But the end result is something that's changed the way you do life forever.
Your generation is going to change the world.
Or what's included in the body of Christ are the ways that we function, that we rhythm with what God desires for us.
What does church need to look like for the 20 to 30 somethings?
How can we create real community for them?
It's more about being community.
Church has to be less fake and more authentic.
Open and flexible.
And church needs to be more relational and less structured.
Now what I also want you to understand is that just because they're part of the body of Christ doesn't mean they can't be done outside of the building.
Just because they're a part of this body of Christ doesn't mean they can't be done with two or three people sitting in an apartment.
Or two or three people sitting at a coffee shop.
Or a couple of people in a dorm room.
Why have y'all chosen to go to an organic church rather than a building based church?
When I came here everybody was so inviting.
And we just enjoyed out here in God's beautiful parks.
And I've always felt that this without a building, without the politics associated with the building.
And without all the need to put on appearances is the way that God originally wanted it.
Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong, it makes me feel great to come out here and be around people who love us, for us,
and who love the Lord and show us the way to live within the Lord.
Now Jesus has given us the magic number.
He said we've got to have a serpent map together before it's the real deal.
What's the magic number for Him to be there?
Ten words a word!
Hey, I want you to listen to something I just ran across the other day.
It says church is not a building, church is not an event that takes place on Sundays.
When scripture talks about church, it means community.
The little fellowships of the heart that are outposts of the kingdom.
A shared life.
They worship together, eat together, pray for one another, go on a quest together,
and hang out together in each other's homes.
Do you think that sounds like the people we hang out with?
It kind of sounds like our small group.
Yeah.
Thank you, because I was running a marathon before I got pregnant,
and I couldn't get off this chair.
Does anybody have any prayer requests?
I do.
How can we pray for them?
I just don't feel them.
I don't feel lead.
I don't know that I'm on track.
That I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
There's some areas in my life I really want to clean up.
I just want to make some progress.
I want to get on track with God.
Just...
I don't really feel lost.
I just need some guidance.
Well, let's pray for Jeff.
Heavenly Father, we just come to you, and Lord, we just...
It makes it a little bit easier to minister to people once you know their story,
because they may have baggage or hurdles that they've got to overcome.
The church can be defined as a group of Christ followers
who function, believe, and understand themselves to be
the body of Christ in their sphere of influence.
The reason I like the simplicity of that is it's accurate.
It fits with what, if you read all of the book of Acts
and all the New Testament, it says what a church really is.
I like it that you can take that simple idea
and you can put it... you can live that out in a cathedral
and it's church.
Or you can live that out in a mega church, a big, you know, stage.
And if you're living out that idea, it's a church.
You can put it in that.
You can put it in a little white chapel, in a rural setting,
a little wooden building with a little white steeple on it.
And if you live that idea out there in that little wooden church,
it's a church.
You can put that simple idea in a home.
And if you're really doing that, it's a church.
Or you can put it in an apartment or a dorm or under a tree
or catacombs, the first century catacombs
when the Christians came under attack
and they had to go to the cave graves.
They were living that little simple idea
in a very unusual place, but it was church.
That seminal that we carry, that idea away with us
and whatever else we do, whatever else we build around it,
it has to be true to that simple idea.
And there's great power in that simple idea
because you can do that anywhere.
You don't have to ask anybody's permission.
You don't have to have a seminary degree.
You don't have to go to a Bible college.
That simple idea has been lived out in all kinds of places
through all the centuries as it expressed the rhythms of Christ
and what a church ought to be.
It's basically here so that you know she's a follower of Christ
and I'm a obedience.
She felt that I was at her heart.
I'm a obedience to this word, to be baptized.
What is special is that Christ has come into her life
and transformed her.
She wants to make that known to everyone here.
So if you will, I'm going to bed.
Good night.
How about that baptism?
Yeah.
I mean, it wasn't real formal,
but I believe it was reverent.
I believe it was sincere.
And so, for sure, no doubt it is a learning process
and you're wobbling, but if you first become a Christian,
someone's got to teach you how to round the mic.
Someone's got to teach you how to be a disciple.
But, but, eventually,
you're going to have to teach somebody else.
So that they can teach somebody else.
So if they can teach somebody else,
it's just like the body of Christ.
The idea is that you're sent your own mission every day.
Ah, yeah.
All along to me.
At the touch of your hand,
suffering will end.
At the touch of your breath,
the harvest begins
and trumpets without water,
the kingdom will come.
I will give everything
to make you know
my joy.
You complete me.
Okay, we're just starting to live those rhythms.
Hey, man, I ran across this quote
that seems like a pretty insightful quote.
Let me read it to you.
It says,
the unpaid servant
will spell the success or the failure
of the Christian mission.
People who are willing to give
of themselves to be real
followers of Jesus Christ,
radical Christianity.
I'd rather have a church of 12 people
who can replicate the DNA
of the kingdom of God
than a church of thousands
that will infect people with something less.
I know you work
with a lot of young adults
in your worship ministry,
a lot of college students,
a lot of 20 to 30 somethings.
Does that statement reflect
what they're really hungry for?
I think so.
I think that
young adults today
that are seeking
something spiritual
are not looking for
a list of do's and don'ts
and they're not looking for
split programming
but they're looking for
something that resonates with their spirit.
And I think that
from what I've seen
servitude
and following Christ
and relationships
and doing things for others
and you know,
the need of
relationships
and doing things for others
and the need
of relationship
with God
seem to be the things
that are resonating
with the people in that age group.
Okay, well I just kind of wanted to get
your take on it. Thanks man.
Talk to you later. Bye.
Bye.
They believe themselves to be
his hands
and his voice
and his heart and his touch
for their relationship group.
When people realize they can be
the body of Christ
and begin to live his rhythms
in their relationship group
why?
That can go anyplace
and can be multiplied
over and over and over again.
Let's talk about the functions of the church.
That's an old timey word,
the functions of the church.
It's like your body has five senses,
sight,
hearing,
touch, taste
and smell.
Your body has all of them
and you can do without one of them
but it limits you somewhat.
The body of Christ has
basically five functions
is the traditional definition
and they go like this,
evangelism, discipleship,
fellowship or community,
worship
and ministry.
Some people say, well, there's more than that.
You've got to put prayer in there,
you've got to put missions in there
and baptism and the Lord's Supper.
But other people will say, well, those things go under
discipleship or worship or whatever.
The point is, you can read the book of Acts
and the New Testament
and boil it down to five to eight things
that are the ongoing patterns
that the church in the New Testament did.
Well, when a group
starts doing that,
they're acting like the body of Christ.
E.B. Brooks used to say
if a group of people is doing
everything a church is supposed to do,
why not call it a church?
We get all hung up on
is it this or is it that
or is there a name or is there paperwork?
If a group of people is doing
everything a church is supposed to do,
why not call it a church?
Why not call it a church?
And so that idea of functions
helps me
look at a group
or talk with a group and decide,
well, you're being a church
or you're being a Bible study
or you're being a ministry group
or you're being something else.
He came up on this great idea in Moscow.
He heard this guy from Australia
talk about how his church
lived by the rhythms of Christ.
And I like that part of the definition.
The rhythms are
to bless someone
eat with someone
other than family
learn something
about living from Christ
listen and talk things over
with God every week.
Those four rhythms, bless someone
eat with someone
other than a member of your family
learn something about living from Christ
and live it, of course
listen to and talk things over
with God.
Those sound like
a relevant restating
of the functions of the church.
You know, and you can almost
plug, you can go to the list above
the worship discipleship evangelism
you can almost plug them in
which one's evangelism and which one's discipleship
and which one's ministry
and which one's missions.
And so I heard this 31 year old
say kind of getting over the hill
but he's still pretty young.
Two weeks ago he said
why not instead of starting churches
why don't groups just start
doing the rhythms?
Why don't they just start
living the rhythms of the body of Christ?
Wow!
And so he's teaching me
talking about that kind of stuff.
That simple idea
is powerful.
Everybody's hungry
for that kind of living.
And that might look different
for a lot of people
and I have no idea what's going through
your mind and what's going through your head
right now. You might be thinking
that's completely
not my deal
and that's cool, that's okay
but maybe God's scared of your heart
in that direction and I hope he is
because ultimately that's
my passion and that's my desire
and beyond that
that's how I think God's going to change the world.
Ah, yeah
Oh, look at me
At the touch of your hand
The suffering will end
At the touch of your breath
The harvest begins
When the trumpets with our money
The kingdom will come
I will go... I will go...
