to find out if other people are doing "house church" and if it's possible to do this without being attached to any denomination, especially one that has a lot of extra rules and requirements that are not based on the Bible.

I have also been reunited with one of the young men who was part of the youth group from my old place of worship from six years ago, where I served as the youth pastor for about five years. He is interested in hanging out more to learn more about "organic church" and "missional communities" and how "simple churches" can work to fulfill the Great Commission.

I am now working with all of the above mentioned and many others that the Lord has brought into my life over the last 12 months to plan an Organic Greenhouse with Neil Cole from CMA Resources, to be hosted at Northland June 11th-13th, 2010.

My wife and I have a new love for our neighbors and have been teaching our children how to love the Lord with all their heart, soul and mind and how to love their friends and neighbors. We are learning how to "be the church" where we are planted, instead of trying to "start a house church" with all of our Christian friends while ignoring those lost and dying around us. We are learning how to truly love and care about those around us and how to be among them, and we have learned as Greg Paul wrote in God in the Alley, that "being among people means being in their midst, not outside. It means being with them, not being over them."

I now have my cell phone alarm set to 10:02 a.m. and continue to pray the Luke 10:2b prayer where ever I am when the alarm goes off. I have encouraged others to do the same, as I have seen the real results of taking the time to commit to begging the Lord of the harvest for workers!

My request to you is to do the same, set your alarm to 10:02 a.m, catch the "Luke 10:2b Virus" if you haven't already and join me in begging the Lord of the harvest for workers daily. Let me know what results in your life from this virus!

Stages in the Journey of Simple/House Church

Roger Thoman has been reflecting, for some time, on the stages that he has seen and experienced in the simple/house church journey. I thought he did a great job identifying and explaining these stages that I myself have also seen and experienced in my own, now six year, simple/house church journey.

I have listed the stages here, but you will need to visit Roger's blog to read more about each stage and join in the discussion with the others who have commented on his blog.

1. Letting go of old paradigms of church life.
2. Exploring New Testament gatherings.
3. Re-boot to Jesus.
4. A new missional heart and longing.
5. Fresh discovery of our own passions, spiritual gifts, and calling.
6. Integration of an organic, fruitful lifestyle with organic gatherings that support it.
7. Our kingdom influence spreads and even becomes reproductive in its impact.

Read more on Roger's blog

House Church Action Plan

LEAVE your comfortable Christian activities, go outside your comfort zone, and take the time to build and invest in relationships with those around you like workmates, neighbours, and students.

FOCUS on living in such a way that Jesus’ message is clearly expressed through our lives. We can trust God to do the rest.

LIVE as a participant in the natural activities of culture while maintaining lines of clear conscience and non-compromise.

LOVE generously, genuinely, and with no sincere strings attached.

LISTEN in a way that demonstrates interest in others.

BRAINSTORM and pray for specific ideas about living on mission. For example ... Adopt a park. Adopt a family. Help a neighbour. Start a storytellers group. Donate to a food bank. Volunteer at a homeless shelter.

CHOOSE an activity you can do as a house church.

GO and just do it.

FOLLOW-UP the activity with a meeting as a group to prayerfully determine what worked and what did not.

READ Hugh Halter and Matt Smay’s book The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community.

Used with permission from @oikosministries. Taken from the latest edition of Starfish Files (Canada's house church magazine), now available for download from the Oikos Ministries Web site.

10 Marks of a Missional Community

1. It's members love and talk positively about the city/neighborhood/pocket of people they're sent to.
2. Members speak in language that is not filled with pious tribal or technical terms & phrases.
3. Members don't use disdainful and embattled language about their city/neighborhood /pocket of people.
4. They apply the gospel to the core concerns and stories of the people of the culture/city/neighborhood.
5. Engaged w/ the lit/art/thought of the culture & can discuss it both appreciatively & yet critically.
6. Deep concern for the poor and generosity with their money.
7. Purity and respect with regard to opposite sex.
8. They show humility toward people of other races and cultures.
9. They do not bash other Christians and churches.
10. Seekers/non-believing people will be invited & will come & will stay to explore spiritual issues

I got these 10 Marks of a Missional Community from a series of tweets posted by the Austin Stone Missional Community twitter account starting on September 28th. You can follow them on twitter at @AustinStoneMCs.

Connecting with your Tribe(s)

It's been over four months since my last blog update, I guess the handful of people who were reading my blog may wonder where I have been. For those of you who don't know, I guess I should explain.

Things at the office have been keeping me really busy as my responsibilities as the IT Director at Strang Communications increased when the IT Department increased in size, merging with the Digital Media Group which is responsible for all of our Internet projects including our Web sites, Email Newsletters, Social Networking, etc.

I started working at Strang in the Internet Department in 1998, but was promoted to IT Director in April of 2008, so the last year I have not been directly involved in any Internet related projects. These last four months have been very "stretching" but also have provided me a great opportunity to expand my responsibilities as a leader within the company.

In my personal time I have been doing a lot of reading of both some work related books like Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin, Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson, Monday Morning Leadership: 8 Mentoring Sessions You Can't Afford to Miss by David Cottrel & some non-work related books like He Loves Me! Learning to Live in the Father's Affection by Wayne Jacobsen, Like Your Neighbor?: Doing Everyday Evangelism On Common Ground by Stephen W. Sorenson, The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small Is the New Big for Today's Church by Tony Dale, Felicity Dale, and George Barna, Search & Rescue: Becoming a Disciple Who Makes a Difference by Neil Cole.

One thing I have learned by reading all of these books is that I am part of many different "Tribes", and it is my responsibility to learn how to connect with all of these different "Tribes" in many different ways. I guess that is what I have been doing over these last few months, is learning how to connect with these different "Tribes" both personally and professionally.

I can't promise that I will post many more blog updates in the coming months, but I can share with you where you will find me on-line, connecting with my "Tribes". You can keep up with me and everything that is going on in my world by "following" me on twitter here: http://twitter.com/jgrubbs or becoming my friend on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/jmgrubbs1976. You never know, you may find out that you are also in some of my "Tribes".

New Blog Layout

After six years with the same blog layout, I thought I would try something new. Let me know what you think about the new layout. I will be adding some more widgets and tools in the coming days.