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They Like Jesus But Not The Church – A Review

likejesusnotchurch.jpgI recently picked up and reread my copy of They like Jesus, but not the Church by Dan Kimball, in reaction to a post I read this week at the Christian Manifesto.

Kimball gears his book at those who want to get out of the Christian subculture and actually engage people in spiritual conversation.

Most of Part I is how he came to that discovery in his own life as a pastor and church planter.

I found myself nodding in agreement way too many times, guilty as charged.

Most of us, including many of you who read this blog, would probably agree that

we are too busy inside the church to know those outside the church.

To me, this was one of the seminal books in my missional thinking. Many others have followed in its path, such as

I’m sure there are other books, but these three immediately come to mind in terms of reengaging the culture.

Part 1 of They Like Jesus

Part 1 of Dan Kimball’s book describes how the culture is changing, particularly in North America.

These are not statistical observations, but observation based on his real life conversations and interactions with the culture.

What he states may seem obvious now, as many others have followed in Kimball’s footsteps.  I need not spend a lot of time here.

He’s quite brutally honest about how the church has failed to stay connected with the culture.  The message may not have failed, but we are failing in our method.

Part 2 of They Like Jesus

Part 2 asks the question: What Emerging Generations Think about the Church.

This 6 chapter section reflects hundreds of personal conversations that Kimball has had, and many of the same things that Barna’s statistical research revealed in unChristian.

Anyone who is seeking to engage the current culture shapers should be aware of these items.  This part provides an excellent window into North American Culture.

A list of non-Christian perceptions of the church addressed in this book are as follows (taken directly from the table of contents):

  • The church is an organized religion with a political agenda
  • The church is judgmental and negative
  • The church is dominated by males and oppresses females
  • The church is homophobic
  • The church arrogantly claims all other religions are wrong
  • The church is full of fundamentalists who take the whole Bible literally

Part 3 of They Like Jesus

Part 3 is on how the church can respond.

His book has excellent ideas about conversation, dialogue, and theological discussions about conversational evangelism.

I like what he has done with the Bridge Illustration, by adding a 2nd chasm to cross – that second chasm is the Christian subculture that has so alienated seekers, that one needs to build bridges of connection there as part of the gospel explanation process.

Bridging that gap by being in the world but not of it, spending time in conversation with non-Christians are all part of that trust building process.

Main takeaways:

  1. “We must see ourselves as missionaries vs. having an evangelism department or program.”
  2. “We must become listeners of people and watchers of culture.”

Let me ask you this?

What can you do this week to have a spiritual conversation with someone outside of your church?

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The Rabbit and the Elephant Review

rabbitandelephantcoverToday, I’m participating in a blog book tour for The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small Is the New Big for Today’s Church Tony and Felicity Dale.

Others have published their entry ahead of me (see below), and a few others will follow behind.

The Rabbit and the Elephant

A movement of house churches is reaching the tipping point in North America.  Some claim it’s a second Reformation.

How could we change the world if our Christian faith began multiplying at a rapid pace — through a way of life that is explosive and transformational?

We can grow, can we reproduce?

pic_lg_dale_tonyx100Fleicity Dale

As Christians, we are the church—whether we meet in office buildings, college dorm rooms, coffee shops, factories, or homes—and the Holy Spirit uses us to expand that church to the far reaches of the globe.

By practicing “simple church,” we’ll find that a small gathering of friends loving Jesus together and reaching out to the community around them can help us to be the church, the way God intended.

The Rabbit and the Elephant Synopsis:

If you put two elephants in a room together and close the door, in 22 months you may get one baby elephant. But two rabbits together for the same amount of time will result in thousands of baby rabbits!

In The Rabbit and the Elephant, “micro church” planters Tony and Felicity Dale use the “rabbit” illustration to show the pace at which the Christian faith can (and should) be growing—through evangelism that is explosive and transformational. The Rabbit and the Elephant contains the key to 21st century evangelism—taking the Gospel to where the pain and the people are.

My take on the Rabbit and the Elephant

If you are familiar with Neil Cole (Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens and Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are) you are likely familiar with the simple church movement.

This book by Tony and Felicity Dale adds to the body of literature about the house church / simple church  movement.

The Rabbit and Elephant can serve as a great introductory book for Christians looking into this model of church planting.  The entire book is written so that one can grab a good introductory level concept of what a house church might look like, how it might multiply, and how a house church can rapidly do the work of personal evangelism.

Overall, I found it to be an easy read, easily digestible, and full of personal stories that model what a house church might do, including some of the messiness of spectacular failures.

Because every house church is unique, The Rabbit and Elephant can’t get into every single detail or challenge presented by one house church, so the authors have to stay at a generic overview level.

But they do provide enough information that one could follow a few practical steps and launch a house church in their own area.

Included are some sample meeting outlines, a FAQ appendix, and a good review of common pitfalls in a simple church.

Worldview

The writers are well seeped in a charismatic worldview, which believes in the ongoing operation of the spiritual gifts and the realty of spiritual warfare.  They firmly believe in God’s miraculous activity and the guidance of the Holy Spirit about how and where to share the gospel.

I share their worldview, so much of this text and examples were easily digestable.  For those that don’t share that worldview (such as dispensational cessationists, or people who aren’t even aware of their worldview), some of the stories and principles may be a stretch, a sticking point, or even heretical in your worldview.

Yet the Dales are clear to say that not all simple churches share their worldview with regards to the spiritual gifts and spiritual warfare.

As another part of their worldview, there is a nice mixing of relational evangelism, which means their church meetings might have more non-believers than believers in them.  If this makes one uncomfortable, then this model of doing church might not work for you.

The best chapter in the Rabbit and the Elephant

Chapter 13, called Luke 10 Principles, outlines their entire church planting methodology.  This chapter alone is worth the price of the book, whether you want to plant a church or simply learn about small group expansions through networks.  In my estimation this chapter is the crux of the entire book so let me give you the basic outline.

1.  Trust God to provide the strategy and workers (Luke 10:1-2)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

The disciples were sent out as “church planting” teams and directed where to go.  The job of the disciples were to obey His instructions, and go to places where He was to visit.

The root of this is prayer.  They recommend prayer walking (webinar, resources) where you sense Jesus is sending you.

2.  Trust in God’s protection (Luke 10:3)

Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves

As you go places you may very well confront demonic powers (which exposes a worldview claim in the text).  We are to bind the strong man (Luke 11:21-22) and cooperate with God’s rescue.  Ed Silvoso writes much more about this in That None Should Perish.

3.  Trust God to provide Resources (Luke 10:4)

Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road

4.  Trust God to lead you to the Person of Peace (Luke 10:5)

When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.

This is the most crucial insight into the methodology.  Look for the person of peace who will invite you into their home to start a house church within their social network.

This is a person who has some kind of reputation (good or bad) and has a wide circle of influence.  The church is usually started in that person’s home (p. 105).

New Testament examples would be Cornelius (Acts 10), or Lydia (Acts 16), or perhaps the woman at the well (John 4).

5.  Enjoy the Hospitality that God provides (Luke 10:7-8)

Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.

Don’t move from home to home, but stay in the home of the person of peace.  House churches celebrate meals together as part of their practice.  Eating with people creates relationship.  At this point, you’ve only become a friend.  There has been no proclamation to this point.

6.  Trust God to Answer Your Prayers (Luke 10:9)

Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

Look for opportunities to pray with and for people.  You’re looking for opportunity to bring people face to face with God’s activity.  Once you identify needs you can put your faith on the line and pray.

Then watch God respond.  In their experience, this often happens in connection with one of the spiritual gifts, such as prophecy or word of knowledge, as a demonstration of the kingdom of God.  When people experience the power of God in this way, word of mouth causes more people to gather to start studying and learning from God.

The Rabbit and the Elephant For Legacy Churches

They use the term Legacy churches to speak of what most of us think as church:  a gathering of believers in a building, led by one or more pastors, with a worship service that follows some kind of liturgy.  Mainline denominations, evangelical denominations, all of these have what we would consider traditional churches.

For legacy churches thinking about migrating to simple church, this book hints at such a transition, but doesn’t serve as a how to manual to make that transition.  It also doesn’t get into helping one re-frame their current way of doing church into this model.  It doesn’t get into issues like 501c3 status, record keeping, membership, articles of organization, paying a full time pastor, and stuff like that.

It doesn’t deal with some of the confessional theology of legacy churches (such as what are the marks of the church, Westminster confession of faith, ch 25.4).  I think this direction is outside the scope of the book.

However, legacy churches that want to expand their small group structure, this book can have a lot to say in terms of launching new small groups, and empowering people to launch small groups in their areas of influence.  The Luke 10 principles above are, I think, equally applicable there as well.

I also commend the Dales for not ripping the legacy churches as they present an alternative model.

Order your copy of The Rabbit and Elephant from Amazon. (affiliate link)

Related Resources

Other Reviews of The Rabbit and the Elephant

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The Rabbit and the Elephant Webinar

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A movement of house churches is reaching the tipping point in North America.  Some claim it’s a second Reformation.

How could we change the world if our Christian faith began multiplying at a rapid pace — through a way of life that is explosive and transformational?

We can grow, can we reproduce?

EvangelismCoach Webinar with Tony and Felicity Dale

pic_lg_dale_tonyx100Fleicity Dale Tony and Felicity Dale of  will join me, Chris Walker, and share some of the insights found in their book on simple churches. “The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why small is the new big for Today’s Church.” (Barna Books, May 2009)

As Christians, we are the church—whether we meet in office buildings, college dorm rooms, coffee shops, factories, or homes—and the Holy Spirit uses us to expand that church to the far reaches of the globe.

By practicing “simple church,” we’ll find that a small gathering of friends loving Jesus together and reaching out to the community around them can help us to be the church, the way God intended.

The Rabbit and the Elephant Synopsis:

If you put two elephants in a room together and close the door, in 22 months you may get one baby elephant. But two rabbits together for the same amount of time will result in thousands of baby rabbits!

In The Rabbit and the Elephant, “micro church” planters Tony and Felicity Dale use the “rabbit” illustration to show the pace at which the Christian faith can (and should) be growing—through evangelism that is explosive and transformational. The Rabbit and the Elephant contains the key to 21st century evangelism—taking the Gospel to where the pain and the people are.

We’ll look at

  • how “church” across the world is changing from being event-based to life and relationship-based.
  • how small and simple churches can multiply rapidly.
  • how to incorporate spiritual growth and outreach into every aspect of our lives.

*** No product pitches or sales (with exception of book mentions), but donations towards the cost of the webinar can be made after the webinar. ****

After the event, a PDF handout will be made available to participants.

Special note: I will conduct a special giveaway to 2 webinar attendees.  The only requirement is that you must be a resident of the US or Canada and that you attend the webinar.

Registration is Free, but required.

Date doesn’t work for you?

To be automatically informed as to our next webinar, signup for our Free Evangelism Newsletter and the a 5 part course on Church Hospitality.

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Make it easy to Build Relational Connections

stand-out-in-the-crowdAs the author, I get to hear various reasons why people buy my book on church hospitality, How to Welcome Church Visitors.

Why are church hospitality committees (Read: What do Church Hospitality Committees do?) looking to improve their hospitality ministry in their church by buying my book?

  • Fear that a visitor to their church will come a few times and still not feel welcome.
  • Fear that a church visitor will be overlooked.
  • Fear that a first time church visitors will not welcomed because of the actions of untrained church greeters.
  • Fear that their church greeters will be too overzealous and drive visitors away.

Readers find that these fears are calmed somewhat by this practical “how to book.”

In it they find over 60 practical hospitality ideas for new church visitors and how to organize their church hospitality.

Results not guaranteed

You might be thinking – If I buy your book, will I see results?

Yes, but with qualification.

The risk is assuming that the church hospitality ideas found inside this book are a formula that will guarantee the results.

“If I perfect the system, I’ll get the results. .. ”

That’s flawed thinking.

This thinking might work for weight loss, making money on line or fixing your golf swing, but not building your church.

Churches come in different sizes, shapes, local cultures, and different theological traditions.

Hospitality ideas in the church may works in one place, but the same church hospitality idea may not work in another context.

For example, a personal visit to the home of a first time visitor that Sunday afternoon, unannounced, may still work in some places, but would be considered intrusive in others.

Identifying visitors by making them stand up, wear a visitor badge, or sign a guest book might work in some places, but fail miserably in others.  (By the way, I don’t recommend any of these ideas).

The point is, technique doesn’t automatically build relationship.

The goal of your hospitality is a second visit

The goal of your church hospitality ministry is to facilitate emotional and relational connections with the church family.

The goal of your greeting ministry is to remove easy barriers to making that happen.

Hospitality ministries are one of many pieces – ministry events, small groups, etc — to help that process happen.

Techniques help, but if your congregation isn’t truly friendly to your guests, you still won’t get the result you are looking for — growth.

Think of the goal first.

Then work backwards and ask yourself –

  • Does this hospitality practice help or hinder that goal?
  • What additional practices can we do to facilitate relational connections with the congregation?

Order your copy of How to Welcome Church Visitors.

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Beating Dunbars Number

Several years ago, I was challenged as a youth pastor to give my leadership away  — delegate, delegate, and delegate.

The challenger warned me that I could only reach so many people, but if I delegated and empowered, I could lead larger ministries with longer reaches and greater sustainability.

The challenger mentioned that my personal limit of people I could effectively influence was likely around 120-150.

If I could influence leaders, the ministry could grow beyond my personal limits.

One blog I read (ChrisBrogan.com) shares the source behind the social limit of real relationships that a person can maintain.

There’s a theory called Dunbar’s Number that suggests there’s an upper limit to the amount of relationships we can maintain. If you’re interested in networking, this should be an issue. That number, for the record, is 150.

Source: Beating Dunbars Number | chrisbrogan.com.

Implications for pastors

I know of a church plant that started about nearly 10 years ago.  I checked in on it recently, and the pastor reports that it has plateaued about 125-135 people for the past five years and that the turnover rate is about 45% each year.

New people come in, other people leave after about a year or two.  The net effect is that the congregation has remained numerically stable.

This church is a single pastorate, and the pastor has a leadership style where his hand is in everything.

Pastor sets the direction (with a board of government), pastor runs the small groups, pastor runs the worship service and no ministry gets started without the pastor’s initiative.  Recently pastor split up the small groups into different areas, but he still maintains a pretty tight involvement with the leaders.

Pastor lovingly leads it all.  There is joy in the congregation, no complaints, and for this church this type of leadership functions.

It’s not a dictatorship and pastor is not a control freak.  He gets joy out of being involved.

Now, before you agree with me that this is

  • Not healthy, or
  • A recipe for burnout or
  • Effective in a small church, or
  • Leadership style that hinders further growth

let me connect it to the point.

1.  The church will not grow any larger.

If Dunbar’s number holds true, the limit of a single pastor who feels the need to be involved in everything will be about 150.

It seems to me that the congregation has reached the practical end of its growth unless the pastor gives and empowers leadership to raise up their own networks.

2.  Leaders leave because they can’t serve or lead.

This church leadership model does not delegate and empower leadership of other ministry.   It doesn’t effectively raise up others to lead their own network of 150.

Not having a place to serve or contribute their gifts after a while, solid believers leave for a place where they can serve.

This particular congregation is at a stage of church growth.  If it wants to continue its dream of fulfilling its particular calling, one thing that must change is the leadership style.

Implications for Church Planting

I know it’s not as simple as waving a wand to make a solution, but if you are wondering why your church isn’t growing — perhaps you’ve maxed out the social limit of your leaders?

How much leadership can you give away to trusted and respected leaders?

With regards to evangelism training in your church’s DNA, is the pastor in charge of it all, or is that delegated as well to empowered leaders?

One church planting coach that I have gotten to know uses Jethro’s advice to Moses — delegate and empower.  Put people in charges of 50s, 100s, and 1000s.

Implications for Church Visitor Retention Rates

There are practical implications here as well to keeping church visitors in your midst.

In the church I describe, the back door is as big as the front door.

People come and perhaps stay connected for a little while, but without the empowerment to lead and serve in ministries, they may likely take their gifting elsewhere where they are needed.

Your church is working hard at retaining visitors and building connections, but the leadership DNA won’t let it grow.

Coaching corner:

Could this issue — 150 people per pastor — be part of the reason?   Take a look and think about it for a while.  Add your comments below.

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Each week, I send out new articles that might help your evangelism committee grow your church through personal evangelism, church invitations, and leading your congregation in evangelistic outreach.  You’ll usually find a gem that you can use each week  in or at least every other week.  Join our community and share your thoughts.

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Mothers Day 2009 Outreach Ideas

Mother’s Day 2009 may be a time to conduct special weekend event outreaches.

I know several pastors that will give a sermon related to motherhood.

But it’s also an opportunity for churches to engage their neighborhood.

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