simplechurch.co.uk

forewarning

2009-02-28T09:18:00.001Z

Just a quick forewarning - we are going to be changing hosting providers in the next few days so don't be alarmed if we disappear for a while.

the unleashed church

2009-02-10T15:52:00.003Z

John Sweetman from Worcester has recently published a small book which may be of interest to some still wrestling with 'church as we know it'.

Check it out in our book store along with several others - on the 'Latest Titles' page.

regional gathering at Chepstow Feb 28th

2009-01-24T18:14:00.000Z

If you live within reach of Chepstow and would like to get together with others doing simple/organic church then this is to let you know about an upcoming event on Feb the 28th called, ‘Breathing Space’.

The aim of the Breathing Space is to gather together people involved in these forms of church, to encourage and network, share ideas and discuss some of the issues that we are facing. We are hoping that this will be the first of many of these Breathing Space gatherings and we have tried to pick a venue that would be at a fairly central point.
This Breathing Space gathering will be taking place at the Bulwark Community Centre in Chepstow. As this is the first gathering we want to simply meet up and touch base with you. It would be great to share our stories and struggles and hopefully, all leave feeling encouraged.

We have therefore tried to keep the day fairly simple.
Beginning at 10:30 we will have a rolling start with ample time to meet and chat with each other.
Lunch at 12:00
Swap shop at 12:30 a chance to share ideas for various projects, or things that have helped us etc.
Coffee 1:30
Discussion time 1:45
Prayer
Aim to finish at around 3:30pm.

If you have any particular resources which could be shown during the day, please bring them. We hope to have some books etc available also.

For more details and to book a place contact: Mark Cutliffe - Mark Cutliffe - mark.cutty (at) ntlworld.com

salvation army simple churches

2009-01-21T15:43:00.003Z

The Salvation Army have never been afraid to try something new for the sake of the Gospel. In a rough area of Aberdeen called Torry the 614 Salvation Army Community Church have decided to send the church back into the community.

Andrew Clark, the officer responsible, told me

Our new simple church has 3 groups already...I'd say that 75% of those are unsaved people. Most of them have come through the community programme that we, as The Salvation Army, operate in the community. One group is comprised of 7 unchurched teenagers who have come into relationship with us through running a youth drop-in in partnership with the local authority. We provide a couple of volunteers to run the project, we build relationship with the youth.

Their simple churches meet weekly to eat together, worship, read the Word and reach out to others. Then all of them come together monthly for a celebration of all God has been doing amongst them.

starting a cpm to reach your city or region

2008-12-08T15:05:00.003Z

While up in NE Scotland recently with Floyd McClung we had an opportunity to envision the believers there to think strategically about how they might reach the whole of their region through a church planting movement.

It was a fun time and really practical. You can download and listen to the 3 sessions here:

Starting a Church Planting Movement to Reach Your City, Region & Nation, Part 1
Know the Land - Floyd speaking to a group of church leaders in Northeast Scotland about how to start a movement in their area. Though the illustrations he uses and the information he draws is from the area of Scotland where he is speaking, the power of what he teaches applies anywhere.

Starting a Church Planting Movement to Reach Your City, Region & Nation, Part 2
The Way to Reach the World - Floyd and Alexander talk about the best way to reach a city or region and why it is the biblical approach for any city, region or nation!

Starting a Church Planting Movement to Reach Your City, Region & Nation, Part 3
Practical Tools to Get the Job Done - the title says it all. Floyd and Alexander share a couple practical tools to help people get started.

If you would rather just listen to them online please go here to Floyd's site.

Hard ground in Europe?

2008-11-04T13:28:00.002Z

I have the advantage of having been away from Europe for almost a year. I realize something now of which I was previously unaware - here in Europe when things don’t seem to be working as quickly and as easily as we think they should (leading people to Jesus, making disciples, starting simple churches, initiating church planting movements) we start an endless debate on a range of topics to do with the gospel and the church in an attempt to solve our difficulties and magically provide a silver bullet answer.

In Africa we are engaged in leading people to Jesus, baptising new believers, gathering them in small communities (churches), making obedient disciples and training potential leaders to do the same. Our dream is to see a disciple making, simple church planting movement spreading up through Africa. It is hard work and challenging; nothing happens easily or quickly. In one of the communities we work in, after nearly 2 years of effort we find ourselves with little visible fruit and having to start again from scratch. In another M-slim community a couple have been working for more than 10 years and have only seen one person begin to follow Jesus. In other places we find people (black and white) in need and open, they are good soil.

None of this happens without a lot of prayer, hard work, fierce intentionality and passionate commitment. We make mistakes; we experiment; we fail; we try again; we don’t stop just because we don’t see immediate fruit. We pray, sometimes for months before we find these people. It doesn’t come quickly or easily. There is a cost involved to obey Jesus’ command to make disciples; but there are no short cuts. We have to pour out our lives on behalf of others, we have to be willing to leave our own comfort to go to the places, socially and physically, which we would not choose to find these people. This is what it means to obey Jesus.

Let’s face up to this truth; let’s get real; let’s find people who are willing to pay this price. Jesus gave us very simple instructions, ‘Go and make disciples’, just because this is costly and difficult doesn’t mean we should replace it with something more immediately satisfying. In some places it will cost you your life; in fact in ALL places this will cost you your life, but what a reward.

Let's quit talking round in circles about secondary issues and get stuck into simple obedience to Jesus' instructions. Who are you discipling to Jesus today?

lessons learned from overseas

2008-10-21T10:56:00.002Z

Felt these "Lessons Learned Overseas" from David Watson are worth mentioning.

1. Effective church planting teams spend 3-6 hours per day in prayer.

2. Training is continuous. Leaders are constantly reproducing more leaders, and disciples are constantly reproducing disciples.

3. Do extensive planning, but expect God to show up and do the unexpected.

4. Be flexible in order to take advantage of the unexpected.

5. Young Christians and young leaders are encouraged to lead and reproduce new Christians and leaders from day one.

6. Ownership of the work is in local hands, never in the church planters' hands.

7. There are no founding pastors. Church planters are church planters. They raise up and train local leaders who become the pastors of the the churches.

8. Family-based and group-based evangelism through Guided Discovery Bible Studies.

9. Every new Believers is trained as if he or she will be the next leader of a movement. People self-select out of training. We often see people become leaders who would have been overlooked with any selective training process.

10. Discipleship is about teaching to obey through word and deed. High accountability in close community is foundational.

11. Failure happens. Start over. Failure happens. Start over. ...

12. Church planting starts with ministry that leads to appropriate evangelism.

Simple Church School 2008/09

2008-09-07T03:27:00.003Z

Gareth Duffty who now leads the "Together" group of churches (formerly CMI) has welcomed and encouraged some of his leaders who are exploring the simple church route. Now they are pioneering some classroom based training for others actively involved in planting simple churches. Here's their spiel:

What is church? How does it work? And how does it grow and multiply?

The Simple Church School of Covenant College is a part-time programme for those wanting to be trained and equipped within all aspects of simple church and simple church planting.

Those involved with Covenant College recognise that this kind of church expression is rapidly growing in the UK and across the world. Simple Church represents an exciting vehicle for the rapid advance of the Kingdom of God in our day, and we recognise a specific need to train and empower those on this journey.

This course is designed for practitioners and led by practitioners. You will be empowered for your journey and equipped for church multiplication and growth… as we seek to fill the whole nation and beyond with the good news of the Kingdom of God.

Over seven weekends during the academic year you will journey together with others, learning, sharing and discovering together through a variety of informal and conversational sessions. Teaching and leadership of the course comes from those currently involved in expressions of simple church; with two weekends during the year involving key well-known simple church practitioners from overseas.

Course Content
The programme consists of seven weekends including bible teaching, guided learning, application and practical discussion, mentoring and support, prayer, worship, personal study, reading and case studies.

The teaching component of the course includes the following: Being like Christ in our communities; Reproducing ourselves and planting churches; Listening to the Holy Spirit, knowing His strategy and working with Him; Integrating into and transforming our culture; Raising up leaders in church and society; Producing an apostolic and prophetic people.

We will also be exploring the many practical aspects of simple church, including: finance, involving children, prayer and worship, facilitating small group meetings, leadership, pastoral issues, administration/communication, reaching new groups of people and impacting communities.

The year programme also includes an ‘onsite visit’, where students will be visited by a course teacher, to encourage and inspire them in their current situation.

Course Dates
Weekends are all residential and fully catered, taking place at Nettle Hill, Coventry. Each weekend will commence with breakfast together on the Saturday, and finish after lunch on Sunday. Dates for 2008/09:

Weekend One: Saturday 1st – Sunday 2nd November 2008
Weekend Two: Saturday 6th – Sunday 7th December 2008
Weekend Three: Saturday 24th – Sunday 25th January 2009
Weekend Four: Saturday 21st – Sunday 22nd February 2009
Weekend Five: Saturday 28th – Sunday 29th March 2009
Weekend Six: Saturday 25th – Sunday 26th April 2009
Weekend Seven: Saturday 30th – Sunday 31st May 2009

Course Cost
Course fees for the academic year 2008/09 are £700 residential and £525 non-residential. This includes all course costs (tuition, books, resources etc) and catering costs (plus shared accommodation for residential students).

To apply for the Simple Church School please download and complete an application form from www.covenantcollege.co.uk, and send with a deposit of £50 (made payable to ‘Covenant College’) to Covenant College, Nettle Hill, Brinklow Road, Ansty, Coventry, CV7 9JL.

For further information, please email info (at) covenantcollege.co.uk or contact the Covenant College office.

living missionally in europe

2008-08-06T11:21:00.002Z

A brief article on intentional missional living by Floyd McClung, written for the European context. Link to full piece is below.

There is much talk these days about missional church. I am more interested in missional living. When we speak of the church we can easily point out the church’s faults and irrelevance but exclude ourselves from the criticism. It is easy to find fault with “the church” but much more difficult when we accept that we are the church.

Accepting Jesus’ invitation to “go and make disciples” gets at the heart of what church is all about. That is missional living. When I think of making disciples I think of it in a holistic sense of being involved in every area of a persons’ life.

Missional living is about investing in the lives of other people. It is not a program. It is certainly more than organized outreach activities. Being a missional person means intentionally building bridges to other people – for the sake of them knowing Jesus and discovering what it means to be a fully alive, free human being. It is an attitude that says, “I will invest my life in others for the sake of Christ and his purposes on earth.” It means I will live that way in every sphere of life and every day of the week.

Link to full article.

lk10.com

2008-07-07T02:33:00.004Z

www.lk10.com

Some of you this side of the pond may be interested to check out this new site which some of the guys previously part of the DAWN US team have put together.

Their vision is to build a 'community of practice' to help nurture a growing number of simple church leaders and planters.

I see an army part 9

2008-07-01T15:49:00.000Z

“The kind of leadership that is needed in church-planting movements should not be highly visible. It is leadership that follows what is happening, not tries to be in control of what happens.

Because we are sunday-meeting focused, instead of everyday-movement focused, we immediately think about how disorderly our church meetings will become if there is no order. But think bigger: if our churches are growing spontaneously, our problems will change. Our focus will not be about meetings alone, but how to disciple the leaders as they disciple new converts and equip leaders to lead and reproduce themselves.”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 8

2008-06-30T15:49:00.000Z

“What gives the church cohesion in such a model? Its values and vision. When the values and vision are clearly understood by those who father and mother a movement, and they are clearly articulated for all to understand, and imparted through discipling relationships, the DNA of the movement takes hold in people’s hearts.

To the degree people in a movement of simple churches hold their values and vision in common, the movement does not need top-down ‘command-and-control’ church government.”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 7

2008-06-29T04:20:00.000Z

“The latest research reveals that 3.3 billion people have never heard the name of Jesus one time. I love simple church because it makes church accessible to the greatest number of people. It doesn’t require a professional or a building or a charismatic personality to lead a simple church...

We teach people to be a servant leader who raises up others to carry the torch from the beginning. This is a new style of leadership that requires serving behind the scenes, being secure enough to be a coach to new leaders without position or title. The goal of a simple-church-planting movement is not being an up-front pastor or elder, but being a spiritual father or mother to a movement of elders and church planters...

There is still spiritual authority being exercised, but it is authority based on relationship. It is apostolic not hierarchical.”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 6

2008-06-28T04:19:00.000Z

“The difference between complicated church and simple church is that the complicated church relies on programmes to disciple people, while simple church empowers people to disciple people...

Leadership in this family is about serving, not positions or titles. The man or woman who serves is greatest. When we attempt to decree who can serve, or the extent to which they have spiritual authority, we have moved out of sync with the Spirit of Jesus, because we have reverted back to the Old Covenant way of thinking.”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 5

2008-06-27T04:17:00.001Z

“I believe there are distinct advantages to such a simple expression of church and ministry:
1. It is simpler to get things done
2. Accountability is more natural and powerful with 2 or 3 people
3. There is greater flexibility
4. Communication flows more easily with a small group of people
5. There is greater proximity to people who don’t know Jesus
6. Direction is more quickly and clearly confirmed in simple church
7. Leadership has to stay natural and relational
8. Multiplication can happen spontaneously as the group grows”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 4

2008-06-26T02:14:00.000Z

“Apostolic leadership functions in a simple-church movement by pioneering new communities and ministries that are aimed at reaching those outside the church...

Apostolic leaders are groundbreakers and strategists who initiate new endeavours to ‘go where no one has gone before...

The ultimate purpose of the apostolic gift is gathering those who come to faith in Jesus into vibrant, reproducing, obedient communities of faith...

A movement is an attitude, a mindset that says, ‘we are not going to wait for history to happen, or watch it happen, we are going to make it happen’...

Apostolic leadership yearns for the ‘not yet’. Dreaming, faith, imagination, risk taking, pioneering and future goals characterise apostolic leadership.”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 3

2008-06-25T01:54:00.000Z

“I believe in simple church for several reasons...

A small church is able to keep on going when all else fails. Further, small groups of Jesus-followers are easily reproducible. People can’t hide or get lost in a small community. Caring for one another is made easier because everyone knows each other...

simple expressions of church, like a cell group or a house church, can function in closer proximity to those who don’t know Jesus by meeting in homes, businesses, on campuses etc.”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 2

2008-06-23T04:40:00.001Z

“We need more than new models; we need a new paradigm of church and the right core values to empower us to live what we believe...

The challenge before us is major reformation, not tweaking the meeting format...

Jesus defined leaders in the new way of doing things as servants. If leaders are servants, anyone who serves Gods people through their gifts, leads.

In the religious systems of his day, religious rulers used religion to control people. When Jesus came he turned everything on its head: he made EVERYONE who believed in him a leader.”
You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung

I see an army part 1

2008-06-22T10:43:00.001Z

Here are a series of posts quoting from Floyd McClungs latest book on movements of simple churches.

“I have a conviction: the way we do conventional church is no longer relevant to the vast majority of unchurched people in the West...

I don’t think one model of church is better than any other, but I do believe the more complicated we do church, the more difficult it is to reproduce...The more complicated and bigger a local church becomes, the more people and the more money it takes to lead one person to Christ...

I believe the effectiveness of any movement that makes a lasting impact will be measured by how effective it is in fostering a culture of discipleship that thrusts its members out amongst the lost...”

You see bones I see an army, Floyd McClung.

you see bones, I see an army

2008-04-21T14:00:00.003Z

If you want to be challenged to your socks and taken on a paradigm shifting journey towards a new way of seeing life, church and mission, then fasten your seat belt and get a copy of this book. Floyd McClung's words have impact because he lives by them. I can testify to that personally.

Floyd is passionate about Jesus and seeing Him worshipped by people from every tribe, tongue and nation around the world. To see that passion satisfied he is willing to go to any lengths that Jesus asks of him; including pioneering new forms of church and mission at the cost of misunderstanding and even rejection by others.

If you want to learn some more about the global context of and reasons for the grassroots simple church movement then this will help answer some of your questions.

Be challenged; then go out and do it. It's that simple.

Organic church planting w/e with Neil Cole

2008-03-11T17:52:00.002Z

A report from the guys at Neighbours & Nations who hosted this weekend:

Around 90 eager participants gathered from across the country to hear Neil Cole deliver his ‘Greenhouse Training, part 1’ (as they call it in CMA circles) on the subject of planting organic churches.

We had a fantastic time both listening to and learning from Neil, as well as getting to know each other and hearing the exciting things that God is doing in different places through simple church adventures. I’m sure that many friendships have been formed that will strengthen in times ahead, and that all present were encouraged and helped practically to be effective back on home soil.

What is so attractive about Neil’s teaching is that he doesn’t come with formula or methodology but rather a passion for Christ, his church, and reaching people with the Good News of God’s kingdom in very simple, reproducible ways that everyone can do! More than once in response to questions, his reply was simply “that’s something you’ll need to ask the Holy Spirit to show you”.

Specific subjects covered in the teaching were ‘What is church?’, ‘Reaching your oikos’, ‘Sending out workers’, ‘Multiplying disciples’ and ‘Multiplication movements’.

If anyone would like to get hold of a copy of the teaching sessions, you can download an MP3 order form here.

Finally, a date for your diary – we have the privilege of hosting Tony Fitzgerald on Saturday 28th June, sharing his journey and thoughts on simple/house church. More details to follow soon…but it will be somewhere in the Midlands!

simple church gathering - bristol

2008-02-19T13:23:00.002Z

Carriers of the Kingdom - A simple church gathering in Bristol - MARCH 1st.

An invitation from Mark Cutliffe:

Martin and Alison Holland who some of you may know and myself hosted a gathering in September of last year at the Bible College of Wales called the Catalyst Gathering. Due to the response we had from that event we have felt that it would be good to once again gather those involved in simple/organic church together for a day, to share, pray and encourage one another.

Our friends, Ken and Helen Stout are also helping us out on this one and have found a great venue at a more central location for everyone. The Old School rooms at St Michael's Church, Stoke Gifford. (For more info on the venue please see: www. st-michaels-church.org.uk)

Directions to the venue are as follows:
Leave the M4 at junction 20, then at roundabout take the 1st exit onto the A38 (signposted Filton)
At roundabout take the 2nd exit onto the A38
Branch left, then merge onto Gipsy Patch Lane - B4057
At roundabout take the 3rd exit onto Hatchet Road
At roundabout take the 2nd exit onto Hatchet Road
Turn left onto North Road
Turn right onto The Green

The venue should be quite visible from there but we will make sure that there are some signs to make it easier. If you want to double check the directions the post code is BS34 8PD.

We will be aiming to start around 10:00am and probably finish about 4pm. Lunch will be provided as will tea and coffee.
For any more info please contact Mark on: 01792 555412 or email water.fall (at) ntlworld.com.

Could you also please contact us to let us know how many are planning on coming, just so that we can make catering arrangements?
Thanks - Mark Cutliffe

counter-intuition

2008-02-18T06:40:00.002Z

With thanks to New Generations International.

The revolutionary impact of Church Planting Movements can be traced to the counter-intuitive nature of the characteristics that make up these movements.

Counter-Intuitive Characteristics of Church Planting Movements:

• Spend a long time preparing to multiply rapidly

• Don’t teach the Bible…teach every new Christ-Follower how to discover God’s truth and obey what they learn

• Expect miracles to accelerate the church planting process

• Stay only where a “person of peace” (Lk. 10) is ready to hear and obey

• Disciple people to conversion…not vice versa

• Focus only on the few who can be leaders now, so many will hear later

• Expect the hardest people and places to yield the greatest results

• Focus on discipling ordinary people, not developing professional Christians

• Always enter as a servant, never a master

• A novice insider will produce more fruit than a highly trained

the person of peace

2008-02-17T16:31:00.000Z

Lots has been shared about this subject; I thought this was a pretty good overview from someone with a lot of practical experience, albeit from a non-european context. See what you think:

The Person of Peace is the one God has prepared to receive the Gospel for the first time into a community. Our understanding of the Person of Peace changes the way we plant churches. It radically increases the number of churches planted. We have seen church planting teams go from planting a few churches per year to planting dozens of churches every year, and in some cases, even hundreds of new churches every year. I developed the Person of Peace strategy from a composite view of Jesus’ teachings when He sent out His disciples in Matthew 10, Luke 9, and Luke 10...

The Person of Peace teaching is an entry strategy to new communities. In the Great Commission Jesus commanded us to “go.” What do we do when we get to where we are going? We find the Person of Peace...

The Evangelist Church Planter does not do any of the traditional things required by traditional church planting. He does not preach or teach. He does not hand out tracts or sell books or give away Bibles. He does not do mass rallies or healing services...

Let’s look at what the Evangelist does and how the Person of Peace strategy works. It starts with obedience to Christ. It looks for where Christ is about to visit. This is evidenced by the presence of the Person of Peace. If there is no Person of Peace then you move on. The Person of Peace is found through prayer and ministry. The Evangelist freely gives of himself or herself. We are told to pray for harvesters. The Person of Peace will be this harvester. We equip this person to be the church planter for his or her community..

We train evangelists to enter new communities after extensive prayer. When the evangelists enter the community they look for ways to meet the felt needs of the community through service, education, or business. As they meet these needs they are meeting people and sharing openly about the Kingdom of God/Heaven. When the Person of Peace reveals himself or herself, the evangelists shifts the focus to the Family of Peace...

Full article here

organic church planting conference 2008

2007-12-17T15:27:00.001Z

Click above for details and booking form.

If you are involved in organic, simple church in the UK then this will be a brilliant opportunity not just to learn from one of the key simple church leaders in North America but also to encourage and learn from one another. Don't miss it!