Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church [Hardcover]

Neil Cole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0470529458 | ISBN-13: 978-0470529454 | Edition: 1

An expert practitioner answers to questions about the burgeoning organic church movement

Neil Cole's best-selling book Organic Church described the fastest growing segment of contemporary Christianity-the so-called organic church. Now in this next-step book, he answers questions about how to deal with theological and organizational issues that come up. He talks about issues such has what to do with finances, children, heresy, leader training, and rituals and ordinances. Without the top-down structure of a denomination, even people who are proponents of this small, house-church model worry that they are not doing it right.

• Offers an important resource for anyone involved with or thinking of starting an organic or house church
• Addresses practical issues of theology, rituals, doctrinal heresy, how to handle children, finances, and other important questions
• Written by an acknowledged expert who is now and has been for over twenty years an organic church planter and practitioner
• A new Leadership Network title and follow-up to Organic Church

Church 3.0 offers solid information about organic churches based on Cole's extensive experience in starting, nurturing, and mentoring in the organic church movement.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

When Neil Cole's best-selling book Organic Church was first published, it described one of the fastest growing and most innovative segments of contemporary Christianity.

In Church 3.0, Cole makes the argument that Christianity needs more than new programs, buildings, or worship formats. It needs a complete upgrade to a new operating system. The early church shifted to a more institutional form in 300 ad and has been stuck in the 2.0 operating system ever since. We are overdue for the next upgrade. Church 3.0 discusses issues such as how to deal with heresy, how to handle finances, what to do with children, and what to do with worship, rituals, and ordinances. Even the most enthusiastic proponents and practitioners of organic churches often wonder how to handle such matters in a faithful way.

Organic churches demand a shift from a program-driven and clergy-led institutionalized approach to one that is relational, simple, intimate, and viral in the way it spreads. Instead of seeing church as something that serves its people, church becomes people who serve God, one another, and a hurting world. Church is no longer an event to be at, but a family to be part of. Church is not a program to reach out to the world, but a people that bring God with them to the world.

Based on Cole's extensive experience in starting, nurturing, and mentoring thousands of churches, Church 3.0 offers insight and information about how to make this shift to a more organic form of church. Church 3.0 is an insider's look at the important considerations necessary to release spontaneous church multiplication movements in a Western context.

From the Back Cover

"In this comprehensive labor of love, Neil brings his wonderfully unique, home-grown, and organic insights to bear on what it means to reawaken a movement ethos in the twenty-first century church. Nothing less than the spontaneous expansion of the church is being considered here. This is perhaps the book that Neil was born to write." -Alan Hirsch, author, The Forgotten Ways, and coauthor, Untamed, The Shaping of Things to Come, reJesus, and The Forgotten Ways Handbook

"Church 3.0 is an all-in-one compass, survival manual, tool kit, leadership agenda, and imagineering workshop. It is a treasure trove that distributes the wealth of Neil Cole's rich experience and insight. I cannot imagine trying to navigate ? without it."-Reggie McNeal, author, Missional Renaissance

"Neil Cole is one of only a handful of people in the West uniquely qualified to write about church multiplication movements from an insider perspective. His extensive, hands-on experience in reproducing movements of healthy disciples, leaders, and churches has enabled him to not only ask the right questions, but also to develop and field test the principles that cause these organic movements to occur. Essential reading for anyone with a passion for extending God's Kingdom beyond the confines of the church walls."-Felicity Dale, member, board of directors, House2House; author, An Army of Ordinary People; and coauthor, The Rabbit and the Elephant

"Neil has done it again. Church 3.0 is the first book focused on the big picture of releasing healthy church movements. In my work in this season of life, I am committed to releasing the body of Christ to be the Church, and Neil's book will serve as a strong guide to assist leaders in getting there."-Bob Buford, founder, Leadership Network, and author, Halftime and Finishing Well Neil Cole is the real deal. We've all known his passion for church multiplication. In Church 3.0, he moves from passion to practice, laying out a vision that is challenging, and compelling. He will challenge everyone who loves the church and its mission."Ed Stetzer, president, LifeWay Research

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (February 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470529458
• ISBN-13: 978-0470529454
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #349,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Neil Cole was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. While studying at CSULB he encountered the Good News of Jesus Christ and turned his life over to Him, never looking back. His journey in God's kingdom brought him to serve in a mega church, a local community church and now small rapidly multiplying organic churches that meet in homes, campuses and places of business all over the world. Neil travels around the world sowing the seeds of God's kingdom, catalyzing the development of organic church networks and coaching leaders. He has been married for over 27 years to Dana and has three adult children--Heather, Erin and Zach.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 45 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, but Fell Short April 17, 2010

By Joshua Reich

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Just finished Neil Cole's book Church 3.0. This is the first thing I have read by Cole and as the foreword from Francis Chan said, "You will be stretched and challenged in your thinking." From what I had heard of Cole, I didn't want to read this book, it was Chan's recommendation that this book will help an established church learn from the organic church movement, is what made me pick it up.

There were several times I wanted to put the book down, but I kept thinking about one of my professors in seminary who said, "To be an effective Christian leader today, you must read those you disagree with to learn from them, so you can sit across from them at Starbucks and lovingly disagree and have a conversation."

So I pressed on.

Let me start with some learnings or things I agreed with before talking about where I disagreed.

He used an example of The Shaping of Things to Come where the authors discuss the idea of extraction. This for me was really challenging and had me thinking for days. What happens in churches for many new Christians is that they get saved and immediately enter the safe Christian bubble, leaving behind all of their non-Christian friends (and losing the possible influence they can be on those friends for the gospel). This seems to make sense on the outside because you don't want them to fall back into their old ways. But, it can be counter productive. By extracting them, we actually keep them from living out their newfound faith and "from stepping into an environment where she must choose to exercise the very faith she is purported to have." While you don't want to move back into certain situations, the Holy Spirit is living within every new Christian, let Him do His job....

Another thing he pointed out was the church will ask, "How can we get people to our church?" instead of asking "Where is Jesus working and how can I work alongside of Him?" What I wonder is whether or not the organic church movement wrestles with how to invite people into it or to their gatherings. At some point, it has to come up in the conversations if it is to grow and reach more people.

Cole also pointed out that we wrongly evaluate our success. Church's base their success on numbers, size of buildings and budgets instead of basing it on influence. Who is being influenced for Jesus? Is that influence growing?

He also talked about challenging people in the way of Jesus. Too many Christians and churches seem very lazy and not on mission. I love this line in the book, "I want to lower the bar of how church is done so that anyone can do it, and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple so that they will do it." Too many churches and pastor's do not cast a vision that is worth someone's life. People walk into our churches every week looking and longing for something hard, something worth their life, worth giving everything to. Jesus is that. It will cost us everything (Luke 9:23).

Now, let's switch gears to where I felt like Cole set up straw men just to blow them over.

I felt like many times, to make the leap that organic church is the only way to do it, you have to toss out many New Testament passages. Specifically, the ones that have to do with preaching and leadership. Here is a great example: One thing he talked about was the involvement of an organic church and what that can mean for individuals. He said, "In organic church thinking, Christian leaders are no longer to do the work of the ministry, but to equip the Christians to do the work. Evangelists are not called to reach the lost, but to equip the saints to do so. Teachers are not just called to teach, but to equip Christians to teach. We could see ordinary Christians fulfill the great commission by "teaching them to observe all that (Christ has) commanded (us)" (Matthew 28:20). This is a revolution that will turn church as we know it upside down, and in the process all the passive Christians will be poured out into the world like salt out of a saltshaker. Wow - now, that will change the world!" Uh, my question is, what church isn't doing this? This is what the church is supposed to be like. What I failed to see is how only an organic church can do this and how this will revolutionize the church. So, following Ephesians 4 and Matthew 28 will revolutionize the church? I believe that, but that isn't new and every church should be doing this (not just organic churches).

One of the things I have always disagreed with the organic church movement is in the area of leadership, specifically, what they need to leave out to have the vision of church they do. While he mentions elders in the book, he doesn't mention why he doesn't use them and what to do with the fact that we are told to have leaders. The organic church, in an effort to be decentralized, stray away from a hierarchy. While many people say this can lead to abuse of power because of lack of accountability, Cole handles that very well. He talks about vision and how "if the vision comes from one person and is carried out by others, then there is a dependency that curtails true reproduction. Sound leadership in a movement is not coming up with the vision and then casting it to others, but instead helping others find a vision for themselves and releasing it to the ends of the earth."My problems with this statement are numerous. One, most of his ideas in the book are based in scripture with references. This idea is nowhere in Scripture. While it sounds nice and communal, an idea needs to be Biblical when it comes to the church. Second, this isn't even working in the business world. While Cole points to organizations like Wikipedia and Craigslist as decentralized organizations, those were started by someone, given a vision by someone. He, Cole, is giving a vision to the organic church movement that other "leaders" are taking and running with. Third, why can't a Biblical vision, given to a leader, not lead to helping others find a vision for themselves. Again, and this is my big problem with many of his "organic church only" ideas is that many of them are happening in established churches, should be happening or are happening.

My biggest problem with the organic church movement is how they consistently use Matthew 18:20 out of context. The verse says, "For where two or three come together in my (Jesus') name, there am I (Jesus) with them." Throughout scripture we are reminded of the presence of God. We cannot ask for more of God's presence than what we have (like when a worship leader asks God to pour out His Spirit, uh, we have all we need and as much as we are going to get). My problem is the context of this verse has nothing to do with the way it is used. This verse has to do with conflict, community, and church discipline. This verse does not mean (to quote Mark Driscoll), "If 2 guys are having a beer and one guy sneezes and the other says "God bless you" that church just happened."

While I got a lot out of this book and had a lot to chew on, I was frustrated with the use of passages out of context to make it possible for Cole to say, "The way I do church is the only Biblical way to do it." At one point (p. 129) he says that "the organic church will give more glory to God than a non-organic church." That is a huge statement.

As I said, what I struggle with (and I do this) is when an author or leader talks about how they do church as the only right and Biblical way of doing things. While you should be passionate about how you do church (I know I am) and it is easy to think this way, but it is shortsighted and actually does more harm than good. It says, "If you don't do it this way, you won't be able to fulfill God's will and mission here on earth." Do I agree with everything Cole and the organic church movement do? No. Are there things we can learn from organic churches, missional churches, seeker-sensitive churches? Yes. That is the beauty of the church and the kingdom.

This book will stretch you, it stretched and challenged me. I would say that if you want to read a book on what a biblical church looks like and should be in our culture, this would be a good one, but a better one is Vintage Church. As I said, I feel like Cole had to throw out some Bible verses to make his points, as well as saying things that weren't true (everytime he points out what an organic church can do that an established church can do).

for more, see [...] Read more ›

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy-to-understand Answers to Seminary-Level Questions March 13, 2010

By Traver Dougherty

Format:Hardcover

When I read Cole's second book, Organic Church, I found myself thinking along two veins. First, I remember the fundamental logic that ran through the book; from a biblical and missiological perspective, Cole's assertions made perfect sense. Second, I clearly remember thinking, "While these thoughts are all good, what about...?" Church 3.0 is dedicated to answering the attentive reader's "What about..." questions.

Questions answered that are, in my opinion, of particular importance are: How do organic church expressions keep from becoming ingrown? How does the organic church address missional living in a way conventional expressions do not? While there's no doubt many New Testament churches met in homes, what about the overtly-centralized Jerusalem church? What about heresy?

Having read my fair share of books, I am well aware of fluff. Cole's Church 3.0 isn't that. While the book is certainly assessable to the average reader, Cole artfully addresses important issues at a seminary level. His treatment of the varying expressions of the New Testament church, for example, is superb. Not only does Cole outline each model's characteristics (Jerusalem, Antioch, Thessalonica, Roman, and Ephesian), he explains the pluses and minuses of each, allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusions regarding the missional effectiveness of each expression.

As a former pastor, church staffer, missionary, and professor, let me assure you Church 3.0 is worth your time. Although many have watched the rise of the megachurch, an equal number are concerned with the McDonaldization of the church (for a thorough discussion, read John Drane's com/After-McDonaldization-Christian-Discipleship-Uncertainty/dp/0801036119">After McDonaldization: Mission, Ministry, and Christian Discipleship in an Age of Uncertainty). Cole's Church 3.0 not only gives voice to such concerns, he articulates a biblical ecclesiology grounded in a now-proven track record of multiplying churches that are both self-perpetuating and self-propagating. Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars read this book May 5, 2011

By Brandon Hatmaker

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

clear. challenging. convicting. you should read this book. one of my favorite thoughts:

"Unfortunately, as the world looks at our churches, particularly in the West, it sees only what people have done or what programs they are doing. The world is not impressed. In response, we scheme and plot and plan: `What can we do to make our church more appealing to the people in our community?' this is, once again, the wrong question. It's as if we're trying to boost God's approval ratings. It is God's name that is at risk, not ours, and we are not responsible for protecting His reputation. He can handle that, by Himself, just fine. A better question is, "Where is Jesus seen at work in our midst?" Where do we see lives changing, and communities transforming simply by the power of the Gospel?"

dead on.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars upgrading the church April 8, 2010

By James Best

Format:Hardcover

As I sat down to write this book review my family was getting ready to celebrate Easter weekend. One of my kids wanted to know why we would call Good Friday, "good"? My wife and I explained that Good Friday is "good" because that was the day Jesus died on the cross. It is good for us because of the death and resurrection of Jesus we have the ability to have purpose and meaning in life and an eternal relationship with God. As amazing as this is, it is even more amazing that the Bible tells us that we will do even more amazing things than Jesus. (John 14:12) Neil Cole is someone who is taking this challenge seriously. Neil has devoted his life to creatively releasing the reproduction of healthy disciples, leaders, churches, and movements for the Kingdom of God. Neil wants to raise the bar on what it means to be a disciple and lower the bar on how to do church. This book has a very interesting title. It uses the motif of a software upgrade, which is a common analogy for most Americans in 2010. Neil's desire is to call the church back to its roots of fertility and function which will allow it to make a difference in the world and if it is making a difference in the world the world will be different.
Many of us know that software upgrades can be good and bad. Often new and needed features are bogged down with unexplainable headaches. Many institutions and organizations need to make upgrades in how they function to meet new demands and stay true to their vision and mission. Unfortunately the church is usually the slowest to upgrade and make changes in how they seek to carry out their mission. Now more than ever the church needs to get over stereotypes about change and make some much needed upgrades. Neil feels that that a good upgrade will do some very important things.... A good upgrade will make things more intuitive. A good upgrade will also make the church more powerful in accomplishing all of its important tasks. Finally, a good upgrade will open up the church to a new market of people who will have had no previous experience with the church.
The First Century Church in Acts was Church 1.0. The church in this period was mostly a marginalized movement under the heat of intense persecution. Church 2.0 dramatically occurred during the reign and rule of the Roman Emperor Constantine. During this period the church went from an underground, grassroots organic movement to a more institutional organization. Now there is a need for Church 3.0 so that a shift can occur from a program-driven church and clergy-led institutional approach to church to something that is more relational, simple, and viral in its spread. For Neil, this book is not a defense of organic church, it is rather a clarion call for us all to do church better. He believes it is not just a question of "Will this happen?" but rather "Will you and your church be a part of what God is up to in these incredible times?"
The first two chapters of the book give many reasons why we are in a new era and that are many changes with global impact upon us. We must adapt as a church in order to be faithful to the charge given to us by God. One of the best parts of the book are the list of shifting values that we must take notice of in order to be making an impact in our world. The changing values are as follows:
* Relationship over mission
* Authenticity over excellence
* Experience over proposition
* Mystery over solution
* Diversity over uniformity
* Journey over destination
Neil closes his book with the fact that Church 3.0 has arrived. It is actually at work and spreading. We can duck our heads and cover and try to pretend these realities are not happening, or we can embrace the changes and run full speed ahead and join in with what God is doing in the world around us. Either way what we can't do is stop the changes that continue to come. Even if we cannot agree completely with Neil and his propositions, it is important to see that we must make foundational changes in the way we are the church and the way we do church. It seems very much like my favorite quote from Gandhi. "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." Read more ›