Most of my life I have enjoyed satire. Satire will often seek to approve of or accept as normal ideas that the satirist is actually seeking to attack. Such is the case in this goofy song that applies attractional, hierarchical, personality driven, pulpit centered, church growth, clergy/laity ideas to simple/house/organic church ministry.
One of the greatest truths I’ve been able to learn over the years is that it is impossible to “loose” when you seek to share your faith with someone out of love. Recently I came across one of the most powerful videos I’ve seen with regards to witnessing. This video is a great encouragement to every believer to not be afraid to share truth in love with everyone—even famous celebrity atheists! I would like to encourage you to take a few minutes and listen to the comments of the famous comedian/illusionist and outspoken atheist Penn Gillette concerning an encounter he had with a Christian after one of his shows.
How do you deal with other people who do not share your convictions about spiritual matters? The following video is probably one of the most helpful teaching tools I’ve come across for addressing this issue. In simple church, it is imperative that we do not become a “bounded” circle. If we do so, we will become ingrown and die. What would it look like in your life/simple church if you were to adopt “centered set thinking?”
Colossians 3:16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Does the word of Christ dwell richly in you? This was the question I posed to those attending the Summer Celebration Gathering a few weeks ago. For simple church to work, the bar for discipleship truly has to be raised. We cannot simply lower the bar for having church gatherings. Everyone has to be disciples and making disciples simultaneously. I’ve thought about this a great deal and it is truly hard to imagine how the Word of Christ could dwell in someone richly apart from a steady diet of His word. Without written copies of Christ’s words accessible,… Read More »The Word of Christ
Can you cause a person to grow spiritually? When it comes to disciple making, what is our responsibility? At a recent Greenhouse Training event hosted by CMA Resources, we examined the following text from Mark 4: 26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” From the text, we see that a farmer can cultivate the ground and plant seeds, and even put the… Read More »Our Role and God’s Role
In the last few years I have been exposed to all types of new terms related to churches and small groups. One such term is “missional community.” There seems to be a push in the western church to think of small group ministry not as bible studies, fellowship groups, “life” groups, etc. but as missional communities. As I have read literature and spoken with those involved in the missional community movement, I have wondered what the difference is between a missional community and a simple church. It seems that a simple church should be a missional community. However it also seems that a missional community may not be a simple church as many understand simple church. It seems that many missional communities remain connected to traditional church structures in ways that simple churches often do… Read More »The Difference Between A Missional Community and A Simple Church
A great video that illustrates what discipleship can look like in simple church! [vimeo 24570032]
“As the Father has sent me so I am sending you.” John 20:21 Currently, the Lord is reminding me to live sent. The Father sent Jesus to the World. He sent the Holy Spirit to us. Jesus sent out the 12 and the 70. Now he sends us to go and make disciples. I am amazed at how easily I have strayed from this truth, especially since the heart of Simple Church is this: We all are priests sent into the world to make disciples. “Church” emerges organically when and where disciples are multiplied. I know and understand this, yet an intense pull inside me tries to set up shop and then tries to get outsiders to come in. I saw this happen often when working with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We would go… Read More »Go
Main Session 2 (Neil Cole) “Exponential growth starts small but builds to rapid momentum in time.” (Neil Cole) “Movements are most vulnerable in the beginning. Why? The seduction of addition. 2. Corrupted DNA and 3. Leadership dependency issues” “We have to enter in and challenge the structures that are ungodly” Note: You can hear some of the lessons today shared this great video: 10 Easy Steps to Move from a Movement to a Monument http://vimeo.com/21223502 (Rob Wagner) I really enjoyed much of what Rob had to share. He talked about the “three lenses” that they are seeing the church through: Church Growth, Incarnational Ministry, and Multiplicative Church Planting. He felt that where these three lenses converge is where the sweet spot (my word not his) of the church is. He spent much of his… Read More »“Exponential Conference” Day 2 Blog
Yesterday in our network gathering we watched the video below and had a lively discussion about all that is addressed. If you are involved with us or interested in simple church (or leadership in general), then I would highly recommend that you watch this video. I’m very grateful to the people at House2House for putting this together as it does an excellent job explaining what leadership in “simple church” is all about. Indeed, your leadership is truly a gift to the body of Christ!
