Let us begin with a very important fact. The goal of the site is not to criticize traditional or institutional churches. Yes, some of the articles make comparisons and some of the writers do strongly question traditional practices. However, those of us...
We have over one hundred articles available on our site, so if you are a new visitor, you may be overwhelmed. Where should you start? 
Some call them house churches. Some call them organic churches. Some
call them simple churches. We prefer to just call them churches. They
are rapidly multiplying, simple communities of believers, meeting in
homes, offices, campuses, wherever God is...
You are church before you do church. This is one of
the fueling insights of the missional church movement. This isn't a new
idea...but it is pretty provocative, especially when one considers its
implications. If we take Jesus at his word when he say...
Organic Church. I've been using this term for around
fifteen years now. Today it's become somewhat of a clay word, being
molded and shaped to mean a variety of different things by a variety of
different people.
| We are living in Exciting Days: Part 1 | ||||||
| Written by JesusFollower | ||||||
| Monday, October 15 2007 | ||||||
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We are living in Exciting Days: Part 1 Do you ever have times where you feel that God is not at work? Do you ever feel alone, in the sense that it feels that there are few people who are zealous for God? I know I have felt that way at different times. Lately, however, God is regularly showing me how He is working to build His kingdom all over the world. Two recent events in which I had the honor to participate particularly encouraged me. In late September, about 25 believers from around Ukraine gathered for 2 days at my apartment to discuss making disciples and church planting. When we started, the question was posed to everyone- how do you understand the idea of simple or organic church? There were various thoughts, but very common themes: 1) These are churches where Christ is truly the Head, and not a man. 2) These are churches that allow Christ to naturally build the church instead of trying to do it artificially. 3) These are churches where the power of God’s Spirit is evident-both in the lives of believers and in the influence the church has on unbelievers. One brother from Rovna really challenged all of us. He said people start churches all the time with a building, a large worship meeting, and great programming. Some believers do this type of church very much by the Spirit, but there are also people who start and have “successful” churches that are not led by the Spirit. Good programming and good organization allow the church to see “success”. On the other hand, he said, if you start a simple church in the harvest, the only way it can truly be fruitful and effective is if God shows up-if God works by the power of His Spirit to save people and put them together to live as a group of disciples under His Lordship and headship. It is scary to think any of us could grow a “successful” church void of the Spirit, but in my experience I have seen this is true. There are big churches everywhere where Christ is not the Head and God is not even the focus. As we continued to pray and share on this theme, God gave us a clear challenge and admonition with which we all left the gathering: We need to learn to listen to God’s voice. We need to learn to wait on Him and His power, instead of running ahead to build the church in our own strength. It was great to see the hearts of the people who gathered. They are not seeking to find a model or strategy. They are not seeking to be successful in the world’s eyes. They want to simply hear God’s voice, do what He says, and help others to be in bodies of believers where this is happening. | ||||||
