AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

By Hugh Halter and Matt Smay

It's time to stop asking the old questions about how to do church better and instead ask how churches can more effectively participate in and grow God's kingdom. AND helps Christian leaders recognize the best in different church models and see how to incorporate these values into a cohesive church movement.

By the numbers, the American church enjoys the resources to profoundly impact the Kingdom. But despite the rapid growth of these evangelical movements, the church in the West is in decline. A growing schism has emerged between the movement with a strong emphasis on attracting people and the more missional communities that focus on releasing people into ministry.

Church resource specialists Hugh Halter and Matt Smay have been observing these different church models, and they challenge the idea that churches have to choose between them—between the attractional and missional approaches to ministry.

With professional insight and practical advice, Halter and Smay dial in on how to bring together the very best of the attractional AND missional models for church ministry by exploring:

• The balance between gathering a community together AND scattering them into the world.
• The harmony between centralization AND decentralization in church structure.
• The mindset necessary to invest in both the traditional AND the innovative.
• The drive to maintain both a vision for the future AND a depth of community for the present.

As churches begin to develop these ANDs, they will be better positioned to influence the world according to the design of God instead of the whims of the people or the pride associated with production.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Apr 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9780310576242

Hugh Halter

Hugh Halter is the national director of Missio, serving as a mentor to a global network of missional leaders and church planters. He is lead architect of Adullam, a congregational network of missional communities in Denver, Colorado (www.adullamdenver.com), and is the coauthor of The Tangible Kingdom with Matt Smay.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

The Beautifully Sent Church

BEFORE I SHARE THIS NEXT THOUGHT, I feel compelled, out of my personal insecurity, to tell you that I’m a man…a real man, a man’s man. I like mixed martial arts. I often eat an entire Chipotle burrito with extra meat. I enjoy fishing, hunting, and taking the top off my Jeep Wrangler during 2:00 p.m. lightning storms in Denver. I don’t eat glass, but I do enjoy the challenge of seeing how many pieces of bacon I can consume without negative internal issues. I’d like to keep going so you really know that I’m securely entrenched in my manhood, but I should probably move on.

The reason I waste your time proving myself to you is because yesterday, while in the lobby of a hotel, I was watching a morning news show where the newscasters were sharing the story of Christian the Lion. There’s a book about this lion available, so I’ll spare you the details, but essentially these two dudes who lived in London decided to purchase and try raising a lion together. Even though they didn’t know much about lions, they apparently did a great job. Eventually, when their pet lion reached adult size, they felt compelled to release it into the African wild. They weren’t sure if he would survive, and it was incredibly painful for them to say goodbye to Christian.

A year later, they decided to return to Africa and see how the lion they had raised was doing and whether he would still recognize them. They had a video camera on the scene when Christian came out of the woods, and the news show let us watch their reunion. It was pretty amazing! Christian the Lion came slowly out of the savanna, caught wind of his old friends, and then saw them off in the distance. Excitedly, he rushed toward them and mauled them with love and licks and lion hugs and all sorts of other feline mushy stuff. As I watched, I had to look around to make sure no one was watching me, because I was whimpering like a teenage cheerleader who just got dumped by her first boyfriend.

So why all the emotion? Whenever I see someone invest time and energy and love into something and then willingly sacrifice it, giving away what they have, it’s powerful!

I’ve seen a similar story played out many times when I’ve been fortunate enough to officiate weddings. Just last year in Adullam, I performed thirteen wedding ceremonies. Most of them were in beautiful settings. Some were in the Rocky Mountains, often overlooking spacious woods, canyons, or rivers. Some were in the city in ornate churches, and two were actually on beaches—one in Florida and one in Cancún.

Most of the couples I knew very well. As I had a hand in even helping some of them connect, I always felt compelled to get to know the parents during the preliminaries. On the rehearsal day, the moms were usually busy, scurrying around working, while the dads tended to lie back, grab a beer, and wait for their one and only responsibility. Although the job of the bride’s father is pretty easy, I’ve learned that I need to have them practice it at least once. Their primary task? To give away their daughter, the bride.

Most of the fathers I’ve had the privilege of knowing were pretty burly dudes, hearty blokes with calloused hands, a hard work ethic, and broken-down bodies as evidence. Yet without exception I find that during the trial run these guys seem to get really quiet, sometimes even welling up with a few tears. It’s only practice, but they seem to suddenly get serious when the thought hits them and they realize they are about to say goodbye to their little lady.

The next day, the real deal happens. After the procession, a few songs are sung, maybe a reading or two, then the music changes to signal the entrance of the bride. As the reverend, I always try to remain composed…after all, that is my job. But something diabolical happens to me at this point. I always make the mistake of looking at the face of the bride’s father. Most of the time you can see the dad starting to quiver, his eyes filling with moisture as he reflects on how important this girl has been to him. Most men don’t think in detailed pictures, but no dad can forget the thousands of memories: the times we protected them, worked hard to provide for them, taught them to drive, took them to practice, rooted for them in the bleachers, or drove them to their first day of college. It’s just too darn much to take in! Every time I see the face of that father, I just lose it and have to fight to keep from bawling like a baby.

The father slowly walks his cherished daughter down the aisle. The music stops. Dad stands proudly, painfully holding back his emotions, as I say, Who gives this woman to be joined in marriage with this man? After a pause, the father responds, I do. He then takes his daughter’s arm and gently unwraps it from his, bends down to kiss his baby goodbye, and extends her hand out toward this new man and her new life with

Reviews for AND

[shannonkearns · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Really bad theology, really good practical advice.