The story behind the community of faith called “Compass” is one of passion for a mission that is as old as ancient faith in Jesus itself.

In March of 2007, while on a spring break mission trip to Mexico, the Holy Spirit spoke to Pastor Dave the following: “The kingdom is built in the streets by those who are willing to give up the palace.” The next months took us on an incredible journey that led us to sell the church building we had met in for almost 20 years (“giving up the palace”) and establishing a different method of “doing church”. This new method is to begin microchurches; smaller gatherings of believers that meet in homes, offices, pubs, cafes, etc. (“building the kingdom in the streets”)

We have come to realize that researchers like George Barna (The Barna Group) and others are on to something when their statistics show that our culture is in a major transition, that the conventional modern church is on the decline; and there are some 22 million devoted followers of Jesus in the United States who are not affiliated with any local traditional expression of church.

The Emerging Culture of Post-Moderns

Our culture is changing; dramatically and rapidly. This cultural change is at the heart of where we are headed socially, spiritually, politically, and in most every other way; a shift that will dramatically change what most of us have known all our lives in the “modern” culture; what we have grown up in, lived in, worked in and gone to church in.

Announcing the arrivals of the “post-moderns”!

Research from various sources describes this emerging generation in the following ways:

• Ages: 16-35. Barna Research says they are leaving organized religion in mass. Even mega-churches are seeing the exodus and realizing that their modern “seeker service” approach works well for “boomers” & “busters”, but not for the emerging generation.

• They like Jesus, but not the church. Many are deeply spiritual and interested in spiritual things; generally they have a highly positive opinion of Jesus, but a negative view of the church (sometimes, really negative).

• Not only post-modern; many are post-Christian. By post-Christian we refer to the growing number who did not grow up in “Christian homes” and who may have never even been to a church. Without this background, they tend to see no need or value in being connected to organized religion.

• Different values/morals. Post-Christians often do not possess the assumed set of Judeo-Christian values/morals that previous generations grew up with; adopting a very “live and let live” life approach. Worldviews and core values that tend toward absolutism (held by many modern evangelicals) are often summarily rejected.

• And one more thing… relationships are paramount. “Hanging out with friends” is a standard pass time that is valued highly by these in this emerging culture. To this generation, community is of utmost importance; and friends and relationships are paramount.

The remarkable thing for most of us who have been Christians “all our lives” is we didn’t see this coming. Caught up in our own “Christian bubbles”, we didn’t notice these had gone missing from our churches. And they aren’t the only ones missing…

Disenfranchised Believers

George Barna’s research reveals an entire segment of our population who are followers of Jesus and have a devout faith but do not attend any local church. Barna Research Group numbers indicate there are 22 million of these disenfranchised believers from all age groups in the United States. Many are living lives patterned after the teachings of Christ, they may meet in small groups for bible study and fellowship, and they may even support good Christian causes with their “tithes”; but, are not attached to any local congregation. Generally they are turned off by the commercialism of buildings, budgets, and programs; and see no value in being involved in structured religion.

Questions that MUST be answered:

• What happens to our society and to the Church as we know it if the church becomes irrelevant to our culture for an entire generation or longer?

• If this is a spiritually hungry generation (and it is), generally put off by the modern expression of Christianity (and they are); won’t they look for answers in other world religions, belief systems, philosophies, etc.? (and they already are)

• If there are millions of disenfranchised believers who are disconnected from the modern church expression, should the church consider changing our methods in order to reach them in a culturally relevant way and grow with them on their faith journey?

• Didn’t Jesus, Paul, and others model this type of evangelism in the New Testament? Didn’t they go to where the people were, crossing cultural and social boundaries to “be all things to all people, that they might win some”?

Not a right and wrong thing…

We are NOT saying that the modern church has “got it all wrong”. Critique and criticism is not our purpose or goal. In fact, many boomers and busters will continue to be reached for the next 20-30 years through the modern church approach. But some of us must turn our attention toward the emerging culture. This is not “out with the old and in with the new”; but instead doing what missionaries do when they find themselves in a different culture. They know the most effective mission work is to adapt the message of Jesus to that culture. Paul did that in Acts 17.

Not every church needs to shift their paradigm; just enough of us to reach out to a culture that is hungry for spiritual things and ready for the next expression of the Church. The words of Jesus have never been truer: “Lift up your eyes to the fields for they are ripe for harvest.”

A New … Ancient Structure

There’s really nothing new here, this is a structure that worked well in the first century; is biblically based, sound in orthodoxy, already working around the world in many cultures, and is once again relevant to the needs of our emerging culture.

And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47 NAS

House churches (MicroChurches) were at the core of the first century church structure. In the early days of the church, the Book of Acts tells us these new, young believers were meeting in homes, smack in the middle of the culture in small MicroChurches and they were assembling in larger meetings for corporate worship gatherings. The focus of the smaller groups was studying the teachings of the apostles (discipleship) and supporting each other to live their lives with a missional focus (relationship evangelism). But most importantly… their efforts worked! The Lord was adding to their number daily.

This simplified approach didn’t focus on buildings, budgets, and programs – things that have been at least in part responsible for the “disconnect” among post-moderns, post-Christians, and the disenfranchised and are ironically the things that tend to dominate the modern definition of what church is.

In addition to the house to house expression, there is still a need for larger worship gatherings; where corporate worship takes place and where teaching and training for ministry can be coordinated. If you will, a network of MicroChurches that assists the smaller groups to pool their resources to be more effective in their mission.

A Word from Pastor Dave

As the father of a “twenty-something”, I know personally how important it is for the Church today to make the shift to reach an emerging culture and generation. Words can’t express how deep this vision is in my heart. I have wrestled night and day for more than three years with the questions that are raised above. I see an emerging sea of people who are out there without the love and message of Jesus Christ. Some of that is their fault, but much of it is the way the church has not been in tune with the culture in resent years.

As lead pastor, my role is to lead, not to be the head. We desire to take a decentralized approach to how ministry is done and who does it. The Apostle Paul says the job of church leaders is to equip the saints for the work of service. So, my personal goal is to train pastors; equipping them to lead MicroChurches in their homes, offices, dorms, and other community based locations. Compass is a networking center for these smaller groups; making disciples of men and women who catch the vision for what the church was left here on earth to accomplish… “make disciples of all nations”.

We have a little saying we live by at Compass: “the kingdom is built in the streets by those who are willing to give up the palace”. The streets are where the lost and hurting, the poor and the sick are; and that is where the church should be too.

At Compass there are no perfect people allowed. You can always come as you are