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An On-Line
Community of House Churches, Simple Churches & Assorted Sojourners
House Church Equipping
Welcome to our House Church/Simple Church Equipping Page. The Greek word
for "equipping" found in Ephesians 4 is the work "katartidzo" and
literally means "to mend nets". To equip one another is to teach each
other how to mend our torn nets so that we can fulfill the task assigned
to us: to become fishers of men. This page &
its links are intended to assist you in the challenge of mending your
nets so that you can become the church that meets in
your home, business, school or neighborhood. Remember, we don't "go to
church," we ARE the church! So this material is intended to help you
"BE" the church where ever God has placed you! Have you
written an article regarding House Church or Simple Church ministry that
would encourage and equip others? Send it to us for review (yep, we'll
review it to make sure it is appropriate for the venue & audience) and
let's put it out there! If you want to respond to an
article posted here, use the cafe blog! Most of our articles can be found in our
newsletter archives, so don't forget to look there, too!
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Neil Gamble Conference,
July 12-21, 2007
We were blessed to have Neil
Gamble of Father's Hand
Ministries with us for several evenings. Neil's ministry is
to equip believers in the pursuit of greater intimacy with God
and to hear His voice in our day-to-day ministries. We were very
blessed by Neil's ministry and many people were deeply touched.
Learn more and download the
audio files by clicking here |
 Have
You Made The Migration? Leaders of the old paradigm cannot move into this new
paradigm (much less lead it) without experiencing a profound
“death” to self and to the old which is now passing away.
Wolfgang
Simson
has created a diagram which illustrates and helps to explain this dying process.
He calls it “The 5 Steps of Apostolic Migration.”
It is Wolf’s thesis that an “Apostolic Migration” (what I call a
“paradigm shift”) from old paradigms to new paradigms is
sweeping across the Church, a migration (or “paradigm shift”)
which is being led by apostles and prophets whom God is calling
out and raising up for this new move. At the 2008 CMA Conference
Wolf gave a talk on this migration. If you would like to hear
Wolf's talk, I've broken it into two files of roughly 55 minutes
each. They are in Windows Media Audio (.wma) format so Windows
should play them easily. Here they are: Wolfgang Simson on
"Migration":
Part 1
and Part
2 |
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"You Wanna Do What In Your House?!: Straight Answers To Your
Most Frequently Asked Questions About House Church"
- This is our new introduction to the simple house church
movement. Set in a Q&A format, we ask and answer 47 basic
questions about how to do simple house church. And we've
included 36 original illustrations to keep you and your
audience interested! And that's just the first half of the
book. The second half is an evangelistic bible study based
on the 7 miraculous signs in the Gospel of John ("Seven
Reasons To Believe"). Think of this book as a bicycle,
complete with training wheels. It is all you need to get
your simple house church up and running, and to teach others
how to do the same! The format is 8 1/2 X 11 with easy to
read print.
Click Here to order your copy today! |
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Assorted House Church Articles |
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Many of the articles
listed here are in Adobe PDF format. If you don't have
Adobe Reader, click on the link here to get their free download
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Pliny & Trajan On The Christians.
Read the historic correspondence between the Roman Governor, Pliny, and the
Emperor Trajan regarding those pesky Christians! |
Ten Paradigm
Shifts Toward Community Transformation. Eric
Swanson's excellent article on how churches are getting out of
their boxes and transforming their communities! |
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School
of 5 Fold Ministry
In 2005 we held our first "School of 5-Fold
Ministry" during the weeks of Friday October 14 through Friday November 18.
We learned a lot and tried to condense some of those lessons into the resources
on this page. |
Of Servants, Fools & Kings,
by R. Maurice Smith. Based on 1 Corinthians 4, this article offers perspective
on leadership and 5-Fold Ministry in House Church |
House
Church & Radical Sacrificial Giving, by R. Maurice
Smith. Money is one of the critical issues facing the house
church & simple church movements. Here is one perspective. |
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Jeremiah,
West Central & Spiritual Transformation, by R.
Maurice Smith. This article arose out of an actual ministry
situation and deals with sin, grace & spiritual transformation. |
Spiritual Power, Authority and Covering In The Church,
by R. Maurice Smith. False & abusive authority is rampant in
organized church circles, and this is our attempt to deal with
it. |
Let The River Flow: An
Introductory House Church Equipping Handbook.
This is our original House Church Handbook
(the predecessor to "A Kingdom, A People & A River"). |
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John Wimber On Being A Supernatural
Church (MP3 Audio
Download). I love this message as Wimber describes the beginnings
of the Vineyard movement when "God showed up." |
John Wesley On House Church
John
Wesley's Class Meetings,
by R. Maurice Smith The House Church & Simple Church Movements could
learn a lot from this ol' Methodist, if only we would listen! |
The Church In The
House by Robert Fitts. Robert has made his excellent
book available as a free download which we have converted to
PDF. |
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"House
Church Planting: Multiplying Colonies of Christ" by Joseph Cartwright
A good practical starting place for newcomers to the House
Church Simple Church movement. |
"The Skinny On Postmodernity" by
Andrew Jones
Good stuff from Andrew Jones. You can discover more and read his
regular blog at
http://tallskinnykiwi.tpyepad.com |
"My
Gripes About The House Church movement" by Andrew Jones
More good stuff from Andrew Jones. You can discover more and
read his regular blog at
http://tallskinnykiwi.tpyepad.com |
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Recommended House Church
& Simple Church Books |
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 Revolution, by
George Barna. a revolution is already taking place within the
Church - one that will impact every believer in America. Committed,
born-again Christians are exiting the established church in massive
numbers. Why are they leaving? Where are they going? And what does this
mean for the future of the Church?
Click Here to Learn More Or To
Order |
 Houses That Change The World,
by Wolfgang Simson. This is the book that has truly ignited the house
church movement in the English speaking world. Wolfgang examines the
history and failings of the institutional church and describes in detail
how the body of Christ today can return to the house church model of the
early New Testament Church.
Click
Here to Learn More or to Order |
 Organic Church:
Growing Faith Where Life Happens, by Neal Cole. If we want to connect
with young people and those who are not coming to church, we must go
where people congregate. Cole shows readers how to plant the seeds of
the Kingdom of God in the places where life happens and where culture is
formed - restaurants, bars, coffeehouses, parks, locker rooms, and
neighborhoods.
Click Here to Learn More or to Order |
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 The Shaping of Things
To Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century, by Michael
Frost & Alan Hirsch. This book explores why the Church
needs to recalibrate itself, rebuilding itself from the roots up, using real-life stories from innovative missional
projects from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and
England.
Click Here to Learn More Or To
Order |
Megashift: Igniting
Spiritual Power, by Jim Rutz. Welcome to the worldwide
house church movement and the spiritual power behind it! This
is the next step up from Protestantism. It is a joyful megashift
away from pastor-centered, spectacular religion toward a more Biblical
church where God works directly through you - and you are freed and empowered to do wonders. Your
adventure into house church has begun.
Click
Here to Learn More or to Order
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 Rethinking The
Wineskin: The Practice of The New Testament Church, by Frank
Viola. Frank Viola gives language for all you knew was wrong with the
modern church and shows how we can recover the pristine simplicity of
the first-century church. Solidly Biblical, deeply spiritual, and intensely
practical, Rethinking the Wineskin is a must read for all who
have a passion to see first-century ways restored.
Click Here to Learn More or to Order |
The Present Future,
by Reggie McNeal. In this provocative
book, denominational church leadership developer Reggie McNeal debunks
many old beliefs and assumptions held by church leaders and provides an
overall strategy to help churches move forward in an entirely different
and much more effective way.
Click
Here to Learn More or to Order |
 The
Open Church: How to Bring Back the Exciting Life of the First Century
Church, by Jim Rutz.
Does your church love you? Would it suffer if you just disappeared?
Perhaps you've always dreamed of being in an exciting church that truly
needs you. Explore with James H. Rutz the prospect of a new shift to an
open church where participation will be restored.
Click Here To Learn More Or To Order. |
 House Church and
Mission: The Importance of Household Structures in Early Christianity, by
Roger W. Gehring. Perhaps the most scholarly treatment of house churches
written to date.
Click
Here to Learn More or to Order |
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