January 13, 2007
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What is Church?
Authentic and Organic(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) This is Part 4
Church is a community of followers and believers that looks from the outside like the people on the inside (not like some other church or program somewhere else). (authentic, organic)
What makes a church, a community of followers and believers “organic” and “authentic”?
What areas of the church can reflect this principal? How can this principal be applied to these areas or other areas?
— Teaching?
— Ministries?
— Outreach?
— Missions?
— Other areas?Do you believe a church should strive to be “organic” and “authentic”?
Please, please……tell me what you think….
Comments (7)
This is what someone told me on my site: that her pastor says their church is a ‘hospital for sinners.’ That’s a very powerful thought to me. It needs to be first and foremost a place where we go to find relief from our burden of sin. And then in turn we who are healed and healing can minister that same hope to those who are still burdened. If we go to church for this purpose, and stay at church to minister in this way, that seems to me to be the best recipe for authentic, organic worship. Because we will each be there because we recognize our need, and we draw new souls to the Lord because we help them, too, find their way out of the morass we’ve been rescued from ourselves.
i think we should strive to not be inauthentic and whatever the opposite of organic is…fake? manufactured? put on?
i know the word is inorganic, but that doesn’t really do it justice….how about this……
we should keep from being “man made”.
ryc MrsDarcy: I was on a site the other day in which this sweet woman, Katie, said “Last night I wandered into the laundry mat and visited a bit with a sinner. I love to go to the laundry mat about as that is when the sinners wash their dirty laundry.” I like very much your descricption of church as a hospital for sinners.
And I agree that this is a “recipe for authentic, organic worship. Because we will each be there because we recognize our need, and we draw new souls to the Lord because we help them, too, find their way out of the morass we’ve been rescued from ourselves.” Thank you for your insight and comments
ryc Froggy: This is the essence of true organic church! I agree 100% that we should strive to keep from being “man made” because I want to be”God made”!
I have found that it’s a case of semantics, denomination, culture within American Christianity and our very mixed up society. You can’t have “relevancy” with one group and claim it’s the same or insist that it work with another.
But, we do know that as messed up as it appears to be, it still belongs to God. And I have to believe that as much as we screw it up, He’ll make good of it – or not – as He sees fit.
ryc Sally (Seamless Integration): Thank you for commenting
I’m afraid I did not totally understand the first sentance of your comment. I do certainly agree that “You can’t have “relevancy” with one group and claim it’s the same or insist that it work with another“. This is precisely the point that I am attempting to make in this discussion 
I do believe that you can have “relevancy” within a group that is organic and authentic. I will attempt to explain this small part of the bigger picture of an authentic church:
The principal of “organic and authentic” revolves around the fact that any one “church”, as an organization of Christ followers /believers, and as a small part of the bigger “C” church or kingdom, is unique and reflective in respect to it’s followers/believers….not always trying to be a church that is successful somewhere else. Because…you are very correct, “You can’t have “relevancy” with one group and claim it’s the same or insist that it work with another“.
You make very good points
I appreciate your adding to the discussion 
God bless!
At some point, I’ll attempt to decode my first sentence. I’m really sorry I didn’t distill the thought before writing it! Without distillation, some things come across as cryptic – not my intention! And, of course, I will need to track back my stream of consciousness from the other night in order to explain it. I’m not sure that will happen.
Because I respect you, your ideas and those drawn to your forum, I just might renew the dialog of this subject.
Blessings!
ryc Sally (SeamlessIntegration):
It’s funny how sometimes we write things (I do this often) and it makes perfect sense to us and we come back later and don’t quite understand what we were trying to say. I say this with a humble smile 
Please do continue the conversation 
Sally, over the years as I I have read your blog also, and I have developed a strong respect for you. I appreciate your heart. God bless!