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.
| A word to missionaries-Keep it simple and indigenous | ||||||
| Written by JesusFollower | ||||||
| Monday, November 19 2007 | ||||||
A word to missionaries-Keep it simple and indigenous Here are a few thoughts from Roland Allen that are a sobering reminder for any of us that are foreign missionaries. If you have not ever read Allen's books, I strongly recommend them(Missionary Methods-St. Pauls or Ours and Spontaneous Expansion of the Church)
The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church Roland Allen (1927) Even if the supply of men and funds from Western sources was unlimited and we could cover the whole globe with an army of millions of foreign missionaries and establish stations thickly all over the world, the method would speedily reveal its weakness, as it is already beginning to reveal it. The mere fact that Christianity was propagated by such an army, established in foreign stations all over the world, would inevitably alienate the native populations, who would see in it the growth of the domination of a foreign people. They would see themselves robbed of their religious independence, and would more and more fear the loss of their social independence. Foreigners can never successfully direct the propagation of any faith throughout a whole country. If the faith does not become naturalized and expand among the people by its own vital power, it exercises an alarming and hateful influence, and men fear and shun it as something alien. It is then obvious that no sound missionary policy can be based upon multiplication of missionaries and mission stations. A thousand thousand would not suffice; a dozen might be too many. Roland Allen “The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the Causes that Hinder It” (1927) | ||||||
