From 'Organic Church'

Here are some quotes I've been jotting down from Neil Cole's book "Organic Church." 
He doesn't say much that is new to me, but he does articulate a lot of things that I've been thinking for quite a while...

Unfortunately, we have reduced the Gospel message so that it is inseparable from the institution of the church. (intro)

Church attendance, however, is not the barometer of how Christianity is doing. Ultimately, transformation is the product of the Gospel. It is not enough to fill our churches; we must transform our world. Society and culture should chance if the church has been truly effective. (Intro)

The measure of the Church’s influence is found in society-on the streets, not in the pews. (Intro)

It is not the local church that will change the world; it is Jesus. Attendance on Sundays does not transform lives; Jesus within their hearts is what changes people. (intro)

If you ask non-Christians why the local church is relevant, they will usually think of only two things: it is where you go to get married and buried (hitched and ditched), and many people are trying desperately to avoid both. Is this what Jesus bled and died for? Is this the best we can do with power of the resurrection? We have a problem. (intro)

We are so obsessed with our own religious club that we actually identify those who do not have relationship with Jesus as the unchurched. (intro)

We have lost sight of our prime directive and substituted creation of more people who are like us, rather than like Jesus, in its place. (intro)

Kingdomof GodInstead of bringing people to church so that we can then bring them to Christ, let’s bring Christ to people where they live. We may find that new church will grow out of such an enterprise, a church that is more centered in life and the workplace, where the Gospel is supposed to make a difference. What will happen if we plan the seed of the Kingdom of God in the places where life happens and where society is formed ? (intro)

If you want to win this world to Christ, you are going to have to sit in the smoking section. That is where lost people are found and if you make them put their cigarette out to hear the message they will be thinking about only one thing: “When can I get another cigarette?” (intro)

The heart of our message is that God didn’t expect us to come to Him in heaven. He came to us. He lived life on our terms and on our turf. (intro)

Everything about church begins and ends with the single question: Who is Jesus to you? Jesus statement about the church has a context that begins with God’s grace revealing the identity of Jesus and ends with the work of Christ on the cross and His awesome resurrection three days later. Even if we get everything else right but skip this important question, we are not truly the church. Church begins with Jesus: who he is and what He has done. It is all about Jesus, and if it begins to be about something else, then it stops being the church as Jesus mean it to be. (7)

If our churches are falling apart and are not healthy, it is not because Jesus has done a poor job but because we have taken the task upon ourselves. (9)

Most warm-blooded living things grow to a point and then reproduce. (9)

The church today needs to make a switch from defense to offense if we are to be all that Jesus intends. (11)

…by sharing the Gospel with those who are influencing him Sean internalized it and learned to believe it in a more substantive way. We are often so quick to search for other ways to help people that we overlook the most powerful: the simple message of Jesus internalized and shared with others. (14)

Our greatest significance is found in the darkness, not in the light. (14)

Then the Lord stepped in a whispered in my ear: “Why start coffeehouses to attract lost people?” Why not just go to the coffeehouses where they already are?” (24)

The key to starting church that reproduce spontaneously is to bring Jesus to lost people. (24)

“We want to lower the boar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple.” If Church is simple enough that everyone can do it and is made up of people who take up their cross and follow Jesus at any cost, the result will be church that empower the common Christian to do the uncommon works of God. (27)

The conventional church ahs become so complicated and difficult to pull off that only a rare person who is a professional can do it every week. Many people feel that to lower the bar of how church is done is close to blasphemous because the Church is Jesus expression of the Kingdom on earth…The results in a passive whose members come and act more like spectators than empowered agents of God’s kingdom. (27)

Many a church continues long after the soul of the church has departed because the building itself keeps them going. A building can become an artificial life support system that keeps a church alive even though it died long ago. (37)

When you imagine the amount of resources, energy and time invested in a service held only one day a week, it is remarkable. With all the importance placed on this event, you would expect there to be a lot of scriptural directives to make sure people get it right. But if you search all of the New Testament looking for the commands or injunctions having to do with this important weekly event, you will find them sadly missing. Instead you will find verses, chapters, and entire books that speak to how we are to live together as a spiritual family (40)

We have come to understand Church as this: the presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on this planet. (53)

In many church in the West, ministry is done for Jesus, but no by Jesus- therein lies the big difference. If we evaluated our churches not by attendance or buildings but by how recognizable Jesus is in our midst, our influence would be more far-reaching and our strategies would be far more dynamic. (54)

Unfortunately, in most churches in the Western world the presence of the pastor is more noticeable than the presence of Jesus. (57)

Comments

Very pertinent, well articulated insights. Thanks for passing them on.

[Jim Robbins]

The Church is undergoing a much-needed Reformation of Structure. In the place of institutional, "local church" models, God is raising up organic Kingdom outposts that are meeting outside the walls and authority of the local church. These micro-gatherings are led by ordinary people; yet are doing extraordinary things for the Kingdom. -- Jim www.OutpostsoftheKingdom.com