Book Reflection – Organic Church: Growing Faith where Life Happens

This book, written by Neil Cole, is one focused on a model of church planting using the areas where people congregate as areas where churches can be started. First off, I am not especially interested in church planting in general. I see my future interests involving partnership with local churches in the area I am living/working, but I’m not interested in a vocation as a church planter. I feel called to be in an area that also might not really even have a local church. I do see some benefit to what Cole argues. I am reading this book at the suggestion of my practicum supervisor, who is involved in a church planting movement in the Twin Cities. He has noted that this book has been extremely helpful in starting their movement of churches.

I agree with the presupposition that the author poses. He argues that the way church is done in the U.S. is only losing the battle for the lives of people around us. He calls for a re-entry to a more organic movement where “church” is not limited to a building, time or service, but is done in a way where the body of believers enters the areas where the people are and seek them out. The model is to go into these areas instead of calling them to come to where we are at. I agree strongly with this model. This directly connects with incarnational ministry where we go into the areas where people are at and are living in need and we live with them, struggle through similar things and offer hope and a different life to those around us. This is the model Jesus presented as is one that is so much more natural to live with and love those in need.

Cole calls this an “organic church movement,” while at the same time avoiding calling it a “house church movement.” I feel that this is just a semantic battle that he is having with no one in particular. He notes that the reason he doesn’t call it a house church movement is because it is in more than just houses (but seems to be primarily in houses) and that there are many things he feels is connected to house churches that he doesn’t think epitomizes his movement (23). Instead, he calls them “organic churches.” He fails to address that while this is a term used in a new way here to reference churches, there are also lots of attached connotations that change its meaning depending on who is listening. Growing up in the Northwest, organic has a strongly positive connotation to most of us, but in other places there is quite the opposite thought connected to it. Either way, there is a lot attached to this work also. It is naive to assume that just changing a word will take away all negative (or positive) understandings.

I appreciate one section where Cole notes the description he heard in seminary of what “the church” is supposed to look like. Five items are mentions, including:

1. A group of believers gathered together regularly…
2. That considers itself a church…
3. That had qualified elders present…
4. That regularly practices the ordinances of baptism and communion as well as church discipline…
5. That has an agreed-on set of doctrinal beliefs (49-50).

So, what is missing?...

Jesus, of course! Cole mentions that this is one of the largest factors in the problem of the American church. The presence of God, through his Spirit, and a focus on the person and life of Christ is often missing. Instead, the American church is focused on a great show where good music, slick production and an easy three-point sermon on how to live better is presented to people sitting and never interacting. This is a problem! This is not how it should be! Shockingly, Cole notes a Korean pastor coming to the U.S. to connect with a few churches and he remarks, “It’s amazing what you people can do without the Holy Spirit” (50). This is terrible, but I agree that this is a correct observation in much of traditional American Christianity.

Finally, there was a very important point that Cole makes in regards to relationships. Often the church focuses on outreaches to people “over there” or in a distant land. Youth groups will spend a week in Mexico helping build houses or put on a Vacation Bible School program. Thousands of dollars are raised to send a group over somewhere else. Instead, what really is needed is to reach out to the people directly around us. Instead of sending our youth to a far away place, we have significant need in our own communities and cities locally. This should be the priority instead of a far away place and people. As Cole states, “God has uniquely placed us all in relationships for the purpose of bring Christ closer to people” (160). I think that reaching out to people around us is so much harder than going to another place to be bold with strangers. I guess this is probably because we won’t see those people again, but we will definitely see those we interact with on a regular basis, whether they are our neighbors, co-workers, friends or family. It is important to recognize the relational nature God has given us and the situations we have been placed in. This should be our focus as we seek to follow the Spirit of God and share of what Christ has done to transform our lives.