VALUES
In studying the Bible, we found that the descriptions of "church" emphasized four particular values:
1-FAMILY
The body of believers is supposed to be closer to us than our own families (Matt. 12:46, Luke 14:26). Jesus said that "all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). He also prayed that his disciples would be so "perfectly one" that the world may believe that the Father sent Jesus (John 17:20-23).
Let's be honest—so often we don't even know the people in our churches, much less exhibit this supernatural type of unity and love. And if we're even more honest, we'd admit that it's much easier to try to invite someone to a church service with a cool band, an excellent children's program, an amazing speaker, and a comfortable building than actually loving that person with Christ's love.
Being part of our biological family is hard enough, so showing this other-worldly type of love that God demands requires real sacrifice and his Spirit every day.
In a family, no one is left out. Every person’s needs should be cared for (Acts 4:32-34), and the family takes it upon itself to care for its members. This is a kind of love that points people to Jesus.
2-MISSION
As followers of Christ, we are called to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19-20). In a lot of our church experiences, however, we're used to inviting our friends to church so that the pastor can tell them about Jesus, not us. Yet, this isn't the job of the pastor—it's the mission of every follower of Jesus.
We all spend our weeks in different mission fields: our neighborhoods, schools, offices, gyms, coffee shops, and more, so we come together on Sundays and pray for each other to stir one another up for boldness. While we can be sure that persecution will come as we share the gospel (2 Tim. 3:12-13), we can stand firm together in one faith (Phil. 1:27-30).
3-TRAINING
Jesus himself had his twelve disciples, and there came a time when he no longer called them servants, but friends (John 15:15). Paul also called the believers in his care to grow up into the full maturity of faith in Christ (Eph. 4:13).
Often it's all too easy to attend a church for years and years without ever being equipped to serve and live out the gospel. As consumers of church, we come in, get filled up by the worship and message, and then our only option is to come back week after week to get filled up again and again. However, if all we ever do is consume, how do we ourselves ever become fishers of men? (Matt. 4:19).
We've found that in a smaller church setting, people are more disposed to build up the body using their particular gifts for the benefit of others (1 Cor. 12:7-31). New leaders are continually being trained by the elders and current leaders because the group starts preparing to multiply from the outset. They are trained in the specific theological and practical concepts necessary to lead God's church.
Just as children are expected to grow up and move out of the home, all members are being prepared to be able to stand on their own (Heb. 5:11-14).
4-GATHERING
We see throughout the New Testament that the early church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, communion, and the prayers, as summarized in Acts 2:42. There’s no precedent for anything flashy or glamorous—just a focus on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe a contemporary gathering ought to strive to do so as well. While a superb sound system, a spacious building, convenient childcare, and an engaging speaker can be blessings to the body, too often we become dependent on any one of these items. In fact, sometimes when we won't even go to a worship service if our usual worship band or gifted speaker isn't there.
5-STRUCTURE
Now it's one thing to identify these four values, but it's certainly another thing to be part of a body that actually exhibits these qualities. In truth, these biblical values aren't new at all, and many contemporary churches claim to pursue these values, but both the Bible and experience have shown that these qualities don't just come about by accident. We pray that, by the Holy Spirit, God would guide the intentionality behind our church structure. Our structure isn't perfect, and being part of a body like this isn't easy at all, but I know God is going to do powerful works among us.
OVERALL STRUCTURE
1. Each church gathers in a home or dedicated place.
2. Each church has two pastors (elders), both of whom aren't paid.
3. Tithes and offerings are collected, but all are set aside to be used for
missions locally and abroad.
Since there isn't any rent to pay, no staff salaries, and the tithes and offerings aren't used to run the micro-church, this structure means that the church effectively costs no money to maintain. As such, the pastors are able to make significant ministry decisions without worrying about if they’ll run out of money, for the structure never depended on the money from the beginning.
HOUSE- CHURCH
Meeting in a home forces the size of the gathering to be small, which means that the members can actually get to know everyone in the church, and by the Holy Spirit, these members can become family. But as we all know, family is difficult, but if we really are going to exhibit this Christ-like love that is empowered by the Holy Spirit, we can't shy away from people who are different from us. No, not only do we invite these different types of people into our church gatherings and into our homes, we're inviting them into the body of Christ—a genuine family—with all of the ups and downs that go along with that.
In this same line of thought, meeting in homes also means we meet within the neighborhoods of some of the church members, and many of our leaders have chosen to live in more difficult communities. This means that when we do outreach, we're reaching out to the folks in our very own neighborhoods.
Further, the simple truth of the matter is that we can only spend a limited amount of time with the many people we know and love, and when it comes to our church family, this only gets more and more difficult as the size of the body gets larger and when people live farther away.
MULTIP LICATION
Nevertheless, we can't settle with just being a "family" and not a "Christ-centered family." As such, while we've seen amazing love bind our small church families together, we can't forget that we were put on this earth to proclaim the name of Jesus. Therefore, for the sake of the Kingdom, once a church grows to a sufficient size and new leaders are equipped, it multiplies (think "splits") into two churches. To help keep us focused on the mission, we aim for our churches to multiply in six months to a year.
Essential in these multiplications is the equipping of leaders. The current pastors of all the churches meet together to train and sharpen each other under the guidance of the elders. Within the individual churches, each church has two pastors, and these pastors prayerfully disciple its members in hopes that two are identified that could pastor a church one day. In God's timing, when the time comes for a church to multiply, the two subsequent churches are each lead by one of the original pastors and one of the new pastors. To maintain a sense of unity across the multiple churches, one Sunday out of the month all of the churches come and do church together.
GATHERINGS
1. Bible Teaching
We would like to be in the same daily Bible reading plan and come together to teach, learn, and discuss God's Word on the days we agree on under the oversight of the pastors. This allows for questions and participation by every member.
2. Fellowship
This takes place before, during, and after our gatherings. In particular, we all share a meal or refreshments before or after our gatherings. Also, since we meet in homes in our communities, our fellowship extends beyond our meetings as well. (Heb. 10:25).
3. Communion
We take the Lord's Supper in a reverent and biblical manner and keep the cross as central. This universal act connects us with believers as they also observed it in the past, and it proclaims the death of Jesus to those observing in the present (1 Cor. 11:23-29).
4. Prayer
We strive to be praying churches. We lay hands on each other, praying for needs and more boldness, and we commission new leaders with prayer. We believe the Creator of the Universe hears our prayers (James 5:16).