a new type of church plant
Over at JesusCreed – Scot McKnight has posted an example of a emerging missionally focused church plant. Here is a break down of the structure of their gatherings which cycle around four different events in a month.
- First Sunday: Afternoon Service and concert at a specified ‘Social Centre’ of their city.
- Second Sunday: Members gather in houses (based geographically), for a meal and studying of the scriptures (based on what was preached the week before)
- Third Sunday: House churches meet to do a service project in the community.
- Fourth Sunday: Celebration and party time with the whole church (or atleast each individual house church community)
While I love the idea of different ways of being church I wonder whether we’ll ever move away from classifying church as a ‘one off’ weekly event (maybe a 24/7 church is unrealistic, as I make comment on JesusCreed). I’d love to see more examples of churches functioning as (24/7) communities, where members live life together day by day, not week by week. I guess we don’t hear about such churches as it is impossible to document such interaction between communities. Maybe I’m off with the fairies and all this is a utopian dream that should be shelved? What do you think?
Church plants often start out with the desire to be different or innovative, often based on past experiences of its leaders or members. Ultimately, it needs to stay biblical in spirit and fluid in approach.