New Course offered: "The Family Blessing"

Registration is now open for a new session of our Foundations One Course.  For information about this Course and how to register, see the right column.

In addition, we are excited to offer, for the first time, a new Course called "The Family Blessing"which will be led by one of our LK10 Coaches, Tim Pynes. The mission of LK10 is to see "a vibrant family of Jesus within easy reach of every region and people group".  This Course is an important resource towards that objective.  ("The Family Blessing" applies LK10 practices specifically in a family context whereas "Foundations One" has a broader focus.)

For information about the course and how to register, see below...


The Family Blessing - Part 1

I (Tim Pynes) was in Israel over the summer and one night, in Tel Aviv, I witnessed an amazing scene in the restaurant at the hotel where we were staying. It was Friday evening and the hotel restaurant was packed with hundreds of people of all kinds. After going through the buffet line and sitting down at a table to eat, I noticed a family of Orthodox Jews stand up at their table near me and begin to pray. As I watched them, the mother of the family pulled a shawl over her head and lit a candle. In that moment, it occurred to me that the sun had just set and the sabbath had begun. I turned in my chair and saw that there were Jewish families interspersed throughout the hotel restaurant who were standing at their tables and also beginning the shabbat meal ritual. These Jewish families seemed unaware and unconcerned with the mealtime chatter happening at tables all around them as Muslim and non-Jewish families carried on eating and celebrating dinner together.

I focused my attention on one young boy at a table near mine (he was a red-haired, Orthodox Jewish child with the long curled locks hanging down on either side of his face who appeared to be around 9 or ten years old) and watched him as he stood at attention with his family, focusing his gaze first on his mother as she spoke, and then on his father. As I watched this young boy and his family continue the shabbat meal ritual, I was reminded of this scene from the movie, Fiddler on the Roof.




The powerful and moving scene I witnessed that night in Tel Aviv and this scene from Fiddler on the Roof cause me to consider and ponder such thoughts as:

• Imagine growing up in a home where at least once a week your parents took turns to look you squarely in the eyes and speak words of love and blessing over you.
• Imagine growing up in a home where at least once a week you got to observe your parents speaking words of love and blessing to one another.
• Imagine growing up in a home where at least once a week, you connected on a heart level with your parents and your siblings.
• Imagine growing up in a home where the stories of God’s goodness - stories that naturally overflowed from having a vibrant, personal & intimate relationship with God - were shared at the dinner table on a regular basis.

I want to explore these thoughts - and many others like them - and I want to reclaim the home as the center for spiritual growth and development. I long to see vibrant families of Jesus scattered throughout the world; families who are connected with the heart of God and who are being the Church wherever they go, wherever they are. Because of this, I have created a 6-week course titled, "The Family Blessing: Reclaiming the Home as the Center for Spiritual Training". The focus of this course will be on helping you to reclaim your home as a center for spiritual training. By instituting a weekly family blessing time, you will help to cultivate one anothers spiritual life and develop a more intimate relationship with God. You will learn to create a weekly space in the natural rhythm of your family’s life where you connect with one another and with God at a heart level and learn to see one anothers design and glory and call it forth.

Here are the details for the class:

• The class is 6-weeks long and begins on January 23rd and ends on March 2nd.
• The class is limited to 15 people. The first 15 people to register get in. Once 15 people have registered, we will close registration and create a waiting list.
• The cost of the course is $100 per person or $150 for couples.
• Every week on Monday, you will be emailed a workbook with your assignment for that week.
• Also, there will be three 1-hour conference calls provided for you over the length of the course where you can connect with your classmates, ask questions, discuss what you are learning, etc.
• In addition, you will be provided two 45-minute coaching sessions during the length of the course.

Registration opens today, January 9th and ends at 5 p.m. MT on Friday, January 20th or once the class has 15 participants, whichever comes first.

You can register for this course at http://familyblessing.eventbrite.com

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me: timpynes@gmail.com

Methodist House Churches?

I've just returned from the National House Church Conference in Jacksonville, FL.  It was a wonderful time with 180 participants, 80% of whom had never attended the Conference before.  One observation is that the Lord is increasingly drawing people in traditional churches (Baptist, Methodist, etc.) to consider house churches.  The brief interview below with Rev. Nicole Reilley, a Methodist pastor from the LA area, is one of many examples of this encouraging development.

To all of these brave pioneers who are moving towards the house church model, I feel the Lord wants me to ask a question again that I posed in a post a few weeks ago.  Did John Wesley, who was an amazing house church planter in his day, make a fundamental mistake?  And, if he did, will we make the same mistake?  To see my take on Wesley's "fundamental mistake", see this post http://storiesfromtherevolution.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-john-wesley-missed-family-church.html

Why did Wesley make this major "mistake"?  This link probably explains the reason:  http://lexloiz.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/john-wesley-and-his-wife-part-2/

Church planting: 18 months or 1 day?

Back in the late 1980's I planted a "traditional" church.  What a difficult and laborious process!  It took about 18 months and involved many hours spent in demographic studies, committee meetings, budgeting process, locating a facility, developing a worship team and a children's ministry, gaining approval of my denomination, etc.


I decided that I never wanted to go through that again.


The way churches were planted/birthed in the New Testament was infinitely simpler.  This was one of the themes we developed at the Regional LK10 Conference last weekend in New Castle, CO.  New Castle is located on the Western Slope of Colorado about three hours (depending on traffic!) west of Denver.  Desi Starr and myself led the Conference for Lee Price who has developed a network of churches called the River Churches.  http://www.riverchurches.org/index.html


In the video below, Lee and Desi talk about the simplicity of planting churches and about the two churches that were started as a result of the Conference.





The Foundations Course.  Want to learn more about this kind of New Testament church life?  This fall, LK10 will be offering The Foundations Course, a six week experience designed to teach the spiritual values and practices necessary for this kind of this kind of life.  The Course involves weekly learning assignments, group conversations with your cohort and individual coaching.  More information on this in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned!

Top Ten Reasons for using SASHET in your church (# 7)

* Top Ten Reasons for starting simple church by using SASHET to "check in" with each other...

#7. SASHET helps create a true sense of family (even with seminary students!). In the LK10 Community we talk about a very simple equation that explains a great deal about house church. Church = family. While this is easy to say, it is often difficult to implement because our experience of church has been anything but family. (Hard to experience "family" in a gathering of a thousand people!) We've experienced...

Church = meeting

Church = performance

Church = organization

Church = business

But, in the New Testament, church was none of these things. Church was always seen as an extended spiritual family. In Roger Gehring's very important book, House Church and Mission, we read “... this concept of church as the ‘household of God’ (1 Tim. 3:15) incorporates two aspects: (a) the house or family is the fundamental unit of the church, and (b) the church is a social structure patterned after the household.” P. 7

So, if we understand how healthy families function, it will go a long way towards understanding how healthy NT churches function. And, healthy families are groups of people who are able to connect with one another on a heart level. SASHET is a powerful tool for creating that sense of family. In the video below, Hobby Chapin, church planter in Brighton, CO tells how he used SASHET to help a group of seminary students experience that "true sense of family".

*Physical training teaches us about spiritual training. In 1 Tim. 4:7-8, Paul writes, "Train yourself for spiritual fitness (or godliness)". The word for "train" is gymnazo from which we get gymnastics. As you watch this video, think about James 1:2-4. "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_WOD110720_CFSC_WtPushUp_final.wmv

*Subscribe to this blog. We'll be posting new content (stories, videos, articles, etc.) every couple of days. Don't miss out! To subscribe, scroll down in the right column and enter your email address in the small white box.

*National House Church Conference.September 2-4 in Jacksonville, FL.http://www.cvent.com/events/momentum-basics-and-beyond/event-summary-35d9eb8b489245b383c00068e2ebd074.aspx

Family flows from listening

Apprenticeship Rhythms One and Two: Weekly Learning Assignments and CO2 (or CO3)

The Apprenticeship is twelve weeks long and every week, members receive a new chapter in our eWorkbook. Each chapter has three Learning Assignments. This week, the focus is on family flowing from listening. See below for another example of a home functioning as a church.

John

"This being spring break, I was a bit tempted to skip out on Luke 10 for spring cleaning and a mini-vacation--can you believe that? But my heart leaped when I saw that the week was about 'Family.' I felt really encouraged by Sean's story and wanted to embrace a bit more detail for our family CO3 sharing, which most often happens at mealtimes.

Today (in our family time) we read about feeding 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish and listened to God around that story. It was a really fun time, especially to see (our five year old daughter) so tender and full of enthusiasm as she shared her thoughts, drew pictures and engaged us like a teacher with her questions!

Also, I am touched by the idea that listening to God, others and our own hearts can make us so much more receptive to God and each other. Not only can you 'go to church', sit in a pew, and go home again without really knowing others..or yourself...or God better, it happens at home too. We can go through our day with everyone busy in their tasks and not really know what each other is struggling with, challenged by, happy about if you don't intentionally stop and listen to each other.

I felt really washed clean and shined up and closer to my mate and child by spending this time together listening and sharing hearts. It really is a big deal.

Eight year old: "God will never talk to me!"

The Luke Ten Community is committed to restoring the church to the home. Part of what this means is that family members learn how to pay attention to and talk about their hearts. (Did that happen in the family you grew up in?) And, then, it also means learning how to hear God's voice. We believe that children can hear God just as well as adults can.

Yesterday you read the story of how this way of thinking about church is being worked out with a mother and her 16 year old daughter. Today, in the video below, I want you to hear a wonderful story about Desi Starr's 8 year old son.

Imagine what would happen if this way of being church began to spread.

Our motto: Transforming cities one household at a time.

John

Trinitarian community (1)

Think about this quote from theologian, Stanley Grenz...

God's triune nature means that God is social or relational - God is the "social Trinity." And for this reason, we can say that God is "community." God is the community of the Father, Son, and Spirit, who enjoy perfect and eternal fellowship.

Churches are supposed to be a reflection of this Trinitarian community. Meeting in a home (instead of a church building) doesn't guarantee that kind of fellowship but it creates a context where it is at least possible.

The early church didn't meet in homes because they were afraid of persecution. They met there because they longed for this kind of community they had tasted with Jesus.

"...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." Jn. 17:21

John

CO2 - The Hyatt Family (4)

In response to the story about the Hyatt family doing CO2, Jared Looney, a church planter in NYC, posted this comment yesterday...

We recently did S.A.S.H.E.T. as a family. That is, my wife, my five year old daughter, and me. My wife and I had practiced this tool in various settings before, but doing it as a family with our 5 year old was pretty awesome.

Isn't that encouraging! Nothing excites me more than stories of children, even young children, responding to these simple ways of doing/being church.

Today, in the fourth and last part of this interview, Sean tells how his family has shared CO2 with other families and individuals. Notice again how natural and almost effortless this is. It creates a whole new picture for the term "church planting".

Also makes me think of the title of Roland Allen's famous book: The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church.

Your thoughts?

John

CO2 - The Hyatt Family (3)

There's lots of talk these days about "the missional church". The thinking is that the church needs to stop being so inwardly focused and become concerned about the needs of the world. We are told that this is accomplished by exhorting believers to change their focus and become more concerned about the lost and needy.

In the short video below, Sean tells a story that illustrates the alternative approach that LK10 takes towards becoming missional. Being missional is certainly a good thing. But, how this comes about is the critical element.

We believe that Jesus followers become more missional not by focusing on mission and trying harder but rather by focusing on listening to God. In other words, mission is not the starting place but rather the by-product of hearing God's voice. This kind of mission is natural, spontaneous and joyful.

So, two questions to ponder as you watch the video...

1. Imagine if there were hundreds (or thousands) of households in your city who were doing what the Hyatts are doing. What kind of learning would be going on in the hearts and minds of the children in those families? Doesn't this kind of "Christian education" beat what goes on in most Sunday School classes?

2. And, imagine the cumulative effect of hundreds (or thousands) of small family-centered "mission projects". How would that impact your city or region?

Your thoughts?

John

CO2 - The Hyatt Family (1)

A CO2 (church of two) is simple. Two people committed to two practices as close to daily as possible.

But, the CO2 concept is also highly adaptable. Sean Hyatt has applied it to his family. (Since he has a wife and three young children, it's now a CO5!) The result is a simple way that families can function as churches (think "church = vibrant family of Jesus".

Over the next four days, I'll be sharing an interview with Sean where he tells how this has worked out in his family. Today, Sean explains that this is a model that has been sustainable over time and that he loves what it has produced in his family.

Two things for you to think about. First, what would happen to the church in America (or wherever you live) if this practice became normative for every family? Second, is there anyone you need to pass this on to?

John

Please share your comments below.

Women in MRTs?

Yesterday's post featured a video of one of the Denver MRTs sending greetings to a similar group in New Zealand. In the video, five men share some of what they appreciate about their team.

Carolyn Spencer (Clovis, NM) responded with an important question...

Hi, Are all the seven MRT's (in Denver) a group of guys only? Is connecting together this way something done more easily when its just a group of guys, or is it just as effective when its mixed company? Would this group be as comfortable if a female leader joined you at Sojourner's Coffee Shop? What is your take on including women in MRT? Carolyn

Carolyn,

Thank you for asking this question! Some of the MRTs in Denver do have women members. And, I believe my MRT would actually be more effective if there were women as a part of the team. I believe that female apostolic church planters are just as "called" and just as effective as men. I believe that it is preferable to have a MRT with both men an women.

As you know, we are coming out of a period when women were often limited in their leadership roles in the church. In the Luke Ten Community, we believe that church = family and, in that context, spiritual mothers are just as important as spiritual fathers for a healthy family. I want Luke Ten to be an environment where women are encouraged to function that way both in house churches and as apostolic church planters.

So, Carolyn, thanks for asking that question so that I could clarify our values! And, to both men and women readers, please send me stories where you see women functioning in this kind of leadership.

John