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As a missionary to China, Roland Allen asked the question, "Why do we choose to use methods that produce mediocre results rather than following the biblical example of the missionary methods of Paul which produced abundant fruit.  I believe he asked this question in both amazement and without comprehending the rationale behind using methods which were ineffective or marginal.  Why should we not just follow Paul's plain example.

One of the ways our family lives missionally, is by having students from other countries live with us while they attend college. They learn U.S. culture in our home which is a safe place where they can ask questions, make mistakes, practice their English, and see and experience how Christians live and relate to each other and the world around them. This has worked out great for all of us - until this semester. The two girls who came to live with us lasted just 6 weeks, and then they left because according them, "the environment was not good". They went back to their previous environment.

Many jump into the adventure of simple, organic and missional church and then end up leaving because the experience was not what they expected. They return to old environments that feel safe, require less, are more familiar, and fit their expectations. Not everyone likes to live in a simple, organic, and missional way once they find out what the environment requires of them. It requires personal responsibility for their own intimate relationship with God, and then with others both Christian and not. It requires initiative. It forces a deeper level of accountability, and a participatory expectation that many are surprised by, and don't have the motivation to pursue.

{mosimage}A friend of mine recounts the story of his son coming home from Sunday School. He asked the boy the most common questions asked at 12:15 every Sunday: "So how was your class? What did you learn?" The boy suddenly was overcome with a look of frustration and remarked: "With a book that big there's got to be more stories in there than the one's they're telling us! They're keeping something from us!"

That sent my friend into a pilgrimage that led to involvement in organic church planting.

More Details:

Author and Church Planter Neil Cole will be sharing Principles of Simple and Organic Churches

Dates:

10:00am November 27th- 2:00pm on November 29th

Place:

Irpin(just outside of Kiev,Ukraine), Christian Center of Ukraine located at 11 Fedorova Street

Directions:

Take Marshutka № 400 from Metro" Святошино " or Marshrutka № 392к from Metro " Академгородок ".

Editors Note:

This is a very challenging article that asks some very good questions. It may make some pastors very uncomfortable, and at first read you may not fully agree with what is written here because of what you have seen and experienced.

Our hope is that this article will simply motivate you to study freshly the topic of leadership in the local church. The questions before us are not about model or method, but more importantly-does the way we lead our churches magnify Christ as the Head and allow for the true practice of the priesthood of all believers? Does the way we view leadership limit the multiplication of disciples and churches?

May we be open to allow God to speak to us freshly.

Editors Note:

This is a very challenging article that asks some very good questions. It may make some pastors very uncomfortable, and at first read you may not fully agree with what is written here because of what you have seen and experienced.

Our hope is that this article will simply motivate you to study freshly the topic of leadership in the local church. The questions before us are not about model or method, but more importantly-does the way we lead our churches magnify Christ as the Head and allow for the true practice of the priesthood of all believers? Does the way we view leadership limit the multiplication of disciples and churches?

May we be open to allow God to speak to us freshly.

SOCIAL LEPROSY
In the book of John, Jesus prays for those who would follow his teachings after he ascended into heaven. What I find fascinating is that Jesus began by praying for what he didn't want to pray. Yeah, it sounds strange, doesn't it?

Why would anyone ever start praying by asking God for what they were not asking? Maybe the clue is in what it was that Jesus didn't pray. He says, "I pray not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the Evil One" (John 17:15).

Why did Jesus pray this?

BELIEVE, BELONG, BECOME
Someone once told me that every single human being has a desire to believe something, to become something and to belong to something. As we enter into relationship with others we need to listen for the clues to where people are at in this process.

Ask people questions about what they believe, find out what they are searching to belong to, help them to come to grips with what they want to become.

In the closing words of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus leaves us with what has become known as "The Great Commission". In it, Jesus charges his disciples with a set of tasks until he returns. Here's what Jesus commands us to do:
1) Go out into the world and make disciples.
2) Baptize these disciples in the name of the Trinity.
3) Teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded us.

If we take a moment to evaluate how we, the Church, have done in accomplishing these tasks, I think we'll see where we've missed the mark, and hopefully where we need to get back on track.