| 2010 Labor Day Conference |
By the time that you read this, Felicity and I will be in Australia, working with a variety of house church networks in cities across Australia at the invitation of Bessie Pereira and the Oikos Team. This is a great privilege, and I will report on it in the next e-letter. But since this one is “on the road” so to speak, I thought that I would spend a little time reflecting on the cost of missions work.
When a couple like us travel, there is considerable expense incurred. While we are very blessed in having a solid (and profitable) business behind us, this is not true for all who are called to traveling ministry. Paul makes it very clear in the New Testament that those who are out preaching the good news do have the freedom to live by/from what they do. Yet within most house church circles, there has been a strong emphasis on not having paid staff or teams who are dependent on others for their support.
John White, who helped launch the www.LK10.com coaching network for house church planters, has written an excellent article looking at some of the issues that are caused by the emphasis in HC circles on not having paid staff. His question is “Then how should apostolic church planters be supported.” Go to this link to read the article. This article is typical of the “Article of the Week” that goes up regularly on the H2H website. I would encourage you to come back to the site regularly, and also to set up e-mail or RSS feed for the article of the week. Additionally you can comment on the articles, and we are working to get article authors to reply to comments.
As those of you who read this e-letter at all regularly know, I love to point you to other sources that consistently have quality information that is relevant to all of us. Charlie Wear’s Next Wave E-Zins would be an example of such a source. Go to this link to explore and to read Felicity’s lead article in this month’s magazine on Setting Women Free.
Many of you will know of Victor Choudhrie, and the work that he and his wife are doing in India. Victor is like a grandfather to the house church movements across India. Now, in a way that is reminiscent of Wolfgang Simson’s 15 Thesis that was published on the web in the late 90’s, Victor has come up with 21 Steps to move from traditional to transformational patterns of church. The article, from Megachurch to Metachurch is available at this link.
We get wonderful emails from people at times. I received on recently that began, “But (we) would like to share what happened at our gathering Saturday night. . .” Click here to read the rest of the story.
Most of us don’t face anything more than the possibility of embarrassment for sharing Jesus, but harsher treatment occurs in other parts of the world. Earlier this month, Tom Little paid for his witness with his life. The short excerpt below includes contact information to help support the family he leaves behind.
It has really struck me that being committed to the Kingdom and serving people on behalf of the Lord Jesus is really a call to surrender our lives. Tom Little, who I met very briefly about 8 years ago, lived this and paid the ultimate sacrifice as he was martyred in Afghanistan last week.
If you want to send a donation to the Tom Little Memorial Fund, checks can be made payable to Interserve and mailed to P.O. Box 418, Upper Darby PA 19082. Be sure to note it is for the memorial fund. Gifts to the memorial fund are tax deductible.
Finally, I need to remind all of you about the National House Church Conference over Labor Day weekend. This is a key weekend for those who attend, and has been used by the Lord to challenge and bless over the years. Do consider coming, even if you are not yet booked. You can find out more by going to the conference site.
Pray for us. We have just finished a great week in the Philippines, and now have ten days in Australia in six different locations. It is tiring, but a real blessing.
Tony and Felicity on behalf of the H2H team.
Editor’s note: House2House is donation supported, but Tony and Felicity receive no compensation from the ministry.
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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:
- Financing Apostolic Ministry: A Commentary on 1 Corinthians 9:1-14 by John White
- MEGA CHURCH TO META (BEYOND) CHURCH by VICTOR CHOUDHRIE
- Why link house churches into networks? by Rad Zdero
- Universalism, Piano Wire and Bamboo Spikes by Maurice Smith
House2House is a donation supported ministry.
Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ JUST ADDED!
By Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola
Christians have made the gospel about so many things—things other than Christ. Religious concepts, ideas, doctrines, strategies, methods, techniques, programs, and formulas have all eclipsed the beauty, the glory, and the reality of the Lord Jesus Himself. On the whole, the Christian family today is starved for a real experience of the living Christ. We know a lot about our Lord, but we don’t know Him very well. We know a lot about trying to be like Jesus, but very little about living by His indwelling life. “Jesus Manifesto” presents a fresh unveiling of Jesus as not only Savior and Lord, but as so much more. It is a prophetic call to restore the supremacy and sovereignty of Christ in a world—and a church—that has lost sight of Him. Read this book and see your Lord like you’ve never seen Him before.
What’s With Paul & Women?
By Jon Zens
1 Timothy 2:11-12 has been used as a “clear” mandate to silence women in the church for over 1500 years. In What’s With Paul & Women? Jon Zens exposes the fallacies of this interpretation, and opens up the meaning of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 using insights gleaned from the Artemis-saturated Ephesian culture where Timothy was left to stand against false teaching (1:3). Going beyond 1 Timothy 2, this book covers the major issues in gender inequality with three Appendices: one on the Ephesian social world in which 1 Timothy was written, another on 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 and an extensive review of John Piper’s What’s the Difference? Manhood & Womanhood Defined According to the Bible. If 1 Timothy 2:11-12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-36 have puzzled you, What’s With Paul & Women? will help in your quest to discern the mind of the Lord as the gender debate continues.
All Dogs Go To Heaven Don’t They? Just out!
by Maurice Smith
In All Dogs Go to Heaven . . . Don’t They? Maurice Smith uses his extensive years of scholarship to tackle a complicated and difficult subject that affects all of us — what happens to people after death. He writes with humor and clarity to make the Biblical position very plain and to refute the theory that everyone will eventually end up in heaven — however attractive a concept that might be. I recommend this book to anyone who is serious about holding a Biblical position on the subject.” – Felicity Dale, author An Army of Ordinary People and co-author The Rabbit and The Elephant.
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Clayton, WA 99110-0229
House2House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
