simplychurch.com

2007 National House Church Conference - Its not too late to register

We all rejoice in the good things that are happening in many traditional church settings. But it is clear, as evidenced in George Barna’s book, REVOLUTION, that Jesus is pointing many of his people outside of the buildings that have come to define Christianity as we have known it. Mass movements of Christians into new forms of gathering and worship in their homes, their places of work, in University dorms, and out on the streets, are leading many to experience the reality that Jesus Has Left The Building! Come and join with hundreds of others from around the country as we explore this new move of God together.

Click here for more information and to register.

Where in the world is an apostle?

Nowhere is the gulf between the New Testament and the 21st Century greater than in our understanding of and implementation of the modern-day missionary.

To begin with let us note that the word missionary is not in the Bible. The NT uses the word apostle to describe what we now know as a missionary. This is not a just a problem of semantics however or a case of a word changing over the years.

In the NT we find only a small handful of apostolic bands (2-5 people) that entered a city on foot, carrying with them nothing but the bags on their shoulders. They gave nothing but themselves and the power of the Spirit and took nothing with them. Through hard work, often filled with bloody persecution, they left behind a small gathering of believers who had experienced the reality of the Risen Lord.

Where have the gifts of the Spirit gone? (1 Cor 12 – 14)

“In the course of the second century, this original spontaneity of utterance [tongues, prophecy, revelation, etc.] died almost entirely away. It may almost be said to have died a violent death. The dominant parties in the Church set their faces against it. The survivals of it in Asia Minor were formally condemned. The Montanists, as they were called, who tried to fan the lingering sparks into a flame, are now ranked among heretics… It was inevitable that it should be so.

The growth of a confederation of Christian communities necessitated the definition of a basis of confederation. Such a definition, and the further necessity of guarding it, were inconsistent with the free utterance of the Spirit which had existed before the confederation began. Prophesying died when the Catholic Church was formed. In the place of prophesying came preaching…We consequently find that with the growth of organization there grew up also…the gradual restriction of the liberty to address the community to the official class."