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Blog posts that contain references to books that are related to simple church

When to multiply?

I thought this excerpt from the book The Rabbit and The Elephant by Tony and Felicity Dale was helpful when addressing the question of, “When and how should our simple church multiply?”  I think it also speaks to how someone (I’d recommend a couple of believing families) might possibly start a simple church…   How do we multiply our church? The first church we started grew to more than fifty before we split it down the middle into two groups. For a year after that, people told us that the split felt like a divorce. Because of this, we no longer multiply by dividing a church into two. From the start we encourage those who find a person of peace to seek to start new churches/groups within that person’s sphere of influence. If, in spite… Read More »When to multiply?

Meeting Ideas (Part 1)

I wanted to share some abbreviated notes from Frank Viola’s book Finding Organic Church.  Perhaps it may encourage you as we “learn how to meet” together in our simple churches.  Please note that, to my knowledge, the Frank Viola that wrote this book is not the same Frank Viola that played for the Mets and signed the ball above. Chapter 15:  Learning How To Meet : Meeting Content 1) Sing Together – without instruments, without a song leader or a music leader, learn lots of new songs together. 2) Share Together – Viola suggests the following “share together” exercises for the first six months (it could vary in time depending on the number in your group.) Exercise 1: Life Story.  Each person share their life story including their testimony of how they came to faith… Read More »Meeting Ideas (Part 1)

No More Spectators

This Sunday will mark the third week of the No More Spectators class at First Alliance Church.  While not a “book study,” the class name as well as many of the big ideas were taken from a book written by Mark Nysewander with the same title.  Mark spoke several months ago at our church and passed his book along to me.  Like Robert Coleman’s book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, Mark issues a challenge to all believers to engage in the Great Commission following the model that Jesus gave us.  I especially like how Mark compares and contrasts “spectator” Christians and disciple-making Christians.  Steven Lagen, from First Alliance Church, has written a short summary of the book which I have included below. ———– Summary and notes of Mark Nysewander, No More Spectators (USA:  Sovereign World,… Read More »No More Spectators

FREE BOOK: So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore?

Wow!  One of the books on the “recommended readings” list I posted here awhile back is actually available for free!  You can download this book in a pdf format (reminder:  you can read pdf files on your iphone or ipad and you can always read on your computer or print it out) or download it in a .lit format to be read with your with Microsoft Reader compatible PDA!  If you have found yourself reading this post, I can’t encourage you enough to read this short book.  I pray that it will challenge and encourage you as it has me! Click Here to Visit Author’s Site and Download For FREE Now! From the Author’s Site: What would you do if you met someone you thought just might be one of Jesus’ original disciples still living… Read More »FREE BOOK: So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore?