Crowded House

Let's say you are a novice missionary in a foreign country, working among a previously unreached group in the back-of-beyond. What would you do?

This may be slightly presumptuous of me, but I imagine that one thing you wouldn't do was simply what you did back in England: for example, construct a special hut with pews and a pulpit, and meet twice on a Sunday at 10.30 and 6.30.
What I think you would do is take time to learn the language, get to know the people, familiarise yourself with the local customs, integrate yourself into the community, etc. From all this, you would try to develop a pattern of 'doing' church that was consistent with the gospel and pertinent to the people. Admittedly, this would take a long time and you would have to agree that you were there for the long haul. No quick 'fly in and rush out' approach.
However, before you did any of this, you would have to be clear that the one reason you were in that situation was because of your love for the people and your desire to tell them about Jesus as the most tangible expression of that commitment.
In other words, you're not interested in perpetuating your own hobby-horses or maintaining your traditions. You simply want to be faithful to the directive of Jesus to his church to: 'Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them into the name of the Triune God and teaching them to observe all that he has commanded' (not least to: 'Go and make disciples . . .'!).
But let's say you took that same approach, undergirded by those same convictions, in the missionary situation of the UK on the threshold of the 21st century. What could 'church' look like then? Allow me to 'share with you' the conclusions reached by a small group of people in the city of Sheffield, who had the privilege and opportunity of 'starting from scratch'.

The idea of home

The name of the church is The Crowded House, and it meets in the home of one of its leaders. The decision regarding the location is not mere pragmatism: some sort of stop-gap until a 'proper' building can be purchased or hired. It is the result of careful biblical and theological reflection, accompanied by a conviction about where many (post) modern people are at. In practical terms, this means that if the group remain true to the original idea, a church building will never be bought.
The whole vision behind the initiative is 'to plant a network of household churches', because it is felt that the idea of 'home' is a powerful metaphor that not only reflects God's 'movement' in redemptive history, but also resonates with contemporary people who are experiencing a profound sense of 'homelessness'. ( The theological and biblical reflections underpinning these assertions will be expounded in a future issue.)
The church meets together once a week, usually at around 5.30 on a Sunday afternoon. The features of that gathering vary from week to week, but always involve an exposition (sometimes interactive) of the gospel, and a meal. Sometimes songs are sung and prayers prayed, and on some weeks it looks and feels like your average church service. At other times, it doesn't look or feel remotely like one, and when the meeting is finished, some folk aren't even sure that they've been to church.

Alternative service

One example of an 'alternative' meeting will suffice.
As the church were making their way through Romans and they arrived at the famous and pivotal section of 3.21-31, instead of doing the 'normal' thing, they watched the film Dead Man Walking. The thinking behind this was not mere enjoyment, nor even a desire to be different or trendy, but because the film deals powerfully and disturbingly with the key issues of justice and forgiveness, which just happen to be the very issues Paul is dealing with! Watching the film together provided a meaningful context in which people (including a number of non-Christians) could thoughtfully consider the central question of Romans, namely how God could remain just and at the same time forgive sinners.
Within the weekly life of The Crowded House, there are no midweek meetings, but everyone is encouraged to meet with others throughout the week in a range of social settings. Those occasions are intended to be the context for prayer and mutual encouragement, because it is the conviction of those involved that these aspects of Christian discipleship should be a natural part of the lives and friendships of believers. Our motto is 'Mission through Community and Community in Mission'. Below is a copy of the covenant the church rehearses together on a regular basis.

Involving non-Christians

In terms of evangelism, the principle aim is to involve non-Christian friends and acquaintances in the network of our believing relationships. This is done through meals, trips to the cinema, walks, football, etc. Those involved will readily admit that none of them is very spectacular but all are 'the stuff of life', and they provide a way in for unbelievers and also a window through which they can see how Christians love one another.
However, one or two of these social settings have been engineered. For example, at one time, a large number of the church went to a local pub on a weekly basis. The purpose of these visits was not to hand out tracts but to meet local people and to get involved in a local community. Through this contact, Christians were able to hold their carol service in the pub last year, and well over half the 'congregation' (somewhere around 30 people?) had probably never even heard the gospel proclaimed.
Some initial thinking has begun in terms of ways in which we can explode the urban myth and see gospel churches planted in areas long since abandoned by the majority of middle-class evangelicals. The need is pressing.

Table talks

Another context for evangelism which has just begun is a series of Table Talks, in which ten or so people (a significant number of whom will not be Christians) get together for a meal and at which a topic is discussed, e.g. Truth!; Science or Christianity?; New Labour or Old Tory?; 10 Green Bottles in a Recycling Bin.
At our first Table Talk, one participant was a post-graduate student from mainland China, who had never seen a Bible before coming to this country. At the end of the meal, he commented that prior to the meal and free-flowing discussion, he had always regarded Christianity as mere superstition, but through the evening he had come to see that it was a reasonable faith believed by thoughtful people. This approach has the dual benefit of helping Christians to work out a consistent 'worldview' and also giving non-Christians a chance to contribute on 'a level playing field'.

Will it work?

Plans are well advanced to plant a second household church in an 'urban priority area' in the city in the autumn, when 13 members (the majority already living in that area), will form the nucleus. A plant is necessary, partly because the existing Crowded House is becoming too crowded (having started with 18 people, we now have over 40 at some of our meetings), but also because church planting is at the heart of the vision. The shape of that church will be very different from the shape of the initial plant (e.g. it may not meet on a Sunday), and that's simply because it will be set within a vibrant and identifiable local community, but the principles that undergird the ministry will remain constant.
It has to be said that there are no guarantees about the future. It is a classic understatement to say that it isn't easy doing church this way, and those involved have to remind themselves constantly that it really is a ministry that's long-term, low-key and relational. Furthermore, there is an in-built and necessary fragility about The Crowded House.
Understandably, people often ask if this initiative will work. That's an incredibly difficult question to answer, because at one level no one knows. But that's not all there is to be said because, on another level, it already has! By which I mean that people have been converted and Christians have been challenged and equipped to think biblically and radically. The ripples from this may seem small, but in the providence and goodness of God, they will come to shore sometime, and who knows how they will then change the shape of the coastline?
My own view is that this model may prove very significant in terms of what many churches could look like as we enter the next millennium, and the stark and uncomfortable missionary context in which we will increasingly find ourselves.

Crowded House Covenant

* We have come together, as the people of God, conscious that we have been called, by grace, into fellowship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and into fellowship with each other.

* We recognise that we are the church, with all the benefits and responsibilities that come with that privilege.

* We are committed to becoming, by grace, all that God calls us to be.

* We affirm, before God, one another, the world and the 'principalities and powers' that our calling is to Mission through Community and Community in Mission.

* We give ourselves to the task of making Jesus known to those who do not know him.

* We recognise that integral to this witness are our words, but that the context for those words is a life lived under the Lordship of Jesus, in obedience to the Scriptures, through the enabling power and grace of the Holy Spirit, upon whom we are totally and constantly dependent.

* We also admit our need of each other if we are to be effective in our discipleship and witness. Therefore we commit ourselves to one another, and to the task of learning what it means to be the family of God.

* We recognise that the fruit of the Spirit (which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control) is indispensable to this task, and we humbly and fervently ask the Holy Spirit to nurture that fruit in our lives, along with all of his gifts necessary for that to which God has called us.

* We commit ourselves to each other, conscious of our own failings and the extent of our continuing debt to a gracious, forgiving God. Therefore, as children of our Father, we covenant together to be gracious and forgiving so that when difficulties arise among us we will not simply walk away, but will make every effort to work through the difficulties and seek a resolution in keeping with who we are as children of grace.

* We also acknowledge that, as fallen individuals, we are children of our times, and that our lives and attitudes, as well as expressing our brokenness, invariably reflect our culture. This makes this covenant precarious, difficult and to some extent alien, and so although we enter willingly into it, we do so with a keen sense of our own inadequacy and sinfulness.

* Because this covenant has been spoken before God and one another, we recognise its seriousness, and with God's help, we promise to do all we can to honour it.

* We give ourselves to: mutual support and accountability; provoking one another to love and good works; helping each other grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus; costly liability for, and ready availability to each other; sharing our lives, gifts and resources; loving one another.

* In the light of God's grace and the certainty of his purposes, we look to the future, excited by the possibilities and confident only in his goodness and sovereignty.

* Our desire is to see the Father glorified, the Son exalted and the Spirit honoured. This will be done as Jesus builds his church and the rule of God extends.

* Ultimately, our hope and expectancy is in the return of the Saviour, and the glorious prospect of eternity that lies beyond, where all of God's people will be, and the full glory of our relationships to God and each other will be revealed.

An alternative approach to Christian life and witness in the community by a group in Sheffield

The idea of home

Alternative service

Involving non-Christians

Table talks

Will it work?

Crowded House Covenant

Stephen Timmis

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