Frank Viola - Finding Organic Church: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Christian Communities

What people are saying about

Frank Violas Books

From Eternity to Here

From Eternity to Here is a masterpiece. A must-read for those who believe and for others who want to believe. It reads like a movie on paper.

Dr. Myles Munroe, pastor and author of Rediscovering the Kingdom and Gods Big Idea

Frank continues to challenge the church-at-large with a powerful mind, an impassioned voice, and a love for the bride of Christ. You need to get this book and wrestle with Frank through the biblical passages regarding our identity in Christ as His body and the mission our God has entrusted to us.

Ed Stetzer, coauthor of Breaking the Missional Code (www.edstetzer.com)

As Viola unfolds the glorious story of Gods quest for a bride, readers will find their imaginations inspired and their lives transformed. The sheer beauty of Gods magnificent plan compels our allegiance and revolutionizes our lives. This retelling of the old, old story is a much-needed gift to the church today.

Greg Boyd, pastor, theologian, and author of Letters from a Skeptic, Myth of a Christian Nation, and God at War

Reimagining Church

In Reimagining Church , Frank Viola is at the top of his game, showing a serene, soaring mastery of the theology of church as organism rather than organization.

Leonard Sweet, author of Soul Tsunami, 11 , and So Beautiful

Dissent is a gift to the church. It is the imagination of the prophets that continually call us back to our identity as the peculiar people of God. May Violas words challenge us to become the change that we want to see in the church and not to settle for anything less than Gods dream for her.

Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution, activist, and recovering sinner (thesimpleway.org)

True to form, this book contains a thoroughly consistent critique of prevailing forms of church. However, in Reimagining Church , Frank Viola also presents a positive vision of what the church can become if we truly reembraced more organic, and less institutional, forms of church. This is a no-holds-barred prophetic vision for the church in the twenty-first century.

Alan Hirsch, missional strategist and author of The Forgotten Ways

FINDING ORGANIC CHURCH

Published by David C. Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C. Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C. Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

David C. Cook and the graphic circle C logo

are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a

resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an

endorsement on the part of David C. Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the Holy Bible,

New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International

Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture

quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible ,

Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; NKJV are

taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson,

Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved; MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE .

Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group; KJV are taken from the King

James Version of the Bible. (Public Domain); and ESV are taken from The Holy

Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a

division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

LCCN 2009929670

ISBN 978-1-4347-6866-7

eISBN 978-0-7814-0352-8

2009 Frank Viola

Published in association with the literary agency of Daniel Literary

Group, 1701 Kingsbury Dr., Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37215

The Team: Don Pape, John Blase, Amy Kiechlin,
Sarah Schultz, Jack Campbell, and Karen Athen

Cover Design: Tim Green, The DesignWorks Group

Cover Illustration: Connie Gabbert, The DesignWorks Group

First Edition 2009

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Reclaiming the Biblical Narrative

PART ONE
PLANTING THE SEEDBIBLICAL PRINCIPLES FOR CHURCH PLANTING

1. The Divine Pattern of Church Formation

2. Restoring the Itinerant Worker

3. The Master Plan of Church Planting

4. Apostolic Covering vs. Apostolic Help

5. The Modern House Church Movement

6. Restoration or Revolution?

PART TWO
TILLING THE GROUNDANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

7. Can The New Testament Example Be Applied Today?

8. Was Paul an Exception?

9. Is Church Planting Elitist?

10. Cant Anyone Start an Organic Church?

11. Wasnt Paul the Last Apostle?

12. Dont Apostles Perform Signs and Wonders?

PART THREE
CULTIVATING THE SOIL PRACTICAL STEPS FOR BEGINNING

13. Discovering Organic Church

14. Five Unmovable Principles

15. Learning How to Meet

16. Corporate Singing

17. Building Community

18. Twelve Essential Ingredients

PART FOUR
PULLING THE WEEDSHEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT

19. The Growth Stages of an Organic Church

20. The Seasons of an Organic Church

21. The Diseases of an Organic Church I

22. The Diseases of an Organic Church Ii

23. How An Apostolic Worker Cares for a Church

24. The Journey Ahead

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

About The Author

PREFACE

Since Ive been writing about organic church life, people have consistently asked me two questions: (1) Where can I find the type of church that you write about? and (2) How does one plant an organic church?

This book is an attempt to answer both questions in a comprehensive way.

The principles set forth are not untested theories. You will not find armchair philosophy or bloodless abstractions within these pages.

Rather, the principles described have been hammered out on the anvil of experienceboth positive and negative. They have been discovered through many mistakes (a good number of which are my own) as well as a number of accidental successes. They are also supported by the voice of Scripture.

I have often described myself as an observing biologist. For the last twenty-one years, Ive watched organic church life take root. Ive observed how it functions, what nurtures it, and what chokes it.

I will shamelessly admit that I dont possess all the answers. Im still in school. Im still watching the glories and gores of organic church life. Im also still experimenting. I dont believe there are any experts in this businessonly a catalog of failures and successes.

This book, then, is an attempt to present a theology of organic church planting, along with a number of practical helps for those who wish to embark on this journey.

Since Ive been a Christian, Ive made a number of observations regarding the problems endemic to the contemporary churchboth traditional and nontraditional. These experiences have led me to the following conclusions:

1. Most churches, including a large number of house churches and simple churches, have strayed far afield from the experience of the body of Christ. The chief reason being that we have largely ignored what Scripture has to say about Gods way of planting churches.