As I continue the theme of the past few weeks regarding building the infrastructure (click here for previous week’s e-letter ), I want to focus today on the question of communication. We live in an age of incredible freedom to communicate. For most of us this means that we live with almost permanent information overload. Just today I had to write an email to a dear friend to explain why I didn’t want to continue receiving his devotional thoughts. These types of choices are being forced on each of us almost daily.
Part of my goal in sending out this e-letter is to help point those of you who trust me enough to receive this to what I view as some of the key resources out there to help us on our journey with the Lord. I am going to summarize a few of those resources below:
- Blogs, let me list three of my current favorites. You will find lots more that we recommend at this link.
- Jaeson Ma’s 365 days of love challenge which you can subscribe to at www.jaesonma.com. On day 17, he had this to say, “At the end when we had finished praying, passing out all the clothes, all the day workers that were there were deeply touched and many were weeping because God’s presence was so apparent. They began to ask us, “Where is your church? How can we go?” My response was… “You are the church! This is the church here… all of us gathering in God’s presence!” I asked them if they would be eager to have a Bible study right there at the day workers site and they all agreed this is something they would desire and want. We are following up now to possibly start a organic church with the day workers in front of Home Depot… only God could do this…”
- Felicity’s www.simplychurch.com has been exploring over the past weeks in some depth the many things that we have been learning from our brothers and sisters in India.
- Seth Godin’s business blog at this link is sheer genius, and has much to teach us believers about how to effectively communicate to a post-modern generation. As Seth stated in a blog earlier this week, “Seven years from now, what will you have to show for what you’re doing right now?”
- Tweets, for those of you on Twitter. This is a whole new world, and definitely not for everyone. I am just pointing you to a starting place. Follow Neil_Cole and jondale if you want to learn how to use this medium well, or follow felicitydale or tonydaleaustin for some occasional light relief!
- Website: Obviously I am going to put www.house2house.com and www.simplechurch.com as great resources. For someone looking for helping in starting house churches, I would recommend the Getting Started menu tab on the simplechurch.com site or going to the www.LK10.com coaching site. There a scores of other great sites for ideas and resources.
- We love to promote other groups, nothing to do with simple/organic churches, that are fearlessly promoting the Christian message. For example, you might want to stand with those such as Chuck Colson and others behind the site at www.ManhattanDeclaration.org.
- Here is a great example of a YouTube video with useful and fascinating content.
We are actively working on producing some other infrastructure/communication tools to help in spreading the simple church message. Two new DVDs are currently in the works. One is looking at the subject of “Leadership” within simple church movements, and the other is looking at “You make disciples and Jesus will build His church!” We want to make these freely available to all via the web and DVDs as soon as they are released. I.e. they will probably not be “sold” at all, but we will look for every effective means of giving them away. To do this we need to pay for them up front. We have two thirds of the estimated $30,000 budget raised. If any of you reading this believe in the value of these two DVD projects, we would love you and the house churches that you are a part of to help by contributing towards their cost through donations to H2H. Putting infrastructure in place does have a price tag on it! We are also working on getting all of the existing DVD content available in Spanish. If interested, we welcome your contributions towards finishing this project. Price tag around $3000.
This had better be all for this week if I am going to keep to my self-imposed rule to have this e-letter able to be read in 60 seconds!
Tony and Felicity and the H2H team.
News and corrections from the editor:
- Bad link last week fixed: The link to Mark Setch’s “The War on Fullness” in the last e-letter was bad – this one is good.
- New find a church system is on-line: The new and greatly improved find a home church map/search is now running. To add a church group you must create an account (note, if you have an account on the H2H message boards, this will work for the map system). If you have an existing group on the map, you will receive an e-mail in early February with information that will give you access to modify that group. If you do not already have an account for the map system, or the H2H message boards, please create an account now.
- E-letter changing systems: THIS COPY was sent from the new system – congratulations. To remove yourself from the old system (we will send a number of reminders to get everyone moved) use the “Click here to safely unsubscribe now from House2House E-letters” link at the very bottom of the copy sent from the old system.
- Please Comment! The new e-letter system allows you to comment on articles on-line. You will need to register first. We want to hear what you think!
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Recent Stories:
Each week H2H publishes a story/article about simple church and/or living out our life in the Kingdom. Recent stories include:
- Our journey into rediscovering Apostolic and Prophetic foundations – part 2 By Mike Kim
- Our journey into rediscovering Apostolic and Prophetic foundations – part 1 By Mike Kim
- GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN By Robert Fitts
- The Antioch Gathering By Guy Muse
The Rabbit and The Elephant We match Amazon’s Price!By Tony & Felicity Dale and George Barna
Today’s Western culture is indifferent to church and Christians. Yet the early church existed in far harsher conditions—and it thrived. Much like a new litter of rabbits, the infant faith quickly grew and spread. And the result was a world transformed.
In The Rabbit and the Elephant, Tony and Felicity Dale (Simply Church) and George Barna (Revolution) say that the same thing is happening today. As Christians, we are the church – whether we meet in office buildings, college dorm rooms, coffee shops, factories, or homes – and the Holy Spirit uses us to expand that church to the far reaches of the globe. By practicing “simple church,” we’ll find that a small gathering of friends loving Jesus together and reaching out to the community around them can help us to be the church, the way God intended.
The rabbit and the elephant. Something small and something big. Find out what lessons they hold for you, for the body of Christ, and for the future of church as we know it.
From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God
By Frank Viola
Deep within God’s Word lies a wondrous story like no other. A drama that originated before time began. An epic saga that resonates with the heartbeat of God. A story that reveals nothing less than the meaning of life and God’s great mission in the earth. From Eternity to Here presents three remarkable stories spanning Genesis to Revelation. Each story traces a divine theme that is woven throughout Scripture. Seen together, they offer an extraordinary glimpse into God’s highest passion and grand mission. What you discover will forever change your view of life, the church, and our magnificent God.
Organic Leadership
by Neil Cole
What are the weeds that hinder the natural growth of godly leadership? Are programs, people, and money truly the signs of a successful church? Where can you find an unlimited source of leaders? How do you mentor others so that they multiply? In Organic Leadership, Neil Cole asks these questions and more, boldly challenging many of the ideas about leadership and church life that we all take for granted.
House2House is a donation supported ministry.
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Clayton, WA 99110-0229