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In Alcoholics Anonymous, The 12 Steps are read out loud at every meeting.

For those of us who are still in detox from programmatic Christianity, there is value in repeating what we have said before:  the simple church revolution (reformation?) is not about doing conventional church in a home. It's not "Honey, I shrunk the church!"  It's not 20 minutes of singing, 30 minutes of Bible study, 10 minutes of prayer and then refreshments.  (Or, any other prepackaged way of meeting.)

"OK.  If it's not about that, what is it about?"

We have all gone through times when we wondered where our discernment was.  One of the lessons that Marilyn and I  have learned is that we begin to fly blind when we have any agenda other than simple obedience to Jesus. 

In I John 3:15- 17, John talks about three agendas that capture our hearts and blind us.  I want to speak of them in reverse order.

I sometimes think the Lord gave us the experience with Rosa and starting church in the projects because it so closely parallels Luke 10.

In Luke 10:1, Jesus commissions 72 disciples to go ahead of him in pairs to all the towns and places he plans to visit. Jesus had a strategy for the area--the disciples had to listen to his instructions, go where he told them and he would follow.

Jesus told me very specifically which street to walk because he planned to visit Springfield. My job was to hear him and obey.

The ability to hear God's voice  is vital if we are going to be on mission with God. He has plans for the area where you live. As you listen to him, he will give you a place to pray for, or put a person on your heart. Maybe he will say to you, "Get chatting with the person next to you in the grocery line--she needs to hear from me today." Or maybe he will put a people group on your heart--you will find yourself with an unaccountable burden to pray for skateboarders, or students, or the elderly. 

When we started a church in the low income housing projects, the first thing we did was to prepare the ground in prayer.

In Matthew 12, Jesus gives an illustration in his defense against an attack by the Pharisees. They accused him of casting out demons by the power of the devil. He replied, "How can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his goods." (verse 29)

-Five ideas to keep in mind when you're planting something new

House churches are not organizations that require people with administrative skills or immense giftedness to coordinate and direct a group—they simply call for ordinary people who are in love with Jesus. Neil Cole, in Cultivating a Life for God, believes that simplicity is the key to fulfilling the Great Commission. He says, "The more complex the process, the greater the giftedness needed to keep it going.'"

The created world has natural boundaries held in place by gravity. The oceans are held in place by the shores. The atmosphere is contained by the weight of earth's gravity. Gravity keeps the solar system contained in orbit around the sun. In a similar way people have natural boundaries in the way that we function best. We are pulled into social groupings of certain sizes by a spiritual gravity inherent with the function of the group.

Dear Nicolay,

In one of my last letters, I stressed the need for significant and even radical change.  By the way, radical means “returning to the roots”, and that is where we need to go – to return to our apostolic foundations.  Some people believe that is impossible and unrealistic.  Perhaps they are right and we should just make the best of our circumstances and get on with it.  That brings me little satisfaction when I know it is not God’s best and he wants so much more for Ukraine.

In this letter, I want to outline or build a framework for the ongoing dialogue.  We need to know where we are and where we should be going.

Dear Nicolay,

Greetings my dear brother. I trust you are well in the Lord's work in Ukraine.

Two weeks ago I visited a new church in Western Ukraine and I must admit that I was very frustrated by the messages which were spoken by the preachers. There was zero interaction and the young man I was with said nothing from the 40 minute message spoke to him at all. The preacher could just as well as speaking to the walls.

I am attaching an article that I wrote several years ago encouraging dialogue as a method - very Biblical- of communicating the truths of God's word.

Earlier this year I heard a message  entitled Not by Might, Nor by Power from Zechariah 4:1-14.

This phrase which bounces around in Christian circles- "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord" has held great power through the ages. That was the first point of the sermon- It is about the Holy Spirit. He must be at the center of things. We can't do anything without Him. Our dependence must be on His guidance, not our own. This was a great reminder....

Earlier this year I heard a message  entitled Not by Might, Nor by Power from Zechariah 4:1-14.

This phrase which bounces around in Christian circles- "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord" has held great power through the ages. That was the first point of the sermon- It is about the Holy Spirit. He must be at the center of things. We can't do anything without Him. Our dependence must be on His guidance, not our own. This was a great reminder....