Let’s refine the question: why does the church exist? This question is very important because if we can answer it, we know what the church should be doing…and not doing.

Just as you’d look to the words of the Founding Fathers to see why our country exists, we need to look to the words of the founder and head of the church, Jesus Christ. Too many churches substitute their own idea of why the church exists – to raise money, to make us feel good, to bring about social change, or to influence politics. But what does Jesus say?

“…All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20  

It’s pretty simple. There are three parts to Jesus’ command. Number one, go and make disciples. A disciple is a student or follower. We often talk about “discipleship” as a process for Christians to mature in their faith. That use of the word distorts our understanding of passages like this. Making disciples means conversion. We are commanded to turn people from rebellious sinners to repentant sinners who make Jesus their Lord. This means we need to preach the gospel! We need to tell people the good news so that they can become a disciple.

Number two, baptize them. Water baptism is a symbol of the regenerating work of Christ in your life through the gospel. It is a proclamation that you have died with Christ and been risen to life anew. You are now washed clean in God’s sight. This is the process of bringing people into God’s family. Baptism normally occurs immediately after conversion. This is the step when someone joins the Body of Christ and becomes a member of God’s family.

Number three, teach them to obey everything. Now that’s an amazing task! Everything? Really? You might say, “But that’s going to take a long time!” Yes, you’re right! This is the process of growing in Christ-likeness through your life. We are commanded to train people to obey Jesus.

When you put these three tasks together, the reason why the church exists is simple: To preach the gospel, bring people into the family, and grow them to maturity in Christ. Or more simply put, the church exists to convert, immerse, and obey.

Here’s why this is important – everything we do in the church must be filtered through this mission. If there are ministries, tasks, or activities that don’t help us accomplish the mission of conversion, immersion, and obedience, then get rid of them! There are so many people that need the gospel, we don’t have time to waste. If one of our activities doesn’t preach the gospel, bring people into the family, or teach people to obey, then don’t waste the money, time, people, and resources of the church doing it. It’s time we think clearly about what the task of the church is – to be the engine for proclaiming the gospel to the world.

Home Group leaders sometimes need to call an “audible” when things start to take an unexpected turn.  Instead of resisting what God might be doing, it’s more helpful simply to get used to the idea that plans sometimes don’t go as expected and there’s no failure in changing mid-stream.  In fact, often the best things happen during these unexpected moments.

In addition, it is important that the rest of the Home Group members key in on the audible and supportively follow the leader as the meeting goes in a new direction.  It might even be worth having a conversation with the key leaders of the group to discuss the idea of the audible so that all can be prepared for if and when it might need to happen.

When do we need to call an audible?  Here are some possible situations:

Visitors: If a non-believer unexpectedly shows up at the Home Group meeting (something we encourage!), one good strategy is to open the time with a testimony instead of going straight to the Bible study.  Testimonies put people at ease and reinforce an atmosphere of sharing and honesty.  Testimonies draw non-believers into community and draw out their own life circumstances.

To call this audible, the leader simply needs to ask someone in the group if he or she would be willing to share.  After the first testimony, the leader can ask, “Does anyone else want to share?”  Depending on timing, the next step would be to go to the Bible study or to closing prayer.

Crises: Sometimes a member enters the room in such a way that you know things aren’t right.  Or sometimes a passage of scripture brings up deep-seated struggles and one of the members becomes visibly troubled.  In these cases, it might be advisable to stop and allow the person to share what’s going on.  Afterwards, the group can pray for him or her and can ask if there are tangible ways they can assist.  When the need’s acute, prayer does not have to wait until the end of the meeting.

Church Mission:  Sometimes the local church has a special need, faces a big decision or is stepping out in faith to tackle a large initiative.  Such moments might warrant stopping the regular flow to discuss the matter and spend extended time in prayer.  If feedback or good ideas come out of the discussion, the leader can communicate it back to the church leadership.  This is a great way to build unity throughout the church.

Home Group Mission: Every Home Group is meant to be “on mission” together.  There are myriad ways to envision the mission but whatever form it takes, it requires intentionality.  Does your Home Group have an external mission?  It might be worth setting aside extra time to let people discuss what’s on their hearts, who they sense God is calling them to serve, and what opportunities for service God is bringing.  This can be followed up by prayer and planning.

The list of reasons to call an audible is endless.  What happens when childcare doesn’t show up?  Maybe you sit with the kids and sing together, or do a kid-oriented Bible study, or go to the park.  What happens when group life seems to be getting “too comfortable?” Maybe you spend extra time in corporate confession to make way for a fresh movement of the Holy Spirit.  Maybe you look for an opportunity to stretch yourselves by sacrificing to help another member, etc.

One caveat: it’s be possible to call too many audibles and create a chaotic feel in the group.  But a little messiness is good and often present when God’s working.  So, go for the audible and see what God might do!

Can you think of any other circumstances that might lead you to call on audible?

Please join me as we remember — in fasting (if you are able), prayer and meditation — the final day of Jesus’ initial earthly life, as the cross loomed, and then became a very real and eternally meaningful reality. Please use this guide to pray and meditate throughout the day on Friday. – Jim Churm

Morning – Remember Jesus in the Garden: Do We Pass the Cup In Our Lives?
Read Matthew 26:36-46

Most theologians believe that in Jesus’ final day before His crucifixion He could acutely feel the Father leaving Him. The bonds of perfect cosmic love and fellowship within the pre-existing triune Godhead were shredding; the Father was turning His face away. We’ve all suffered disintegrations in relationships through quarrels, break-ups, and ultimately in the deaths of those we love. These are always painful, and sometimes seem utterly impossible to bear. Yet our pain in such circumstances is a tiny drop in an infinite ocean compared to what the fully God and fully human Jesus experienced as He went into the garden to pray after the last supper was finished.

It is understandable that Jesus said to Peter, James and John, whom He brought along, “My soul is very sorrowful.” We as humans can understand why Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me …” We would almost certainly do the same simply facing the horror of crucifixion – I know I would. We can’t even imagine the worse reality, infinitely worse than the pain of the cross itself, of Jesus’ separation from the Father.

Yet Jesus, a model in everything, here models perfect obedience to God’s will, no matter the cost. After asking if it were possible for the cup of the cross to be avoided, Jesus immediately prayed, “… nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And later, he prayed again, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And Jesus indeed obeyed the Father’s will, as “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

Jesus invited Peter, John and James into the garden with Him – an invitation of incredible grace. What a privilege of being with the Lord of the universe, through whom all was made, at the very epicenter of all human history! And what did they do? They fell asleep, once, and after Jesus wakened them a second time. Jesus said this after waking Peter: “So, could you not watch with me one hour?”

Can we – can I – watch with Jesus for even one hour? Am I willing to say to God, “I’m full of fear and trepidation about where you are leading me in your service. My human preference is to do something else. But your will be done, Father”? Please pray that God continues to conform you into the image of Christ, to give us a willingness to follow His will, not matter how tired and sleepy we are, no matter how inconvenient to our earthbound and plans, and, ultimately, no matter the cost.

Noon – Remember Peter: Do We Deny Knowing Jesus?
Read Matthew 26:69-75

At the last supper Jesus foretold that Peter would deny Him three times, and Peter, utterly in keeping with his distinctive headstrong and passionate character, answered: “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” Then merely a few hours later, as Jesus was being tried, in the courtyard outside Peter strongly and publicly asserted that he did not know Jesus — not once or twice but indeed three times. This is the same Peter who had seen firsthand the miracles Jesus performed, who had seen Jesus walk on water and raise Lazarus from the dead – indeed, who had been present for the transfiguration, and had heard the voice of the Father Himself cascade down from heaven declaring “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Despite all of this, and a quite evident and deep love for and commitment to Jesus, the denials came.

So, what specifically are the forces needing to be balanced in home group community? While there are probably an almost infinite number of them, here are some of the key ones we’ve observed over time:

Transparency vs. Discretion. Being open about what is really going on in our lives is essential to healthy community. There must be transparency and lots of it. But there is a point when transparency becomes “dumping” and can overwhelm a group, dragging it into paralysis. If we are in the midst of massive crisis, we should bring it to the home group, we should solicit prayer, we should keep them updated but we might also need to consider adding outside counsel to our discipleship portfolio.

Mission vs. Nurture. If a group spends all of its energy ministering to people outside of the group, relationships will fray and empowerment will wane. But groups that spend all of their time focused only on caring for members and never sharing the wealth of their relationships slide into corporate self-centeredness. Ironically, this ends up being un-nurturing because gospel-health entails cultivating generosity towards those on the outside.

Bearing vs. Admonishing. This is one of the toughest ones. There are a whole lot of irritating things people do that we are simply called to bear. Much of it has to do with the clash of personality types. And yet the Bible does call us to admonish one another as the Spirit leads. We should probably focus on admonishing against sin (not personality difference, however irritating that might be), we should do it after we’ve gained trust, we should do it lovingly, and we should do it with sensitivity to a person’s circumstances and ability to handle critique.

Affinity vs. Diversity. We are often drawn towards people who are like us and repelled by people who are different. There is nothing wrong with the sweet fellowship that comes with sharing a common life stage, outlook or “style”. But too much of that in your life can have a vision-narrowing effect. Diverse people provide diverse perspectives. And when we are dealing with approaching an infinite God, that is probably a good thing.

There are other forces in a home group that have to be balanced. Many of them are structural. Do we study or do we socialize? Does one person teach or do we all discuss? Are we open to newcomers or are we closed (for a season)? If you can think of any others, please add them to the comments below.

The point is, healthy community is not about finding the one perfect balance suitable for all time. As the seasons of community ebb and flow, as people grow, as new people come, as certain topics of study arise, the community balance needs to be adjusted.

It is a lot like the equalizer on my stereo. Depending on the music I’m playing, certain sound registers are turned up or down in relation to others. And when I get it right, the harmonies are sweetened.

Next time, Part 3: Audibles or, how to make community adjustments on the fly.

Sunday worship and weekly home group are meant to reinforce each other.  On Sunday, we worship and pray together with people we really know (because of home group) and, via the sermon, we begin a conversation about an important biblical topic.  During the week, that conversation progresses as we meet to encourage each other to apply the scriptures in our daily lives.

That’s the vision. Sometimes, however, the complexities of home group relationships can get in the way of accomplishing it.  Our experiences, families, cultures, giftings, life-stages and many other factors influence how we view community.  And these views don’t always mesh with the others in our group.

The result is that healthy community always ends up being a bit of a balancing act, an assemblage of dynamic tensions that never fossilize into a rigid lattice of predictable, wooden relationships.

So, what makes for a successful home group? Perhaps one of the first steps to healthy community is to recognize the simple reality that communities are always in flux.  As a home group, you’ll never get to a place where the relationships have become so settled that they no longer require thought and intentionality.

Fluctuation is normal.  Adjustment is normal. Tensions are normal. Sometimes community will be harder, sometimes less so.  But we don’t even get to determine the timing of those shifts in most cases!

We shouldn’t fear, however. The New Testament is saturated with talk of community and relationships precisely because healthy community does require constant vigilance.  We’re not the first ones to have experienced this dynamic.

In fact, it’s through the dynamism of community that God accomplishes much of his most important work in us.  After years of witnessing him do it, I’ve resolved to make peace with the idea that tensions, competing forces and flux will always be present.

And, instead of seeking the most expedient resolution, I’m learning to ask God to show me what he’s accomplishing through them.  Will you join me?  And together we’ll see the vision for community come to fruition.

In the next post, we’ll look at the specific forces we balance in home group…

Even if you don’t listen to Christmas music on the radio, the scents of fresh pine needles, spiced apple cider, and warm sugar cookies probably get you in the Christmas spirit. This is also the time of year when we read passages from Scripture about the birth of Jesus. One of the most familiar verses is Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Is Isaiah really talking about Jesus? Yes and no. Let me explain.

Seven hundred years before Jesus, God’s people were split into two kingdoms. They  rebelled against God and as a result he brought the powerful nation of Assyria to attack them in judgment.

The northern kingdom, Israel, made a treaty with the nation of Aram to team up against the Assyrians. These two nations began to pressure the southern kingdom, Judah, to join them.

Judah had a decision to make.

You see, making a treaty with another nation was tantamount to treason against God. How could you say you really trusted in God to save you if you sought safety in a treaty with Aram? In fact, God had specifically forbade making treaties with other nations in Exodus 34:11-16.

Isaiah knew this, and he prophesied that there would be judgment and salvation. If Judah trusted God alone, they would be saved. But Israel would be destroyed because they compromised.

To prove that this would happen, Isaiah said, “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This name means “God with us.”

Isaiah said that before this boy was a toddler, Israel and Aram would be destroyed. He was talking about an actual child who was a sign of God’s promise to judge and to save. If you look at the next chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 8:3-4, you will see that Isaiah’s own son fulfills the prophecy of the Immanuel child.

When Assyria attacked a year or two later, they destroyed Israel and Aram. But when Assyria closed in on Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah, God miraculously spared the southern kingdom.

Fast forward to Jesus. Matthew 1:21-23 says that Jesus’ birth fulfilled what was written in Isaiah 7:14 about Immanuel. This doesn’t mean that Isaiah was only talking about Jesus. Isaiah was also writing about an actual child who was born seven hundred years before Jesus.

You see, there are layers to prophetic passages like this. Isaiah’s Immanuel is a paradigm. Immanuel is the physical sign that God is with his people and that he alone will judge and save. Like a crescendo, the Bible moves toward Jesus who embodies this paradigm perfectly and ultimately.

Just as Judah was on the brink of destruction, but God spared the capital city of Jerusalem in divine victory, so Jesus suffered and was put to death and gained the ultimate victory in his resurrection.

Jesus is the ultimate Judge and he is our only Savior. The baby Jesus is Immanuel; he is “God with us.” His birth is a sign that God will judge those who rebel and save those who trust in him alone.

Thank God for his grace that saves us while we are still sinners. This is certainly something to celebrate this Christmas season!

Brent Kompelien is Church Planting Resident Pastor with the Evangelical Free Church of America and is training at Solano Community Church.

As we’ve launched certain initiatives and life rolls into a new season, I find myself longing for more time to reflect, study, read and learn.  Pastors are always completing tasks but an equally important part of their calling is to think deeply… about God, life, family, the church, and more.

All this has caused me to ponder the relationship between thinking and doing.  My forever model, Jesus Christ, masterfully blended thought and action into a life that was beautiful and fruitful (and perfect in every other way).  On one day, his disciples stretched their minds as they sat thoughtfully at his feet absorbing his words while on the next day, they struggled to keep in step as he travelled the countryside healing, feeding and otherwise ministering to multitudes.

In a day when learning is so often reduced to taking in information, we ought to make note of the model Jesus provides.  Learning is a critical combination of thinking and doing, word and deed (as the New Testament puts it).

It seems the longing to know comes through doing. After the disciples were sent out by Jesus to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom, they came back with a whole new set of questions and a vital urgency to seek answers.  It is the combination of thinking and doing that leads to genuine “learning.”  And this is at the core of what it means to follow Jesus.  In fact, the Greek work for disciple can also be translated “learner.”

This is partly why a church, as an institution of learning, looks different than other “learning” institutions in the world.  Like the first disciples, our thinking must lead to action and our action compels us to deeper thought.

It is critically important that we spur each other to action through ministries like Count Me In and the Homeless Ministry.  And it is critically important that we stop and reflect through Sunday worship and the Gospel Academy.  And it is even more significant that we come together in Home Groups where we combine action and thought in community through Bible study and missional living.

At the end of the day, we need both thought and action.  We must settle neither for ivory tower academics nor for thoughtless activity. Emphasize one and ignore the other and you have a discipleship disaster.  Put them together and you have something beautiful.

To which side of the action/thought continuum do you lean? What steps could you take to move into greater balance?

One of the greatest gifts of our time together has been spending a morning a week in a psalm. We began in Psalm 27 and last week we dove into Psalm 74. This remarkable journey has been shaped by the words “seek my face.”

What does it mean to seek the face of God?  These words of God in Psalm 27:8 struck me as I first noticed them years back, and I realized that I could not honestly say David’s response, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

What I noticed throughout the Psalms as I read them with my housemates and as we have studied them this summer at Solano Community Church is that this theme of seeking God is prevalent. As the Psalms so often serve as a window into our own lives, I recognized that I often am not seeking God’s face, rather, I am seeking the things which God does.

In other words, my relationship with God is so often about the benefits of God and the blessings of following him, overlooking that primarily it is about the relationship;  it is about glorifying him.

His face.

Seek it!

Psalm 17:15 reinforces this as the psalmist says, “When I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.” It does not say that I am satisfied with “all that You give me” or “because You have blessed me.”

Now, I understand that there is a significant place for gratitude. God first loved us and we do respond to what he has done. But Psalm 17 and 27 show us that to sit before God is enough. This is why the heaven will be a truly good place – because God is there. We can see his face directly.

What seems strange to me about these psalms (and others) is that the Scriptures tell us that we cannot endure the face of God (Exodus 33:20), yet we are to seek after it. Reading these psalms in light of Jesus Christ sheds light on this. John 14:9 clearly says that whoever has seen Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, has seen God the Father. The fullness of God is in this man who walked on the earth centuries ago (John 1, Colossians 2:9).

“Seek my face” takes on new meaning for those follow Jesus. We must seek God’s face, and recognize that this face is the same face of Jesus Christ. Let us not follow him for his benefits alone, or his philosophy alone, or his compassion alone, or his love alone. Let us be satisfied with the face of Jesus.

Relationship with God is only possible because God entered into our story and gave his life for us. Surprisingly, the face of God did not come as a powerful warrior but as a humble servant who was obedient to even death on a cross and who is now glorified at the right hand of God.

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What does seeking God’s face look like in your life?  How does this paradigm shift make a difference in your daily living?

It’s summer time and, if you’re like me, you are enjoying some of the best fruits and vegetables this world has to offer. Farmer’s markets are open for business, fruit stands show off their harvests, and grocery stores stock fresh produce from all over the country. In the midst of all this, I find it fascinating that the Kingdom of God is compared to a plant in a garden. Consider this: what is the best way to see more fruit in a garden? You may say, “Pull out the weeds,” or “Prune the branches,” or maybe “Water the plants.” These tasks are all necessary for the continued health and growth of a plant. But in order to exponentially grow more fruit for the Kingdom of God, I say, “Plant more plants that plant plants!”

I believe that the core mission of the church is to grow more disciples of Jesus Christ through multiplying healthy churches among all people. If disciples of Jesus Christ are the fruit of the Kingdom, then what better way to grow more fruit than to plant more churches? After all, more plants in the garden will eventually produce more fruit for the Kingdom! This principle is rooted in Jesus’ Great Commission.

Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28:19-20a). The idea of “going” to make disciples is also captured in the Paul’s letters when he calls himself an “apostle” (Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:1). This is a word that means “to be sent.” Jesus sends us out to the world to make disciples who will be baptized and who will obey.

When we see ourselves as sent ones who are growing disciples, we begin to reproduce fruit for the Kingdom. This is a foundational value that all churches should embody from top to bottom. New Christians should participate in evangelism events, home group leaders should be training new leaders, home groups should be multiplying, Sunday school teachers should have apprentices, worship leaders should be teaching young people how to play music, elders should be training new elders, senior pastors should have interns, and churches should be planting new churches.

It’s pretty simple: a healthy Kingdom of God is one that is reproducing new fruit-bearing plants. This means that we must plant new churches for more disciples to come to Christ. Let’s get to work!

Brent Kompelien is the Church Planting Resident for the Western District of the Evangelical Free Church of America and is training at Solano Community Church.

Now, I don’t want to talk only about Christ-centered marriage because this principal applies to so much more. Freedom. It is an often-used word in the Christian vocabulary: freedom from the law and freedom from sin (Galatians 5). But what is not often talked about is freedom to do what? I get the freedom from, but what about the freedom for? We are free from death, from slavery to sin, free from the burden of the law, I get that part. What comes after this freedom? This subject is admittedly large and certainly not fit for a small blog post, but I will say this about freedom: when my identity and my salvation and my righteousness are in Christ, I am free to live a fuller life; a better story. I am free take more risks in life because failure does not mean I am a failure – because Christ has said I am worthy. I am free to be more transparent with my community and I may be rejected because of my honesty about my sin and struggles – but Christ has said I am accepted as his child. I am free to more radically love others (yes spouses, but also friends, coworkers and enemies) even if it is not reciprocated or not welcomed – because Christ alone is my source of hope and I am not dependent on what others give me in return.

In his wonderful book, Culture Making, Andy Crouch draws similar connections between freedom and the Christian’s ability to be great culture makers in this world. Crouch makes a distinction between “postures” and “gestures,”  saying that when we have good posture, we are free to make any number of gestures but if we have bad posture, our gestures are limited. He speaks of dancers and athletes who have a freedom to make difficult gestures because they have  good, physical, posture.  As followers of Jesus Christ, our posture, our bone structure, our foundation is Jesus. The freedom of having this unshakable posture allows us to make any number of gestures. We are defined by our posture – our identity is found in good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ – not by the gestures we make. But we can more boldly make gestures, more boldly love our spouses, take risks, be vulnerable and more creatively engage in culture-making, all because of the freedom the gospel gives to us.

Now, go be free. Not just free from, but free for.

Andy Crouch, Culture Making, (Dowers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2008), 98.