What is organic church?
Here is a pdf booklet from www.HouseChurchResource.org.
Explains a little what it is about.
ORGANIC CHURCH Something new in case you might be interested
I believe this is happening all over Scandinavia. We hope to see this spread like a wild fire in Gothenburg!
More coming soon!
more about "Eddie Gibbs – churchmorph", posted with vodpod
This is by far the best book I read on creating organic community. I highy recommend this book.
Moving from master plan to organic order changes our thinking to a more NT form of Church and community.
Buy it, read it!
Every Wednesday morning I will be hanging out at Kafe’ Fröken Olssons, Östra Larmgatan 14 in Göteborg from 10:00 am to 11:45 am. Everyone and anyone is welcome to come, drink coffee, talk about life or just hang out.
Hope to be doing a After work soon too.
Tidal Wave gives an insider’s view of the worldwide phenomenon known as simple church. From living rooms to coffee shops, offices to parking lots, under trees in Africa and underground in China, these new expressions of the body of Christ are rapidly multiplying around the world.
more about "Simple Church – Tidal Wave", posted with vodpod
20 years through Europe
It was exactly 20 years ago that I bought a one way ticket to Europe to begin my missionary journey. So much has happened in those 20 years. The world has change dramatically but the gospel is the same; the good news that Jesus came to fix a broken world.
I came to Europe with the desire to plant churches that would change lives. I worked in Eastern Europe via Germany and over 14 years in Sweden working with and facilitating church planting initiatives.
4 years back in Sweden
After a short time in the States, we returned to Sweden as CGGC (Churches of God General Conference) missionaries in 2005 with a continued longing to plant churches that can reach an ever changing culture. We came by an invitation to partner with Interact, a Swedish denomination that has a desire to plant more churches in Sweden.
Four years ago we moved back to Gothenburg, Sweden where we initiated and began a process of planting a multi-cultural Church. We asked New Life Church, a multi-cultural Church in Stockholm if they would want to mentor a church plant in Gothenburg. New Life Stockholm became our mother church and committed a partnership with us.
A lot has happened in those four years.
We were permitted to use a building to use to start some ministries. Later the building was donated to New Life Stockholm for our church planting initiative.
Three of those years we had a successful children’s ministry called Faith Factory that reached many children between the ages of 9-14. We have seen these children grow in their faith and love for God. But because of many changes with the ministries, the renovation of our building and ages of the children, Faith Factory came to an end.
Much of the early years were about building relationships and creating a working team that would facilitate a church plant. It took a lot of time and many changes but in the beginning of 2008, a team was in place and growing with people excited about working with this new church.
One year ago renovation began on the building. We saw God do so many amazing things during this time in supplying for our needs and providing workers.
On October 19th 2008, we had our opening service and officially became a Church, New Life Göteborg. CCM Director Don Dennison was our guest speaker.
Since that time the Church has continued to grow. We literally have had new faces in our morning worship every Sunday since our opening. We have people from all over the world attending and getting involved in our Church including a Muslim from Bangladesh, a Buddhist from Japan and atheist from Sweden.
In the spring time we came together as a church with the 40 days of purpose studying the book, Purpose Driven Life. This was led by a couple in our Church who are here in Sweden from the USA as expatriates.
Today we are about 80 people who are in some way involved in this community of faith, and we average about 50-70 in our Sunday morning worship.
October 18th 2009, One year celebration
This month we are celebrating one year as a Church. We have a committed core group and a leadership team that has been established by our mother church in Stockholm.
We are also excited to have Jim and Kasie Brinson and their Children from Tulip Church of God in Indiana preparing to come and work with New Life Göteborg. They are expected to be here in January 2010.
New Church Planting Initiatives
As a missionary and a big heart for seeing more churches planted, we are considering starting another project. I have stepped down from a leadership role in New Life. Up through the end of this year, we will be researching where the needs are. We will be exploring how culture or sub-cultures has changed in the past few years and how we can best start new faith communities or missional churches that can reach these cultures. We will also be networking with others that are working in this area so that we can be most effective in these initiatives.
I am finding that the institution of the church is often more of a hindrance to the community of faith then God intended the church to be. This is not a new argument but is a realistic turning point in relation to my personal journey. I see clearly the church turning to program and away from passion of the missio Dei. The church begins to decline at that point. The power for posture and position poisons the authenticity of the community. The Church outside the institution concerns itself with equality and eliminates posture and position. It has it’s focus on Jesus as Lord and service in His mission. It values Kingdom principles over modern statutes creating a paradox the institution can not support. It changes from self possession to shared expression and creates dynamic in the community. The church must brake out of this cage and be free. What a great day that would be!
We often encourage people to pursue their calling. We want young men and women to find their gifts, use their talents but to often these same people we encourage are suppressed if they are not perfect or politically correct.
They don’t get the chance to make mistakes, to mature in their calling because they do not show strong abilities in the beginning or they were a bit messy.
I believe we must give people a chance who feel God is leading them in a call to serve, teach, preach, start a ministry, etc. One learns by doing.
Jesus taught his 12 disciples this way. He would send them out with a command they would come back failed and discouraged. Then he would teach them how to do it right. He allowed them to make mistakes.
I hear Church leaders say, “I would never let that person preach”, or ” he should not have started that ministry unless he has everyone backing him up”.
Why? Let them have their chance. If it is God will it will succeed if not he will have learned from it or do better next time.
Of course there should be training and guidance and we should be sure that people are moving in the truth. We know that the enemy can move in like the wolf in sheep clothing. There must be discernment.
But were there is trust there should be hope, encouragement and risk.
It might be messy but Jesus made Apostles out of fishermen, tax collectors, ordinary people. He gave them a chance. So should we.
Technically it is not a word but while I am trying to come up with a word for my occupation I realize that words that define my occupation as a Missionary or a Pastor are some what out dated or carry with it meaning that don’t properly define what I do. Missionary, as one sent out from one country to another to share the Gospel and make disciples, would be the correct word for my occupation but it carries with it the idea of colonialism and dominance which is quit negative in today’s society. I am licensed as a Pastor and work in a traditional roll as a Pastor in the since of leading a Church or in my case co-leading a Church plant but I am not really a shepherd as that word implies biblically. Perhaps a more biblical term for what I do would be an Apostle as one who is sent out. But often that word is left to the first twelve Apostles and doesn’t really fit in today’s list of occupations. I think a word that is more contemporary would be fitting so I came up with this word, Missionalist, one who is sent to take part in the Missio Dei.
I know, someone else came up with this word first, I just found this blog while googling the word.
Could this work as a word for an occupation?
What if Jesus was the center of everything we do? Not our history, not our doctrine, not our culture, not our church, not our denomination, just Jesus and His mission.
What if we focused on His mission? Reaching out to and building relationships with the marginal, the outcast, the lonely, the sick. What if we would love God and Love people?
What if our Sunday morning worship was a time to adore and stand at awe to our God and our weekdays was a time of loving, giving, forgiving, helping, healing, caring, sharing, building relationships with people?
What if we would read his Word as a story we are a part of and not a doctrine or a creed? How would we live, how would we act?
What would happen if we allowed Jesus to impact our lives so we could impact others?
What if…
Oh January 10th I co-hosted together with Fredrik Hellström and Mattias Neve a long awaited Missional Roundtable.
12 people from different parts of Sweden gathered in Stockholm at Betel Folkhögskola for a conversation that for me was very inspirational and encouraging. I believe it sparked something, in all of us who attended. It brought some hope for the future of the community of faith in Sweden and inspiration for a missional thrust of the Church. If we came to any kind of conclusion it was that we need more of these conversations in Sweden that can encourage more missional lifestyles in our communities. Added: Check out blog Mattias Neve’s blog for more information about our conversation.
I am looking forward to the next one!
more about "Ed Stetzer & David Fitch – a missiona…", posted with vodpod
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Søren Kierkegaard
