1. A Walk-with-God Based Church
& Seven Connections that Make it Happen
Steve Elzinga & Henry Reyenga

2. Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds;
tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on
your foreheads.
Teach them to your children, talking about them when
you sit at home
and when you walk along the road, when you lie down
and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of
your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 11:18-20
Your life consists of two things: the walk or way of life
you choose and those with whom you walk it. Your walk can
determine whom you walk with; but whom you walk with
can also determine your walk (way of life). You have to
choose whom you will walk with and the way you will walk.
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3. The beginning of a “new“ church paradigm
The guy we were golfing with had no idea why we (Steve and Henry)
were on our knees -praying. It had nothing to do with our golf games.
Though planting churches on opposite ends of the North American
continent, we had become fast friends in the cause of reaching people
for Christ and building up His church. Henry opened the doors of his
new church in Chicago on March 13, 1988. Steve opened the doors of
his church in Vancouver, B.C one week later. We met for the first time
two years later and instantly connected “ probably because neither
one of us knew what we were doing and it was nice to not know with
someone else. Initially we got caught up in the church planting
paradigm of the late 80“s and early 90“s which tended to center on a
“build it and they will come“ strategy. That meant you had to have
great, creative, attention-grabbing preaching, vibrant, meaningful
music and an educational program to meet every conceivable need. If
you could build a good, attractive program, then the people would
come. Apparently we were both good at this church planting
paradigm, because our churches grew to 500 in no time.
But something was making us both restless. Something wasn“t quite
right. We were missing something. And over the next year, God in His
grace spoke to each of us in His own way and we began to hear His
voice. We were finally ready for a change. The moment had arrived.
We were ready to let go of the handle bars of our own ambition, our
comfort zones, our security, our churches, and even our families (the
course we embarked on would be costly for them as well as us), and
invite God to take us on an adventure down new, unmarked trails.
That moment just happened to come on a golf course in Washington
State and we just happened to be playing with a local guy who had no
idea why we were on our knees.
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4. Steve“s Story.
It was February of 1993. I was on a plane from Vancouver, British
Columbia, to a destination as far from Vancouver as my frequent flier
miles could take me “ Florida. I had been planting a church that had
grown to 500 in 5 years. Everything was great. But as the church
grew, my spirit shrank. And I just had to get away. My parents have a
trailer on the west coast of Florida where they escape the harsh
winters of Michigan, so I had given them a call the night before to
inform them that I was coming. “Is Marie coming too?“ they asked.
“No.“ They sensed something was wrong but must have also sensed I
didn“t want to talk about it. They met me at the Ft. Meyers airport.
Nothing but silence. The next morning I asked if I could borrow their
car.
Tears poured down my face as I headed east across the state of
Florida ... but I didn“t know why. “Why do I feel so empty, so defeated,
so dried up?“ I tried to stop the flow but the reservoir of tears was
seemingly endless. “God what is happening to me?“ I couldn“t figure it
out but finally these words found their way past my tightly locked down
consciousness: “This church is killing me.“
But how could that be? The church was great. The people were great.
They loved me; I loved them. I was being asked to speak at
conferences. I was being asked to write articles in Christian
magazines. The seminary I graduated from asked me to speak to their
church planting class. On the outside, all seemed well. On the inside, I
was dying spiritually.
After crying literally for two hours, I had made my way across the state
of Florida and with no particular end in mind I just continued south.
First Key Largo, then Marathon. I just kept driving one road, one
bridge, one island at a time, until finally the sun went down. Now
what? Hotels were $150 a night. No way was I going to pay that, so I
did what any sensible person of Dutch descent would do “ I sought
the most expensive hotel I could find, parked the car in their parking
lot, and jumped into the backseat for the evening.
It is not that easy to fall asleep in the back seat of a car. In the middle
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5. of my tossing and turning, it happened. God spoke to me “ as much
as God speaks to Christian Reformed people (Reformed people do
not typically find themselves on the charismatic side of the Christian
shore). And this is what I heard Him say: “I am here.“ And that was
that. Nothing more. I had no idea what it meant.
The next morning, with the hot sun on my face, I woke up, retraced my
trip back to my parents“ place, and got on a plane back to Vancouver,
back to my home, and back to my church. Strangely, the closer I got
to my church, the better I felt, though I had no idea why. I kind of felt
like Elijah experiencing the silence of God on a lonely mountain. “I am
here.“ It was strangely comforting. The realization that God was with
me “ God Immanuel “ God incarnate “ God walking with me in me
trouble and confusion. Yes it was comforting, but it didn“t help me
know what to do.
That is what is frustrating, isn“t it? You know that God is with you and
that He cares, but why does He so often delay in showing you what to
do? Patience. God is not only a God who is with us, He is also a God
who shows us the way “ in His time. Over the next three weeks, God
revealed to me what His words “I am here“ meant. This is what I got: “I
am here, Steve, and that is what matters: your walk with Me. Not your
preaching and teaching and leading and strategizing“simply your
walk with Me. Next, I am with you, and what matters is your walk with
your wife and together as husband and wife, your walk with Me. Next,
what matters to Me is your walk with your family and your family walk
with Me. And if you or you and your wife or you and your family can
help someone else, some other marriage, some other family get a
walk with Me“well, that is all I want from you. And if the people you
reach go on to reach other individuals, couples, and families and that
grows into some kind of church“well, that is up to Me, not you.“
What a load lifted! I had been planting the church. I had been working
hard in the only paradigm of church planting that I knew (build it and
they will come) where a lot depends on the senior pastor. I had been
striving to make sure this week“s sermon was better or at least as
good as last week“s. Of course, I had the help of my wife and the
passionate 10% of the church that really believed in the vision, but I
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6. realized I was slowly burning them and me out. But it was for the
cause; it was for glory of God. Now I realized that God did not require
that my friends and I burn out like glorious comets for His purpose and
glory. I didn“t have to ignore my family and shortchange time with
them for time with the church.
With a new sense of purpose and direction, I spoke to my church and
told them that I would no longer kill myself to make sure the services
were powerfully relevant, finely polished, and entertainingly
captivating“not that I had anything against these things. But, I told
them, I was going to take more time with my own walk, my walk with
my wife and family. I admitted, however, that I didn“t really know what
a walk with God looked like. So I invited the people of the church to
join me in a journey of discovery. Out of 500 attendees, 5 couples
indicated they were interested in this journey.
We began a simple talking, listening, repeatedly (every day) walk with
God using the Serendipity Bible and homemade prayer sheets (we
used ACTS “ adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication).
The five couples who showed an interest in this journey began to meet
weekly to support one another in this new daily walk. We made a
junior version of the prayer sheet so our kids could own part of their
own walk. Within 3 months each of the five families had shared what
they were doing in their families with other families and what started
out as one small group turned into five. A new paradigm of church was
at work: a walk-with-God based church.
Henry“s Story
I was about to start my second church plant in a new city where I
knew no one. By God“s grace, I had successfully planted a church in
Chicago and knew exactly what to do: attract a crowd, meet their
needs, and build the church. But was I up for doing it all again“all the
work, the networking, the planning“and so much of it dependent on
my skills as a leader.
I was shooting baskets with my seven-year-old son in the driveway of
our home in Colorado Springs. My neighbor, a retired Air Force
enlisted man, walked over to join us. He had a speech impediment, so
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7. he wasn“t often talkative, but that day he began to share with me
about his involvement in Amway, a network marketing business. He
wanted me to try it as well. He did not try to impress me with facts and
figures; he did not talk to me about the high quality of the products; he
simply shared with me a dream. I asked him why he was doing this
business, and he told me of his dream to get out of debt and provide
for his family. He told me that he was just barely making it, but his
business had given him hope. He had found faith in free enterprise.
I was impressed. I saw an ordinary guy with a clear dream. He had a
tool to make that dream happen. His clear and reproducible business
model was one anybody could follow. His urgency to help me start my
own business trumped his fears and limitations. His dream was real to
him, and he wasn“t going to be easily discouraged. I told my neighbor I
wasn“t interested to see the plan, but our conversation stuck in my
mind. This man made me think about Christianity. What if Christians
had such urgency to share their walks with God? What if Christians
were more aware of the spiritual dreams that motivate and drive
them? What if Christians had the tools to share their dream with their
neighbors and coworkers? This man made me dream of a Christianity
that would spontaneously spread from house to house, from person to
person, a Christianity that would spontaneously spread, not by the skill
of a talented church leader, but because of the changed lives of
average, everyday people. I was ready for a change. But could a
church paradigm work that did not rely on exceptionally gifted leaders,
loads of money for programs and staff, and the latest and greatest of
whatever church culture happens to think is cool?
It did work once before. The church began with twelve ordinary men
whose only qualification was that they had been with Jesus. The
disciples were mainly lowly fishermen. Early in the spreading of the
new church, Peter and John were dragged before the big-shot
religious leaders. These men saw whom Jesus had picked as leaders
in spreading his new teachings. “When they saw the courage of Peter
and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they
were astonished and they took note that these men had been with
Jesus.“ (Acts 4:13)
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8. Back to my neighbor: What impressed me about him, this Amway
distributor, was how ordinary he really was. He was an enlisted man.
He had an ordinary life. In his association with Amway, he received a
real dream. He told me how he used the products, but he wasn“t
simply pushing detergent and potato chips. He had a message of free
enterprise. He described how his life had changed, and he wanted to
share all this with me. What if ordinary Christians were so excited
about their relationship with God, their daily walk with Him, that they
couldn“t help but share it with ... well, let“s say a neighbor playing
basketball with his son?
I came to the conclusion that I wanted one of the founders of Amway
Corporation to mentor me. I figured that I could learn something that
would have powerful application for the work of the church. I sent a fax
to Amway headquarters, attention Mr. Rich DeVos. I wrote in the fax
that his work in establishing Amway and figuring out how to help
ordinary people start and share businesses was very important. Within
24 hours, Rich DeVos, co-founder of Amway, called me and agreed to
be my mentor. He gave me his phone numbers. I concluded that God
had some great purpose in this, and I was looking forward to finding
out how this new relationship was going to bear fruit.
Henry and Steve“s Story
We began meeting regularly with Rich DeVos. We even joined Amway
in order to understand how this business model reproduces. In fact,
Grace George (wife of Dr. Carl George) sponsored Henry, and then
Henry sponsored Steve. Within a short time, we had sponsored many
distributors. But our ultimate goal was to learn what we could about
having and reproducing a walk with God.
One of the first things we noticed about Rich“s approach to business
was that it looked a lot like the family tree. Over the next year, we
learned seven important ideas from this family tree model of business.
1.
It must be Real. Your business has to be something you believe
in and actually live out in your life. And whatever it is, it has to be
so life-changing that you cannot help but share it.
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9. 2.
You need Mentors. You cannot succeed without help. A
sponsor or mentor is a father/mother, so to speak, and a new
business owner is a son/daughter. The goal is to mentor
someone so well that they can mentor someone else ... have
many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great
grandchildren.
3.
You need Support. It takes more than one mentor to succeed.
There must groups of like-minded people gathering together,
creating a culture of support, like an extended family.
4.
There must be Ownership. The goal is to give the business
away “ to help your children grow up and become parents of
their own.
5.
You need a Reproducible pattern. In order for average people
to succeed in owning their own business and help others do the
same, the business plan must be simple and reproducible.
6.
There must be some Recognition. What you recognize or
honor is what gets reproduced. We are all looking for “Well done,
thou good and faithful servant“ from people we respect and
value.
7.
You need a Dream. You have to want it. It has to come from
some yearning, some desire deep inside of you, or you will never
overcome walls and obstacles. Ultimately your dream must
connect with God and people.
Rich and his friend Jay started a business in their garage selling soap
with these values. In their lifetime, they saw their dream expand all
over the world. We, Henry and Steve, are not in the soap business.
We are in the church business. Jesus is the founder. He didn“t even
have a garage to work out of. It was in the open air that he said to his
disciples, “All authority in heaven and one earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit“ (Matthew
28:18-19).
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10. He mentored or walked with his disciples for three years and then
gave them the task of starting the church (ownership). They shared
the Way or a Walk (reproducible pattern) with others, creating
churches (support) in one nation after another. They were known as
apostles, and they ordained elders and deacons (recognition). Despite
persecution the dream expanded. It expanded because the disciples
of Jesus simply helped ordinary people get connected to God, and in
the process they got connected to each other. These people“s lives
were so extraordinarily changed that they couldn“t help but share their
walk with God with others. Despite no church buildings, no
seminaries, no Christian radio, no mission agencies, and no Christian
bookstores, the Way (as it was called) spread, first to Jewish
settlements throughout the Roman world and eventually to the whole
Gentile world. It spread one person, one couple, and one family at a
time. It spread because it was real.
The Walk-with-God Based Church paradigm, as it has developed
over the last 15 years, is beginning to see signs of the vibrancy of the
early church“s extraordinary impact on ordinary people. It has
mobilized Christians to do more for God than they ever thought they
could do. People who thought they could never talk about their faith or
disciple someone in a relationship with God are finding that it“s
possible. This paradigm does not rely on talented, articulate speakers
to motivate people, but on mentoring relationships wherein people
spend time with God together, walking alongside each other. It
identifies simple day-in and day-out habits of walking with God that
neighbors can do with neighbors, parents can do with children,
workers can do with coworkers. The walk-with-God based church
paradigm encourages people to be players, not spectators, in their
spiritual dreams. It gives people a plan for connecting to God that can
be reproduced in the lives of anyone they meet. It is supported by a
network of like-minded Christians who are reinforcing the same habits
in their families and churches, who help to overcome obstacles and
setbacks together. By God“s grace, the walk-with-God based church
has become a movement and is spreading spontaneously. People are
eager to share the effects of a vital relationship with God, and they
have a framework within which to pass it on.
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11. If you want to discover the principles behind the walk-with-God based
church, keep reading. If you want to discover how your church can
benefit from a common goal of a walk-with-God, keep reading. If you
want to see a change in you or your family and come alive spiritually,
keep reading. If you want to find the courage to share your walk-with-
God, maybe for the first time, then keep reading. It is our hope and
dream that God will use this book to make your faith stronger, more
alive, more contagious. And we hope, ultimately, as we all walk with
God together, the Church, the bride of Christ, the body of which Christ
is the head, is lifted high.
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