One of my Acts 29 brothers asked the Acts 29 guys if they took Sunday off ever and why. Here is my response...
Although we do not always gather in the same building, we wouldn't say we "take Sundays off” or “cancel Sunday Gatherings”. This language seems to betray our belief that if it is not done by the few of us paid pastors at our building, it doesn’t really count. When we don't all gather together in one place we call them Scattered Gatherings that are led by Missional Community leaders in their homes, community, park, etc…
Each Expression (what we call a Soma Church Plant) determines if they want to do this and how often, but most do it once a month.
In order to understand what a Scattered Gathering might look like for us, I’ll describe the last one our MC did:
The believers met in my home at 9 am for prayer, breaking of bread and some time to speak the Gospel to one another. Then at 10 am our neighbors joined us for brunch. The believers served, asked questions, listened to people tell their stories, looked for opportunities to bless our neighbors by listening closely to needs (so we can serve our neighborhood during the week), listened for what they believe and don’t believe, asked God for open doors to share the Gospel, and then helped clean up. The last unbeliever left around 1 pm and then we sat around until 4 pm talking through how the morning went. We discussed what we discovered and how we can serve. We talked through the Gospel doors and barriers. We looked at how Scripture would direct us forward in our mission and we prayed some more. Eventually some left, others napped on our couches and chairs, and some of us talked about how to best lead the mission forward (2 of these men will likely plant a church someday). It was a great gathering of the church (9am-4pm) and was full of good Gospel mission and ministry.
There are several reasons why Soma has chosen this methodology:
1. We are committed to the ASSEMBLING TOGETHER of the believers in many forms and contexts. It has seemed to me that many in the Church only know how to gather in formalized settings with the paid church leaders at the helm. Or, in small groups that have been formed and directed by Church staff with a guided curriculum. Unfortunately, it seems much of the Church doesn’t know how to assemble themselves for mission and ministry, thereby keeping most people largely dependent upon paid staff to do the ministry for them. The methodology we are engaging allows them to grow in their abilities to lead the church in assembling together at a level they can handle at this stage of their development.
2. We are committed to the EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS for ministry. Ephesians 4 says that some of us have been given to the Church to equip believers for ministry leading to their maturation enabling them to equip one another so the body is building itself up in love. Our desire is to see our preacher/teachers like myself equipping the believers for ministry and subsequent equipping by them of more ministers. The Scattered Gathering is a great forum for them to take responsibility for ministry and equipping of their own MC. And by doing it on Sunday, we are communicating how important this is (it’s not an add on in the week to a full schedule, it’s a main event for us).
3. We are committed to increasing the PREACHING AND TEACHING OF THE WORD. We believe that it is our job as leaders to see more preaching and teaching of the Word going on by more people and in more places (not just a few in our large group gatherings – though we believe in that as well). The Scattered Gathering allows more people to have the opportunity to preach/teach the Word either with believers or in their community with a mix of believers and unbelievers. Also, getting out where people are at teaches people how to engage in the Gospel in the everyday. Keep in mind, most of the Church is going to need to preach the Gospel in uncontrolled, often hostile environments (work, neighborhood, family, etc…). If all people ever see and experience is The Preacher in a room where he controls the environment, they will have a hard time learning how to do this in their context. The Scattered gathering gives them an opportunity to learn this.
4. We are committed the MISSION OF THE GOSPEL in our context. Paul went both to the synagogues/places of prayer as well as the places where people were not “God fearers”. In our context about 20% are open to going to a church gathering (in a building with believers) if they are interested in stuff about God. We believe contextually the Sunday gathering is effective for reaching the “Churched” unbeliever and the “I should go to church” unbeliever. However, we also have a calling to reach those who will not “Go to Church” and since Sunday is a key day that they have open (in my neighborhood, all but the Christians are home on Sundays), we are willing to adjust in order to reach them (80% of my neighborhood will NOT go to a Church Gathering in a building, but many of them are open to talking about Jesus with us in our home Sunday morning).
5. We are committed to MULTIPLICATION of Disciples, Leaders and Churches. I believe that hearts and lives are changed through the Proclamation of the Gospel, but I don’t believe you can effectively equip people to be disciple-makers themselves through preaching and gathering in large groups alone. Jesus had 12 with him for 3 years of intense discipleship – life on life and then released them into ministry with follow-up times for training. Paul worked very closely with the new churches he established, grounding them in the Gospel through life on life (They knew his life and teaching…not just his proclamation) and he knew them, then he released them to lead. At some point, we have to release our leaders to take responsibility for the ministry themselves in order to really become equipped. We believe that each MC has the potential not only to equip new leaders to start new MCs, but that many of them are the core group of a new church. So, if they are ever going to start a new church we have to give them the opportunity to begin leading through these Scattered Gatherings on the key times that our culture is open and available (Sunday seems to be that).
We have been doing this for about 5 years now and it has led to many non-believers who would not go to a Church Gathering in a building with other believers coming to Christ; hundreds of Believers becoming more equipped for everyday ministry; the multiplication of leaders and missional communities (from 4 to 45 MCs); and the starting of 5 new church plants led largely by unpaid pastors who have been developed along the way. I know that this was not just because of the Scattered Gatherings, but it has been a key part of the process of training people to Be the Church (especially for those who primary viewed “Church” as something on Sunday – since they realized they could begin to lead and minister as the Church…now they are learning to BE the Church the rest of the week as well).
