The Rabbit vs The Elephant

I am an avid follower of the Simple Church movement. Other names for the movement are "Casas cultos" (house churches), House Church, Organic Church, etc. It is catching on all over the world and with good reason. It is easier to penetrate darkness if you have 1000 house churches of 10 to 15 persons each than to have one church of a thousand especially in cities of 2-3 million people with little or no Christian witness. This movement of the Body of Christ worldwide has recently taken off in a certain Caribbean nation close to Jamaica and even in the United States of America.

More and more the Western world has grown indifferent to Christ and Christians and yet they are more and more open to small groups of people loving and caring for each other. It has been well said that "I don't care how much you know unless I know how much you care".

And even in Jamaica I find that people are looking for more authentic forms of Christianity, Christianity that teaches them how to love and care for the people around them. They are getting tired of the "Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body" (Jas 2: 16). People are 'ready for mission' i.e. they want to learn how they can share Christ in Word and Deed.

What better way to learn how to share Christ in word and deed than by practicing "simple church"; "a small gathering of friends loving Jesus together and reaching out to the community around them." Some churches try to do this through their cell group/ home group/ care group. Some Christians do this through their parachurch fellowships and still others just get together as a group of friends and make a commitment to practice love amongst themselves and try to reach out to the surrounding community. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you do it!

And I am pleased to recommend a new book on this new development entitled The Rabbit and The Elephant by Tony & Felicity Dale and George Barna (house2house.myshopify.com). I have been gleaning a lot from them these past several years. They describe the Large Church as an elephant which takes a long time to reproduce itself and the Simple Church as a rabbit that reproduces so much faster. In truth it does seem that more people are brought to the Lord through a network of relationships than by a large church gospel meeting and it's so much easier to share the love of Christ that way. Go serve your King.

Till Next Time,

Your Friend,

Editor, WYnet Caribbean.