Organic Church

Book Review.
Cole, Neil. Organic Church. Growing faith where life happens. Bjossey-Bass. 2005. A Leadership Publication.
N.C.- is a church starter and pastor, and founder and executive director of Church Multiplication Associates.
Comment. Henry.
We live in a world of change and the church is certainly not exempt from this change. Church leaders have come up with a variety of ways to make church more effective. There has been a focus on small groups, house churches, clusters, etc. This author presents the concept of an Organic Church. Now we have an environmentally friendly church. Pun intended. His ideas are biblical and his passion is commendable. Evangelism seems to be an over-arching principle of the Organic Church. There is a high level of deconstruction of the church happening in this resource. Ideas presented do raise unanswered questions (for me).
The church must move from the defensive to the offensive. Light is most effective when it enters the dark. The term “organic church” is applied to any regular gatherings of people for spiritual interaction in a specific place, e.g. a home, a park, a beach, a pub, etc. Such ‘churches’ have the capacity to multiply rapidly.
Six myths about the church are explored, e.g. church is a building, a centralized organization, etc. Church is defined as “the presence of Jesus among His people called out as a spiritual family to pursue His mission on the planet”. (53) This is a very broad definition.
The term organic is also applied to the Kingdom of God. It has to do with sowing and reaping, good seed and good soil. We need to sow in good soil. There is great potential for rapid growth when we use ‘good seed’. (There seems to be bad seed.) Growth through multiplication is a sound type of church growth. Like other forms of life the church has its unique DNA. The growth of the church should be “chaordic- characterized by the fundamental organizing principles of nature”. (123) such growth is identified as “epidemic growth”. (123)
Effective caring for people requires genuine compassion. Such compassion seems to be more prevalent in new converts than those who have been believers for a longer period of time. God is very creative when it comes to putting people in our lives that he wants us to impact with his love and compassion. We must be available and responsive. Five principles of church planting are drawn from Matthew 10 and Mark 10.
The “Organic Church” is a call to “put aside the old life and join the epidemic of God’s Kingdom”. (193)