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? Here you will find some of our best articles ...
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.
T. Austi...
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Discipleship and Leadership
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I was born in Ukraine in Mariupol city in 1975, in period of the
Soviet Union. I had very various intereststs in my childhood. A couple
of years I was interested in Biology, I even reared different animals
at home. But in the age of 12 I took a great interest in Physics. I was
very interested in the world structure and it's origin. I took part in
different physics contests pretty successful. I was also interested in
math. In the age of 14 I wrote a small research about the solution of
differential equations. In general I was interested in everything that
was logical, everything that slightly opened a curtain of mystery over
how everything was organized. I almost didn't attend school in my last
years, I had an individual schedule. I entered university on a physical
faculty without any exams. I was interested in programming since my
childhood. During my last years of school I was usually sitting at my
mom's work and programed. At that time the most cool processor was
8086. When I was on my first year of University I wrote a valid
debugger on Assembler. That was my first really big program.
Our fascination with celebrities often becomes personality cult. One of the things which I simply do not understand about American politics is the messianic fervor which seems to flow through the presidential process. Can one person really solve the problems of a nation? That leadership cult also flows through the church. So much teaching on leadership seems to have as its goal the creation of dependency! We have our own versions of the celebrity, personality, leadership cults!
As I began to think about leadership for simple, organic churches, one
major thought came to my mind. Jesus was a cross-cultural
revolutionary who came and turned the world upside down. One only has
to read the Sermon on the Mount to understand that following Christ
makes no worldly sense – to be poor in spirit, to rejoice when
persecuted, and to mourn are all counter-cultural ways of life and
thinking. And, this Jesus is our best example for leadership. I have
always been amazed that during discussions on leadership people so
often revert to examples from the Old Testament and examples from
successful organizational leadership rather than simply focusing on
what Jesus said and did. Is not Jesus our greatest and best example?
And, His example is that He had no political or organizational power,
no wealth, no school, no position, nor any possessions. He had no
authority except that authority which was derived from His
relationships.
Recently there has been a lot of dialogue on the role of leadership. What is this thing called leadership? Who leads? Who follows? What difference does it make? Who cares? The question of leadership always leads into a lively debate. The great urgency always comes down to-who the heck is in charge around here?
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Leadership in the Relational Church. What did Jesus have in mind when he spoke of leadership among the incredible community of the Body of Christ?
Editors Note: