Last Sunday I met with some believers from…well, honestly I'm still not sure where they're from, at least in terms of identifiable church organizations or denominations. They appear to be part of what I can only describe as a "network of networks" – which as it happens is also how I would describe the structure of a biological organism. Right off the bat I was getting the sense that they had grasped part of what Paul meant by his analogy of "the body" to describe the church.
Mostly young
folks (I turn fifty-four this month, so anyone under fifty is young), these
people were gathering to do church in an apartment just outside Houston. I was
frankly struck by their wide-open friendliness, their passion for discipleship
founded on the Word, their boldness to preach the gospel, their vision for the
nations, and most of all, their eagerness to partner with other churches for
the cause of Christ. Tricia and I decided we would stay in contact with them,
if for no other reason than to catch some of their fire and maintain
connections beyond our own house church.
So what
drives a church to such heights of zeal? I know from experience that this is
not the sort of thing that can be maintained through sheer discipline, or the
genius of leadership. Peer pressure and accountability may explain it in part,
as might the courage and optimism of youth. But I suspect what's going on is
deeper (and simpler) than all that. It's what Steve Addison calls "white-hot
faith":
The
disciples' transformation from a scattered band of defeated and despairing men
into the leaders of a dynamic missionary movement was achieved through their
shared experience of the risen Son and his Holy Spirit. The expansion of early
Christianity was more than a social phenomenon or human enterprise.… A
passionate faith is at the heart of every dynamic missionary movement. It is
the greatest resource. Today, where Christianity is expanding rapidly in the
developing world, it is often the only resource.[1]
Another way
to explain this is to say that most of us make Christian life and ministry far
too complicated. Most of us seeking to make an impact for the gospel proceed
with a fairly complex set of tools and skills: theological education, public
speaking techniques, books and study aids, tracts and fliers, blogs and
websites, etc. Valuable and useful as those things are, they cannot possibly
substitute for being filled with faith and the Holy Spirit. We should recall
here that the disciples were "uneducated men," unsophisticated and
uncouth, whose only credentials were that "they had been with Jesus"
(Acts 4:13).
When I met
for lunch to talk about all this with Rodger, the man who initially reached out
to me, he told me that for him the important thing was "Abide, abide,
abide." And of course Jesus did teach that abiding in Him would naturally
(or supernaturally if you prefer) cause
his followers to bear fruit (John 15:1-5). As we diligently seek Him, in
prayer, in the Word, in worship and fellowship, we begin to take on His heart
and His vision for the world. As we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. And
in His presence the Great Commission makes perfect sense.
[1] Steve Addison, Movements That Change the World: Five Keys
to Spreading the Gospel (Downers' Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2009), p. 49-50.
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