Organic Church Reproduction - Pt. 1

1. What Did Jesus Teach About His Church?

Mathew 16:13-18

• What question did Jesus ask His disciples? Do you think they were intimidated by this question?
• How did they answer?
• How did Je sus make the question even more personal?
• What was Peter’s response?
• Where did Peter get this answer?

Note: This is the first place in the NT and the Bible where the word “church” appears. Church starts with life’s most important question: “Who is Jesus to you?” The church is all about Jesus – who He is and what He has done!

• Who builds the church? Notice Jesus doesn’t say, “And upon this rock you will build My church.” What implications does that have for us?
• What is Jesus going to do with the church? What does that imply?
• Whose church is it? What implications does that have? Jesus doesn’t say, “I will build your church!”
• Are gates used to attack or to defend?
• What do you suppose we are supposed to be doing once we have broken down Hell’s Gates?
• Is the Church supposed to be on the defensive or the offensive? Should we be threatened or threatening? Would you describe the Church in America as being on the offensive or defensive? What about this church? What do you have to do in order to overcome darkness? Mt.5:15

Note: We are at war in this world and wherever the church is being built the battle rages fiercest.

“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell

I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell!”

Principles Drawn from Mt.16:18

1. Jesus Builds The Church

2. Jesus Owns The Church

3. The Church Is Meant To Be Growing (This doesn’t mean every church should keep getting bigger and bigger. Living things grow to a point, stop growing, but then reproduce)

4. The Church That Is Growing Will Face Opposition (“If you wake up in the morning and don’t run into the enemy head on, then maybe you’re going in the wrong direction.”)

5. The Church That Jesus Builds Is Unstoppable (We are to be storming the gates of hell, rescuing those held captive to Satan. The smallest light will defeat the darkest of night. “There is no force on earth that can stop the church from accomplishing the mission given to her by Jesus” – Do you believe this?)

2. What Is A Church?

1. How would you define the Church from a traditional perspective? (A group of people who meet together under the authority of Biblically qualified elders to worship God where the gospel is rightly preached, the sacraments rightly administered, and church discipline is faithfully exercised)
2. What is missing from the above definition? JESUS!
3. Another approach to Church: “The presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on this planet.”
4. What metaphors are used in the NT for the Church? (body, field, flock, bride, family, vineyard, building made up of living stones). What does this teach us?

5 Myth-Debunking Truths About The Church

1. The Church Is A Living Organism, Not A Dead Institution: God breathed life into Adam (Gen. 2:7. He also breathed life into His Church (Jn.21:21-23). God’s very first command to humans was not about eating fruit. “Be fruitful and multiply.” He gave this same command to His Church (Acts 1:8).
2. The Church Is Much More Than A Building: 4 times in the Bible God says that human buildings cannot contain Him (1 Kings 8:27). Buildings are not wrong or immoral, but the danger is to begin to feel we need them, as though the church’s life depends on them. The building can become an artificial life support system that keeps a church alive even though it died long ago. The Bible says that ever believer is the temple of God, and the gathered church is His temple.
3. The Church Is Not To Be Bound To A Single Location: John 4:20-24. There are no more “holy places” and “holy times” like we find in the OT.
4. The Church Is Much More Than A 1 Hour Service Held 1 Day A Week: What was Church like in Acts 2? It was 24/7. They were meeting daily. They were worshipping and serving as a spiritual family. Why is there such an emphasis on the 1 or 2 hours a week when we gather, over the entire rest of the week?
5. The Church Is Meant To Be Decentralized, But People Tend To Centralize: Just like Adam and Eve, the Church has been given a command to spread out and fill the earth as well. The apostles struggled with the temptation to settle in 1 place. God had to bring persecution for them to get out of Jerusalem and starting making disciples all over (Acts 8). Before Jesus was born, where did people have to go to gain direct access to God? When Jesus was walking the earth, where did people need to go? After Christ’s ascension, where did people need to go to be in the presence of God? Mt.18:20; 28:20.

The DNA of the Church: DNA is the internal code that maintains the integrity of each multiplied cell. The DNA of the Church can be simplified to 3 things, and are needed in every part of the church, from the smallest to its largest units:

1. Divine Truth: Jesus the Living Word and the Scriptures, the written Word.
2. Nurturing Relationships: God Himself is relational and exists in a community of 3. God is love because God is relational.
3. Apostolic Mission: Apostolic means sent as a representative with a message. We are here for a purpose – to make disciples. Jesus is an apostle. He was sent from God. “As the Father has sent me, so send I you” (Jn.20:21).

Faith is the response to Divine Truth. Love is the response to Nurturing Relationships. Hope is the response to Apostolic Mission. Discipleship Groups: Scripture – D; Confession – N; A – praying for lost. Same components should be in Big Church. We must not unravel, subtract from or add to the DNA.

D – “The presence of Jesus among His people”

N – “called out as a spiritual family”

A – “to pursue His mission on this planet.”

3. What Is The Mission of the Church?

• Mt.28:18-20. We are commanded to “make disciples.” There is no command in the NT to make or plant churches. Disciple-making is what this church is all about! You want to know the goal of everything we do here? Make disciples. Anything that gets in the way of that should be discarded, and everything that helps us do that should be welcomed.
• What is a disciple? “A fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.”
• What does a disciple do? He obeys Jesus Christ, including making other disciples.
• We want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple.

4. How Can We Accomplish The Mission of the Church?

• Usually we try to figure out how to bring lost people to Jesus. The key to starting churches that reproduce spontaneously is to bring Jesus to lost people.
• We need to move away from the attractional model to the incarnational model. Traditionally, the church has held an event, and expected the world to come to it. Instead, we should go to them where they are – that’s what Jesus did in the incarnation! This is the shift from centralized to decentralized.
• “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.” – Howard Snyder (The Problem of Wineskins)
• Practical Application: hanging out at coffeehouses, bars, clubhouses, walking streets of your neighborhood, connecting with people at work over lunch. It’s all about relationships! It’s as simple as being a friend to someone who needs Jesus, and let them see your transformed life. You don’t need all the answers. You just need to let your light shine in the darkness!

Chart From Conference

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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Brian Anderson. © Stone Bridge Ministries. Website: www.StoneBridgeMinistries.net