Note: This is part of a series that started with the March 28 post.
House churches are like a farmer’s market. Each stand represents a separate vendor. They each stand alone, but they’re interconnected. They all show up at the same time on the same day because they know they’re stronger together when there’s connectedness. The beet salesman will do better business because the guy selling orchard-grown fruit is next to him. There’s no way you expect to buy your toilet paper at the same time you’re buying your apples. And if they don’t have corn that day, you’re not going to complain. You’ll just look around to see what they do have. The advantage of the farmer’s market is not completeness—it’s freshness. You can expect fresh fruits and vegetables, alongside some unexpected seasonal finds. You may not know how to make a peach pie, but if you see lots of fresh peaches on sale you might try to figure out a way to make use of them.
This is the model of the church I’m currently planting. All three of these models (see previous posts on Trader Joe’s and SuperTarget) have their own strengths. In planting this new church, my ultimate goals haven’t changed, just the way to get there. The form and approach have changed, not the goals. The organizing principle I’m now using is a network of leaders that bands together with the common goal of living as Jesus did and raising up more who follow him.