Friday, January 22, 2010

Some of My Favorite Simple Church / Organic Church Empowerment Quotes


All these can be found on our website at www.vcmn.org (you can also try www.vineyardathome.com):

"Instead of bringing people to church so that we can then bring them to Christ, let's bring Christ to people where they live. We may find that a new church will grow out of such an enterprise, a church that is more centered in life and the workplace, where the Gospel is supposed to make a difference. What will happen if we plant the seed of the Kingdom of God in the paces where ife happens and where society is formed? Is this not what Jesus intended for His Church?"

Neil Cole in Organic Church

"I'm unlearning the American church's traditional focus on a superstar speaker, worship leader, educator and shepherd, which serves mainly to attract spectators rather than igniting the power of everyone else.

I'm learning that being "glocal" (engaging the church's mission in both global and local ways) means decentralizing power, decision making, information, all of it. The Kingdom of God means ministry opportunities are available to almost everyone."

Bob Roberts, Pastor and Author of Transformation: How Glocal Churches Transform Lives and the World.

"Luther reformed the content of the gospel, but did not change the basic structure of the 'worship service'. This reformed-Roman Catholic-Jewish meeting pattern was baptized by the Baptists, anointed by the Pentecostals, misused by the cults, renewed by the Charismatics, put into uniform by the Salvation Army, dry-cleaned by the Quakers - but was never radically changed.

The 'services' were essentially still performances, audience-oriented masses... where many spectators and consumers observe a few very involved religious specialists perform for them and with them. (Today's churches) have too often become 'fellowships without fellowship'".

Wolfgang Simson in Houses That Change the World


"I believe there are thousands of emerging apostles that have gifts within them and they are not being released because we don’t have fathers that understand the apostolic calling and the [need to] release them like we should.

I believe we do have many young ministers with apostolic callings who struggle to develop on their own because there is no one in their region that they are connected to that has a heart to train and disciple them into their gifting.”

- John Eckhardt, founder of Crusader Ministries, Chicago

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