What is the Kingdom of God?

Comment

Comment by Terry Johns on January 17, 2011 at 6:07am

Hi Steve

Hope you find this article interesting. I think Bill Johnson says it much better than I could.

http://www.bjm.org/articles/12/apostolic-teams.html

Comment by Mark Collings on January 16, 2011 at 11:06pm

Scott- you make a good point, and I think Terry addressed it very well.  We need "fathers and mothers" in the church to help us mature.  In turn, we ourselves need children to bring to maturity. When is comes to apostolic people  equipping and empowering us, I think they will become known to you through your church network.  There is an excellent video posted by Jim London here called "Upside Down Leadership" that addresses this.  What we have come to understand in our organic church is church = family.  So people recognised as apostles, pastors , etc will likely come out from your wider church family or family connections.  BTW, thanks for posting the links..found them to be valuable resources. 

Comment by Terry Johns on January 16, 2011 at 10:11pm

Yes, of course it's God's power that energizes us, however Jesus Himself has set up a system (some may have struggles with that word) that can equip and empower His body.

Eph 4 clearly indicates that Apostolic ministries are essential if the body is to be equipped for service and come to maturity. Sadly today many of those in Organic Church see themselves as equals to everybody else; as I have said before on this forum we are all equal in value and identity but not in gifting, calling or anointing. Because of this deception primarily caused by pride and woundedness many Organic Groups have shut the door to having apostolic people come and speak into their situation.

Pot luck suppers and group discussions will not equip and empower the body. Only the inexperienced and uninformed assume that we are all equal and therefore don't need people speaking into our lives, shaping us and preparing us for works of service.

Comment by Scott McCrae on January 15, 2011 at 10:27am

Terry, could you explain that more? It is my understanding that God empowers us. So my real question is, where is the power?

Comment by Terry Johns on January 15, 2011 at 10:07am

In theory Organic Church should be better at making disciples, but in reality that is not the case. In my opinion this is due to most Organic Churches not being exposed or empowered by Apostolic Teams.

Comment by Scott McCrae on January 15, 2011 at 6:19am

One of the reasons I am drawn to small group fellowship is to make disciples. Yet I have not made one yet. But I am still in prayer and seeking God for the answer to this and trying different things to gain a disciple of Christ.

Mission Frontiers
http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/
devoted their latest magazine to articles dealing with making disciples. From the multiplication of the common man reaching out to people in his sphere of influence, the lost can be reached.

If one reaches 2 and teaches them to reach out to others. Then the 3 make 6 disciples. And the 9 make 18 disciples. I think along these lines it is 22 generations you get over a billion. And some are going to make more than 1 a year! Some are going to get on fire and make 100's.

Another approach is church planting movements.
http://www.churchplantingmovements.com/
This approach is where churches are planted quickly using a method of teaching what has been taught to them.

The power to reach the world is not with the professional but allowing the Holy Spirit to work through the common person to reach others. With God the impossible is possible. But we need to look to the common person to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, not to degreed professionals.

This is the power of organic church. This is the power of God working through us. Organic church believes that the common person person can hear God and be used by God. Having the Bible in one hand, the concept of working with the common people we come in contact with, and faith that God can use us as He used people in the past, we can reach the world!

Pray Ephesians 6:19 for me. If the Holy Spirit can get me or I will let the Holy Spirit get me and others then the billions on the road to eternal hell can be saved.

"And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel."

Comment by Terry Johns on January 15, 2011 at 2:28am

The sad thing about the statistics I recently posted is that in most cases Organic Church is the least contributor to the task of Global evangelism, primarily because of it's focus on itself and the lack of exposure and experience of those in it.

Like I have said before it isn't about meeting together its about being productive regarding the unfinished task.

Terry

Comment by Terry Johns on January 13, 2011 at 11:06pm

Hi Jeff

I hope the following information helps.

Recent statistics confirm that there are still 6,400 Unreached People groups; almost 2 billion people (27.9%) of the world’s population that are still essentially cut off from access to the Gospel. Most of these people live in an area called the 10/40 Window. Many live in major urban centres whilst some are more remote and rural. Sadly most continue to be largely ignored by the global Christian community; although that may sound rather negative, the statistics prove this to be a fact.

These same researchers tell us that if all the mission agencies from every continent continue to grow at the current rate and continue to increase the number of missionaries they are sending to the world’s least evangelized peoples, we will still only be at 23% - 25% in 2025! This slight reduction in percentage is sadly misleading because the actual number of people will be significantly greater, as the least evangelized block of the world grows by 12 million a year. In reality, even with all the effort and sacrifice we are making, we are going backwards.



Comment by Jim London on January 10, 2011 at 12:14am

Scott, what you describe as the ways of corporate culture offers a starkly contrasting backdrop for how wonderful God's design is for His church! There is no community on earth that comes anywhere close to the stunning design of the Body of Christ! Not in its origin. Not in its purpose. Not in its Spirit-and-Truth dynamics. Not in its eternal hope and destiny. What I love most about the church, as it is revealed and also where it functions properly, is that it speaks so much to us of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. My heart rate accelerates just to say these words!

Comment by Scott McCrae on January 9, 2011 at 9:08pm

Jim,

 

I work for the city government. Your youtube shows how large organizations operate. If any mistake happens they set up rules. Hold seminars on how to deal with the rules. Pass operational guidelines to deal with the problem. Then the managers have to make decisions that don't make any sense because of these new rules.

 

Small groups can get around all this red tape because problems are discussed in the group. People know each other and can anticipate what others want and need.

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