Hugh Halter - AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

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AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

Copyright 2010 by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition MARCH 2010 ISBN: 978-0-310-57624-2

Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Halter, Hugh, 1966 .

AND: the gathered and scattered church / Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.

p. cm.(Exponential series)

ISBN 978-0-310-32585-7 (softcover)

1. Church. 2. Church growth. I. Smay, Matt, 1972II. Title. III. Title: Gathered and scattered church.

BV600.3.H355 2010

254.5dc22

2009053278

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Published in association with the literary agency of WordServe Literary Group, Ltd., 10152 S. Knoll Circle, Highlands Ranch, CO 80130.

Again, to our wives, Cheryl and Maren, and our kids, Ryan, Alli, Mckenna, Maegan, and Madison, who have given up a lot of precious family time to allow this story to be told. We are grateful for your sacrifice with us. Hopefully, normal life may resume soon.

To the Church, and the Head of the Church, Christ our Lord.

ONE OF GODS MOST AWESOME DISPLAYS of creativity happens during the autumn season. God brings out a variety of brilliant colorsoranges, reds, and yellowsas the leaves change and transition from the shades of summer green. After the brilliance of these autumn colors, the leaves die and float to the ground.

Most people collect them in piles and dispose of them. However, there are occasions when the carefully gathered leaves get scattered back to the wind. And kids are usually the culprits. Children just love to gather hundreds of leaves in piles, rolling in them, jumping in them, throwing them aroundthen scattering them back into the yard again.

Of course, parents who have worked hard at gathering piles dont always appreciate seeing them scattered, but occasionally, they too will join in the fun. Yet joining in the game requires a shift in their thinking, recognizing that leaves can be more than something we gather to throw awaythey can also be a source of joy as they are scattered back to the wind by playful children.

Gods brilliant creativity can also be seen in the beautifully diverse body of his Son, Jesus Christ. The church is beautiful when Gods people are gathered together in worship. But in addition to the beauty of the gathered body, there is another side to the beauty of the church. There is a profound beauty we can see and experience when Gods Spirit stirs the gathered body of Christ, scattering them outward to the ends of the earth.

God has always shown a desire to be in fellowship with human beings and to provide for their needs. Sadly, that desire was spoiled through our disobedience in the garden. After God scattered Adam and Eve by casting them out of the garden, we see a recurring pattern that unfolds in the Scriptures: a cycle of scattering and gathering. The human race gathers together in pride at the Tower of Babel, and God scatters them. People from every nation under heaven gather on the day of Pentecost to hear about Gods mighty deeds, and they are scattered back to their peoples to bring the message of the gospel. The early church gathered to celebrate Gods redemptive work through Jesus, yet they were soon scattered by persecution and the move of Gods Spirit.

Just as love and marriage go together (you really cant have a good one without the other), gathering and scattering go together. Thats just the way God set things up! He chose to gather a people to himself from among the scattered peoples of the world.

And he is still at work today, scattering his gathered church to the ends of the earth. He scatters us to proclaim his glory and his goodness among those that havent yet been gathered. If we want to honor Gods intentions, we must recognize that its not really about gathering or scattering. Its about both. For the most part, the church in North America has the gathering part down pretty good. Its the scattering that we need to work on.

Over the last several years, I have written about putting the revitalization of the church AND being missional together. Ive sought to champion the idea that the mission of the church is really about making more AND better followers. Whether your church is a mega, multi, or a mini, the reality is that God is using each of these modelsand the people in these churchesto advance his kingdom. God is the one who calls us, gathers us, shapes us, and sends us out againregardless of the size or structure of our church.

In addition, he is the one who owns the church. The church, in all of her shapes, sizes, and models and with all of her flaws and unusual fragrances, belongs to him. Jesus paid the redemptive price for a people who would reflect the radiance of his glory and the reality of his presence to every tongue, tribe, and nation.

Matt, Hugh, and I agree that the church needs to become more missional, that we need to learn how to make more and better disciples, and that we need to do a better job of scattering our gathered bodies back into the world, a world that desperately needs to know the truth about God. We do all of this to reach the nations and bring glory to our redeeming God. Thats the message of this book.

These two missional leaders have provided a resource that will help followers of Jesus, church leaders, and local churches learn how to better express the missional movements of gathering AND scattering in the body of Jesus Christ. Consider the biblical principles and practices they describe as they flesh out what God has been doing in their lives and the communities of Adullam. Then, decide what thoughts, ideas, and strategies God might want you to use in your life as a follower of Jesus and in your local church context.