Simply ChurchFirst Corinthians 12: 27-28 says this: All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church: first are apostles, second are prophets, third are teachers, then those who do miracles, those who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who… Read More
In many churches, people get excited when one of the so called "five-fold ministries" comes to town. (The name "five-fold comes from the passage quoted below in Ephesians 4.) They hope to receive a personal prophetic word from the prophet, or see many people become Christians when an evangelist gives an altar call. They like… Read More
In the world, leaders are frequently put on a pedestal. They are looked up to, given preferential treatment. Others work to support their vision. In the church, leaders are often put on a pedestal too. So-called apostles and prophets have business cards. They are highly visible on the rooftops. But according to the New Testament,… Read More
A few years back, we had a 3-day meeting where about 40 of us gathered to listen to God. They were strong leaders from across the nation. Most of the time, the type-A personalities, seated on the inner row of 2 concentric circles of chairs, dominated vocally. The quieter ones sat on the back row.… Read More
One day, Jesus' disciples were squabbling over which of them was the greatest. In fact, two brothers, James and John, had persuaded their mother to ask Jesus if they could have privileged positions in his Kingdom. The other disciples were indignant; they wanted those positions for themselves! Matthew 20:25-28 continues: But Jesus called them to Himself and… Read More
A.W. Tozer wrote this: "The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. Never breaks our bylaws. He's a very well-behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we're in trouble and look to Him… Read More
The leaders God is looking for are very different to the leadership the world is looking for. God is looking for those who walk with a limp; those who, like Jacob, have surrendered unconditionally to God. He's looking for those who have been through his wilderness training school, educated in the college of hard knocks and… Read More
God's ways are not our ways. People like their leaders to be like King Saul–head and shoulders above everyone else. They like them to be charismatic, outgoing, well qualified. To have university degrees, communicate persuasively, lead convincingly. Leaders are to be out front, envisioning and inspiring, with larger-than-life personalities. In the church at large, we… Read More
People often say that simple/organic/house churches do not believe in leadership. Is that true? No! It's just that the leadership we do believe in looks completely different. This is what is usually thought of as leadership: Jesus said, "It shall not be this way among you!" (Matthew 20:26) We'll explore it in the next… Read More
The following comments were made by Carolyn Spence in response to a very active discussion on simplechurch.com on the subject of women speaking in meetings. They illustrate what the last few blog posts have been trying to do. “This discussion has allowed freedom to develop in me, because it wasn't until I had to answer the claims… Read More