Something ABOUT CHURCH today is not working.
I’ve been living in this Greater DC area (on and off) for almost a decade now. And the way we do church and community here just has not been effective to reach the culture today.
Depsite seeing signs and posters at different churches with the same slogan, “You Belong Here,” I’ve heard of countless stories of people feeling lonely and disconnected in church, not sure who their friends and community are. And I know so many people who I grew up with, who were following Jesus, but something happened within a church community that prompted them to leave…and then ultimately, tragically, deny their faith.
I remember vividly attending a new members meeting at a campus for a prominently large megachurch in the area and the pastor there justified the concept of a megachurch by saying that even know the Bible talks about the function of the church, it doesn’t specify the form of the church.
But if the form (i.e. structure) of the church doesn’t support the function of the church, doesn’t that imply the structure needs to change?
I recently move backed to the greater DC area in Fairfax, VA after living in Leesburg for two years, and started going back to Passion City Church.
There was a clear need to get the men of the church connected with each other, somehow. I had the idea of creating a GroupMe where men could just share events to hang out, like going to the movies, watching a sports game, etc.
I called the group “Hangmen.”
But as I tried to make a group just to share events, I had a tipping point and just about had it with how clunky GroupMe was designed.
There had to be a better alternative.
I did some research and stumbled upon this app called Flare. It was new on scene, yet getting real traction of 200,000 active monthly users in the past year. But it’s target market was college student groups, specifically Greek Life.
But the design and features of the app could easily work just as well for a thriving church community.
Hopeful, I found the CEO of Flare on LinkedIn and sent him a DM.
And then to my complete surprise, he messaged back. And turns out he’s a believer in Jesus too.
Jack and I met over Zoom the next day and talked for 45 minutes. Then a few days later for two hours. The bulk of our how conversation was could this app be a way to not only stay connected within a church.
But connect all the believers within a city together.
Jack ended up flying to DC a week later. I arranged meetings with and other church leaders and “gatherers” (i.e. community builders) around the DC area. The purpose was twofold: first, for Jack to explain the vision behind building Flare and how he wants to help the church, but second, more importantly, was for him to hear the struggles and challenges of building and nurturing community in one of the most lonely cities in the country.
We met with one church staff member who talked about how when people in this city witness a genuine, thriving community of Jesus, it is the most effective form of evangelism.
As Jack would give a demo of the app, the feature that generated the most interest was that unlike GroupMe, Flare gave groups the ability to create connections with other groups.
TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN
The book of Acts details the explosive growth of the church after the resurrection of Jesus and the ministry of the Apostle Paul. But that rapid growth continued on for almost 300 years. So rapidly that it turned the world upside down and soon became the official religion of Rome.
But how did it happen? And why haven’t we seen the same thing happen today when we live in a very secular culture eerily similar to the pagan culture of the Roman Empire.
A few folks who have studied history way more than me conclude the answer lies in the concept of complex networks.
What is a Complex network?
The best way analogy of a complex network is cross-pollination, insects and nature connecting different plants together in unique ways.
To put it another way, a complex network has no hierarchy, but instead behaves like a living, breathing organism. And as it grows, more random, unforeseen connections are being made.
The structure of the early church was not in buildings, but in homes. The Lord’s Supper was not a ritual, but rather a shared meal among a close-kit group of people. The meetings were somewhat informal, with some preparation for singing songs and a short teaching. And the teaching involved more dialogue and debate than lecture.
But the objective with these informal weekly meetings was not a performance, but to connect with each other and God.
And then as the churches grew in size, rather than develop hierarchies, staff, and budgets, they divided and multiplied into more small family style groups.
Today in America, the closest similarity I’ve seen to the early church is Francis Chan’s house church movement in San Francisco.
SAN FRANCISCO HOUSE CHURCH MOVEMENT
Francis Chan was formerly a megachurch pastor in California. He went to China and saw how differently they did church in a country where practicing your faith was illegal. And he knew something was off. So he quit his job and moved to San Francisco and started a house church movement.
There’s a couple of interesting things about his house church movement. There are no full-time staff. Each of the pastors have full-time jobs and lead a house church on their own time.
Second, similar to how cells in the human body work, once a church reaches a certain size (typically more than 30 people), it splits up and trains up new leaders to take over, yet still retain the connection with the initial house church (almost like what happens in a family when the kids grow up and start their own families).
MULTICHURCH EVENTS IN DC
Something similar is happening in DC. More “organic” events and groups from various churches are hosting and organizing multichurch events. Once every three months, there’s a young adult worship with over 600 people organized by various churches around NOVA and DC.
I attend a monthly men’s bible study where over nine different churches are represented.
I’ve heard from friends who attend other groups as well where believers from different churches attend.
The idea of a DC Church is already happening, but if there was a way to empower those community builders through technology?
SO What’s the Plan for Flare and the DC church?
Get as many believers from different churches interconnected all on the app. Then form different groups or chats based on the different shared interests and needs of the users active on the app.
As more and more people join the app, tailor and adapt the technology to suit the needs of the church aka a healthy feedback loop between the Flare Team and the DC church.
Create a directory, or cental hub of connections, where anyone moving to DC can have a single touchpoint to find community in one of the loneliest cities in America.
Become a case study of what happens when the church of Jesus unites together to show to cities across the country with the hope that it sparks real revival.
What if we stopped looking at church as just brands and buildings, but as everyone on the same team serving the same God?
What if we looked at church the way the Apostle Paul did, by addressing the believers of a city than a denomination?
What if we stopped associating ourselves with churches by where we go to a morning Sunday service, but rather by the small tight-knitted group of believers we share meals and our lives with?
What if the most effective evangelism to a lost world is a thriving, loving community of Jesus than witty paper tracks?
Because ultimately, an app is not going to save a lost generation. Jesus is. And Jesus will. But maybe the means he’ll do it is through showing the world through his church.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Churches of the First Century - From Simple Churches to Complex Network
Linked: How Everything is Connected by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi