Note: part of a series started April 22nd.
The third question my coach asked me about my new ministry was, “What’s the organizing principle?” Everything has to have an organizing principle of some kind. For one of my previous diatribes on this topic, see my entry titled “The Structure of Life.” You can use the search feature to find it.
Since I was already thinking of house churches, I then had to decide how those should be structured. There’s a continuum for house churches. On the far right is the cell celebration church: highly structured and organized, with everyone is in a cell. On the far left are the fully independent house churches: still seeking to multiply but with little to no connection between them.
We went for a hybrid: a network of leaders. I didn’t want to be too overly structured, but I saw the weakness of isolation in the other extreme too. Each house church is independent, but the leaders of the churches are all networked through coaching relationships and campfires. It’s a significant distinction: a network of leaders, not network of churches.
There are a million and one possible organizing principles for ministry. What’s yours?