Some years back, a pastor wrote an article called “The Dirt on Organic Church.”
Unfortunately, no one took it to task. Probably because it wasn’t seen by many.
Below is the article with a response below each part.
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I tried it; I started an organic church.
RESPONSE: So you started what you are calling “an organic church” and it didn’t work for you. So that means it doesn’t work for anyone else? The logic doesn’t follow. That’s like saying, “I tried to start a garden, and it died, so gardens don’t work.”
No, many people successfully start gardens. But they know what they are doing.
It began in my living room in 2005 with a small group of Milwaukee 20-somethings—most of whom wouldn’t be caught dead in “church.” Then I pitched the idea of doing church where the rest of life happens: in living rooms, kitchens, Starbucks bistros—anywhere solid conversations could take place. The people grew, the group grew, the number of houses grew, and off I ventured into the world of organic churches.
RESPONSE: This is part of the problem. You seem to think “organic church” is about meeting in living rooms and having “conversations.” That’s not what it’s about. It’s about Jesus Christ. Where is Christ mentioned in your description? He’s completely absent. When the foundation is not Christ, there’s no chance of survival or success.
Things changed only slightly when we transitioned from small groups to organic churches. We started serving Communion and holding baptisms. To the naked eye, we probably still looked more like small groups than churches. We didn’t have a sermon; we didn’t pass an offering plate; we didn’t sing together. Instead, we shared a meal, discussed and applied the Bible to personal issues, shared testimonies, and prayed together. At the most basic level, our goals were the same as any traditional church. We were committed to worship, discipleship, and evangelism. We just tackled these objectives in more relational ways. We favored conversations over productions, shared learning over lectures, living rooms over auditoriums, and questions over answers. And we charged each individual with the responsibility to edify the rest with whatever God-given resources he or she possessed.
RESPONSE: This sounds like an institutional church but only in a smaller venue. Where is the experience of Christ? The revealing of Christ? The knowing Christ? The living by His life? The corporate experience of the Lord and His presence?
Those are the essential characteristics of organic church. But if the one planting the church isn’t familiar with these matters in a practical way, he/she cannot pass them on to others. Those who equip the saints must first be equipped. That is the major flaw with most people who set out to start organic churches. They’ve never been part of one as a non-leader to begin with. You can’t raise up what you haven’t known yourself. They are also using the term “organic church” to simply mean a small relational group. The New Testament paints a very different picture. It’s the corporate expression of Christ Himself.
To survive as an organic movement, planters must make some very nonorganic decisions. It’s not all “go with the flow” or “let be what will be.” You have to dig a little deeper to plant organic.
RESPONSE: This sentence reveals that the author doesn’t understand what “organic” means. Organic doesn’t mean spontaneous or random or “go with the flow.” It has to do with the source — life.
We started with a few people and a few changed lives. People got excited, invited friends who needed Jesus, and then their lives were changed too. It looked like everything was rolling in the right direction.
RESPONSE: Another flaw is betrayed in this sentence. The foundation was evangelism or discipleship. It wasn’t Jesus Christ. Big difference.
We grew from 15 to 85 people in 10 months, and at our high point, only 17 of our people had been Christians long enough to be considered prospects for leadership. That may sound like a lot, but I was one of only four who had leadership experience in a church. As a result, a minority of us shouldered the entire leadership load. I ran training workshops on Bible survey, hermeneutics, and systematic theology. I led practicums in prayer, teaching, and counseling. The goal was to move people from convert to mentor in less than a year. We couldn’t do it. Organic plants either need to scale back the outreach to match their leadership development, or import established leaders along the way. Neither option feels like an organic solution, but it is necessary to do one or the other to keep organic churches healthy.
RESPONSE: Academic training doesn’t equip one to raise up a genuine expression of the body of Christ. Nor does it equip the saints for ministry.
A genuine church planter who has been called, prepared (biblically), and sent out will know how to equip the whole church to shoulder responsibility. Not everyone is called to such work (church planting), and the reason why so many fail out of the gate is because the person planting the church didn’t have the experience, calling, or gifting for that work.
Starting an institutional church and planting an organic expression of the church are two very different things with two very different criteria.
One woman, probably our most gifted teacher, chose to step down from her teaching rotation. Two others, who at one time facilitated discussions for us, left altogether because they didn’t believe it was biblical to have church without a formal sermon.
RESPONSE: Based on this description, we would conclude that this wasn’t a true organic expression. They don’t work like this. This sounds more like a Bible study or discussion group that the body of Christ in local expression as seen in the New Testament.
I know the true-blue organic church planters shun the collection of a salary, but I’m not sure there is a way around it. Organic churches may be smaller, but they don’t take any less time.
RESPONSE: Again, this testifies that the author doesn’t understand what an organic expression of the church is. True organic expressions never require a “salary” because there is no paid clergy. A clergy is unnecessary because everyone has been equipped to shoulder responsibility.
Outreach by relationship takes a ton of time, as well. I estimate that a solid leader who is running outreach, discipleship, and leadership development the organic way is going to need 15 to 20 hours per week for a church of 30 to 40 people. That’s assuming there is another leader putting 25 to 40 weekly hours into training and networking.
RESPONSE: Again, this paragraph betrays a clergy mentality. In true organic churches, the whole body “runs outreach” when it’s in season. It takes a gifted apostle to equip a church to do this. When such a person is absent, you have a reversion of the clergy model in a home. Calling that “organic” doesn’t make it so.
I didn’t make it as an organic planter the first time around, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up.
RESPONSE: You would do well to do what every genuine church planter has done. Follow the apostles in the New Testament and become part of a genuine organic expression as a non-leader for several years. Learn, observe, and if you are truly called to plant churches, the body will confirm it and whoever planted the church may send you out in due time. But exposure is necessary and it only comes in such an environment.
Recommended Books:
A Church Building Every ½ Mile by Jon Zens
We Are Christ on Earth by Jon Zens
The Community Life of God by Milt Rodriguez
Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna (ReChurch Part 1)
Reimagining Church by Frank Viola (ReChurch Part 2)
From Eternity to Here by Frank Viola (ReChurch Part 3)
Finding Organic Church by Frank Viola (ReChurch Part 4)
The Normal Christian Church Life by Watchman Nee
God’s Spiritual House by T. Austin-Sparks