Neil Cole’s book Organic Church: Growing Faith where life happens is a great followup to the story of church planting in California through the application of Life Transformation Groups found in his first book, Cultivating a Life for God. I finished reading Organic Church and found that much of it resonated with longings that I have in my heart for the simple expression and simple expanssion of the Jesus life and the life being His church. Cole’s commentary on the Parable of the Soils is fantastic and very helpful as a lens to understanding the movement of people through church life. So many parts of the organic church have been built into our life at Cityview: developing understandings of oikos, persons of peace, small groups, disciple/disciple-maker. We are seeking to create an environment for transformation. It has not been easy–there seem to be forces of our tradition that pull back on our full engagement in the Christian movement. However, I appreciate his identification of what my be our challenge: unraveled DNA. DNA looses its power when it is unraveled. Maybe we have not packaged the components simply enough. We have put it into our church in bits and peices. ??? Gaining clarity on this will require courageous thought and action. Nonetheless, I’m thankful that Jesus builds His church. Not me. For more quotes from his book see the House Church Blog. And other thoughts on the subject at the Organic Church Blog.