‘Outside-in’ church is the Acts church of the New Testament. This is how we know what style of Christian church God desires today and consequently how some current churches need to change.
My previous articles covered how Jesus and the disciples modelled this ‘outside-in’ church. The Holy Spirit church age imitated and further developed this model in light of the Spirit’s leading through loving relationships, prayer and the Apostles’ doctrine (Acts chapter 2, verse 42). While mutual edification and a growing love for God (all biblical pillars of ‘church’) was one pillar of this church, Jesus’ foundational call to ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation’ was an equal passion and practice.
It begins and ends with ‘going’
The command to ‘Go’ brought about the first congregations and became the continuing vision of their earthly mission for Christ, along with the goal of personal spiritual growth. An end result of this church mission was, in the Apostle Paul’s words, to reach ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’—to fully imitate, not just the holiness of Christ, but His practical life and ministry. This is why Paul encouraged his readers to ‘imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ’ (1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 11).
This biblical ‘outside-in’ form of church which Jesus first modelled and the Acts church followed, imitated Christ’s sacrificial service-ministry and the preaching of the gospel, and never ‘sold’ anything as is sometimes the mistake of well-meaning churches.
So what should this church look like? There’s no need to throw ‘the baby out with the bathwater’ so to speak. An ‘outside-in’ church doesn’t mean all traditional church structures and practises should be thrown out, but it does mean rethinking how and why they should operate. It should start with a church’s founding focus. Two pillars should be formed: on the one hand, mutual edification and spiritual growth should be sought, on the other, a visible (out in the world), engaged and powerful witness for Christ.
Pillar 1: Edification and spiritual growth
Let’s start with what mutual edification and spiritual growth should look like in a Godly church.
Mutual edification should mean that the specific spiritual gifts should not bring an ungodly hierarchy to the church which result in congregation members becoming disengaged and unnecessary. A pastor should not mean we ignore Paul’s encouragement that ‘you all can prophesy one by one’, or that we disallow people from sharing what God has given them for the specific purpose of mutual edification:
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up (1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 26).
If church structures currently mean that not all members are needed, then that church structure is not an entirely Godly one because the Bible says that, “those parts (of the body) that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 22). A healthy church will mean that all are engaged, giving, and necessary.
Pillar 2: Visible gospel-service
Now let’s look at the other aspect of an outside-in church: how a visible and powerful gospel-service ministry should reveal itself.
An ‘outside-in’ church should meet to serve out in the world as often as it does to meet for itself. While this may work in different ways as the Holy Spirit leads and practical needs dictate (there can be different ways of working - 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 27), the biblical example shows our ministry must be visible to the world.
If we are ‘out’ preaching and teaching in the world, many will hear the gospel and biblical truths who otherwise would never hear it because they’d never come within our church walls. The gospel message should be kept the same: men should be called to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died and was risen, and to repent of sins and turn to God. Those who believe should be baptised to confirm salvation and encouraged to confess faith openly.
Secondly, everyone should be involved. All believers are disciples of Jesus, and are therefore called to share their faith with those who don’t know Him.
Thirdly, it should be characterised by a service to the lost and needy. New Testament service involved providing food for the hungry and taking care of widows. Believers followed Jesus’ instruction to visit the sick and imprisoned, take care of strangers, and clothe the poor.
Finally, a visible gospel-service ministry will be evidence by signs which Jesus said would follow them that believe, and which He used to confirm the truth of the gospel (Mark chapter 16, verse 20). Jesus said these signs would be to drive out demons, speak in tongues, heal the sick and experience heavenly protection (Mark chapter 16, verses 17-18). Congregations should be trained in these things in order to be effective witnesses for Jesus.
Practically biblical
All these things at once can seem like an intimidating and impractical way to do church. But the biblical example shows that if the body works together, this kind of church is actually empowering and simplistic. This is because the biblical model of believers meeting together for edification and growth in their understanding was directly linked to their applying what they learnt and training to ‘do the works’ Jesus did.
My next article will explore how churches can train and operate as ‘outside-in’ churches.
Tim’s home is in Minnesota, America. He has a Graduate Associate of Theology degree, completed a year of Masters of Divinity in Theology, and has just over six years teaching experience in Christian Education. He enjoys being a Youth Pastor, Christian writing, and spending time with friends.
Tim Price’s previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/tim-price.html