Most Christians today think of church as a place we go.

A building. A service. A weekly event.

But what if that wasn’t how the first followers of Jesus understood it?

In this episode of Spiritual Recon, we sit down with Neil Cole, author of Organic Church and Primal Fire, to explore how the church gradually shifted from a movement of disciples on mission into something that often revolves around gatherings and programs.

For the early believers, the church was not primarily an event to attend.

It was a spiritual family living under the authority of Jesus and participating in the mission of His Kingdom.

Together we discuss how this shift happened, why many believers feel tension between tradition and mission today, and what it might look like to recover a simpler, more biblical vision of the church.

Along the way, we also explore why legalism can quietly pull believers away from the freedom of following Jesus, and how rediscovering the church as a family on mission changes the way we think about discipleship.

Because if the church is not merely something we attend, then following Jesus will reshape far more of our lives than we expect.

🎙 Topics include

• How the early church functioned as a spiritual family • Why church gradually became centered on weekly gatherings • The difference between following Jesus and following religious systems • Why legalism is one of the greatest dangers facing the church • Neil Cole’s journey rediscovering organic disciple-making movements • What it might look like to recover the mission of the church today

Neil Cole is a church planter, author, and pioneer of organic church movements who has spent decades helping believers rediscover simple, disciple-making communities centered on listening to Jesus and living on mission. He is the author of Organic Church, Church 3.0, Primal Fire, and several other books on disciple-making and the future of the church.

Website: https://starlinginitiatives.com

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