Principles of Simple Church

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: God is doing some fresh things in His church around the world. He is speaking to many people in similar ways. Due to our varied gifting, levels of of maturity, and even personalities, not all of us will see and understand these things in the same way. Not even the handful of us who manage the site see all the articles presented here the same way. Our heart is simply to encourage those to whom God is speaking about simple churches. We want to let you know how God is speaking to others around the world. This article is an example of some of things that believers are thinking about and discussing in regards to the church. We found these statements by a German brother to parallel some of the things that God has been speaking to us. These thoughts are challenging, and there may be something here you don't agree with. We, however, believe it is helpful to prayefully consider such statements and to allow God to speak to us as He would want to.

May our goal be fully aligned with God's goal-to see Christ exalted and for all men to be drawn to Him.

Editors Note: God is doing some fresh things in His church around the world. He is speaking to many people in similar ways. Due to our varied gifting, levels of of maturity, and even personalities, not all of us will see and understand these things in the same way. Not even the handful of us who manage the site see all the articles presented here the same way. Our heart is simply to encourage those to whom God is speaking about simple churches. We want to let you know how God is speaking to others around the world. This article is an example of some of things that believers are thinking about and discussing in regards to the church. We found these statements by a German brother to parallel some of the things that God has been speaking to us. These thoughts are challenging, and there may be something here you don't agree with. We, however, believe it is helpful to prayefully consider such statements and to allow God to speak to us as He would want to.

May our goal be fully aligned with God's goal-to see Christ exalted and for all men to be drawn to Him.

"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest fields."

Jesus tells us the key to seeing many people saved through a great harvest of souls is to pray for more workers. The more prayer, the more workers; the more workers, the greater the harvest-It's a simple equation.

Many have used these words to challenge believers to get out of the pews and into the fields. And it must be so. What will it take to get the workers out into the fields? The word Jesus used to "send out" workers is the same Greek word used of "casting out" demons (ekballo). It is a violent term as if the Lord of the harvest must grab us by the collar and thrust us out into the fields. Unfortunately, that may be what it takes for most of us Christians.

In our quest to be part of a powerful move of God's kingdom, we often are tempted to think the solution will come from a complex composite of things that produce the results we so desperately long for. We cry out to the heavens for a solution that will finally change the church forever. Many travel every year to new seminars and conferences, buying the latest books and binders full of new methods in our search for the answer. The primal scream of our hearts is a search for spiritual success that will ultimately change the world. To our query of the universe, Albert Einstein once commented, "When the solution is simple, God is answering." In this article, we will describe the practical ways our team-Church Multiplication Associates-has used to multiply and network house churches that saturate neighborhoods and nations with the message of Jesus Christ.

Dear Sister,

Thank you for your gracious letter. You've asked an excellent question. You wanted to know my view on a woman's role in the church and how I understand the "limiting passages" that seem to restrict their functioning. I have been asked this question so many times I've lost count.

To be honest, I'm monumentally disinterested in adding more noise to the ill-fated gender brawl that rages in some Christian circles. It is for this reason that I've been loathe to write on the subject. Yet I keep meeting women who have been spiritually straight-jacketed by what I find to be a wooden interpretation of certain Biblical texts. Their stories have provoked me to tread on this hazardous minefield. And for their sake, as well as for the sake of all my beloved sisters in Christ, I regret not having done so sooner.