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In case you have not noticed, we house churchers are getting lumped in with the Emergent Church Movement. This movement, imo, has far more excess baggage than do we. But I'll let you decide about that one - certainly there's plenty to go around. (According to some, having excess baggage makes you a candidate for ridicule and persecution which, they believe, is noble.)
The newest friend in the media of house churches is author/pollster George Barna who just headlined at a "Revolution Conference" with Emergent's number one spokesman/writer, Brian McLaren.
Just a few hundred people attended which is a very strange thing to me. This event was in a major venue, Seattle (population 3.6 million), with easy access via expressways, air, and rail. In fact, there would have been "statistically speaking" tens of thousands of hc'ers already on the ground in the area. Not to mention all the other types of Emergents and the just curious. And wasn't one of the things which Revolutionaries were likely to do was to go to Christian events outside the church?
I know that there is a NASCAR revolution. 160,000 people show up in our town twice a year for their events. I can remember when they pulled in way less than 5k. I know that there is a video game revolution - I see the young and old at the game stores fighting over this stuff. I know that there is a Star Wars revolution. As many as 15,000 people show up for their conferences. If there are 10's of millions of folks in the USA participating in house churches - totalling more than any protestant denomination - why is the conference attendence so incredibly low?
I was on my way here this morning to post concerning emerging church myself! I have friends who are getting tangled up in this, who should know better, but it's "what's happening" where they are. I'm only discussing things by phone on occasion, not doing "missional community" with them, so I'm not sure what's going on with them, other than that what they are reading and discussing seems to be still "inside the matrix". I'm glad you brought up a way to discuss the differences.
I was thinking of Jesus saying, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign..." -- to me, emerging church is the "I know, Let's put on a bigger show!" version of Christianity. But we will never compete with the show the world is putting on, so perhaps we should just introduce people to the Real thing instead? Only a revelation of Jesus himself will do!
What astonishes me is how quickly people fall back into the "program" trap. I've watched a couple of groups start to move toward simple church, and do really well, only to panic and give up or get a "new idea to have a big Sunday meeting for those who want that". What??? Like there aren't 200 of those down the street already? They embrace the "emergent" vision -- doing the same old thing, only more so.
You mentioned the small numbers at the conference: I hope it is indicative that people who "really get it" don't attend conferences anymore! I have never seen that such meetings had any long-term effect.
I recently read that the Discipleship Training School of Youth With a Mission, which is a 5 month "conference" with 2 months of overseas ministry has a 70 recidivism rate to "life as usual" after a short time. How much more a 2 day conference! I coined the phrase "extraction discipleship" for the phenomenon - just like "extraction conversion" fails to begin a multiplying church movement, "extraction discipleship" fails to result in changed lives. It produces chameleons, who can't keep their new color when they return to their old environment. Give me one family to mentor, rather than a hundred who are "hearers of the word only". The people I know who have stuck with authentic faith for the long haul are always those who were part of a small group that "lived together", bugged each other, and behaved as if morning devotions were life or death every day.
I have tried to get several coaches "come over and help us" and failed -- even the house church coaches still "believe in" big meetings as the way to get their message out there. Their response is to want me to fly somewhere for a program. I would almost consider it -- but I don't need one or two to get trained, we have a whole team here, who all need to be "on the same page." If we spend $10,000 on air fare, aren't we back to wastefulness of God's resources? And it seems to me that if they still believe in programs, then they don't have what I need!
Your thoughts?
Laurie Ann
-------------------- Posing as an Ordinary Housewife :)
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P.S.: I should mention that the folks at GPDawn did come down from Kansas to meet with us, so "no one" is a slight exaggeration. Don't want to hurt any feelings! I didn't include Michael and Mark because they are really at the same place in the journey - great mutual edification, but not yet experienced network planters. - LA
-------------------- Posing as an Ordinary Housewife :)
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There is general agreement upon the number of home schoolers in the US but not upon the number of home churchers. Time magazine noted this statistical disparity in the house church article earlier this year. The estimates range from 50,000 to 40,000,000, if I recall. (Check the links in the first post, Part 1, on this matter.)
The New Testament frequently refers to the numbers of converts and attendees at large gatherings, btw. Numbers are OK. Fudging the numbers is not. Ananias and Sapphira found that out the hard way. Acts 5.
These search results are courtesy of Google:
quote:Home schoolers get out of the house | csmonitor.com There are approximately 2 million home schoolers in the United States, a figure that has increased 15 percent in the last 20 years, according to the ... www.csmonitor.com/2003/0325/p15s01-lecs.html
MediaShift . Guest Blog::'Never Let Schooling Get in the Way of ... As of 2003, there were 1.1 million home schoolers in the United States, accounting for roughly 2 percent of school aged children. People are embracing home ... www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/ 07/never_let_schooling_get_in_the.html
TIME.com: Outside, Wanting In -- Dec. 27, 1999 -- Page 1 Those who study the issue say there are probably 1 million to 1.7 million home schoolers in the U.S. (more than 1% of school-age children). ... www.time.com/time/magazine/ article/0,9171,992940,00.htm
Epilepsy Fdn.-Home-schooling: An Alternative for Children with ... According to the National Home Education Network (NHEN), there are about 1.5 to 2 million home-schoolers in the United States, representing 3 to 4 percent ... www.epilepsyfoundation.org/ epilepsyusa/homeschooling.cfm
Another interesting trend in your lifetime is the millions of people who left the older mainline denominations. This number, too, is far, far less than those supposedly engaged in house churching.
All of us, I presume, desire to see more people come to Jesus Christ now and to freely assemble whenever and wherever. I am just interested in seeing these stratospheric numbers verifed by someone who does not stand to benefit financially from them. Even among Christians, money has an uncanny way of affecting actions, words, intentions, and outcomes. I am not accusing anyone of anything but rather asking for more proof of this Revolution. According to some, we outnumber any protestant denomination, thus representing the largest shift in USA Christianity in your lifetime or anyone's lifetime. This shift could not possibly be unseen and unfelt in every city, town, and village.
Says Mr. Barna: "9-11% of the adult population is involved in House Church on any given weekend." Notice that this is not the adult Christian population but the adult population of America and it does not include children.
The early Christians had no need to prove their numbers - the massive effects were obvious to all. Even their opponents exclaimed that they had "turned the world upside down." Acts 17:6.
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