"Christ's global garden grows in local plots"

One of the recent trends that has spread rapidly among evangelical Christian churches has been the 'multi-site model' of setting up a single congregation with numerous locations for gathering. Michael Horton highlights some of the issues inherent in this approach in his excellent book, Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World

"One example of the tendency to shift our focus from the ministry to the ministers, I believe, is the proliferation of multi-site churches. I am not in any way suggesting that those who favor a multi-site model of ministry are guilty of reckless ambition. I take it for granted that they are motivated by mission and would agree heartily with much else that I’ve argued here. My concern, however, is that the model is more susceptible to a greater focus on the minister than on the ministry.

Regardless of intentions, the medium ensures that he can never be the pastor, but only a celebrity teacher. By being the “pastor” of many churches, he is actually the pastor of none. Furthermore, it is his board that has the last word. This model seems far more hierarchical than the others it rebelled against.

Christ’s global garden grows concretely only in local plots."

(Kindle: location 1931)

Joanna Wishard

Book Recommendation: Ordinary

Michael Horton's book Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World is a great read for every believer who is struggling to keep up with the demands of every new kid on the block with a new strategy to make us bolder and better Christians. 

I'd highly recommend Dr. Horton's message of finding life in the ordinary activities of the Christian life. We so easily neglect the most important means by which God builds our faith and nourishes our souls: His Word and the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord's Supper). 

Here's an excerpt that identifies precisely what is the problem in our time:

“Commonly, the rhetoric of radical in our churches actually mirrors our culture, even when — no, especially when — it invokes the lingo of “countercultural,” “subversive,” “alternative,” “extreme,” and so forth. The likes of Athanasius, Augustine, Bernard, Luther, and Calvin sought to reform the church. But for centuries now radical Protestants have been trying to reboot, reinvent, start over, and reconstitute the real church of the true saints over against the ordinary churches.”

— Michael Horton, 'Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World'

Buy the book here

Read a helpful review of the book here