Technology in Micro-churches

Generation Church (formerly RockChurch) transitioned to a network of micro-churches in November, just a month and a half ago. Four churches are currently in the network. We hope that number increases significantly in the months to come. As of yesterday (Dec. 14) Julie and I have visited all four groups. My role as senior pastor of Generation Church includes visiting each micro-church in rotation. If you have read my earlier posts, you know our experience in the first three groups was stunning, especially considering that our format of gathering together in small groups is less than two months old. Last night's gathering was more of what we encountered in the first three: great teaching, great participation, and the sense that participants are genuinely processing---intellectually, emotionally and spiritually---what is taking place in the meeting.

There was an additional element to last night's meeting, proving that meeting in homes does not have to be low-tech: Heather Mulhern, a young women from Generation Church and a missionary to the Japanese people, was present with us. One might say Heather was virtually present! She was sitting in her home in Japan while participating with us. Heather teaches English to Japanese students, building friendships that often lead to opportunities to present the claims of Christ. But last night (Monday morning for her---and her day off from work) she joined us for worship via Skype and a lap top computer. We could see and hear her and she could see and hear us. What a great way to connect with an overseas partner!

Next Sunday all four micro-churches gather at Chandler-Gilbert Community College for joint worship. This will be our first joint gathering for worship since we became Generation Church. Our plan is to meet together as an entire group once each month. We will set up Thursday night in the Student Center Pavilion, as the college has asked to use our equipment for a function it has Friday afternoon. It is an exciting plus to know that several hours of laying carpet, putting up a stage and wiring a sound system will benefit the college as well as us. I'll let you know how both events go.

Visiting More Micro-churches in the GC Network

For those who are new to my blog, let me say that I am new as well. This is my second posting. Last week my wife and I attended our first micro-church after reorganizing RockChurch (end of October) into Generation Church. Generation Church is now a network of small churches that meet in homes---two in Chandler, one in Gilbert, and one in Casa Grande. We label these small churches "micro-churches." Though we started with just four micro-churches, we are hoping that the network will grow into many groups around the valley (go to http://www.azgeneration.com/ and click on Virtual Community, FAQ, to find out how new groups are started).

To each of these first four groups I assigned a facilitator, each one an elder of Generation Church. The groups met for the first time November 2nd, and each facilitator was given the task of helping the participants organize into a functional micro-church. As we moved into December, my wife and I began visiting each micro-church in rotation. To date, we have visited three of the four. My first posting last week described our first experience meeting with one of these groups.

This past Sunday we visited two more--one in the morning and one in the evening. Each of the three groups we have visited is distinctly different in make-up and in style, but there are also certain commonalities. All range in attendance from 10 to 18 people. All consist largely (but not exclusively) of young adults, including young families and teens. Two of the facilitators are in their forties, one in his early thirties, and one in his mid-twenties. What I found most encouraging in our limited exposure to micro-churches is this: The participants of each group showed an eager willingness to engage in the worship experience. One of the micro-churches has a couple of teens, a couple of pre-teens, two young moms, two young dads, one mom in her forties, one grandmother in her seventies, and two toddlers. Everyone--except the toddlers, of course--had questions or comments in the course of the meeting, and when it came time for prayer, everyone prayed. In the second group, there are a half a dozen teens, several adults in their fifties, a young single in his thirties, and one young couple with a toddler. Again, the participation was broad in every part of the evening, including the Bible study, which was excellent. As we did Sunday a week ago, my wife and I left these two meetings deeply touched by the power of micro-churches in action.

Incidentally, in keeping with Generation Church's desire to be outwardly focused, one of the Chandler micro-churches traveled to Casa Grande on Saturday to take care of 30 little children for four hours so that their mothers could go Christmas shopping. Listening Sunday to the group recount their experiences, I was struck by the ability of mico-churches to get nearly a 100 per cent of their group involved in acts of service. Both micro-churches we attended this past weekend, as well as the group we attended a week ago, left me with a sense that real thinking and real processing of Bible teaching had taken place, and not by just one or two people in the group but by nearly every participant.

There was one other commonality in the three groups I have visited so far, and I expect to see it in the fourth group as well. Last week a visiting pastor and his wife attended a micro-church with us. This pastor said he sensed an uncomplicated atmosphere to the meeting. I sensed the same thing in the groups my wife and I attended yesterday, and while it is not surprising that a worship meeting in a home is uncomplicated, it may be one of the reasons participants find micro-churches attractive. In a culture where churches plan their services weeks and even months in advance and where worship is often a production perfectly timed and coordinated, meeting with a small group in a home may offer tired and frazzled people a fresh simplicity that whispers, "This gathering is a place of peace and rest."

Micro-church Visit

Generation Church mobilized into micro-churches (see http://www.azgeneration.com/) in October and started meeting in a micro-church format the first Sunday in November. As pastor of Generation Church, one of my roles is to visit each micro-church in a rotation of sorts. Last night my wife and I attended one of the groups---our first experience participating since we switched to a micro-church model. When the evening was over, we left with a distinct sense that we had participated in a remarkable worship gathering.

That worship in a small group can be stimulating and powerful shouldn't surprise us if we have read the New Testament, especially Acts and 1Corinthians 14:26-33. But in this, my first occasion to attend one of our micro-churches, I was relieved to see that this small gathering of believers (18 of us) was all that I had anticipated and everything I had hoped and prayed for.

The facilitator kept a delicate balance between guiding the group and giving participants freedom to express their thoughts regarding the passage of Scripture under examination. Discussion was thoughtful and focused and I noticed by the end of the evening most in the group had shared a comment or two. I was particularly delighted to realize that I was not just hearing truth, but somehow I was processing it, too. I sensed others were doing the same. When time was given to share prayer needs and to pray, many in the group took part. Prayers offered were sincere, not forced or cliched. When the gathering concluded it seemed to me that every part of the evening had borne the gracious touch of God. As Julie and I drove away, she made a comment that summed up our time with this micro-church: "I could attend there every week!"

I have been hearing good reports from each of the micro-churches, and Julie and I are eager to experience God's blessing as we visit each of them. Establishing a network of micro-churches is motivated in part by our church's desire and goal that worship become less a spectator event and more a time that is deeply participatory and significantly transformational. If our experience last night (and what we are hearing from the other micro-churches) is an indication of what is to come, I am confident Generation Church will succeed beyond our wildest dreams.

May God guide and empower us by his Spirit, and may we walk in the grace of Jesus each day.

Next Sunday Julie and I will attend the micro-church that meets in Casa Grande.