FLYING IN A TWO-WINGED CHURCH

FLYING IN A TWO-WINGED CHURCH Acts 2:46-47 Grateful acknowledgement is given to these sources of inspiration and direction: William Beckham, The Second Reformation; Elton Truebood, The Yoke of Christ; Larry Crabb, Connecting Sept 15, 2002 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory Text - Acts 2:42-45 is a verbal picture of an exciting church & the things they did to sustain their faith. Acts 2:46-47 then gives further insight into the pattern of assembly that helped sustain them as a church. "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and at together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." See also Acts 5:42 - "Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." New Testament gives us a clear picture of the early church meeting in homes and meeting publicly in the temple. Let's categorize these two meetings for easy reference as the "centralized" assemblies (large group meetings) and the "de-centralized" assemblies (small group meetings). The first category met typically in the temple courtyards (the common place for meetings of larger groups in first century Jerusalem). The second category of meetings met in the homes (presumably with those who knew each other more intimately, and with those who were new to the faith, and were being discipled by someone in that small group). In our parlance we would use the term "Celebration" for the larger group meeting, and clearly it would refer to our Sunday morning services. The other meetings we call "cell group" meetings, and they occur at different places throughout the metro-east. We'll spend a little more time on our current adaptations of the Acts 2 model in a few minutes. For now, let's consider what happened in the months and years following these bombastic opening days of the church. During these exciting days of the earliest church, the larger groups were meeting "daily" in the temple courts ("Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts." - Acts 2:46. That level of frequency did not continue for long, because soon we find these believers meeting in this "centralized" fashion only on Sundays primarily. And that frequency was disturbed considerably as the church fell out of favor with the Jewish authorities. (Would you let those rebellious cult-followers meet in your courtyard?) In the meantime, the believers are also meeting in the small group clusters they had formed, presumably as often as they could. The pattern continued for months-believers meeting in the larger, centralized assemblies, and also in the smaller, decentralized fashion. Now in 2:47, the Holy Spirit recorded for us this interesting little editorial comment: "praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." At first, this new group of Christ-followers were kind of fun. They loved God and they seemed to enjoy getting together a lot. That's fine-good for them. But it didn't stay that way. Soon their insistent preaching and testifying to the resurrection of Jesus stirred up opposition among the Jewish religious authorities. (Funny thing-that's exactly how it happened to Jesus during His earthly ministry! Another funny thing-Jesus warned His disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. . . .If they persecuted me they will persecute you also . . . They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God…" (John 15:18, 20; 16:2) Evan a cursory reading of the early chapters of Acts shows the mounting tension between the Jews and the Christians. As early as chapter 3, Peter and John are arrested for preaching the resurrection of Jesus after healing the lame man. Then, when the official persecution of the church broke out starting with the stoning of Stephen, the church is scattered from Jerusalem (chapters 6-7). Wherever they ended up the Christians continued meeting in small groups in their homes, and when they could they met in the centralized meetings-usually in the synagogue or in rented halls, and usually on Sundays. This same pattern of centralized and decentralized meetings was carried by Paul and the other missionaries who took the gospel to the rest of the Roman Empire (see Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:33; 16:2 And this pattern stuck. It wasn't until the early fourth century when the emperor, Constantine, the first "Christian" emperor, imposed an institutional CATHEDRAL form upon the church. It was then that the church, at least in Rome, stopped meeting in homes almost altogether, and began meeting exclusively in special buildings. Since that time, one constant in church history over the past 17 centuries (excluding some of the more "radical" reformers) has been the cathedral structure. Several prominent church historians agree that this move from a small group/large group structure to simply a large group structure had a dramatic and devastating impact upon virtually all facets of church life. In his book, The Second Reformation, author Bill Beckham suggests the imagery of the church with two wings-small group and large group meetings. He suggests that when the church meets only in a larger group setting, and makes no provision for smaller venues, it's as if one wing is severed from a bird, rendering it incapable of flying. I want to quote from Beckham, but I need to explain something to set this quote up. He has just been developing the theme of the centralized and de-centralized meetings, and how both are important. He calls these two venues "Cathedral" and "Community". "Constantine (not only as an individual but as the representative of a system) did not just build cathedrals, he also set into motion factors that destroyed the small group setting of the church . . . Constantine's action obviously had enormous impact upon the life of the church. Structures are powerful tools that can affect life, society, values, and other structures for both good and bad. The right kind, or wrong kind, of structure can become a paradigm from which surroundings are referenced, redefined, and placed in new order or relationship. By exclusively endorsing and emphasizing the Cathedral side [and excluding the Community side], Constantine effectively destroyed the small group side, leaving us with a one-winged church that could not soar to the heights it had easily attained in the past. Constantine's inauguration of the church/state, made the dynamic Body of Christ little more than a dry, bureaucratic institution. An institution with big buildings, hired professionals, and "red-tape" to be waded through for simple answers to everyday problems." The Centrality of the Small Group Venue for Church Health 1. Small groups are a place for deepening fellowship that cannot be duplicated in the larger assembly. Some time ago a family began attending MECF on Sundays, and both adults in the family testified they were very pleased with the level of friendliness they found here. The soon found themselves invited to cell group meetings. After a few weeks of involvement in a cell group, they decided to look around for another church. The husband was refreshingly honest as he explained why they weren't staying. He said, "You people are too friendly!" Getting to know a few other believers really well can be quite threatening. Not only will I be opening myself up to others (difficult enough!), but I also will be getting to know them, and I'm not sure I'm going to get along with them. New Testament fellowship demands that we learn to LOVE, PUT UP WITH ONE ANOTHER, FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER, SERVE ONE ANOTHER AND EVEN REBUKE ONE ANOTHER… (NB: these are all New Testament commands to Christians) 2. Small groups are a place for meaningful mutual ministry at a level that rarely if ever takes place in the larger assembly.         There is simply no time to minister adequately to everyone at a meaningful level in Celebration-style services. Some seek out prayer, but the vast majority don't. But the even greater tragedy is that those who seek out ministry never learn how to minister to others! In a smaller group setting, it's hard to hide. The New Testament stress on "one-anothering" gets overlooked when there only the larger group experience. Easy to ignore the person for the program (busy, so many people, enjoying the large group worship and the large group anonymity…) But, can't the believers just pick up on one-anothering on their own? Theoretically, yes, but there is another issue with the one-winged approach. We like not being involved in one another's lives! And it is therefore easy to slip into a Sundays-only format for our living out our faith. Only one thing wrong with that-it's not living out the Christian faith! In the small group it is far easier to apprentice one's gifts. How many of you want to try something new and possibly fail in front of 150 people? How many of you are willing to stretch yourself in ministry to others among a small group of people you have learned to love and trust? And if we don't stretch, we don't grow. 3. Small groups can more easily facilitate the deeper consideration of how the Word applies to our everyday lives. In small groups there is opportunity for personal exhortation, Q & A, dialogue and testimony. Take the topic of temptation. In a 30-40-minute teaching on the subject on a Sunday morning, I might do a truly splendid job of teaching and explaining the biblical data on temptation (or I might not). I might even do a pretty fair job of outlining a practical method for handling temptation. But, try as I will, I will never be able to actually dialogue with every person in attendance about their unique struggles, their theological questions on the issue or their history of success and failure in dealing with temptation. But, get these individuals in a small group of people they have been worshiping with, sharing meals with, playing volleyball with, praying with, sharing personal needs and struggles with-and you're going to add a whole new dimension to the discipleship of those individuals. Bottom line-if you really want to grow, start meeting regularly with a small group and get ready for stretching and challenge. 4. Edifying friendships develop and grow far more easily in small groups. Think of those fellow believers with whom you have had good, wholesome friendship in the past. Now, I'm not talking just about friendship like you can get anyplace else; I'm talking about genuine brotherhood with someone you have been able to really get to know, to encourage and even to confront in love. I guarantee you, that relationship was in the context of getting together with that person on a regular basis and probably with a few others with you. It is consistently true-small groups foster edifying friendships. 5. Small groups can stimulate and encourage believers to reach out to others. We touched on that fascinating single verse at Acts 5:42. "Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ." What happened in this kind of a healthy two-winged church? Let the book of Acts tell its own story as I read verses right out of the history of those few months of two-winged ministry: 2:46-47 - "They broke bread in their homes with glad and sincere hearts…and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." 4:4 -"…many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand." 5:14 - "…more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number." 6:7 - "So, the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith." 12:24 - "…the word of God continued to increase and spread." 16:5 - "the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers." Rationale for Vision and Cell Structure It is because of this potential for kingdom expansion that we as a church have determined to structure ourselves as cell-based. We believe in the power and the new Testament pattern of the two-winged church. So we encourage all who choose to be a part of this church to get meaningfully involved in a cell group and work alongside that group in Christian fellowship, love and the mutual ministry of "one-anothering" to grow personally in their walk with Christ and in their obedience to the Great Commission. Now, the right structure will not guarantee success in personal and corporate growth, but it can position us for that kind of ministry better than another structure. And that is the vision God has given this church. I stand solidly with the other elders in saying that we affirm and are grateful for all other styles of ministry that are perhaps more program-based in design and structure. We pray that every church in this area that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ will prosper in expanding the kingdom. I envision every neighborhood in the metro-east area with the blessing of having a cell group meeting there at least once a month, bringing the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ to it. A thousand cell groups that meet in three different homes per month will be bringing salt and light influence to 3,000 neighborhoods a month. I believe that will honor God! 3,000 neighborhoods with an average of 100 men, women and children in them-that's 300,000 people a month being prayed for and served and influenced for the gospel. I believe we will be serving our mission well-that of saturating the metro-east area with God's Good News that anyone can experience friendship with God through Jesus Christ, spiritual and emotional wholeness in Jesus Christ, and life-giving purpose in His kingdom. That's why our vision is to establish 1,000 life-giving Christian communities (cells) in the St. Louis metro-east area which will also be dedicated to the ministry of Drawing people to salvation through Jesus Christ, Developing believers to maturity in Jesus Christ, and Deploying mature disciples into ministry for Jesus Christ. Concluding Challenge We need: 1. A high level of commitment to that purpose from those who identify with this congregation. We must become a body of believers who are unified and purposeful in this cause. Committed, growing Christians who will dedicate themselves to their cell group-to working together, enjoying life and service alongside a few others of like faith; believers who, if they feel their group is not all it should be, instead of dropping out, will work to make it better. Disciples who will commit to their Lord and a few of His people around them that they are willing to take the risks of growing to new levels of maturity and ministry. Brothers and sisters who are willing to love and bless their fellow Christians, to bear with them and pray for them, encourage and challenge them, to be a friend to their children, a visitor in their homes, a comfort in times of sadness and trial. Am I talking about extraordinary, apostolic-level faith here? No, these are the things Jesus has called every disciple to! I hope the days of milksop, sluggardly, torpid, indolent, lazy goldbrick living are over for you! I hope you hear the call, meet the challenge and commit yourself to something for the King of kings and Lord of lords! I hope being a soldier in the kingdom of heaven means something challenging to you. I hope you are inspired like the apostle Paul to "forget what is behind, straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14) 2. Two dozen people willing to say yes to cell leadership. Your primary qualification is to love the Lord with all your heart and soul and your neighbor as yourself. You need to be willing to grow, to give your loving attention to the needs of a dozen others around you. You don't need to be a long-term Christian with 10 years of leadership experience. You don't need to be a teacher. You don't need to "talk good", sing well nor be a Bible scholar. You just need to love God, love His people and have a desire to grow up in Christ and bring others along with you. If we're going to expand our base of cell groups into more neighborhoods we're not going to do it with a half-dozen cell leaders and a few interns. We need an army of servants who are courageous enough in the Spirit of God to step out and do it! 3. (and last--and I'll leave the other 700 things we need for another sermon!), we need to get God's heart for the lost. Among other things I am standing before you today to remind you that people who die without faith in Christ are bound for hell-absolute, eternal separation from God forever. God is not willing that any should perish. Are we? I am encouraging you today to rethink your priorities in life. Just honestly ask and honestly answer this question: what am I living for-what is my one magnificent obsession? If it is anything other than to serve and glorify the Lord, then you finally know why on your busy list of things to get done, serving the kingdom of God comes in last all the time. Dore, the famous artist critiqued a students painting of Christ once, saying, "You don't love Him!" "What?!" "You don't love Him, or you'd paint Him better!"     [Back to Top]