What is RON – Restoration Organic Network?

Restoration Organic Network (RON) is an international network of Christians and ministries dedicated to restoring our churches and our faith to the beliefs and organic practices of the original Church established by Jesus and his Apostles.

A church with the following distinctives we call a RON Church. Not only are we planting RON Churches but we are happy to serve the Body of Christ by helping Institutional Churches transition into RON Churches:

Our first name, Restoration, reflects our mission: to return to the faith of Jesus and his Apostles. Over the past 2,000 years, Christianity has gone through countless changes—so much so that most believers today wouldn’t recognize its original form. Paul urged believers to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 3). Now, two millennia later, we must first rediscover that faith in order to return to it, contend for it, and restore it to its rightful place in our lives and in our churches.

Many of us—especially Protestants and Evangelicals—believe we are defenders of biblical Christianity because we base our beliefs on the Bible. But what we often fail to see is that we’re working with interpretations of Scripture, shaped by human traditions that go back even before the Bible was compiled in the 4th Century. It’s easy to assume our understanding matches what Jesus and his Apostles originally meant—especially if we’ve only ever been taught one perspective.

If we truly want to restore Christianity to what Jesus and his Apostles taught and practiced, we must be willing to examine and question everything—both what we’ve been taught and what we assume to be true. We must distinguish between human traditions and the original message of Christ.

This is a lifelong journey, not a destination. We should never assume we have fully arrived.

Our middle name is Organic. We are an international network of Christians and ministries recognizing that the church Jesus and his Apostles planted as an expression of the Christian “faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) was organic, not institutional.

 

Structure and Leadership

Organic Church:

  • Non-hierarchical and participatory.

  • Leadership is shared or rotates informally.

  • Emphasizes the priesthood of all believers—everyone contributes according to spiritual gifts.

Institutional Church:

  • Hierarchical and centralized.

  • Leadership is typically vested in pastors, elders, or clergy.

  • Congregants primarily receive teaching and direction from the leadership.

Gathering Style and Environment

Organic Church:

  • Meets in homes or informal settings.

  • Focus is on relationships, mutual edification, and discussion.

  • Worship is spontaneous, interactive, and Spirit-led.

Institutional Church:

  • Meets in dedicated buildings (churches).

  • Structured services with sermons, liturgy, and programmed worship.

  • The environment is often performance- or lecture-based.

Mission and Daily Life

Organic Church:

  • Mission is integrated into daily life.

  • Evangelism and discipleship happen naturally through community.

  • The church exists wherever believers are living out Christ together.

Institutional Church:

  • Mission is often program-driven.

  • Outreach is typically organized through events or ministries.

  • The church is usually seen as the Sunday gathering or building.

Our last name, Network, means we are not a denomination or an institution, though we may look like that at times. We are a network of like-minded Christians and ministries with the same purpose to restore an authentic biblical faith. We cross denominational barriers and serve where we can and allow others to serve us.

The word Network implies networking, and that implies communication and dialogue, something that is in short supply in the modern church. Rather than shun others because of our differences we would rather invite them to “let’s talk about that” so we can learn from each other.

We also work together with those who are willing and able rather than think we can do it all ourselves.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is RON just another denomination?

No, it’s not, but it will have similarities to a denomination. The word “denomination” means “a grouping having things in common.” Denominations having things in common by forcing uniformity as an institution, while we get there naturally, as in, organically.

What's the story behind creating RON?

Patrick Shilo was a part of an organic expression I was involved in. He did jail ministry in Kenya under the name Hope Project Africa. Many of the inmates in his ministry were starting churches when they got out of jail. Patrick invited me to help establish a foundation of biblical understanding for those churches.

After sharing my vision for Organic Church with them and a number of churches and student groups I was encouraged by how well the message resonated with Africans. They recognized that Western ways of doing church, imported by missionaries from America and Great Brittain, in their culture, left a lot to be desired.

Wanting to make use of modern technology to keep in touch with them and for the many ministers and others to keep in touch with each other I created a Whatsapp group called Restoration Organic Church. Patrick started calling the churches he was planting RON churches and the name stuck.