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Thank you Jeff!

Jeff has done a wonderful job over the past year or so in keeping up to date with this blog.  Now that he is going to be working primarily on his blog "Until All have Heard," we want to say a big "thank you" for all the work he has put into this site.  We recommend that you sign up for his new blog to keep up to date with the pioneer thinking he is putting into the missions situation worldwide (untilallhaveheard1.wordpress.com.)

Who are we?  Our names our Tony and Felicity Dale.  Originally from England, we have been living in Texas for the past twenty years.  We have been on the simple church journey for much of the past thirty years, having been involved in the British House Church Movement prior to coming here.  Because of our current involvement in a website and magazine called House2House, we have the privilege of hearing the stories of what God is doing from all over the nation (and increasingly, the world).

So what of this blog?  We will try, as the title suggests, to keep somewhat up to date with what is happening in the world of simple church.  This will tie in with some of our own musings about the current organic church situation and any "strategic thinking" we are doing. We welcome the response and input of others because we know we don't always get everything right and we love the "iron sharpening iron" process.  We will include some stories (like Sophie Muller's story) that we become aware of, and report on related gatherings that we have the privilege to attend. 

God is doing extraordinary things in our day and He is leading His people in paths that have been largely untried for centuries.  How do we know that this is  the Holy Spirit at work?  Sometimes, from our vantage point, when we try to evaluate the apparently small and unimportant things that we are involved in, it is tempting to wonder if house/simple/organic church is just another good idea.  But then we look around and realize that God is doing the same things everywhere.  All over the world, and across this nation, God is speaking the same things to His people who are listening.  And as they respond to His voice and embark on this adventure of vibrant and missional communities of faith, they are slowly finding one another and realizing they are not alone on the journey. Jesus is building His church.

It is to these people that this blog is addressed.  We  desire to be another voice and an encouragement on the journey.

Meet Me @ Until All Have Heard

Dear Friends,

This is my last post for Simplychurch!

I am moving over to untilallhaveheard1.wordpress.com. My passion is centered around changing missions so that Christ can return sooner... and I want to pursue that further at this new site. Please come by for a visit and add me as a link!!

This site will fall back into the capable hands of the Dale family. Many blessing to them, especially to Jon, who, in May 2005, asked me to take over the site for awhile.

Yours for the least in the Kingdom,

Jeff Gilbertson

A Combine Harvester?

One of the problems with major evangelistic thrusts comes in the follow up of new believers.  In England back in the 70s, we were involved in a Luis Palau crusade in London.  When we dared to do the follow-up one year later, despite the great response at the time of the crusade, the typical church had only added one new member.  Sadly, this is fairly typical.

Our friend Victor Choudhrie in India likes to tell the story of what happened following the showing of a well-known Christian movie in a village in India.  Hundreds of people responded to the invitation at the end of the film.  But a year later, the churches were largely unchanged.  However, the temples had become much more active.  Victor quotes the verse, "He who does not gather with me, scatters" (Luke 11:23) to explain what is happening.

If the fruit of evangelism is not "put into a new wineskin," it may well be lost.

Last year we were heavily involved in an Asian country (which I cannot name for security reasons).  We worked with an evangelist who holds major healing crusades in that country.  We were part of a team training local believers to follow up the crusades with Luke 10 principles that result in simple churches.  Each person was taught how to recognize a person of peace and to start a church in the home of that person.  Simple, reproducible patterns were modeled.

The people came in to the crusade from the surrounding areas on hundreds of buses that were specially hired for the occasion.  A trained worker went back on each bus, looking to find a person of peace amongst those who had responded.  At each crusade, many tens of thousands of people made some kind of decision to become a follower of Jesus.

Now, more than a year later, we are amazed at the results.  A typical story from one of the workers might be, "After the crusade I started four churches, now I have eight."  Two young men came to the training.  Ten months later, they had around 700 people, mostly new believers, in 20 to 30 churches.  The harvest is not just being conserved, it is being multiplied!  Many, if not most, of the new churches are starting around a miracle.  There is no way to find accurate numbers, but we reckon there are now thousands of simple churches that have started following these crusades.

There are principles and lessons to be learned from what is going on.  No move of God is without its challenges.  However, we are hugely encouraged with what is happening.

The pattern is beginning to be repeated in other nations too.  This is the reason we were in Venezuela this year.  There is going to be a large crusade in Caracas in January.  The Baptists are the main ones involved in putting it on.  Several hundred people have now been trained to do follow up by finding a person of peace and starting something in their home.  With the political uncertainty now facing that nation, many were very open to these concepts.  Pray for Venezuela!

Another "Sophie Muller" Story

Ricardo with veteran missionary to Venezuela, Buck Smith

Puerto Ayacucho

Prayer at dawn overlooking Pto. Ayacucho

Here is another story about Sophie Muller. (For more information about her from people who knew her, check out the comments on the post, "The Amazing Story of Sophie Muller.")   Again, this is in Ricardo's own words.

“I was born in the jungle and I knew Sophie Muller. She was my neighbor. She lived just like us in a house with clay walls and a palm roof. She ate the same food as we did. She hated the comfortable life. In the last twenty to thirty years she ate very little—maybe an egg a day and some chocolate drink. She was a woman totally given over to walking with God. Sometimes we would get up at 3am and we could hear her singing to the Lord in the next house. 

“My mother would go with Sophie on trips sometimes. She saw many supernatural things happen. 

“When I was around ten years old one of the most important of these supernatural incidents occurred. It became known by all the tribespeople throughout the jungle. Incited by the Catholic Church, the Columbian army persecuted Sophie Muller. She was put in a jail with double doors and double locks. As she lay there, she could hear the soldiers fighting amongst themselves as to who would be the first to rape her. They decided to play a game, and the winner would be the one to go first. But while they were playing, Sophie fell into a very deep sleep. When she woke up, she was in the middle of the jungle. 

“In the meantime, my father had pulled together a group armed with bows and arrows to go and rescue her. As they were paddling up river in their dugout canoes they saw a beach with a big turtle sitting on it. Of course, their immediate thought was food—in fact, banquet! So they pulled up onto the beach to jump the turtle. As they did so they heard a whistle. My father recognized the whistle and went looking. It was Sophie, hiding behind a rock. She had had days of just eating roots and was too weak to even call out. She was covered with cuts and scratches with even maggots on her wounds. So they put her in the bottom of the boat wrapped in plastic and paddled up river past various army groups who were no doubt looking for her. When they came to Sophie’s house there was a team there from the mission. They came out to greet her. 

“Don’t be sad or worried,” she told them. “Nothing happened. I’m going north for a few days to recover.” 

“Fifteen days later she was back in the jungle."