Organic Church

Organic
Monday, March 27th, 2006

Organic. The term usually elicits thoughts of health food stores, eclectic bohemians in dreads, ugly but tasty food and animals allowed to roam free and avoid all manner of injections before their untimely death. Around here, “going organic” is the new elitism. It’s how the Walmart folks are distinguished from the “others”.

But take the term and apply it to the body of Christ and you get exactly what we desire to create in Revolution – an organic service.

I’m not very fond of catch phrases, but I use them anyway. Probably because I’m just as bad as anyone when it comes to wanting to define and identify myself and others…or myself TO others. What I want more from this “essay” is to examine the term “organic” when it comes to the church and to explain what that means in the context of Revolution.

or·gan·ic

1. Of, relating to, or derived from living organisms: organic matter.
2. Of, relating to, or affecting a bodily organ: an organic disease.
3.
a. Of, marked by, or involving the use of fertilizers or pesticides that are strictly of animal or vegetable origin: organic vegetables; an organic farm.
b. Raised or conducted without the use of drugs, hormones, or synthetic chemicals: organic chicken; organic cattle farming.
c. Serving organic food: an organic restaurant.
d. Simple, healthful, and close to nature: an organic lifestyle.
4.
a. Having properties associated with living organisms.
b. Resembling a living organism in organization or development; interconnected: society as an organic whole.
5. Constituting an integral part of a whole; fundamental.
6. Law. Denoting or relating to the fundamental or constitutional laws and precepts of a government or an organization.

Jesus commands us to “go into all the world”, to all humans (1), to “make disciples” of the individual (2). Anything added to the life and message of Jesus and the Scriptures must be as close to the source as possible, namely the voice of God through the Holy Spirit in the heart of each individual (3a). Making disciples is a process that should be natural and relevant to each person in their own cultural context (3b). This natural spiritual education will extend beyond the boundaries of the church walls (3c) by ministering the love of God and teaching love of others as well as equipping others to present natural spirituality in their sphere of influence in a simple, unadulterated, unembellished way that is as close to Jesus’ original message as possible (3d). We recognize that to remain a community of faith, we must always be interconnected to one another and to our source, Jesus Christ (4a,b). In all of our interactions and education we remain true to the fundamentals of orthodox Christianity, maintaining the integrity of the Gospel as preached by Jesus and the Apostles (5). We encourage one another to live a holy life, casting off the restraints of sin by the power of the Holy Spirit, always extending grace and mercy to one another as we live our our salvation with fear and trembling (6).

An organic Christian community is natural. It’s not going to look as nice and clean and shiny as a community with rigid structure and legalistic confines. There will be messy moments. People will say things that are a bit “off” from a theological standpoint. The Holy Spirit will speak, people will listen and sometimes when the message is given, it will be through a human filter and might not sound as spiritual as people think it should. People will learn how to use their gifts through experience and making mistakes. People will disagree and have different opinions about scripture and because all are free to express their opinions in the context of an interconnected community, there will be disagreements. But because the message of grace, mercy and the love of Jesus is constantly being communicated and lived out, the people will rise above these “messy” situations. Worship will flow from the heart of the individual to God instead of from the stage to the people then to God. There will be varied expressions of joy, reverence and thanksgiving. While there will always be order, it will not be a rigid order. Our community will flow beyond the confines of the walls of our service to be the hands, feet and mouthpiece of Jesus to the people in their workplace, their classes, their daily lives. This will be a natural outflow from their love of God and their compassion for others. It will not be contrived or scripted and while it will be a little messy, it will work. The love of Jesus will shine through them and the people they talk to will open their hearts to the message of the Gospel.

This is what organic Christianity means to me in the context of a church service. Let it be so.