Today is the anniversary of the lift-off of Apollo 11, the first mission to the moon.



It reminds me that a great vision or mission transcends its leader—in this case, JFK, who died several years before it was accomplished.



“There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

–John F. Kennedy

I eagerly anticipated reading Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole, because I had heard great comments about it. Not only did I read it with an open mind; I wanted to like it. And I did like approximately 40 percent of it.

In this book, Neil Cole attempts to deconstruct the “institutional church,” by which he seems to mean churches that have buildings and paid staff, and replace it with a new model of church which is more, well, organic.

Today, I want to cover the problems I see with this book. Next time, I’ll look at the positive contributions. Admittedly, I’m painting with broad brush strokes in my critique.

1. Cole too often deals in straw men. In his critique of what he calls the institutional church, Cole consistently caricatures the worst of the modern church. For example, some of the “myths” he addresses are that the church is meant to be a static institution, that it’s only a building, that it’s bound to a single location, that it’s only a one-hour-a-week deal. Do you know anybody that actually believes these “myths”? I don’t. So his critique falls flat for me, because he’s not dealing with reality.

2. Cole too often deals in extremes. For Cole, it’s either dead institutionalism or radical decentralization. There is no middle ground. It’s either command-and-control leadership or no human leadership. He seems to see nothing in between.

3. Cole too often makes unwarranted leaps of logic. For example, Scripture says that God does not dwell in buildings made by hands, therefore, Cole argues, churches would be better off not meeting in their own buildings. The conclusion doesn’t necessarily follow.

4. Cole too often diminishes the importance of discipleship. He argues that, for example, new converts can immediately serve as pastors. I wonder if he’s fully dealt with the fact that Jesus himself spent three years training his disciples before sending them out on their own.

5. Cole fails to adequately address what Scripture says about the Church. For example, his reduction of the role of the pastor doesn’t square with what we read in the Pastoral Epistles. Cole simply doesn’t give serious attention to the New Testament passages about church structure and leadership.

All that being said, once Neil Cole moves beyond his attack on the modern church with its buildings and paid pastors to sharing his church planting principles and methodology, he is very, very good. The funny thing is, most of his principles can just as well be implemented by churches with pastors and buildings as it can by those without.

Too summarize, Cole is unconvincing in his attempt to bury the “institutional church.” He just doesn’t bring the goods. I wouldn’t look to Neil Cole for a solid, dependable ecclesiology. But despite my critique above, I still like this book for what it does offer. More on that next time.

Tags: Organic Church, Neil Cole, Church Planting