~ by Pastor Rob Krause

When you begin to ask specific why? questions, there will be a thirst that will come over your life that drives you to desire, to know,  and to obtain all of the promises the Lord has for His Church. This is a journey (a deep yearning of quality men and women) for "Complete Church."

It is here that I need to introduce a tension-point, or more accurately, a philosophical divide. The Western Church^{[1] 1} is affixiated with business models, marketing, forms, and programs. Reduced to its naked equation, the magical and hollow formula is hot programs + best location + big money = "successful" results. 

The tension begins when I say that God’s heartbeat isn’t to fill those program-boxes — it’s to fill people.^{[2] 2} The Lord wants to save His people from their sin and pour true shalom into their lives ([3] 2 Cor. 5:21; [4] Col. 1:20). God’s desire is for Jesus to have preeminence in His Church ([5] Col. 1:17-19). The Father wants His children to grow to maturity and bear much fruit that will abide in Him to multiply again and again ([6] John 15:8). All of this and more is available to the believer because God’s heartbeat is to build Himself a dwelling place among His people ~ [7] Ephesians 2:21-22.

Small groups have to start here. They are the small congregations of God. Small groups are Church because the same Christ indwells both large and small gatherings of His people. Again, this is because God wants to fill people that He has made acceptable to Himself. Therefore, the small group can provide the best setting for the life of Jesus Christ to be revealed through His Christ-ones. A main reason for this is because small groups are not task-oriented, but rather, Bible-believer oriented. They can accomplish many tasks, but more importantly, the small groups can help contour disciples to the heartbeat of God = total relationship (da’at Elohim — to know God and be known by Him).

In the next part, we’ll explore more of the Father’s heartbeat through biblical examples and promises. Until then - shalom among His people. 

1. and this is now spreading to many nations beyond the West (Europe and North America) as they "import" western Churchianity. [[8] back]
2. Many men will agree with me here — in theory – but rarely in practice – because they’re so involved in holy turf-wars, orthodoxy tractor-pulls, and who’s-who dress-up conferences contests. Yes, I’m being nice here because I’d never actually want to talk about pride on a cozy blog like this. [[9] back]