Does a house of peace search work in America?

This is part of a series of posts on effective entry strategies in the modern American landscape. I am writing this series as a work in progress, not as an answer that I have found. In some instances, I may not even agree with myself, but I have found that writing out thoughts helps me arrive at answers that I do agree with, both Biblically and personally. I would love constructive feedback so we can grow together to better engage lost people with the Gospel. To follow this conversation, be sure to subscribe to this blog. You can click here to view all blog posts in this series.

A friend of mine summarized this challenge on a recent Zoom call. I wish I had recorded his words, but my best attempt to summarize is this:

“The House of Peace search in America has given us a place to take any believer out and show them that starting spiritual conversations that lead to sharing the Gospel is possible. It’s not clear if it is finding us actual houses of peace with any regularity.”

While there are exceptions, the infrequency of finding actual people of peace would beg us to take a step back. I think there are a lot of things at play here, but one of them is that we have failed to recognize the vast differences in culture and context between three distinct times and places:

1) The time of Jesus and the place of Israel. We find the instructions for the disciples when Jesus sends them to look for a person of peace in Luke 9, 10, and Matthew 10.

2) The present time and the places that have seen huge movements to Christ.

3) The present time and any place where modern American culture is the dominant cultural norm.

Does our modern American culture have even a whiff of the hospitality that existed in Jesus’ time in Israel? I would say no.

When someone shows up at an American home without an invitation, the present cultural response of the American “host” is this: “How do I get rid of this person politely but quickly?” (We would never voice this, but if you think I’m wrong, consider your own thoughts when a pollster or salesman shows up at your door without an invite.)

When someone showed up at a home in Jesus’ time (and I would say, in many places in the world today), the cultural response was: “Come in, let me get you something to eat and drink while you rest.”

One of those cultural responses would make it easier to live out the command given to the original disciples: “Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you.” The other would necessitate we understand the principle behind the command.

The principles of Luke 10 are 100% true. But the practical outworking of them in America is not so easy. Principles from the Word will inform modern work in any culture and context. However, a failure to recognize the differences in culture and context can lead to a lack of fruit which can, in turn, lead to frustration on the part of the laborers.

There has been tremendous fruit from a near-literal following of these Luke 10 commands when they have been applied in places that have a similar cultural hospitality response as Israel in the time of Jesus. I think we should celebrate that fruit whenever we hear about it. But, should we take the model of sending out teams two by two to villages in India and transpose it across the ocean by sending out teams two by two into American neighborhoods?

I think two things are true: First (I repeat myself), the principles from Luke 10 still apply in America. Second, the fruit of this effort on American soil has not been as stellar. Therefore, if the principles of Luke 10 still apply, I would argue we haven’t put them into practice in a culturally appropriate way.

This isn’t a new problem, as my friend Rodger noted back in 2017.

In fact, across all three networks, every single church that was started by going 2X2 had ceased to exist. The only churches that lasted were ones where a person or a group of people decided to share with their relational networks and invite them to their own house to gather as a church. This was a massive revelation to me because the facts were painting a pretty clear picture of what was working, yet no one in the Gathering or BAH networks was looking at these facts and letting them inform their strategy.

Despite all this, the two-by-two-door-knocking-house-of-peace search still seems to a regular way we are training people to reach the lost and make disciples. We are guilty of what we often accuse other ministries of doing: Repeating the same pattern without seeing much fruit and expecting to see different results.

Before you comment or message: Yes, of course there are exceptions to what I am saying. God can do and will do what he wants to draw people to himself. However, I have not heard or seen enough data (or even anecdotal stories) in the last seven years to contradict Rodger’s point from Houston in 2017 which was held up by the data.

So where do we go from here? I have a whole lineup of posts on the subject, so head to ontheroad.link to get subscribed to the conversation.