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Scripture tells us that on the day of Pentecost three thousand people were added to the church. As they began to learn what it meant to be God’s people, some things about their lives changed, while other things remained the same. They continued to eat normal food; but the context of those meals changed:

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts… (Acts 2:46  )

Every day, or at least regularly, the believers met together in their homes to share their food with other people. Family meals were very normal. The meal itself had not changed. But, the family was now completely different.

Of course, this relationship change had be described earlier by Jesus. His disciples were simply following his lead:

Jesus said that new wine needs new wineskins (Luke 5:36-40). A new wineskin is only needed if there is new wine. If simple/organic church is like a new wineskin, what is the new wine? Is there something about the life we have together in Christ that needs a new container, that would burst an old wineskin?
This is part of a series on how to start simple/organic/house churches.  Changing the structure of church gains nothing unless it is a response to something that Jesus is doing which wouldn't be easy to contain within the old structures. (If you read the story in Luke 5 carefully, it is obvious that Jesus cares about the old structures and the old wine too.) There's no point in doing church as we've always known it within the four walls of our homes rather than in a special building.
Many people take Matthew 18:18-20 as the basic building block of church.

The miracle we need most right now is one that the Lord has freely given us already. It is the power of a changed life. The world is poised and ready to see the relevance and power of our message if only we would let them see it firsthand.

There is no power on earth more potent than the gospel in a heart of belief (Romans 1:16). Ed Silvoso puts it like this, in his book That None Should Perish, “The church has been entrusted with something that every politician on earth would give an arm and a leg to have: the power to see hearts changed.” We have been given this power, though we generally leave it unused. Our pews are full of “Christians” whose lives show little difference from those who are in the world.

We already saw in Chapter 1 that Jesus valued the power of a changed life when He called Matthew and immediately put him into service. The New Testament has many examples of people who have only just met Jesus, have little knowledge of His person or work and yet are already able to effectively stand up to others with a bold witness. They do so all on the irrefutable persuasion of a changed life. My favorite such story is found in the ninth chapter of John.

Editors Note:
Every day new visitors are coming to our site. In order to expose them to some of our best articles, and to create fresh discussion among those of us who have been active on the site a long time, we will from time to time repost an past article like this one. This article has been a favorite of many people. We invite you to read it for the first time or read it again. Take a moment to add your thoughts and commentary and let's learn together how we can honor and magnify Jesus and join Him in building His kingdom.

“For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.”
1 Corinthians 14:31

The Vocal Minority
Recently I attended some small group meetings where the same people prayed, taught and led week after week, often for a long time. By the way, what they said was usually encouraging. But, how did this affect the silent majority? For some, it was a good time for a nap. Others felt intimidated because they could never pray that long, so why try? They reasoned, “What will my little one sentence prayer sound like?”

1. Jesus told us to look for the good soil (parable of the soil, sower and seed) - he didn't say not to love hard, rocky or thorny ground, but he did put an emphasis on attending to those who are responsive to the good news as a priority over those who are not ready to obey him. We shouldn't choose between the "good soil" folks and others, but give the greatest attention to those who obey Jesus in contrast to those who don't. Keep loving the others, but invest most of our time in those who are prepared to obey...

2. It is not an issue of numbers, but of obedience - Jesus emphasized over and over again the necessity of obedience as a prerequisite for being one of his disciples...far too much of our time is spent catering to religious folks who are disobedient instead of investing in the non-religious who are desperate and responsive. Jesus loved the multitudes, challenged seekers and followers, but discipled the ones who would obey him.

Dear Nicolay,

Greetings, Nicolay!  I am sorry that we did not see one another on this last visit to Ukraine.  I did see many of my old friends who we worked with in the early 1990’s.  They were great reunions as we met and talked about the “old days”.  I love remembering those days of revival in Ukraine, but we cannot nor should we live in the past.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We trust and pray that you are rejoicing in the hope that you have in Christ. You are receiving this letter because over the last eight years you have taken part in a simple church conference or training event or you have been a visitor to the simple church website.

Certainly there is a wide array of people who will read this letter. Some of you have a strong interest in what is happening and what is planned among simple churches. Others of you may have little to no interest. Regardless we greet you with the love, grace, peace, and hope that we share in Christ.From the time we started the website, offered our first training event, and published our first book there has been an underlying desire to stay true to what Paul expressed so clearly to the church in Phillipi:

Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ . . . (Romans 16:25, NIV)

Ever since I've been a Christian, I've observed that most believers can be divided up into two camps: the libertines and the legalists.

In my experience, libertines are those who go to church, own a Bible, and profess to believe in Jesus. However, they appear to have no vital relationship with the Lord. And they hold to the same values as do non-Christians.

If you were to examine their lifestyle, you would discover that libertines behave scantly different from non-Christians. Their attitude is that God only wants us to be nice to others and try our best to be good. Beyond that, the Almighty doesn't particularly care how we live. So long as a person mentally assents that God exists and Jesus is Savior, they are worthy to bear the name "Christian."

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!

In John 16:7,  Jesus is telling the disciples that  "It is to your advantage that I go away".  After three years with Jesus, after all the miracles and after all the dreams of the Kingdom it comes to this?  How could it possibly be better without Jesus?  How could it possibly be better without the moment by moment flesh and blood presence of Jesus?