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1 March 2008 |
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Today’s most talked-about church models are polar opposites: megachurches and house churches. Megachurches attempt to draw thousands each weekend with a combination of professional music, top-flight preaching and a phalanx of ministry opportunities. House churches assemble a handful of believers for intimate fellowship, personal expression and a sense of belonging.
These approaches have both strengths and weaknesses when it comes to reaching men. Megachurches offer amazing quality – but they’re so big men can fall through the cracks. House churches offer close fellowship – but they can become ingrown and a bit stale.
I’d like to suggest a third model for the local church, based on Luke 10. I call it The Seventy-Two Church. It’s an idea that’s been rolling around in my head for a couple of years. It’s a hybrid – a cross between a house church and a typical congregational model. It bears some resemblance to the Methodist societies that led so many to Christ in the 1700s and 1800s. Let me share the concept with you and see what you think.
How we plant churches now. Almost every church plant begins as a weekly worship service. The goal is to present good preaching and music so that people start coming. Eventually you buy property and build a building. The idea is to create a large gathering of strangers (a crowd) and eventually work these folks into the life of the church (the core). This is the concept that built Saddleback into one of the world’s most influential churches.
The weakness of this approach is obvious: as the church grows, its ability to minister to individuals is diminished. Big churches know this, so they work overtime to get people into small groups. But most church attenders never find their way to a small group. So these churches draw big crowds, but their impact on their members’ lives is not what it could be (Willow Creek recently admitted as much).
Now, what if you flipped the equation? Instead of growing a large worship service, then trying to get people into small groups, why not build the church on small groups in the first place?
This is how Jesus did it. He started His church with one small men’s group. Twelve regular guys learning, doing and living life together.
Eventually He expanded his reach to 72 men (see Luke 10). Now, where do you think these 72 came from? How were they trained? The Bible does not say. But I have a theory: if each of the 12 apostles trained 5 more men, you’d have 72 men either directly or indirectly trained by Jesus.
Why couldn’t you establish a church today based on this model? Its centerpiece would not be a weekly worship service, but rather a network of relationships – in this case, seventy-two men who are all being personally discipled every week.
I hear paradigms cracking all over the world. I can imagine the objections are already rising in your throat. Bear with me a moment, as we see how a seventy-two church might work in the real world.
Structure and leadership are crucial. Our new church plant starts with a leader (let’s call him Pastor Jack). His first task would be to call 12 men to a rigorous, demanding course of discipleship. Jack would meet regularly with his twelve, focusing on the basics of the faith, including mutual confession, accountability, Biblical living, beating temptation, and practical service to God.
Once friendships form among the men, Jack would pair them up two-by-two. He would give each pair of men a nickname. (Jesus dubbed James and John “The Sons of Thunder.” That sounds nice and manly.) Jack would send each pair out to do stuff together: ministry, recreation and fun. The idea is to get them working together as a unit.
After a year or so, Jack would have a dozen trained, committed leaders who will become the foundation of his church of seventy-two. Then Jack would issue the big challenge: each pair should go out and find 10 more men who really want to grow in faith. Jack would continue to meet with his original 12 men to help them form their groups and raise their men up to maturity.
Assuming the pairs fill their groups, you’d have 72 men being discipled. (12 original disciples, leading 6 groups of 10 men each = 72 men). The foundation of Jack’s church is not a weekly gathering of strangers but a rich honeycomb of men becoming like Jesus. These men are already in accountability pairs, following Jesus as a team.
At this point, a church of 72 would look more like a men’s ministry than a church. But don’t worry; you’re just laying the foundation. Christ told us to build upon a rock. He looked a Simon (a man) and changed his name to “Rock.” It’s time we begin building our churches not on preaching and music, but on the bedrock of transformed men. Upon this rock you can build a strong, enduring church.
I hope this idea has your wheels spinning. If so, please visit the Church For Men affiliated message boards by clicking here. Go to The Ideas Forum.
In my next column I’ll deal with these questions:
· Does a 72 church need a weekly worship service?
· How do we minister to women and children?
· Can the church grow beyond 72 men and their families?
· Does a church of 72 need a building or property?
· How big a staff is needed? Does anyone get paid?
Last month we explored a new concept in church planting: A Church of Seventy-Two. It’s based on Luke 10, the story of Jesus sending 72 men out to minister in His name.
Here’s a quick overview of a seventy-two church:
· Instead of building around a worship service, the church would begin with the pastor discipling 12 men for a year. There would be no “worship service” yet.
· After a year, the 12 disciples, working in pairs, would recruit 60 other men (each pair recruiting 10 men). The pastor would continue working with his 12, who would in turn work with their 60.
· Within 13 to 18 months, the groups would be full. The church would not grow beyond 72 men and their families.
The strength of this approach should be obvious. Instead of building around a weekly gathering of strangers, you have an organization in which every man is being intentionally discipled by other men. Teaching, prayer and fellowship take place in the small group context. Men don’t mysteriously drop out or fall through the cracks.
Now, on to the obvious questions:
Why only 72 men? Shouldn’t we be trying to grow as large as we can? Of course we want to reach everyone with the gospel. But Jesus may have been trying to show us something in Luke 10 when he limited himself to an inner circle of 12 men, and a wider force of 72.
There are practical reasons to stay small. A church of 72 men creates a total congregation of about 200-250 people. This is a manageable size for one pastor. Once a church grows larger people being falling through the cracks. One minister cannot personally know and care for more than 72 families. This congregation size is also ideal for re-filling the many emptying church buildings across America (see the next question for more details).
If membership demand grows beyond 72, the pastor can train one of his men to begin another congregation of 72. Each congregation stays small enough to manage.
Would a seventy-two church need a weekly worship service? Maybe, or maybe not. While there’s nothing wrong with a weekly worship service, sermon preparation takes up so much of the pastor’s time, it would distract him from his core responsibility: personally spending time sharpening his men.
Instead of an every-Sunday-morning worship service, I’d recommend a monthly gathering of the 72 and their families. I doubt this gathering would look much like a traditional worship service, since Bible teaching, fellowship, and prayer would already be taking place in the small groups. Instead of repeating these things on Sunday, the meeting could focus on worship, reports from each of the 6 teams, sharing of prayer requests and answers, and so on. There probably would not need to be a sermon.
You could invite friends to this gathering as guests. Although the focus would not be on sermons and singing, you might still reach people who are attracted to the warmth of your fellowship. Be sure and give visitors a brochure explaining how a church of 72 works. Include a diagram. Men will get it, and a few may even ask to join a group.
Does a church of 72 need a building or property? Here’s one of the coolest advantages of staying at 72 men: you’d create a total congregation of about 200-250 people. America is dotted with church buildings designed to hold a crowd this size. These church buildings are woefully underused. Just approach the Lutherans and rent their building on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. No need for a building fund – ever!
The Lord’s Supper could be observed the way it was done in the New Testament – as a real meal. Convene for a potluck dinner in the church’s fellowship hall. Take the bread and the cup, and then enjoy a celebratory meal in honor of God’s goodness.
Want to make things even easier? Don’t have a worship service at all. Instead, go to the Saturday night service at a megachurch. All 200 of you show up and sit together. Then, when the service is over, rent a room from the megachurch for fellowship time. This way you get to enjoy top-flight music and preaching without having to generate it yourself.
How do we minister to women and children? By ministering to men, you’re indirectly ministering to women and children. Pastor Mark Driscoll says, “We don’t need women’s ministry—we need husbands! We don’t need children’s ministry—we need fathers!” Women, I tell you the truth: if you attend a church where every man is being personally discipled, you won’t go back to a program based church.
The women should be free to organize themselves and create ministries, along the lines of Titus 2:3-5. Their organization will probably not be as formal as the men’s since women are less concerned with hierarchy. Single women should look to the older women as mentors.
If your women and children still want formal ministry programs, work out a deal with a large church in your area (especially for labor intensive programs like youth group). Send your women and children over to that church, and make a donation. Don’t duplicate – cooperate!
How big a staff is needed? One person – the pastor. Financially, this model is viable because expenses are so low. If each man gives just $100 per month, you have a budget of $7200, which should be plenty to pay the pastor’s salary and rent a worship space once a month. In reality, donations will probably be much greater because when you change a man’s life, generosity flows.
If the pastor’s not preaching, running meetings and recruiting volunteers for programs, then what does he do all week? As you probably have guessed, a 72 church is ideal for a bi-vocational minister. He would not need extensive seminary training, since his primary role is not to exegete scripture. He’s called to lead rather than preach.
Freed from tyranny of weekly sermon preparation, meetings and programs, the pastor is free to focus on men. Here’s an example of how his week might go.
Sunday evening: meets with his 12 disciples. They are:
· Team Bravo: Dan and Bill
· Team Victor: Stan and Lou
· Team Delta: Vince and Eddie B.
· Team Xray: Jim and Henry
· Team Alpha: Sean and Peter
· Team Echo: Earl and Eddie R.
The meeting takes about 90 minutes, including discussion, teaching and encouragement. The pastor teaches a lesson to the men, who will in turn teach it to their teams. Then each leader shares what’s going on in their teams. Once the formal meeting is over there’s prayer and the guys share a pizza. They hang out for a while, then take off when they need to.
During the week each team meets with its 10 men. Team Bravo meets Tuesday morning at 6 am. Team Victor meets Tuesday night at 7, etc. These meetings take place in private homes or in workplaces. The pastor may or may not attend these meetings, depending on his availability.
So that’s it. The pastor just prays, stays in close contact with his men, and ministers to families in need.
What about outreach? Once the teams stabilize and the men begin to mature, the Lord will call them to ministry. Each team can focus on a big project. Team Alpha can volunteer once a month at a local homeless shelter. Team Echo can visit prisoners. Team Delta can take a missions trip to Guatemala and begin working with a church there. The possibilities are endless and easy to execute because your men are already meeting in functional teams.