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Why church doesn't have to be complicated!
"Simple church" is sometimes referred to as "organic church" or "house church," versus the more traditional approach of using a dedicated church building for programs, worship services, and outreach. The simple church relies heavily on personal relationships to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Mobility and multiplication are very important principles to simple church advocates, so rather than continuing to grow in size, these smaller congregations would rather multiply and encourage the repetition of this cycle for other household congregations.
Not all simple churches meet in homes: some meet in coffee shops, bookstores, pubs, and a variety of other public venues. The word "church" simply refers to people who gather together as followers of Jesus, so it's not tied to a physical address or even a repetitive weekly meeting at the same place and same time.
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- Are Karlsen Are Karlsen Nov 13, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
- I love organic church!
I have just posted a reply on your house church group on flickr. Please tell me some more of your house church in Wales.
All blessings to you and your family!
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- special-k special-k Jun 26, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
- that is true. but what about church leadership of elder/pastor and deacons that is clearly laid out in scripture.
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- juanDelaCruz juanDelaCruz Feb 13, 2008 @ 7:23 pm
- Good start, bro! Would love to see you write more here. Here's a link on house churches: http://www.greatest-love.info
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- Timothy L. Price Timothy L. Price Nov 10, 2007 @ 10:38 am
- Simple Church in many ways is too simple, as in simple-minded. Jesus way is simple, but it is complex. I see very little teaching concerning kingom living or the realization that the kingdom is a reality now in Simpele Church material. See: www.kingdomcitizenship.org. Thanks!
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- Des Des Jul 19, 2007 @ 5:21 am
- My response -I'm sold out to simple church. My appeal is that we avoid seeing it as a movement-that is the first step towards complicating it. Church is simple when 2 or 3 gather in the Jesus' to enjoy his presence whether we have 'spititual' talk or not. Just needs coffee to lubricate conversation.
Video Clips
- CBN Interview with Tony & Felicity Dale
- The Dales of House2House are changing the way we go to church by taking it back to basics.
- Worshiping Outside the Traditional Church Walls
- CBN interviews George Barna and others regarding non-traditional forms of church.
Simple Church Photos
This collection of images was taken at The Crowded House in Sheffield, England, on August 29, 2006.
curated content from Flickr
Articles
- Going to Church by Staying at Home
- An article in the Washington Post, Sunday, June 4, 2006.
- The Spontaneous Expansion of the Kingdom of God
- An article by Neil Cole.
- "What About Kids In Organic Church?"
- An article by Neil Cole.
- Organic Church Planting : : Ancient Principles for a Postmodern World
- An article by Paul Kaak and Neil Cole. Located on Mission Spokane: The Whole City Transformed by the Whole Gospel Through the Whole Church.
- "Religion, but no church required"
- An article by Stuart Laidlaw, The Toronto Star, May 3, 2006.
- House Churches :: DAWN European Network
- If Europe shall be saturated by churches, traditional pastor-led churches will not be able to do the job alone. "Liquid churches"—churches that are small and flexible enough to penetrate every area of society like oil a motor—are needed. And normal people like you and me need to realize that their home, their office or their school class can turn into a church. Revolutionary? Not much longer. House Churches are becoming the "third power" in the Church landscape worldwide.
- "Is There a Church in the House?"
- While some churches are building bigger facilities for their congregation, there's a movement with the opposite goal?to make church a small, intimate event that can be found in any home.
The Church in the House (Free PDF download) by Robert Fitts
A Return to Simplicity
The Church in the House (<---click here to download the book)Excerpt:
To plant a house church you do not need to buy property or build a building. You won't need a pulpit or pews or hymnbooks or a piano. You can do without a baptistery, a Sunday School and a youth pastor. You won't have to belong to a denomination or be incorporated or meet on Sundays or have a church bulletin or meet in the same place every week.
You won't have to have a sign with the name of your church on it. It won't need a name. In fact, you don't even have to call it a "church" as long as you know that it is "the church, which is His Body". None of the above is bad or wrong, but neither are they essential. The apostle Paul used none of the above in his church-planting ministry. We have left the simplicity of the New Testament and added so many extras, which are really not essential, that it has become more and more difficult to start a new church.
Ray Williams, a close personal friend, has been a missionary in Mexico for over 30 years and has been instrumental in starting scores of churches out of which hundreds more have been birthed. He told me recently that he once started a church in a wheat field. That church has grown, and out of it have come a multitude of other churches, each with a church planting vision. We make it too complex. God is calling us back to simplicity and ease of multiplication.
The Sheep Comics
The Sheep Comics at Sheepcomics.com is to provide Christians with an alternative point of view concerning "church" and faith. One of the main themes running throughout the comics is that there is a difference between pleasing God and pleasing a church system. It's one thing to "go to church" and quite another to take ownership of your faith and your eternal destiny. The sheep characters were created to illustrate this in an entertaining way.Visit by clicking The Sheep Comics
Blog Links
From those who are involved in simple church
- Organic Church
- We're a group of church planters/leaders seeking to discover what church might mean within the context of our emerging generation(s). None of us have all the answers, but we are convinced that the first step is learning to ask the right questions. As an online community, we are seeking to mutually support and encourage each other on this journey.
- House Church Blog
- A charismatic house church blog.
- Ryan J Hale : : Stories and Happenings in My World
- A bivocational church planter living in the rural community of Moscow Hills, Missouri, who is part of a house church called "Levi's Table".
- GodGrown
- Organic Church: Free of preservatives, God grown.
We are on a journey together with many others to see a vibrant family of Jesus in close reach of every person, culturally and geographically, in North America. - House Church Chronicles
- House Church Chronicles: Thoughts on House Church...Simple Church...Organic Church
This Blog is a joint (ad)venture of John White & Tim Pynes... - Relational Christianity :: "The Journey Continues"
- In outward expression, we practice participatory, non-authoritarian leadership. We view worship as a way of life not a specific style or tradition. We make decisions collectively; we prefer our resources to be used on ministry and missions in the world, rather than on expensive infrastructure such as a salaried clergy, expensive buildings, or organizational maintenance. We affirm the inherent feasibility and practicality of a more tangible, life-giving expression of the Church, because we trust Jesus as the Head to put us together as he desires.
- Epic
- An eternal epic is unfolding around us and the Author has invited us to find ourselves in its pages.
- Dear Church: Letters From A Disillusioned Generation by Sarah Raymond Cunningham
- Dear Chuch: Letters From A Disillusioned Generation (Zondervan 2006)--An engaging set of letters written by a former church staffer to a church she is not always sure she wants to be a part of.
- the planter
- Bob Carder, Wentzville, Missouri, USA.
- Backyard Missionary
- Rediscovering mission and church in our own backyard.
- Housechurch SA (South Africa)
- Building households of faith to impact families, cities and nations. By Des and Lyn Morgan of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
- Reinhold's Journey
- A blog by Reinhold Scharnowski, European director for DAWN (Discipling a Whole Nation). Involved in a house church near the Swiss Alps.
- Simple Life With Christ: a simple church and life blog
- Simple Church blog by Brother Galen.
Simple Church Resources from Amazon
Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples
Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 01/01/2010) 
Revolution
Amazon Price: $12.23 (as of 01/01/2010)
Houses that Change the World
Amazon Price: $8.79 (as of 01/01/2010)
So You Want to Start a House Church?: First-Century Styled Church Planting For Today
Amazon Price: (as of 01/01/2010)
The Church Comes Home
Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 01/01/2010)
House Church Networks
- New Life Fellowship (Houston)
- New Life Fellowship is a church designed to help you discover purpose, meaning, and joy in life through house churches, contemporary praise music, and positive, practical, and challenging messages. Based in Houston, Texas, but affiliated house churches located worldwide.
- House Church Network (Robert Fitts)
- We are a Christian evangelical ministry dedicated to serving the Body of Christ world wide through a variety of ministry initiatives that seek to expand the Kingdom of God in the earth.
- The Crowded House (UK)
- The Crowded House is a network of missionary congregations in Sheffield, England, with a commitment to church planting and mission through community.
- Bronx Fellowship of Christ (NY)
- Bronx Fellowship is organized as a network of basic Christian communities that we most often call "house churches." We see the house church as experiencing family, and larger gatherings as a type of family reunion. We have learned that there are many advantages that come from the informality, simplicity, and warmth that are discovered in many house churches. There are increased opportunities for people to encourage each other, pray for one another, and experience the blessing of hospitality in these small group settings.
- Vineyard Central :: Norwood, Ohio, USA
- We're a collection of home churches in Norwood, Ohio. This is where church life feels most real and raw, like a hands-on experience. But we also like to gather for larger, weekly celebrations on Sunday mornings. With Vineyard Central, you haven't come to a pep rally with cheerleaders and pom-poms and eloquent speeches. You've come to something like a music festival or maybe a picnic at the park with some good friends. We see ourselves as a web, not a ladder; as a family, not a business; as organic, not synthetic; as real, not slick. If you hang with us, you sweat some and your fingernails get dirty. It's hard at times (like life), but we also know how to laugh and have fun.
We're young or young at heart, desiring to experiment even at the risk of "failure." - The Church at Matthew's House
- A house church network in Oceanside, California, USA.
- Christian ConneXion :: a network of household churches
- A relatively new network of household churches in Tasmania (Australia).
- Fellowship of Church Planters, Rhode Island
- The Fellowship of Church Planters was established in 1985 in Rhode Island and now consists of a network of interdependent teams in New England. We also facilitate teams in other parts of the USA and in other countries. The teams are modeled after the apostolic bands in the New Testament and are committed to planting reproducing networks of house churches.
- Home Church Near the Swiss Alps - A Visual Gallery
- Since 1999, this group has been part of a network of House Churches near the Swiss Alps that is expressed in various groups. Once a month, they meet for half a day of fellowship, worship, lots of coffee, prayer and food. Reinhold Scharnowski is the European director for DAWN (Discipling a Whole Nation).
- House Church Networks: A New Church for a New Generation
- By Larry Kreider
- 2020 House Church Network
- A network of home-based communities of faith working together to extend the kingdom of God in our neighborhoods and around the world. We are based in Marietta, Georgia, and are meeting in house churches, primarily in the West Cobb County and East Paulding County areas.
House Church Blog: Reflections on the American Church Culture
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