By Dr. Mark Pelletier
updated 12/29/00 and 3/30/05
Please don't get me wrong. The "Unchurch" is not my idea. What it is, is the sum of a collection of thoughts, some my own, some from authors and leaders and some I believe to be by revelation from God. These thoughts portray the church in, what is to many, a different form. It is a different way to do church.
Graham Cooke's A Divine Confrontation is the most recent writing I have found that effectively presents a view of "the church" as liberated from much of our cultural traditionalisms. His description of a "resource church" is a thrilling yet challenging interpretation of the neighborhood congregation.
Like Cooke's portrait, God gave me a picture of a "church" so unlike anything I have known that for lack of anything more clever I referred to it as the "unchurch." I have no interest in provoking change just for change's sake. But like many of you, I am hearing the voice of God reminding us that the while the Master and the Message is not to change all our methods are subject to Him and available for His modification.
In this age of struggling churches and strident accusations about religion we must consider our pet practices and cultural habits and dismiss what God is not committed to while embracing what He is demonstrating builds His Kingdom.
I presented the "unchurch" model to a few friends and wrestled to find the words. It can be hard to relate to a new thing without points of common reference. Gratefully, Kerry Denten, a prophetic evangelist from Australia, described for me one evening in my living room, what God had shown him about a new way of doing church. I began to weep. What Kerry told us was exactly what God had given me. I felt the Lord saying "Yes" to what weighed so heavily on my heart.
God has continued to clarify His intentions through a variety of sources. In Argentina we visited two churches of around 10,000 each built on a ministry of cell groups. I further learned of cell and home group churches in England, Switzerland, Korea and Singapore. Each story touched my heart regarding the importance of relationship in growing the Church. In preparing for a class on Evangelism and Discipleship that I teach at East Hill Institute of Ministry in Gresham, Oregon, I reread Robert Coleman's classic The Master Plan of Evangelism which reminded me of the power of relationships in building disciples. I read The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George Hunter III which further demonstrated how God used a foundation of relationship and engagement to reach Ireland and Scotland when most of Europe was ineffective and retreating. The writings of Colin Winfield, an English Bible teacher, described church structures different from the usual. But most importantly, I have had a continuing sense from the Holy Spirit through prayer and study of the Word that reaffirms what He has shown me.
Sermons I hear, people I talk to and statistics I read (see George Barna's Re-Churching the Unchurched) all convince me of the of the wisdom of the "unchurch." So beginning with the first Sunday in January we will begin.
Our target group is the non-churched. Barna says about 40% of Americans claim a relationship with God but don't care for church. We hope to provide an environment that allows those who value a closeness with God a chance to strengthen their relationship with Him without requiring that they embrace a set of religious practices that are traditional but not Biblical.
We envision a fellowship comprised of three elements. A "breakfast" outreach on Sundays, a "blessing committee" during the mid-week, and a network of ministry cells throughout the week. The "blessing committee" will also produce ministry projects and we anticipate a large group "celebration" periodically.
The Sunday morning breakfast is just what it sounds like. People gathering for food and friendship. Sunday will not look like "church." People can arrive at any time during a two hour period and leave when they choose. They won't be a sermon or a choir. In fact, there won't be a program at all. Just tables with stuff to eat. Our "help" team will serve breakfast and sit with the guests spending as much time as they can just visiting. Our goal is to build friendships.
From these friendships will come an interest in greater participation in this ministry. The mid-week "blessing committee" will be formed from people who decide to join the team. As they meet in homes they will be charged to answer just one question: What can we do to bless our community? From the list of ideas created by the committee, they will select one and execute it. Once completed, the committee selects the next project and executes it. And so on. Projects are as simple or ambitious as the committee feels like taking on. Our goal is to engage every team member in being a blessing in their community.
Cell groups will form as God sends us people with a call to minister. Teachers will teach. Intercessors will join for prayer. Disciplers will disciple. Those with a heart for children or youth will gather children and young people in their homes. Specialty cells will be created for topical needs, like marriage, parenting, personal finances, women's issues, etc.
The breakfasts will be an opportunity to bring people uncomfortable with church into Church. The committees will engage everyone interested in meaningful activity. The cells will minister healing to the needy and provide expression for the gifts resident in this fellowship.
The "unchurch" which is operating under the working name of "Community Fellowship of Battle Ground" will draw people through word of mouth. It will grow from relationships. It will be visible and unique as a church whose public and formal purpose is to be a blessing to its community. It will be an activist fellowship--more doing than talking. It won't be passive or spectator oriented. Breakfast guests can come as often as they like with no strings attached and without being pressured. But once they chose to "join," every team member will be used meaningfully. The good works of the fellowship will be strategic and provocative.
Every believers gifts will be given voice. This is not a one man show. Nor is it an audience based experience where a few "leaders" minister to an audience of spectators. Pastors will be released to pastor. They will love and shepherd the sheep freely and without expectation that they handle administration, finances or legal issues. Pastors are not necessarily preachers. Those who are will teach and preach in cell groups and through outreach activities. There won't be one pastor doing nearly all the speaking while everyone else sits and listens, as top guy and CEO of the company. There will be a team of people with hearts to pastor others. The ministry of teaching and preaching will be expressed as pastors pastor individuals, couples or cells. Outreach events will provide preachers and evangelists and worship teams to minister to larger groups.
There is much more I could say. Presentations have taken up to three hours to truly do these ideas justice. I will provide more detail as time passes and we see how this proceeds. The "unchurch" model may well take time. It assumes proper attention and care to relationships. And with people inviting people we will grow only as quickly and as large as God leads. For our purposes, we are fine with taking months to reach a couple dozen. We believe that a few active agents for God can make an impact similar to that of a traditional church many times larger.
We see the "unchurch" as evangelistic, as impactful to our communities, as organic rather than organizational, as strong through relationship, as effective in discipling and releasing into service for God, as subtly attractive to those who have been estranged from the Christian family, as much more fiscally efficient than regular churches, as smarter designed given contemporary legal trends, and as reflective of the Biblical model. But more to the point that matters, I see it as obediently putting our hands to the task to which God has brought us at this time.
I hope this proposal serves to stir up in you ideas for the obedient performance of the task to which He has brought you. I don't expect that anyone else will adopt or even adapt the "unchurch" model. But I do pray that God will continue to mold His Church into a tool for His service that is increasingly more reflective of the image of His Son. God bless you and please pray for us. Thank you.
Mark
Post script--3/30/2005
Since posting this piece I have received comments from across the US and from numerous countries around the world. This description seems to resonate with people who are looking for better, more "alive" ways of doing church. I can't say that our attempt at the "unchurch" has been a big success but it certainly has stirred up emotions and surfaced long hidden programming from early religious training. Nearly everyone endorses the spirit of what this article represents but when push comes to shove an enormous percentage of well intentioned people discover that for them spending Sunday morning in any setting other than what they grew up with is not real "church." They put their toes in, find it unusual and hurry back to the familiar. Despite initial proclamations of affinity for these principles some of our most enthusiastic supporters couldn't let themselves join us. Its interesting, to put it mildly, how strong a hold tradition and religion has on our thinking and therefore on our living. We insist that we need a different way of bringing the gospel to the world and then find that we can't stray far from what we've always done without some distress that we are abandoning our childhood ideas of proper church.
Recently I have discovered a wonderful book by Erwin R. McManus called The Barbarian Way. In it the author asserts that the true Christian faith was never intended to be a well constructed, comforting, culturally compatible enterprise but a raw, aggressive, non-conforming, high risk movement that strove to bring a transforming power regardless of personal cost in this life. Following are a few excerpts from his book (available from Thomas Nelson Publishers).
Christianity over the past two thousand years has moved from a tribe of renegades to a religion of conformists. Those who choose to follow Jesus become participants in an insurrection. To claim we believe is simply not enough. The call of Jesus is one that demands action.
A barbarian invasion is taking place even right now. They are coming from the four corners of the earth and they are numbered among the unlikely. From the moment Jesus walked among us the invasion began. And just as with those who crossed paths with Him here on earth, those who are most religious will be most offended and indignant. Barbarians are not welcome among the civilized and are feared among the domesticated. The way of Jesus is far too savage for the sensibilities. The sacrifice of God's son, the way of the Cross, the call to die to ourselves, all these lack the dignity of a refined faith.
Jesus is being lost in a religion bearing His name. People are being lost because they cannot reconcile Jesus' association with Christianity. Christianity has become docile, domesticated, civilized.
To have the Spirit of God dwelling within the heart of someone who chooses a domesticated faith is like having a tiger trapped within a cage. You are not intended to be a spiritual zoo where people can look at God in you from a safe distance. You are a jungle where the Spirit roams wild and free in your life. You are the recipient of the God who cannot be tamed and of a faith that must not be tamed.
When barbarians travel together, they do not march in single file. There is no forced conformity. They are not required or expected to keep in step. They walk together as free individuals joined not by standardization but by the spirit.
The civilized build shelters and invite God to stay with them; barbarians move with God wherever He chooses to go. The civilized Christian has a routine; the barbarian disciple has a mission. The civilized believer knows the letter of the law; the barbarian lives the spirit of the law. The religiously civilized love tradition; the barbarian spirit loves challenges. The civilized are satisfied with ritual; barbarians live and thrive in the mystical. For the civilized disciple, religion provides stability and certainty; for the barbarian, a life in God is one of risk and mystery. And maybe even a little insanity.
Two thousand years ago God started a revolt against the religion He started. So don't ever put it past God to cause a groundswell movement against churches and Christian institutions that bear His name. If He was willing to turn Judaism upside down, don't think for a moment our institutions are safe from a divine revolt. I am convinced that even now there are multitudes of followers of Jesus Christ who are sick and tired of the church playing games and playing down the call of God. My travels only confirm that the murmurings or revolution are everywhere. I am convinced that there is an uprising in the works and that no less than God is behind it.
Erwin McManus is getting lots of press these days. He pastors a church in LA called Mosaic characterized by unconvention and creativity. The Barbarian Way is his fourth book.
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