CHURCH BUILT ON RELATIONSHIPS

WITH A FOCUS “OUT THERE”

The structure must do three things:

1. It must be based on relationships;
2. It has to blend into the normal life of the community—including families, neighborhoods, schools, homes, and workplaces; and be flexible
3. It has to keep Jesus and His Kingdom “front and center.”

Structures do not create life, God does. Structure sustains life, however, in the right environment. God shows he’s into structure when he told the Hebrew people to build a tabernacle that was flexible and tent-like that would move and bend with their journey from slavery to the Promised Land.

The early church was just like a tent:

• mobile and adaptable
• they met in homes, in the marketplace, and synagogues.
• they gathered for meals and worship.
• they went out in the streets to heal the sick and proclaim the good news.
• they had various leadership structures and seemed to always be making adjustments.

So what does all of this have to do with us? Bridgeway Church is not a place, but a community of people. We believe the kitchen table is more sacred than the pulpit. We believe we are all priests and therefore are not relying on paid professionals to do what we should all do together.

We want a structure that will quickly connect people into mentoring relationships and can raise up leaders during this time of great harvest. We want to do life together in a way that is not bound to one culture but can be reproduced anywhere in the world. We do not want to be dependent on buildings, programs, or curriculum. We want to measure success by the “stories” that are told. More than anything, we want to be the church in a way that makes us dependent on the Holy Spirit so that God, not us, gets the glory.

House churches and d-groups are led by non-paid, ordinary people who have become leaders through humility, service, a heart for God and a dependence on His Spirit.

NETWORKED CHURCH

Our structure is basically a network, or, if that feels too N.A.S.A., call it a tribe. Most of us have never seen a group that functions as a network— everything in our experience functions as a hierarchy.

About hierarchies. Hierarchies typically pursue their goals through control that is centralized at the top of the pyramid. The primary tool that hierarchies use is “programs.”

About networks. Tribes and networks are built on shared values and goals where every member is seen as equally valuable and everyone contributes. The Hebrew people in the Old Testament were a vagabond tribe that was united in a God-given vision to be a blessing to all nations.

Networks require sacrifice and a willingness to give up control, although there still are leaders. These are the types of leaders who keep the vision before the people — not those who just tow the line . A network is driven by vision, and vision flows through leaders.

In Jesus’ time. By the time Jesus came on the scene, the tribe had become a hierarchy and had a well developed system designed to secure and sustain the power of the people at the top. That’s why the Pharisees couldn’t get Jesus. Jesus was saying, “the structure is changing because you’re not accomplishing the goal of being a blessing to all nations.” The Pharisees had so much invested in a system that served those at the top that they had lost sight of the goal—so much so that when the promised Messiah came they couldn’t recognize him.

For more on structure see our Leader’s Field Guide.