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A list of the values that we’ve observed to be commonly shared among those who are gathering together in simple ways.

The Kingdom of God

• Our emphasis as Christians is on building the kingdom, not a church, or even “The Church.”

• New churches are planted and outreaches are planned in an endeavor to build the Kingdom of God, not necessarily a church or an organization.

• Allegiance within our groups and networks is to the King, not to the leadership within those groups and networks.

Ministry

• Ministry is allowed to flow naturally, both during gatherings and everyday life. It is not viewed as an event that must be scheduled, but one that occurs as directed by the Holy Spirit.

• Ministry is the right and function of all believers, not a select class or group and certainly not the exclusive function of the leadership.

“Church planting is the most effective form of evangelism under heaven,” missiologist C. Peter Wagner once said. But is this still true today? Global nomad and missionary Andrew Jones, who works with emerging ‘Jesus movements’ around the world, suggests it’s time to rethink our missions practice, and move from ‘church as a weekly meeting in a building or a house’ towards ‘more sustainable, holistic, and measurably transformational Kingdom solutions.’



Over the past two years Jones and his family travelled to over 30 nations in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, where they met with many ‘underground’ missionary pioneers. “One of the biggest trends I observed is the shift away from planting traditional churches (pastor-building-program oriented) towards a wide range of Kingdom expressions,” Jones says.

In late September, we held our annual Simple Church Conference in Kiev. It was a wonderful time and we were blessed to have Wayne Jacobsen teach us and lead our discussions. Wayne is the author of He Loves Me and So You Don’t Want To Go to Church Anymore. 

The discussions we had about our relationship with God and with one another deeply touched our lives.

Hypocrisy Defined

A woman once asked me, "What do they call you at your church?" I told her, "Earle." But," she replied, "shouldn't they show you more respect as a minister?" I answered, "Respect? In our church? Are you kidding?" She didn't quite catch the joke, but I explained to her that someone's using a title to address me does not really give me respect. Rather it is the condition of their heart that is the issue. In Luke 12, Jesus clearly warns his disciples about the tendency to believe that our outward behavior alone determines the quality of our righteousness and the authenticity of our Christianity. He points out to them a subtle yet important difference between authentic Christianity and Theatrical Christianity . Luke 12:1 reads:

Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, he began saying to his disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

God delights in choosing the things that are weak and foolish in the eyes of the world to usher in the holy and glorious.  He wants to rub this into our consciousness, and that the way of the kingdom is utterly contrary to the way of the world.

I feel like declaring war on Charismatic and Pentecostal “Amens” and “Hallelujahs”—anything that presumes to know anything, and I just want to be utterly foolish and celebrate failure, confusion and everything that characterizes what I believe is the true work of God; for only the true work of God will compel the attention of the world.  I am suspicious of anything that is outwardly impressive, well-funded, runs smoothly, has an ambitious building program, or has programs producing shining examples of disciples.  It seems to me to be not of God, but has rather the stink of man precisely because it is too efficient.  If something works too well, and has been accomplished without the suffering of the cross, we are likely out of the purposes of God.

It is not until you are saved and come into the church that you really begin to learn and understand the dimensions of human depravity.  The revelation of what we really are as man truly begins at that point.  That is why the church, the real church, is such a horror and a mess, full of confusion and contradiction, such an ugly revelation of the condition of your and the rest of mankind’s condition.  If that has not been revealed in your church conduct, then where you are fellowshipping is not true church; it is something less that keeps the lid on, and allows you enough activity to give the semblance of services, the euphoria of meetings and songs, and a good preaching, but not sufficient to reveal what you are and what we all are together.  That is why grace is not yet upon us all, because it is reserved for the wretched and the sinner.  Until we have come to recognize how wretched we are, how totally bankrupt and incapable we are of anything, and just how much we really live in the spirit of the world, then grace is not available to us.

Kiev, Ukraine         May 27^th -29^th

Do you want to be a more passionate disciple of Jesus Christ? Do you desire to multiply your life and make disciples more effectively? Do you long to see churches started that are centered on Jesus Christ, that experience deep loving relationships, and that are able to reach the lost and multiply? If this describes your heart and if you are active in a simple church, then this conference is designed for you.

The conference teachings will be in English with Russian translation.

If you would like more information about the conference, please write us at simplechurch.books@gmail.com

Many churches are looking to become increasingly relevant to the society around them by shifting to a more organic form of church.

Here are some of the shifts toward organic:

1. We're moving from being building and event focused to lifestyle and family focused. Church is no longer an event to go to or a building to assemble in. We may meet together, but church is more like a family. You don't go to family; you are family. It's based on relationship and lifestyle.

2. Church is missional rather than attractional. We're looking to make disciples rather than converts.

3. We no longer need specially trained people to do all the work of ministry. Ordinary people are fully equipped to minister. The clergy/laity distinction is becoming less and less relevant.

Luke 10:1-24 is, I suppose, one of the key passages in the whole arena of the missional conversation. It is the story of Jesus sending out the 72 disciples to the towns and villages that He would be visiting in the coming days. I think the reason I am so fascinated by this passage is simply because it breaks the whole idea of mission down into relatively easy to manage chunks. So what are those chunks?

1. Pray – Whether we see it or not really makes no difference. Jesus clearly states that “…the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask [pray] the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” We can never limit our understanding of the spiritual climate, simply, to the amount of response that we are getting at this point in time. Just because I may see very few people coming to faith, does not mean that the harvest is any less plentiful than Jesus said it would be. I just need to pray that the workers would be sent and that I would also be sent with a wise and discerning heart that enables me to engage in a conversation with God’s harvest.

One of the main paradigm shifts within this movement of simple churches is the belief that ordinary men and women hear God.  They can be entrusted with the affairs of the Kingdom.  It does not need specially trained people to manage the church.  The Holy Spirit is able to run the church by speaking directly to His people.   He will do a far better job of it than our organizations and denominations ever can.

Within simple church, we like to say that church is as simple as knowing God, hearing His voice and responding to what He tells us.  Jesus is head of His church, and if we believe that we are to take this literally, it means that both at an individual and at a corporate level, He desires to communicate with us.  It also presupposes that we have the ability to recognize His voice when He is speaking to us.

Imagine the adventure of hearing God speak and recognizing His voice.  We might hear Jesus say to us, “Go and sit down next to the person on the bench and get chatting with him, He needs to hear from Me today.”  Imagine a community of God’s people that knows when God is communicating.  God might tell them to get involved in a certain apartment complex.  He would tell them where their finances were to be spent.  They would know what they were to do with their children during the times they meet together. God is speaking loudly and clearly.  Are we listening? 

Felicity Dale  //www.simplychurch.com/

In the previous posts in this series, I suggested that it is dangerous to the spiritual maturity of believers to place an extraordinary emphasis on Sunday as “The Day” or a specific location as “The Place” or a specific set of activities as “The Program” for Christians to meet together as the church.

In this final post of the series, I want to focus on another “danger” of the modern, traditional Sunday: a focus on a specific person or group of people who must “lead” the church meeting. Usually, this person is the senior pastor, sometimes combined with other “staff” such as “minister of music” (minister or worship) or perhaps another “associate pastor.”

And, what happens when that person (the senior pastor) can’t be there – rare though that must be? He (or she) hand picks a replacement.