Hey everybody, welcome to the Pini Podcast. In this episode, we are going to be diving deeper into the neighborhood church model. If you are listening, this is a conversation that's going to show up on Purpose Reoving Podcast, Tory Team Talks Podcast, or the Microsite Ministry Podcast itself. And today, Robert Cortez in Studio With Me, as we detail, some of the team expectations.
What should be kind of the higher value, those expectations of anybody that you're going to involve and invite to be a part of your team? And what are these consistent qualities that you should be keeping at the front of your mind when executing a neighborhood church, a.k.a. a microsite, whatever you call it, what are the values that we're going to be implementing, and what are some of the expectations we're going to be holding each of our teams as they facilitate neighborhood churches? That's what we're going to talk about in this episode.
It's going to be three basic expectations. Let's get a quick overview. If you haven't caught the other episodes, neighborhood churches are gatherings of dozens in a home, apartment, backyard, front yard, a park, a beach, anywhere where you're safely able to get together with a few people beyond your home where you live with people of the same household. So a neighborhood church for Robert and I would be the Cortez's plus me, the P-Fam, plus let's say Carolina and Krista, right?
That would be Robert and Liz. My family is four, that's six, and then we invite two others, eight, nine, that's a neighborhood church. My idea in my mind is that the best size neighborhood churches are less than two dozen people. If you've got 24 people in your neighborhood church counting kids, that's a huge gathering of people.
That's a concert. Yeah, that's a concert. So my recommendation is that neighborhood churches are in the dozen. Dozens seems to be the sweet spot.
It's not about being the biggest. It's really about being the best and most known, that you would know the people that are coming to your neighborhood church, and you'd be able to pray for them and know them and share story with them, and really connect everybody together. So that's the definition of a neighborhood church. In episodes past, we talk about the values that you'll be experiencing in neighborhood church.
We talk about the flow, the service format. We talk about why a neighborhood church is something that we're putting so much of our time and our leadership capacity into. In this season, when everybody's wondering what the next variation of church is gonna look like. So welcome to the conversation, Robert.
Always glad to have you. Thanks for opening up your studio. Excited, let's do this. Let's talk team expectations.
The first one that I've got out there is what we've already been celebrating within our church. People say, man, when are you gonna be opening the church? I respond quickly. We never closed.
We have never been more missional, never been more connected. I believe for our church specifically, Twirly Pines Church is a 60 year old church. We've been more acutely aware of the needs of our neighborhood and our city beyond our congregation. In the last three, two to three months, I think that I've been the local lead pastor for sure.
I've been so proud of our church community. And we've rallied around this one hashtag, be the church. It's more than just going to church. It's more than just attending church.
It's understanding that you're called to be the church. I said it in our regathering plan, state of the union address, that we realize and we celebrate, that we are so aware that the church is more than its places. It is about its people. It's more than our property.
It is about the people that make up our church. And so when we talk about the expectation for folks, when they facilitate a neighborhood church, I want you to keep the idea of being the church at the forefront of your experience and the forefront of every team members mind. And this is what I mean by being the church, that you and your team are the church. But if somebody comes to your neighborhood church, maybe they've never been to Torrey Pines Church, maybe you're facilitating your neighborhood church out of the state of Texas, or maybe you're in Hawaii, or maybe you're in Singapore, or maybe you're in Northern California, you actually never get to the property.
You have to understand that you are hashtag to be the church. That's right, you are to be the church. So you and your team are the church, which means you should be involved with the service. Rob, you remember this, when the teams were integrated and they're invested in the service, when they sit and listen, when they engage in worship, so goes the church, right?
What were some of the, some of the like the opposite expressions, you remember when we used to run micro sites or neighborhood churches, and the whole team would be standing in the back. Yes, I remember that. Right? And what was the effect of the church itself, when the whole team was more focused on just observing versus actually being the church themselves?
It created a little bit of a barrier, like in a, like a wall where people were looking out and going, why are there a bunch of people looking back in? Yes. And that's when you shifted the conversation about us being in the audience, kind of being in the service, just observing and handing them a kickle-out, people are okay. Right, right.
The temptation is certainly there, right? When you're facilitating a service, you want to stand at the back of the room, you want to see how things look. And there's a time for that. There is a moment for that, but we in our experience believe that the people who experience the best neighborhood churches are seeing the team who is leading it, engaging in service first.
Yeah, and if they become leaders, they're going to replicate what they see. Exactly, exactly. So if you run a neighborhood church, where all you do is stand on the very back of the room and you just watch. They're texting or something.
Yes, if your expectation is that the people that you're facilitating neighborhood church for is going to, they're going to go deep and they're going to connect and they're going to be invested, you have to lead by example. That's why we value this. Be the church, be the example, be the model, be the people that are taking notes, be the people that show up with your Bible. Be ready to engage in worship, right?
Be the person who starts the conversation with transparency and it kind of shows people a little bit of what's behind the curtain when it's time to have a discussion about what this means in your life personally. When you commit to being the church, you create space for others to comfortably experience church also. That's expectation number one, to be the church. And here's what happens.
If you don't commit to being the church, if you stand as a spectator, if you don't get invested in the service, the people that you are creating that service for won't do it either. Yeah, the benefit isn't being in the game, not seeing the stands. 100%, thank you, Robert. Number two, second team expectation is, I wrote Mikasa Sukasa.
Hello there. Expectation number two, Mikasa Sukasa, what does that mean? It means that opening up a home for services is extremely generous. Everybody needs to know that.
That is a generous act of servanthood. That is not an obligation. That's not a right that somebody has, that somebody else just opens up their house. Of course, you open up your house.
It is such an act of generosity that, as a team, my recommendation, my advice is that you get there early to help set up and that you connect with your team on what to expect for service. But when service is over, this is most important. Stay to make sure that everything is cleaned up and reset better than when you got there. Let's leave every space better than when we got there.
So we need to take the attitude like, well, just act like Jesus is knocking at the door. Yes, absolutely. That phrase, Mikasa Sukasa, means that my house is your house and more importantly that you would treat somebody else's place like you would treat your place. And if you don't treat your place well, this is the place to time, this is the time to learn how to treat a place well, right?
Do the dishes, jump in and like load the dishwasher. Take the trash out. Take the trash out. Look for trash that maybe ended up on the floor.
Try to reset the space back to what was the space setting before the neighborhood church model. Offer to refill propane if you're using propane, right? These elements will make that church service so much better when the whole team is modeling what it looks like to own the experience themselves. And here's what's gonna happen.
The people who go to your neighborhood church, they're gonna see that rhythm and they're gonna naturally dive into it. Rob, what were some of the spaces that you went to when you were running neighborhood churches? What kind of preparation did you have to do? And what did it feel like when others understood it and they dove in also?
Man, that's a long question. But I do remember a lot of times the setup was a little on the challenge set because we had all this equipment, chairs, we'd drive it to a space, we'd set it all up, we'd talk to the host, the venue host, and they would be ready to help us. If it was outdoors, we'd have to set up tents and everything, food, if it was a barbecue, you'd have to get ready, but when everyone chipped in, it went so smooth. It was like butter and so I always felt, my attitude was I'd like to leave this place better than when I got here.
So it's a little bit cleaner, a little bit more organized and the hosts always felt appreciated. Yeah, man, the idea that somebody's opening up their home is such a generous gesture, what you wanna do is you wanna make them happy that they did that. Right, of course, reality. I mean, I remember that owner gave us access to the back door of the warehouse where all their products were like alcohol, food, and that crowd in downtown, that was a unique crowd.
So we had to be really careful and not just protective, but really honoring the fact that he gave us this like permission to walk the, I mean, yeah. So I think that honoring that and appreciating that and was something really important for us to do, especially in that particular site, but I think that applies in all sites. Yeah, I think that if you're planning on launching a neighborhood church, somebody's gonna open up their house because they're responding to God's call in that ministry opportunity for, you know, for whatever reason that they have, what you can do is you can affirm their generosity and say, man, this is so amazing that you opened up your home. Thank you so much.
Are there spaces that we shouldn't go? Right, you can ask those questions. What spaces are, you know, to your expectation areas that we can facilitate conversations? If somebody wants to have a side conversation, is there a space where that can happen?
What bathrooms are available? Which ones aren't? Are there areas that you don't want people to know? And can we articulate that early on to set the expectations well?
Part of this Mikasa Sukasa idea. I think the best neighborhood churches are gonna be those that celebrate and thank the venue host by way of giving them a card, saying thank you, you know, really celebrating that generous act of opening up their home. That's the most sacred space for people, is there personal residence? And so when somebody opens it up for a neighborhood church to exist in, just not minimizing that offering and saying, and we are so thankful that you're making the space available.
Yeah, good idea, maybe to surprise them at the end. Or at a certain time and fun together a gift. Yeah, pay attention to what, maybe they're missing in their house or something you can do to add to it's like, on the on. I'll bring fresh flowers.
Yes, exactly. Actually remember Liz who used to run a business neighborhood church, right? For all business owners, they would always come and set that space up so that it felt really inviting. Every time they ran churches, for all entrepreneurs, and they just did a great job of understanding that the environment mattered.
And somebody was using their own subscription to a co-working space to create the space for that neighborhood church. And Liz, she did such a great job of really honoring the person who went above and beyond to use their collateral, their reputation, and their risk to create space for somebody to do church. Yeah, that was a really good time. And I think the venue, yeah, yeah, fresh flowers, the space, I think also the attitude.
You know, you bring to the team like praying before, it was all good practice. But as far as like the venue, it's just I think those are all great qualities to be thinking about. Just bless. I think if you lead with this idea of blessing those who have provided a blessing for you, right, in their space, you can't go wrong.
Yeah, remember for the grocery, we did all bagels and donuts and coffee and fruit for the entire other employees. That's awesome. In the break room, we just planted it there with like, thank you cards. Yeah, they were so happy.
I love it. And then here's the third value. So we're talking about expectations, team expectations. The first one, hashtag be the church, realize that you and your team are church for somebody.
And it could be somebody's first experience with church. And you've got to understand what it means to carry that mission. Number two, Mikasa Sukasa. And then number three, something beyond Sunday is what I'm calling it, something beyond Sunday.
So our expectation is that the majority of neighborhood churches are gonna happen on Sunday, but it doesn't mean that they all have to, because all the material is available via YouTube. If it's more convenient for your neighborhood church to get together on Mondays versus Sundays, so be it. But this is what it means, as far as a team expectation of something beyond Sunday is this, let's be intentional about getting contact information, praying for each other, following up with one another, creating serve opportunities together, and representing our four-hour neighborhood value. When I talked in the episode before this, I talked about that value of being four, our neighborhood, being four one another.
When we do something beyond Sunday, what it does is it tells people we're not just having an event. We really are a ministry and we really do care. I think about what Liz is going through right now with her family. The something beyond Sunday is that people are asking their praying for, their petitioning on behalf, beyond just the time that you have together, they're saying, hey, how can I be thinking and praying for you through the week?
What are the things that you're going through right now? I may not see you again for a few days, but as the team that represents this neighborhood church, we do wanna be praying for you on a regular basis. That could be one of the easiest things you do to make it more significant than just your time together on Sunday. So I'm calling it something beyond Sunday.
I love it. And you can literally make plans, you can make a calendar that says, this is gonna be our something beyond Sunday each week. We're gonna make calls, we're gonna do a prayer chat, maybe you text everybody on the same text of thread. I did that in a season past, read my whole site on a text thread.
You can choose to do something that's outreach driven or others oriented. Maybe you know of a need that somebody has and you guys can come together and do something beyond Sunday that brings ministry to the forefront of everybody's life and everybody's experience. Wow, something beyond Sunday, love it. So just to recap, short episode, but I want you to get the clarity on what the team expectations are.
Yes, there's gonna be a time commitment. Yes, there's gonna be a need to dig and to understand what contextually it looks like for each of these neighborhood churches to exist. But these are the top three, I would say these are the first three that I want everybody to understand. This is a mutual expectation for every person involved.
If you're one of these three positions, if you serve in one of these three areas, this three-legged stool of a neighborhood church, either the venue host or the service host or hospitality, or maybe you're one of these extra helping hands, you just wanna dive in. You've got to understand that these are really these top three expectations. We have one hashtag, understand what it means to be the church, right? You represent Jesus, you represent the church to its fullest degree.
Number two, that Mikasa, Sukhasa, right? That the generous act of somebody opening up their home means that we wanna treat it with the utmost respect. We don't wanna assume our value in our home is their value in their home. So we wanna get that clarity out front and then we wanna communicate that to the people that are coming to the neighborhood church, even on a regular basis, just to continue to celebrate that somebody is saying yes to us using their home.
I think it should be a weekly recognition. Man, thank you so much to the Cortez's. It doesn't cost you anything to think somebody and it means the world when you recognize it, right? And then this third value of something beyond Sunday.
What does it mean? What does it look like? I'm not dictating what it is. I'm just asking that you create an element that there is something beyond Sunday.
Maybe it's a text, maybe it's a prayer chain, maybe you're having a Zoom call, maybe you're looking for ways that you can serve somebody in your church, maybe it's ways that you can serve somebody that somebody in your church knows. I'm just asking to prioritize something beyond Sunday. Super easy, Robert, three things. What do you think it's gonna critically do for the churches that embrace all three of these expectations?
It's gonna create a movement. People are gonna really, really see something special because I think when you are the church and when God puts people in front of you, whether it's your team person, it's your neighbor, it's someone there, someone in the church and he's praying or groceries, I think if you just do something, I think you can build on that. I think it's something you can scale. Yeah, it's totally true.
I'm excited to see it. I know it can work because we've seen it modeled before. And in this context, in this season, I think that the world, quote unquote, the world, right? We talk about being with, we know that God is with us and we know that we are known as Jesus people by our love for one another, but when we are with people purposefully serving them through these expectations, I think that you're right.
A movement can't be stopped when that is their posture. And I think God is gonna really surprise you. Yeah, yeah. It's surprised the hell out of me.
Many times, I say that with a light heart. I love it. Shocked many times. So good.
Robert, thank you so much for giving us just a little bit of personal insight. Listen, if you have any questions concerning neighborhood churches or the microsite model, Robert and I have been doing it, you know, we did it nonstop 52 Sundays a year for three years and then we went on to coach several churches and begin a podcast, just sharing with others how they can do it best in their own context. You can always email me, mingoattorypines.church or you can subscribe to the Microsite Ministry podcast or church has a local podcast, Tory Team Talks, you can search that and find those leadership assets there. And then the flagship of all these conversations, the reason why we've got a great podcast audience is because of Purpose Driven, Rick Warren and his ministry to pastors everywhere, the Purpose Driven Podcast, PD.church or thepdpodcast.com is a great way in a great location where you can find other conversations that add to this one, but also over a hundred conversations with practitioners of things that you can do right now in your ministry that can make a critical difference.
Wow. I'm amazing, I'm really enjoying this conversation. So good, listen, I'm praying for you. I say it often that this is not the only approach.
We know that methods have to change, but the mission never does. And for us, the mission is people helping people find and follow Jesus. I'm praying for your method in your city. I'm praying that it reaches people the way God wants to reach people, that it's people honoring and that it's effective.
So hopefully this serves you. If you're inspired, I'm glad. If there's somebody that you want to tag or share this conversation with because they need to be inspired, so be it. I'm glad you're listening.
We'll talk to you on the next episode.