I really appreciate your consistent emphasis on community through small groups/cell groups. I think that is vital to the Christian life and something God designed us to experience. Keep up the good work.
So can I read the Starfish now?
not yet
Thanks for recommending these two books - I have not heard of them. So I look forward to reading your backposts on the topics. lgp
Leaderless? I think that's quite a bit of a stretch. Even if we ignore all the "leader" material in the Scriptures, the early Fathers fill in quite a few gaps for us. Ignatius's is probably the first writing (~100AD): http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/
...v.vii.viii.html
There is also quite a bit in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Papias and The Teachings.
So explain this to me.."Call no one on Earth your leader" - Jesus
Also, "you have no need for any one to teach you for you have an annointing" - 1 John
I posted on this below a while back. We have a leader role that is so different than the world that we really need a different term. Sure the terms are not the issue so don't stumble on terms. I find it extremely valuable to consider Jesus our sole leader because we will each be held accountable for results before Christ and we can never say but the leader you gave me led me astray. Where in the world the CEO is held accountable for the results etc. Here is a big difference in the paradigm. I can never use the, "we have poor leadership excuse in the church" We have the greatest leader ever, Jesus, the problem is when I am not following. If I follow HIm, WE WILL ALWAYS BEAR FRUIT. I am not dependent on a leader to lead me.
Just came across your blog and I will come back when it's not so late.
Did you know that Wolfgang Simson has written a book connecting the starfish analogy to the church? He was going to post the book on the website:
http://www.thestarfishproject.net
He had written the book without ever hearing about The Starfish and the Spider until a friend sent him a copy. Simson's book is called The Starfish Manifesto.
Bought and read Organic Church after reading your recommendation. My notes to self after my first reading were something along the lines of "this will radically change your life and the lives of your family and community". In October I will attend one of CMA's Greenhouse events. Good call Brad!
Also, our Wednesday night small group has been doing the sermon on the mount and I have introduced your discipleship 101 series as additional reading. It is a real challenge for a lot of us who would like sit and discuss things rather than really change their way of living. Thanks for posting it.
jeff
I think those bits of Scripture are misleading if taken out of their context. Paul refers to "deacons" and "bishops" in his writings, for example, which clearly implies that some people in the church were charged by God with different responsibilities than others. It's also quite clear from the historical evidence that a rudimentary church hierarchy was in place by the Second Century (the 100s), and by the time the books of the New Testament were declared "cannonical" in the fifth century, the church had become an elaborate organization (with ties to the state that were sometimes a positive influence and sometimes a negative one). Today, we all believe in the Trinity, even though the word "Trinity" does not appear in the Bible. The reason is that the counsels of the church in the Fourth through Ninth Centuries came together at various times, and learned scholars and bishops used the Scriptures to explain exactly (or as exactly as is possible for us human beings) what the relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit is. Jesus told Peter that he would build a church on the rock of his faith that the gates of hell would not prevail against. Today, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church both claim to be the continuation of that unbreakable church that was founded by Christ. Of the two, I think the Orthodox Church has the better claim, since its practices, if you investigate them, can all be traced back to at least the end of the Roman persecution. For example, most weeks, the church uses a service text written in the Fourth Century by John Chrysostom. Unfortunately, records from before the end of the persecution are much sparser, but even there, the accounts we do have suggest nothing that contradicts the modern practice of the church. Anyway, my advice is that if you want to know what the early church was like, at least so near as we can tell, investigate Eastern Orthodoxy.
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