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Missions Teaching from India

Suspended in a hammock: contextualizing the good news

Photo credit: SadieMaeGlutz (Creative Commons) We have friends in India who are seeing large numbers of both high-caste Hindus and people from other religions become followers of Jesus. They use the sacred books of those religions to point to Christ. When they have clearly demonstrated Christ within those books, they can then point them to… Read More

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House church Kingdom skills Organic church Simple Church Teaching from India

10 skills to equip others

Our friends in India, who are seeing hundreds of thousands of new believers each year, have various training topics with which they equip people, the majority of whom are oral learners. Everyone is equipped, and those who are in any kind of leadership are trained not only in the concepts, but also in how to… Read More

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House church Kingdom Women Leadership Organic church Simple Church Teaching from India

How illiterate women in India can teach advanced topics

A few posts ago, I alluded to the fact that some good friends of ours in India, who see many tens of thousands of new believers in their network each year, have illiterate women who are able to teach others, including Bible references. Several people have asked me to expand on this. The fact that… Read More

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Church planting Simple Church Teaching from India

How many $$ to start a church?

Continuing our study of Luke 10. I tried without success to find out the average cost of starting a church in this country.  If my memory serves me right, it's in the region of $350,000 by the time you include buildings and the training and salary for a pastor.  (If anyone has an accurate figure,… Read More

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Church planting Simple Church Teaching from India

How to start a simple/organic/house church

We have had the privilege of spending time with the leaders of several church planting movements over the years.  (A church planting movement occurs when there is rapid and spontaneous multiplication of churches, comprised mainly of new believers). We always ask them what principles are behind the growth that they see.  They usually point to… Read More

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Church planting Simple Church Teaching from India

Ways to see a greater harvest #1

      I recently reread the book, "destined for the throne" by Paul Bilheimer. The main premise of the book is based on a quote by John Wesley: "God does nothing except an answer to prayer." Bilheimer goes on to explain that God has chosen to limit himself in order that we might get on-the-job… Read More

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Simple Church Teaching from India

A Woman Church Planter (Part 3)

The final part of the interview with "Mary," a church planter in India. When asked to tell more about prayer walking, Mary says this: “When I go prayer walking we go as a group.  It’s not just going for a walk in the morning.  We are entering into battle.  We have to go fully clad… Read More

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Simple Church Teaching from India

A Woman Church Planter (Part 2)

Continuing the story of "Mary," a church planter in India. Mary and her team believe that there should be a house church in every language and people group.  There are 20,800 villages in Chhattisgarh, and they have reached 1,800 of them with 6,000 house churches (some villages have more than one if there is more… Read More

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Simple Church Teaching from India

A Woman Church Planter (Part 1)

While I was in India I had the opportunity to visit with “Mary,” a church planter who has seen more than 6,000 churches start under her leadership.  Here is a little of her story: Mary has been a church planter for the past 10 years.  She works in Chhattisgarh, a state in India. Before she learned about… Read More

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Teaching from India

So what did I learn from India?

India is seeing a remarkable move of God.  We met several people from India at the World House Church Summit who have more than 100,000 new believers in their networks.  I interviewed a middle-aged housewife who is responsible for seeing more than 6,000 churches.  I know that numbers are the world's way of judging success,… Read More