Author: Steve

House church finances

Mike, Jon and David after breakfastWe had breakfast with Jon Dale and his friend David, talking about the National House Church Conference and starting a discussion about financing house church planters. Mike and I continued the discussion later, both wanting to conclude that we should not – after all, isn’t one of the advantages of house churches that they do not need full-time workers or financing? Our discussion led us to another conclusion, though; looking at our experience with the movement so far, we had to admit that the people who had been most effective and had the most influence were those who could devote the most time to it. So there is an argument for full-time house church workers. We then have to ask what these people do, how many of them we need, and where the money should come from. Continue reading “House church finances”

Revolution, chapter 5

Barna describes societal trends which have an impact on how people approach faith and spirituality. In such a short space, his treatment of each trend is naturally rather superficial. He writes very succinctly, though, giving much food for thought.
“The more you can anticipate some of the transitions resulting from these trends, the greater will be your ability to help shape the world in ways that are likely to honor God and advance your spiritual maturity. This will impact your own life and the lives of others with whom you interact.” Let us take that to heart.

Chapter 5 of Revolution is titled “Spiritual transitions in the making”. Barna describes societal trends which have an impact on how people approach faith and spirituality. In such a short space, his treatment of each trend is naturally rather superficial. He writes very succinctly, though, giving much food for thought. Here’s a summary of the trends he has identified: Continue reading “Revolution, chapter 5”

Revolution, part 2

In chapter 4 of ‘Revolution’, George Barna takes a look at how the church fares in fulfilling the seven passions which he has identified in Revolutionaries. According to his research, it is generally doing badly.
The chapter ends with the statement “The Revolution is about recognizing that we are not called to go to church. We are called to be the Church.” (In his terminology, ‘church’ means the local church, ‘Church’ the global body of Christ).

This was a good presentation of the general state of the traditional church, managing to both recognise its achievements in the past and clearly present a rationale for desiring change.

In chapter 4 of ‘Revolution’, George Barna takes a look at how the church fares in fulfilling the seven passions which he has identified in Revolutionaries. According to his research, it is generally doing badly.
“If the local church is God’s answer to our spiritual needs, then why are most churched Christians so spiritually immature and desperate?”
“One of the greatest frustrations of my life has been the disconnection between what our research consistently shows about churched Christians and what the Bible calls us to be.”

Having said that, he recognises that the local church has made a valuable contribution throughout its history; to dispute that would be tantamount to claiming that God does not have the power to work even through imperfect channels: Continue reading “Revolution, part 2”

An Army of Ordinary People, part 1

The cover of An Army of Ordinary PeopleI’ve also started on Felicity Dale’s ‘An Army of Ordinary People’. I’ve only read the first two chapters, but it looks like being a great book already. It opens with Hank’s story. Hank is a man who used to say very little, but who dared to try starting a very simple church with some people he knew. Those people told others about their experiences, and Hank’s family got wind of it too, and Hank just kept on starting churches!
The second story is Tony and Felicity’s. It is a little more complicated than Hank’s, but again tells of people struggling with God and what he is doing, and really stumbling into something old but new.
These first two chapters were very encouraging – not because they provide methods, or try to say “It’s easy, go ahead”, but because the stories are about the sort of people we all know. If they can do it, so can we! (With a little help from God 😉 , but that’s what the others needed too.)

‘Revolution’ part 1

I’ve started reading George Barna’s upcoming book ‘Revolution’, which I picked up at the house church conference last weekend. It’s a light read, but I’ve only had time to get through to chapter 4; so far, it has been mostly introduction to the topic. I think he is painting a rather rosy picture of what is going on, at least at an individual level; he hasn’t mentioned the uncertainty, the questioning, or the weakness, and little of the struggles involved. I consider myself to be one of the Revolutionaries he is talking about, and certainly experience these things. As a statistician, Barna is viewing the picture from a global level, which may well look different.
Some quotes from the book: Continue reading “‘Revolution’ part 1”

The Garden of our God

A rock in The Garden of Our GodI spent the afternoon in The Garden of Our God (OK, officially called ‘of the Gods’…), taking lots of photos. It was a perfect day – blue sky, hot, with a pleasant wind.
Mike spent the day with his daughter, Sarah, at a hot rod show. They are both fans of custom cars, and Sarah took lots of photos, too.

Back to a faster laptop

The replacement part for my laptop has finally arrived, and works – my screen works again. Hewlett-Packard originally quoted me 8 days delivery for the part (which is only available in the US, so I couldn’t order it in advance!), but quoted over a month in the confirmation mail. After a sharp conversation with their ordering department, they promised to do what they could to speed it up. The subsequent mail still quoted the one-month delivery, though. Yesterday, ten days before the quoted date, a thin but large package arrived, containing a very small part!

I’ve been using an old laptop so far, which did the job OK. Now, I have a reasonable screen resolution and a higher speed, which makes Skype work much better. The old laptop is smaller and lighter, though, and looks better 🙂

Who is your covering?: all the rest

Who is your covering? book coverFrank Viola’s book concludes with a look at the nature of apostolic authority. He makes the point that we often look at Paul (particularly) as being a very authoritarian leader. Examining his writing, however, we find appeals, arguments presented, and references to fellow workers such as Timothy and Titus as ‘sons’, writing that Titus, for example “has gone to you of his own accord” (2. Cor. 8:17).
This ties in with Paul’s statement about apostles in 1. Cor. 4:9, “For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena.” That does not sound like someone professing great authority in his position.

In summary, Who is your covering? gives a good insight into the meaning of many of the New Testament’s statements about authority. Even though I did not agree with everything he said, the book was thought-provoking. It is well worth reading.