Rhythms of Healthy Microchurches

THIS WEEK’S EPISODE

A better framework for understanding microchurches has less to do with an event or a place; rather, seeing each as a family on mission. While every family looks different, we know that a healthy family will have healthy rhythms that bind them together and define who they are and how they function. Healthy microchurches are healthy families on mission, with healthy rhythms. The Microchurch Next team hosts Hugh Halter in this webinar that will explore what those rhythms look like. Hugh has been a key voice in the missional and microchurch conversation in the West. His exploration in communion, inclusive community, and mission have been influential and many microchurch networks.

THE RETURN OF THE MICROCHURCH

The missional conversation in the West has been snowballing for decades. Leslie Newbigin, who is considered by many to be the instigator of this conversation, posed the question in his book Foolishness to the Greeks, “What would be involved in a missionary encounter between the gospel and this whole way of perceiving, thinking, and living that we call ‘modern Western Culture?’” We’ve been wrestling with that question for 40 years. Over the last two decades, pioneering efforts in the missional movement have been made with the mixed results expected of early experimentation. Now, mature forms of microchurch movements are emerging. COVID-19 has demonstrated the fragility of the predominant forms of Church, which has created a surging interest in simpler forms of the Church led by ordinary people.

Of course, microchurch is not a new form of the Church, but the most ancient one. A compelling case can be made that the microchurch is the original design within the pages of the New Testament. In addition, it is also the primary expression of the Church in the most significant disciple-making movements on the planet today, in places like India and China. Now is the time for us in the West to return to the microchurch for biblical, cultural, and missiological reasons.

Join Leadership Network this year for a series of catalytic conversations with leading practitioners. And follow this move of the Spirit that is bringing about the return of the microchurch.