"Little Churches Within The Church"
“Little Churches with the Church” (ecclesiolae in ecclesia) was the name given to the monastic movements over the ages that sought to bring renewal from within. The missiological, ecclesiological and Christological questions of how to live with and for Christ in the world, how to be a royal priesthood, the new community (Rev 21 and Is 11), and how to combine worldly rule, with a Christendom church together with the biblical imperatives of family, love, community and the Lordship of Jesus all triggered the constant evolution of the ecclesiolae in ecclesia “little churches within the church” (Peters, Story Of Monasticism p.86). The revolution of these little monastic communities, Celtic or Roman meant that there was a constant heart of devotion at work at the core of the body of Christ. The Celtic ones moved around and pressed into the world (Patrick and Aiden). The Roman ones tended to retreat but provided stability in a changing world (Benedictines). Later on the Jesuits and Franciscans found their apostolic movement and simplicity and were highly effective. In its most potent form, little churches or apostolic bands had the accountability under Godly church elders grounded in Scripture, and the independence and creativity to be able to renew, reform and speak prophetically into the centre of church and society. They were able to sometimes escape being complicit as a tool within the compromised corridors of power of the empire-building of Christendom and return to the essence of the gospel.
These pockets of prayer and spiritual practice sparked the imagination of the hearts of ordinary people and promoted an aspiration and wonder around the pursuit of Godly life but they were not immune from legalistic introspection, salvation by works, greed, corruption and heresy, in short, the wages of sin. Every ‘little church’ works out its salvation with fear and trembling to be more than just a seed, but a trellis upon which others can live, work, pray, learn, play and grow. They became centres of creativity, study, and practice of agriculture. They were not uniform. They followed an ‘order’ formulated from Scripture but nuanced and contextualised for the day, whether it was a return to simplicity within an overly complex church, or poverty in an overly imperial system, or silence in the midst of a loud and violent society, or community in a hierarchical state.
The little churches were always in danger of creating a two-tier class of Christianity, professional and lay, elite and amateur and the commodification of the spiritual life. They were prone to abuses such as indulgences, lay sponsorship of monastic foundations or the infatuation with the performance of ‘correct’ religious practice, not dissimilar to the elite performance of pagan temple practices that the early church had already subverted through its koinonia (Acts 2.42 - 47) and common table. Nevertheless, it is hard to see any renewal movements at key turning points in the history of Christianity that didn’t start with the ‘little church within the church’.
Steve Addison in the Rise and Fall of Movements points to the curve of movements that follows the 6 stages of birth, growth, maturity, decline, decay and rebirth. He urges for the need for every movement to have:
Identity (the why - obedient to the Father’s word, dependent on the Holy Spirit and aware of the mission - you know who you are and what you are being sent to do),
Strategy (the how - expressing your identity in strategic action),
Methods (the what - the specific tools you will use to implement strategy) ((Addison p.22). As Howard Snyder says, Wesley was not a great innovator, (Whitfield was already field preaching) and small group communities were already happening on the continent, but Wesley contextualised it for the UK, organised it, brought it all together into a cohesive method whilst embodying it too. Addison says that when an institution is in decline and it has ‘culpable blindness’ and ‘the world invades the church’ it is time to ‘launch a movement from within’ and restore hope for a declining institution by promoting a fresh movement alongside or within (p.23). Now is the time!
So why plant a Garden?
God is doing something amongst the church leavers, the invisible church, and is calling for the redisicipling of disciples for the future. Offroad disciples are needed to mix things up (like Wesley, St Francis, St Aiden, the Jesuits and so on). If people won't go to the church then the church must go to the people. Church is changing. Post-institutionalism and post-congregationalism are all at work across society from the classroom to politics and business. Pyramids are becoming circles. Aslo, if I meet one more person who says they do church under a tree in the Garden……..!! There is a growing connection to the soil and ecology. An awareness of our fragility and the futility of ‘progress’ if it is not grounded in nature’s code. The Celts knew this. Christianity only became an ‘indoor’ religion after Whitby in 670 AD.
“Carrots grow in rows but disciples grow in circles” (McGinley - The Church of Tomorrow). We have lost the table, the relationships, the community, the mutual accountability, the depth of friendship, the pilgrim nature and the simplicity of the church. And with it we have lost the methods of Jesus and the heart of the gospel. We cling to historical doctrines and skeletal forms but lose sight of the vehicles through which the mission happened. God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden and he will walk with us in Season 2 of the Garden when the new Kingdom comes (Rev 21). Clericalism replaced the priesthood of all believers and has stunted the growth of disciples. We don’t know how to be free and fruitful anymore and we have lost touch with the ‘easy’ yoke of Jesus. All of these things have led to an anxious generation of disicples.
Christendom is in the arch of ‘decay’ and ‘decline’ and so has naturally become concerned with saving itself and its structures and not God’s people and the Kingdom's purposes of God’s call. BUT where decline is happening rebirth is just around the corner. The church keeps returning to the Old Testament “Temple”. We are the living stones. The Celts knew how to live that but the Romans couldn’t resist returning to sacrifice (sacrament), institution and building. It is always easier to focus on something more ‘concrete’ than the full gospel but church is not an ‘it’ but a ‘we’. Not an organisation but a body.
What Phase Of Life Is The Garden In?
The movement has been born. Now we are planting ‘little churches within the church’.
The tasks for this phase are:
Pray and Pursue “Prime” - No renwal has happened in history without prayer. Pursuing Prime is where the vision is embodied in its most potent and special form through people who carry it and live it. These srvants must now embody the craft and practice of gardening today. Mission and culture is caught not taught. We say so much more when we live it. “In him we live and move and have out being” (Acts 17.28).
Let go: Allow the movement to embody the cause and don’t let the founder(s) clog it up! A movement grows when the founder no longer needs to be present at everything.
Release Authority and Responsibility - release gardeners to consolidate and expand and enjoy! Lets be surprised by what God does in the different contexts.
Balance flexibility and control - utilise effective methods and structures to do this. What are these for us? Patterns and rhythms. Website. Videos. Email. A Pastor’s handbook. Building into the trellis so more people can join in.
Always remember to return to our Roots - rooted in the person and word of Jesus, the revelation of the Holy Spirit and the mission of God. We are reflective practitioners. It is new territory and we all need to return to first principles and reflect and pray together.