In our modern dislocated society many are searching for a church experience that offers true Christian sharing, nurturing, and discipleship, in addition to teaching and worship. For many such people the answer is found in the home church: a small, committed group of often diverse people who meet together in homes to pray, eat, sing, study, and share their lives. The Church Comes Home is a handbook for those interested in home churches. It is both visionary and practical. It describes how home churches can be formed, how they should grow, and how networks of home churches can develop. It examines issues--for example, how to make decisions; how to determine doctrine; how to include children, singles, elders; and how to reach out to the community at large--and offers practical suggestions for their resolution.
There's a new way of doing church and it's taking North America by storm! Here a recognized authority on the house church movement and a popular speaker and pastor share their expertise in starting and maintaining a healthy house church. Together they look at current and future trends in the house church movement and provide best practice models for planting and leading house churches. Also, they explore how house churches are not always the same as simple cell-groups or small groups, especially in the areas of leadership and money. Readers will discover all the information they need to begin a house church in their community.
Tim Kimmel gives a comprehensive strategy to churches for family ministry as well as a plan for parents seeking to pass their faith to the next generation. He shares valuable tools for the church to use to build a strong family ministry.A child who has seen grace lived out in front of him at church and at home is much more inclined toward staying committed to a relationship with God into adulthood. So Kimmel shares what a grace-based family ministry looks like in the local church. He also teaches parents how to translate every part of ministry they are exposed to at church to translate into spiritual training at home. The Family Ministry Map, created by Kimmel, is explained in detail, and examples of the program put into practice are given. This book gives a vital message to church ministry leaders and parents equally, making this a must-read for all involved in sharing faith with the next generation.
Motivated by a deep hunger for more of God, millions of Christians are leaving the traditional church to look for more freedom and fulfillment than the routine of five songs, announcements, a plea for money and a forty five minute sermon allow. They are looking for open ended, deep worship that flows with the Holy Spirit, relatable Bible study and discussion in which they may participate, and strong bonds of fellowship outside the four walls of organized church. Instead of leaving the church to fall away from God, they are leaving the church to find God. Leaving the Church to Find God offers scriptural, safe, and balanced answers tempered by real life experiences, on how to move from a traditional church structure into meetings that allow the Lord to set the agenda and where needs are met. John Fenn - I was a Christian who felt disconnected from church though I'd been actively involved nearly all my life. I was looking for answers to my desire and hunger for God to move freely, and came to realize I wasn't alone. From all walks of life and across the church spectrum people are searching for something deeper, but they don't quite know what. This is the story of how I found God moving outside the church structure that I had known, loved, and been a part of my whole Christian life. John and his wife Barbara were born in Kokomo, Indiana and began dating as teenagers when they met the Lord, and began ministering to their teenage friends. They've been in the ministry now for over thirty years, serving in various capacities including Campus Pastor, Associate Pastor, Senior Pastor, and advisor to churches and Bible schools all over the world. John also worked with Peter Wagner teaching at the Wagner Leadership Institute, serving as Canadian National Director and Education Advisor. He remains an adjunct instructor of Wagner Leadership Institute of Colorado Springs. In early 2002 John and his wife Barb, founded The Church Without Walls International of Tulsa, a house church network, emphasizing Relationship Based Christianity. He travels and teaches in all different streams of Christianity, helping churches and individuals find significance and fulfillment through Godly relationships and the discipleship process.
Lasting, lifelong faith is rarely taught in church programs but is rather ''caught'' from a lifestyle of faith lived out at home ... but how can your church equip the home to be the primary place where faith is nurtured rather than being a ''drop-off center'' for Bible education? By becoming a Faith@Home church. Based on Mark Holmen's foundational book Building Faith at Home, this new revised and expanded edition includes everything you need to weave a Faith@Home focus into the DNA of your church community! Church + Home builds on the ministry concepts Mark has refined through the rapid international growth of the Faith@Home movement. You will learn how to reestablish your church members' homes as the primary incubator for faith by implementing vibrant, effective Faith@Home ministry in your church, no matter its size. You'll also find practical tools for building bridges between your church's programs and member's homes, and hear from pastors, student ministers and lay leaders whose faith communities are making an eternal difference in families' lives. Your church can put faith back where it belongs ... Church + Home shows you how. Find out how your faith community can become a Faith@Home church to grow the next generation of the Body of Christ.
"What a refreshing book! Imagine a church whose primary emphasis is to make people "feel at home." I wish every young pastor could read this book. Thanks, Lee, for a wonderful reminder of what the church is to be." -Erwin W. Lutzer, Pastor Emeritus, The Moody Church, Chicago Is your church acting like an organization or a home? You love your church, but you wonder if it could be more. There’s a greeting team, but is there a true spirit of welcoming? There are committees, leaders, and programs, but is there a Spirit-led vision? There are small groups, but are people truly connected? Pastor and award-winning author Lee Eclov was troubled by these questions. Then, he had a realization: he wasn’t called to lead an organization, but a family. His job was to be a "homemaker," not a CEO. This paradigm shift changed everything. In Feels Like Home, he shares what he’s learned from over 40 years of ministry about being the family of God and how to live into that beautiful reality. This short volume is full of stories of small adjustments that make a huge difference in the effectiveness, warmth, and growth of a church community. Discover how the love of a family can transform your church.
People have lost faith in all collective institutions: government, corporations, the media, and the church. We are in the midst of a spiritual disaster, a flood of biblical proportions, and house churches provide lifeboats for people who are seeking a more authentic, life-giving form of Christian community. Many people remember that the early church started in homes, but they don’t understand that house churches are still a legitimate and viable model today. House churches can create the intimacy so many people are hungry for. They can nurture life-changing discipleship for individuals and create justice-centered communities. Networked house churches can become truly diverse, multi-ethnic communities that spread the Gospel by emphasizing practices over programs. These communities de-center the preacher, opting instead for grassroots organizing, but they are not leaderless — they are leader-full. This book provides an alternative model for denominations and established churches to consider. It will help pastors reconnect with the traditions of community organizing, itinerant preaching, and discipleship training that sparked Methodism and other church movements in the United States. Church Comes Home offers alternative ways to look at some of the problems facing our church and our culture.
BASIC.We Are ChurchA Small Group ExperienceFRANCIS CHAN In this bold new interactive 9-session small group study, Francis Chan takes on the practical aspects of the church, distilling the reality of God's design for the church into foundational truths that will challenge Christians to become the church described in Scripture. Features the final four BASIC films on DVD, each enhanced with two exclusive study sessions found only in this small group experience.- BASIC.Fellowship DVD- BASIC.Teaching DVD- BASIC.Prayer DVD- BASIC.Communion DVD- Six (6) We Are Church Follower's Guides, corresponding to the interactive DVD studies- Resource DVD with video clips, trailers, and poster for church use, sermon outlines for pastors, tips for leaders, and more.
In "When God comes to church," Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. explores what the Bible teaches about revival. He explains what God can do to revive his people and what we must do to prepare ourselves for revival. Ortlund's conclusions provide solid guidance for church leaders and lay people who long for renewal and revival from God.
