Month: November 2007

From an article by Molong Nacua of the Philippines: If you really want to check on Jesus life and ministry in the gospels you will find out Jesus never did the same thing twice in the same way. In other words, He wasn’t into techniques but was unpredictable. In our human strength (or perhaps more…

“We depend on plans, programs, vision statements—but somewhere along the way we have succumbed to the temptation to displace the foolishness of the cross with the wisdom of strategic planning.”  D.A. Carson "Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and…

Someone wisely said that real community, Jesus-brand community, is not an ideal that can be achieved but a gift that is to be received. That being said, we can often facilitate the gift of authentic community by learning to listen to one another more and talk at one another a little less. Here is a…

In our needed quest to re-define leadership from hierarchy to true servanthood, we have created a leadership vacuum.  This is understandable.  We are so afraid of anything that looks like status-grabbing, or personal-kingdom-building, or one-upmanship that we can fail to walk in our God-given functions to lift, bless, encourage, and speak into the lives of…

A story from India that was shared at the 2007 Asian House Church Conference.  Signs and wonders resulted in 3,500 house churches planted… When he was 22, in 1994, Randeep, then a nominal Christian with no real desire to follow Jesus, was walking down the street of his home town in the state of Himachal…

We know that the early church was an unleashed, Spirit-led movement that was eventually tamed and organized into the type of institution that we see today.  I find that many people really begin to “get it” when they see the following timeline of when the different parts of the institution were added: • special class…

We like to say it this way. Rather than: 1. A service or event I attend2. A denomination or organization I become a member of3. A program I fit into and help build Simple church, real church, is: 1. A way of life (extravagant lovers of God engaging the world 24/7 with love, power, and…

One of the best DVD resources to-date, is the newly re-made “Tidal Wave” produced by House2House ministries.  It offers an excellent introduction on the increase of simple/house churches around the world, why the movement is growing in this country, and then describes several of the key components of simple churches: 1. Real community life2. Everyone…

The following story is from Floyd McClung’s book, “Starting a House Church.”  It illustrates all of the basic principles of starting and multiplying simple churches: going, praying, reaching a person of peace, empowering that person to disciple others and to start simple/house churches… A U.S. businessman named William was making $350,000 a year but was…