the underground network

Another great blog post from a member in the Underground Network!  Read below and join in on the conversation.  You can find the original  post here.  Follow this blog at: http://kingdom1st.wordpress.com

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10 challenges to building relationships and sharing your faith in America today:

By seekingakingdom

Most people are…

1. transient – We live is such a mobile society that most people move on a regular basis. The people who live near you now likely won’t the next year or the year after. Therefore, it is difficult to build deep, long-term relationships. (This is perhaps more true for cities.)

2. busy – It is difficult to build relationships because they take time. And time is what most of us are lacking. We seem to be getting busier and busier with little time for God.

3. skeptical – A recent poll revealed that the three most common views of the church were judgment, hypocritical, and anti-gay. The American people are generally skeptical that the church can offer life to the fullest. Furthermore, post-modernism pushes against our claims of universal truth. Many are skeptical of their need for a savior and our belief that Jesus’ message applies to everyone.

4. autonomous – I read recently that America is the most individualistic country in the world. This radical individualism leads us to stay disconnected from our neighbors and co-workers and is producing a society the grows more and more fragmented. Many prefer to be left alone. (To prove this, read Bowling Alone by Robert Putman or check out a summary here.)

5. suspicious – It seems everyone is trying to make a buck. People are constantly working to make you do or buy something. So often times people question your motivation for starting a conversation or even giving a gift. It is important we consider our own motivations for sharing our faith. It should not be out of obligation, guilt, or to give our lives significance. Rather we should be motivated by love.

6. religiously private – Do you pray before you eating at the restaurant? If so, how does it make you feel? If not, why? There is an unspoken rule that public displays of religion (PDR) are prohibited. It is a private matter for one’s home or perhaps the church.

7. consumeristic – Commercials and advertisements are continually teaching us to be dissatisfied with what we have. We need newer cars, bigger houses, and basically more stuff… all the time. We expect to get what we want when we want it, and we’re disgruntled when things do not go our way. Consumerism has a far-reaching influence in American society, and the church is no exception. Check out this book to see more on how Christians live.

8. materialistic – Granted, we are more and more living in a postmodern world. But this modernistic idea that nothing exists outside of the physical still pervades society. Although I was raised in a postmodern era and taught from birth to believe in the supernatural, this idea that only what you see really exists still rests in the back of my mind. Regardless, all agree that materials are more important than the spiritual.

9. satisfied – Because we have jobs that pay the bills and buy the food, we subconsciously (or consciously) believe we did it ourselves without God’s help. If I have enough and am relatively happy, why do I need God?

10. hedonistic – We as a society are obsessed with pleasure. How many advertisements tell us to do what feels good? We are continually taught to gratify our desires, which leads to our excessively watching movies or TV, playing video games, surfing the internet, etc. No wonder Jesus’ command to “deny yourself” is so difficult for us and a challenge to the world.

Now, obviously these ten traits do not apply to everyone, and there’s some overlap between some of them.

What are your thoughts? Any that you disagree on? Any you would add? How these cultural traits affect your life?

By Dr. Ben Toh

“The imperatives are based on the indicatives and the order is not reversible”

In June 2009, Bryan Chapell, the President of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis and the author of Christ-Centered Preaching, gave a lecture at the Advance09 conference in Durham, North Carolina titled “Communicating the Gospel through Preaching.” Regarding preaching (which also applies to sharing and teaching the Bible), Chapell said, “The imperatives are based on the indicatives and the order is not reversible.”

What does this mean?: To those who have not heard this before, it might not be readily apparent. Very briefly, imperatives in the Bible express commands which Christians must do, while indicatives are the basis of the imperatives in the Bible. A closely related statement would be: “What you do is based on who you are and the order is not reversible.”

Some biblical imperatives: Just randomly, some common biblical imperatives are: love God [youversion](Dt 6:5)[/youversion], love your neighbor [youversion](Lev 19:18)[/youversion], fear God and keep his commandments [youversion](Ecc 12:13)[/youversion], preach the gospel [youversion](Mk 16:15)[/youversion], preach the word [youversion](2 Ti 4:2)[/youversion], make disciples [youversion] (Mt 28:19)[/youversion], deny yourself and take up your cross [youversion](Mt 16:24, Mk 8:34, Lk 9:23)[/youversion], feed my sheep [youversion](Jn 21:15-17)[/youversion], ask, seek, knock [youversion](Mt 7:7)[/youversion], the ten commandments [youversion](Ex 20:1-17)[/youversion], repent and believe [youversion](Mk 1:15)[/youversion], give thanks [youversion](1 Th 5:18)[/youversion], look after orphans and widows [youversion](Jas 1:27)[/youversion] , etc, etc.

Biblical imperatives are wonderful but … Incidentally, all of these biblical imperatives are wonderful. But they are not primary. These imperatives are always based on the indicatives, according to the flow, and pattern, and stories through out the Bible, although the indicatives are often not readily obvious. For example, when God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments, God did not say, “Obey them or you’re dead!” Instead, God prefaced the 10 Commandments (imperatives) with an indicative, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” [youversion](Ex 20:2)[/youversion]. God did not say, “Obey the 10 commandments, and then I will deliver you from slavery in Egypt.” Rather, God said, “I delivered you from slavery (the indicative), therefore, obey the 10 commandments (the imperative).”

Imperatives are primary in all religions of the world except Christianity: As I thought about imperatives and indicatives, I realized that Christians often communicate imperatives rather than indicatives, while thinking that they are being quite faithful to the teachings of the Bible. But if we communicate imperatives rather than indicatives, then we’re really no different from any other religion in the world, which all communicate imperatives as the way to be righteous before God, for all religions in the world teach their adherents to be good, to be kind, to be selfless, to be loving and forgiving, to not take revenge, to be morally upright and not be a drunkard, liar, cheat, adulterer, murderer, etc. Only in Christianity is a man not righteous by what he does (or doesn’t do), for in the Bible man is saved and is righteous only by faith alone, by grace alone, by Scripture alone, by Christ alone, and for the glory of God alone (The Five Solas). [youversion]Titus 3:5[/youversion] says, “he saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy…” [youversion]Ephesians 2:8,9[/youversion] says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Our default is always toward imperatives: So how might we communicate imperatives when sharing the Bible? We might say or think, “If you don’t shape up, how can God ever bless you?” Or, “If you don’t repent, how can God forgive you?” Or, “Unless you obey God, God will punish you.” Whether we’re consciously aware of this or not, we have just communicated that God’s blessings for us is up to us and on what we do (imperatives), and not on God (indicative).

We might even think on the basis of imperatives. We think, “God did not bless me day today, because I did not pray and read the Bible this morning.” Or, “I better not give in to sin, so that God will bless my finals and give me an A.” Or, “I better pray more and purify my heart more, so that I can preach better.” Even if these thoughts seem to play out accordingly, we’re still thinking and reasoning in terms of imperatives, and not indicatives.

The difference between the gospel and religion: Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian church in New York, says it best in this way: Religion says, “If I obey, then I’ll be accepted by God.” But the gospel says, “You’re accepted by God, therefore I obey.” On the surface, both religion and the gospel look alike, because both believe in Jesus, both read the Bible, both want to obey the 10 commandments, both want to live by the “rules” of the Bible, both want to go to church and Christian fellowship, both want to serve the needy and the poor, etc. But in their hearts, their attitude is quite different. One does so in order to receive God’s blessing and approval (religion); while the other does the same thing because they know that they have already received God’s blessing and approval (gospel).

Conclusion: Religion, is what we do (or the imperatives we follow and live by), while the gospel is what God has already done for us in Christ (or the indicative). As Bill Hybels said, “The gospel is done, not do.”

If we regard what we do (imperatives) as primary, I will either become proud because I think I’m living up to it (and look down on those who are not), or I will despair because I’m failing to live up to it. So I will either become confident and not humble (because I think I’m doing well), or I will become humble and not confident (because I think I’m not doing well).

But when we base our Christian lives on the indicative, which is what God has done for us in Christ, then our entire lives will simply be an expression of what Jesus has done for me in spite of all my sins. When Jesus is our indicative, we can always be confident and humble at the same time, confident because it’s not up to me but up to Christ, and humble because Jesus loves me in spite of all my sins.

We do not love in order to be loved by God or others. But [youversion]1 John 4:19 [/youversion] says, “We love because he first loved us.”

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Dr. Ben Toh is a medical doctor in the city of Chicago.  He and his wife are leaders of West Loop Church, a faith community connected to the Underground Church Network.

It has been several years since we first asked the question, “Who was Jesus’ church?” but the question seems once again at the forefront of our dialogue in our house church network here in Chicago.  When God came to earth as Jesus, there is no doubt that he sought out to develop a spiritual family – adopted through the grace of God.  But how did he understand that family?  And how does that impact how we live as that family today?

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MEGA – Was Jesus’ church the crowds?  The amazing impact he had on teaching to hundreds, maybe thousands of hearts at the Sermon on the Mount, or numerous other occasions when anyone within ear shot heard whispers of God’s Kingdom.  They experienced his healings, heard his wisdom, and witnessed his death.

MACRO – Was Jesus’ church the 70 disciples he trained and commissioned  in pairs to proclaim and display the subversive Kingdom of God to villages and people groups all over the Empire?  Certainly he spent enough time with these disciples to share the vision of the Kingdom with them, and apparently they were ready to leave their wallets and responsibilities behind as they set out as the world’s first missionaries.  They trusted Jesus, and he trusted them.  Certainly they too were his church.

MESO – Were the 12 disciples the church of Jesus on earth?  These foolhardy friends were present with Jesus daily.  They not only experienced the MEGA and the MACRO, but they were given special attention – a director’s cut on Jesus’ confusing teachings, and the impartation of his Holy Spirit.  They became the catalyst for the Church worldwide as we read about it in Acts.  No doubt they saw themselves as Jesus’ church.

MICRO – But maybe Jesus’ church was “smaller still.”  Regularly we read about the companions of Jesus; Peter, James and John.  They found Jesus at his strongest (Mount of Transfiguration) and his weakest (Mount of Olives).  Surely they understood him better than any other people on the planet.  The Gospel of John accounts a very intimate portrait of Jesus Christ, very different from the other writers – could this be from John’s close friendship with his Lord?

MONO – At the end of the day, everyone mentioned above misunderstands Jesus Christ and his mission.  Ultimately, Jesus’ church was his personal (not private) relationship with the Triune God.

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Obviously the question is a misnomer.  All of these layers: MEGA, MACRO, MESO, MICRO, and MONO are layers in Jesus’ faith community.  Think of these as “layers of an onion.”

Consider the movements of Jesus Christ throughout the ages; each one promotes as special only a certain layer of the onion, many times to the exclusion or in reaction to the abuses of the other layers.  The Chinese house church movement, the Mega-Church movement in America, George Whitfield’s frontier revivals, the Anabaptists of 16th Century Europe, the “anamcharas” (soul friends) of 6th Century Ireland.

As we watch this particular organic network of faith emerge in Chicago, and truly all around the world – it will benefit each follower of Christ, each faith community, each network, to consider how a healthy onion is made up of healthy layers.  The Underground Church Network aims to grow a healthy onion!  But how?

This is the beginning of a blog series that will unpack the current reality and future plans of how one organic church network in Chicago is attempting to develop healthy layers of Christian community.  We’ll look at each layer – MONO, MICRO, MESO, MACRO, and MEGA.  Stay tuned!

In our last article, we wrote about a resource called Discovery Bible Studies designed to invite Christians AND seekers into experimenting with the teachings of Christ  even as they are weighing whether or not they believe in Christ.  In a sense, they are “acting their way into a new way of thinking.” This is a very different paradigm than we have been given in most American churches.  In fact, it is a very old way of training – reaching all the way back into ancient biblical cultures.

Think for a moment about the disciples and other followers of Jesus Christ.  Although they listened to his teaching and changed their life radically to follow him, they weren’t completely ready to believe in Christ or consider him ‘Lord’ until after his resurrection; after they had followed Christ for three years!

But whether you are a seeker or a faithful follower of Christ, this very simple method of exploring God’s Word can be meaningful.  Recently, one of our brothers and co-workers in the Lord, Kerry Holton, wrote a fantastic series on how Discovery Bible Studies have blessed his relationship with God in incredible ways. Check out his 3-part reflections here: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

As we continue to plant churches and make disciples in Chicago, we see the core value of establishing each church with simple resources for a vibrant spiritual health.  Anyone can incorporate the values and practices of Discovery Bible Studies into (1) your personal prayers and devotions, (2) into your relationship with their spouse or with a spiritual friend, (3) with your house church, (4) and with your seeking friends.

As we’ve done in our previous article, we are posting PDFs of David Watson and City Team Ministries’ material into this post as a resource for you and your faith community. Please tell us the stories of success (and failure) of incorporating this resource into your group!

Process:

1. Present the idea of a Discovery Bible Study with your house church.
2. Your house church chooses from one of the Bible Study documents below.
3. Each week, read one selection of Scripture listed in the study (starting on or around page 15)
4. Rotate who facilitates the discussion each week to promote shared leadership and learning.
5. Follow up the following week with the “I will” statements you committed to the Lord the previous week.

Choose a Bible Study below to begin!

Godgrown – Discovery Bible Study Process*

2008 Discovering God v2.0

2008 Obedience Based Discipleship v1.5

2008 Discovering Leadership v2.2

2008 Discovering Church Planting v4.2

2009 DBS Prayer Scripture List

*adapted from City Team Ministries

There are many ways to study the bible together – but how often does that study lead to actual obedience to God’s voice and to transformed lives?  We want our house church network to be one that “listens to Jesus and does what he says.”  Simply put – there are too many other voices in our culture telling us what to do that runs contrary to the voice of Christ.

David Watson, a internationally-known author and missiologist, has helped plant tens of thousands of house churches in India, and has helped create an indigenous church planting movement in that region.  He has released his very simple bible study method that he used to help spur people on toward more spiritually-formed lives.  Over the next few weeks, we’ll be releasing his documents on this site (they are free to download for yourself or for a house church or small group).

He calls them “Discovery Bible Studies” because there is little “from the front” lecturing or even teaching.  There is gentle guidance from a facilitator, who might even rotate around the group.  Generally a passage is selected, read aloud several times from different people.  Then another person retells the scripture in his/her own words, followed by a discussion from the whole group on what the text is saying.  Finally, there is a few moments of silence as each person in the group decides what God is asking them to do about the text – how to be obedient not just to the words of the text, but to God who is speaking to each heart in the group.  Each person says and/or writes down an “I will…” statement committing to do one thing within the next 48 hours of the group’s gathering (if it doesn’t happen within a short time of the commitment, many times it is sifted through life’s other demands.)  It has brought life and transformation to a group in Rogers Park – may it bring life to your group as well!

2008 Obedience Based Discipleship v1.5 (PDF)

(based on David Garrison’s Church Planting Movements: How God is Redeeming a Lost World)

Ever thought about whether or not “organic churches” were in the Bible? While you might not find the actual coinage, the first century was spiraling with new converts and multiplying churches that were planting other churches…sounds pretty organic to me! Truly, the New Testament testifies to a church planting movement that occurred in the eariest days of Christianity!

Church planting movements can be traced to Jesus himself, who trained 12 disciples only long enough to give them the ‘keys of the kingdom’ before slipping away, letting the disciples spread the Good News.

Vision Driven – It was Jesus who filled his followers with a vision for the entire world’s salvation, and prepared them for what kind of community would naturally flow out of this salvation. What other characteristics did Jesus instil in his original organic church?

Prayer – Prayer saturated the lives of the earliest Christian communites. Jesus taught them to pray the Lord’s prayer, as well the power of prayer that can expunge demons, and resist temptation. Today, organic churches are known for prayer that changes lives.

Abundant Evangelism – Jesus’ direction to go into towns two-by-two and share the Good News was not forgotten. Though The Book of Acts follows the ministry of Peter and Paul, we hear of the gospel spreading without hinderance (Apollos comes from Alexandria with the gospel, but how did it get to this great city? Even remote islands like Crete were infiltrated with Christian leaders for Titus to entrust with the gospel. Organic church planting movements today exhibit this same vibrant evangelistic characteristic, spreading faster than its leaders can keep track of!

Scriptural Authority – Even Jesus fled to the Sciptures in times of crisis (his temptation in the desert). Following in his footsteps, the early church was wed to the holy Word of God, even speaking it as they fell in martyrdom (as was the case with Stephen). Today’s Church Planting Movements are thinking theologically and biblically about what it means to be a church today. They are even finding themselves more resilliant in times of crisis, because they focus on God’s Word.

Models for Multiplication – For so long we have neglected the only model for evangelism that is ordained by Christ himself! In Luke 10, Jesus teaches his followers how to spread the Gospel. Sending them out in pairs, they should enter a villiage and find a “person of peace”, leading to the conversion of a whole village. In the next chapter, we hear that Jesus now has 72 disciples. It looks like they followed Jesus’ instructions! (12/2 = 6 (pairs of disciples) x 12 (new converts) = 72 disciples)! Jesus then sends out the 72, and when we come back in Acts, Peter baptizes 3,000 believers! (72/2 = 36 pairs of disciples x 12 = 444) this made the total disciple-membership over 500. (500/2 = 250 pairs x 12 = 3,000!) Interesting…clearly the early church followed this model of discipleship and evangelism.

Preparation for Persectution – Both the early church and the organic churches of today know that persecution will be the lot in life for those who choose to follow Christ.

All in the Family – Unlike the individualistic conversions of Western believers, most Organic Church Movements are started through whole-family conversions! Biblical examples of this include Jesus’ family, Peter and Andrew, James and John with their faither Zebedee, and Cornelius’ family.

Divine Power in Evangelism and Ministry – Earliest churches cast out demons, healed the sick and even raised the dead! Many church planting movments are built around this same principle, and are even seeing God working his miracles in our world again!

Person of Peace – We’ve talked some already about how Jesus taught his disciples to look for the person of peace in a particular village or neighborhood. But did Paul follow Jesus’ example? He always seemed to have a companion with him in his travels, (going two by two with Timothy, Silas, etc). And Paul has a vision of a man in Macedonia calling him to come and share the gospel. When he gets there, he finds that this “person of peace” is actually a woman named Lydia.

The Underground Network is in part a organic church network, but it is also in part a missions and leadership training resource.  Once a month, we have a Greenhouse Think Tank that offers insights and practical tools for navigating the issues of church planting, missions and evangelism, incarnational community, and authentic worship.

Tonight is our second Think Tank and we’ll be dreaming up what this revolutionary group may become.  If you’d like to participate in future Think Tanks, check out our calendar, or contact us for details.

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But why have a gathering like this?

It is meant to be a supportive/ validating environment.

It is meant to be a learning environment.

It is meant to be an environment of accountability.

It is a spiritual/missional discipline.

Important Questions we Ask:

• Did people walk away feeling empowered to the task and lifestyle of organic church planting?
• Does each person walk away with new insights in ministry, missions, and theology?
• Did we all have a chance to share what is happening since our last time together, and challenged to participate in God’s mission in tangible ways?
• Do we as a group understand the spiritual importance of meeting together for personal development as a disciple?

Each monthly session will include: (1) some worship and appreciation of the Lord (2) sharing (3) learning (4) discussion (5) some consideration of “next steps” (6) some reflection time and (7) some prayer. 

Tonight we’ll be getting to know each other and discussing group expectations.

I hope that these Think Tanks will become a regular rhythm in our network’s life together.  I will usually post the evening’s agenda here as I’ve done this month. Click on the link below for more!

GreenhouseGatheringsOrientation

Want to see a visual on what we’re all about?  Check out this graphic (click for full size):

Chicago Mission Mindmap

Organic Economics

The Church has a storied past with how it has used its finances to contribute to the greater work of God’s in breaking Kingdom. The earliest church sold possessions to give to the needy among them, to support traveling missionaries, and bring hope to the hopeless. This was more than an obligatory tithe; it was an offering of love to the greater work of God in the world. They didn’t have a lot of the contemporary budget items like building maintenance, multi-staff salaries with benefits, et cetera. Their budget was lean in categories, but potent in purpose.  Read more…