Total Mileage: 8,990
Song of the Day:
"Must I Wait" (Phil Wickham)
Oof, very much in a food coma from Austin-style Tex-Mex. Stephen Currie and family are treating me quite well in both the food and accommodations departments, so before I pass out into digestive slumber, I think I should get a little writing under my belt so that there will be that much more time for the worship experiences tomorrow without too much pressure to collect raw data or record first impressions. I have a couple of half-finished writing projects sitting on my desktop begging to be completed as well, but for now, I think I’ll just give a little background on the churches I’ll be visiting tomorrow.
Country Hill Bible Church (CHBC)- The Church Planting Mega
The term “Bible Church” can suggest an affiliation with any number of groups or no specific group at all (like the nondenominational Mars Hill Bible Church back in Michigan). It could be Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches of Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches or Bible Fellowship Church or . . . you get the idea; there are a lot of Bible Churches that could be affiliated with any number of groups, so unless you’ve done your research, going to a Bible Church is kind of a theological crapshoot. I believe this particular group has pre-controversy conservative Southern Baptist roots, but maybe it’s better to read up on their theology instead of trying to make an assumption based on denominational history. Since I’ve got inerrancy on the brain lately, I decided to take a close look at CHBC’s “What We Believe” section on their website. I thought it was curious that they called it “the essentials,” but maybe I just have my fundamentalism sensors on high right now since I’ve been thinking so much about Baptist politics. The first line on the site spoke to the importance of the Bible:
We believe that the Bible (the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the written word of God. It was verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. It does not affirm falsehoods of any kind and is the final authority in matters of faith and practice.
I think it sort of sounds like Article VI of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy or maybe the Baptist Faith and Message with its “without any mixture of error” language. Their statement of belief also included most of the standards: the Trinity, the Fall, Sin, Salvation, etc. I noticed an unusually strong emphasis on angels, and they don’t hesitate to talk about Hell, and I’m not sure that their wordings of these concepts were really essential, but they were still interesting, and you could definitely make an argument for their being biblical. I wondered if maybe their section on the Church could be fleshed out a bit, but of course, CHBC’s interpretation of the Church is actually what originally drew my interest.
CHBC has a pretty impressive history of church planting. The church started with just 17 people in 1985 and eventually grew to 6,000. In more recent years, their goal has been to create a network of independent and self-governing churches to minister to the 1.7 million residents of Austin. According to CHBC’s statistics, less than 17% of the people in Austin attend church, and only 8% attend an evangelical church (however you choose to differentiate that). Even though the number of churches in Austin is increasing, the percentage of attendance is decreasing, and CHBC is hoping to reverse that trend through their church planting program. One thing that I really appreciate about CHBC is that they are very careful to differentiate between a church plant (which they start and then nurture into an autonomous sister church) and a satellite campus (an extension of the church which shares its same leadership). CHBC does both, but their main focus is on generating autonomous sister churches and using those as a ministry to the unchurched and non-evangelical in Austin. Currently, CHBC has two campuses and has planted 22 churches in the Austin area. Their goal is to have 10% of the city of Austin involved in CHBC church plants, and just so we’re clear, that’s 170,000 people, a number that could put Joel Osteen to shame. To facilitate this many new churches, CHBC actually has its own Church Plant Training Center, which offers residency programs for church planters. Their goal is to start 100 churches in the next five years. I remarked to Stephen that I thought that was pretty ambitious, and his reply was, “Yeah, but they’re doing it.”
CHBC also has a global mission program that offers international mission opportunities of various durations, as well as opportunities to serve here in Austin. They have their own Christian school. They operate a large number of small groups. The church does quite a bit. Should make for an interesting Sunday morning. I’m planning to catch their 11:30 service at the Northwest Campus (the main location) in between Austin Stone services, and speaking of that . . .
Austin Stone Community Church (ASCC)- The Missional Mega
Well look at that. Another covertly Southern Baptist multisite megachurch. Yes, I realize that this makes like three in a row and at least the fourth of the summer, but keep in mind that I’m doing all this as a Cooperative Baptist with interests in church planting and ecumenical dialogue, so these types of churches are naturally fascinating to me. Hey, no matter how scholarly a research project appears to be, there’s really no such thing as objective study, so I’m just rolling with it and wearing my biases out there on my sleeve. Covertly Southern Baptist multisite megachurches are pretty much crack for me at this point, so I’m attending quite a few. When Stephen saw on facebook that I was studying megachurches this summer and would be spending some time in Texas, he contacted me and told me about ASCC, where he and his family attended for a time before feeling called to another church. I’ve also heard this church referred to with the shorthand “The Stone,” but for now, I’m just going to stick with ASCC. ASCC prides itself on being a missional community, which their website explains as:
The Austin Stone is a network of missional communities-- small groups of people, joined by the Gospel, pursuing the renewal and redemption of their community together. Missional community is the primary way to connect with others at The Austin Stone and pursue life on mission. . . . A missional community is not JUST a small group, Bible study, support group, social activist group, or a weekly meeting. It can involve these sorts of things, but it doesn’t stop there. Our missional communities worship God, live in community, get trained for ministry, and make disciples together…over time. Being involved in community is critical to being the church rather than simply attending church.
Whoa. Right on.
One of the first things that I noticed about the ASCC is that their identity and belief statements are presented in bullet points. As a 20-something with a short attention span and quite a bit of writing ahead of me, I found this incredibly convenient, and it makes me suspect that ASCC will probably cater to people mostly in my age range. Perhaps this will be another big box like Mosaic two weeks ago? Truth be told, I kind of missed the big box this past Sunday, so I welcome that. (I just felt like 75% of my Duke classmates shudder at that comment.)
ASCC has some fascinating missions programs. For example, the 100 People Network is trying to send out one hundred ASCC members to serve as missionaries for two years or more in other countries with large communities of unreached people. There are also a number of short-term mission trip opportunities available, including locations like the Dominican Republic, Central Asia, North Africa, Haiti, and Memphis. WAIT, MEMPHIS?! Oh, I seriously hope you people mean the city in Egypt. Sure, my hometown in Tennessee needs help, but I’m not sure we’re really a missions destination in the same way those other locations are. ASCC also offers chances to serve the church directly through hospitality ministries and technical assistance, and a number of local service opportunities are available through their For the City Network. In fact, the number of volunteer positions available through For the City is fairly staggering.
I’m already wondering if this might turn out to be a mission-minded mega like Resurrection. The church’s website makes a point of saying that they’re very much a church for Austin rather than simply a church in Austin. I’ll be interested in seeing how that service mentality manifests itself in a worship setting. ASCC has two campuses: the gymnasium of Austin High School and a more standard church building on St. Johns Ave closer to the Curries’ house. The St. John campus is interesting to me because it also serves as office space for a series of nonprofits, and that makes my emerging missional heart flutter. I’m going to attempt to visit both campuses, the St. John in the morning and the High School in the evening, so, if all goes according to plan, my schedule tomorrow will look something like this:
9AM- ASCC (St. John)
11:30AM- CHBC (Northwest Campus)
--lunch, writing, dinner--
7PM- ASCC (Austin High School)
Wow, three services in one day after a two-week break. I believe the optimum word here would be:
CANNONBALL!
Peace and Blessings,
Tom
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