Our "simple church" planting here in Guayaquil is known as "La Iglesia En Tu Casa" (LIETC)--The church in your house.
We have identified at least 13 guiding values that the Lord has seemingly been pleased to bless over the past 7+ years of church planting.
1.) LIETC is built upon a foundation of prayer, which is the most important work in which we are engaged. (Luke 10:2)
2.) LIETC is built upon the idea of mobilizing the laity. The laity is empowered to go and do tasks traditionally assigned only to trained professional clergy. (Eph.4:11-12, 1 Pet.2:9-10)
3.) LIETC is built upon the concept of taking the church to where the people are, rather than bringing the people to the church. (Matt.28:18-20, Luke 10:3)
4.) LIETC crosses denominational lines and works with Great Commission Christians to plant New Testament churches. (Eph.4:4-6)
5.) LIETC depends on God to provide the workers, free of recruitment or manipulation. Prayer is the key. (Luke 10:2)
6.) LIETC is built upon the understanding that women are likewise called to plant churches. (Matthew 28:18-20)
7.) LIETC is built upon the understanding that it is Christ's responsibility to build His church, not ours (Mt. 16:18). Our task is the Great Commission--to make disciples; his to build His Church.
8.) LIETC is built upon an understanding that the missionary task is primarily one of praying, modeling, teaching, training, encouraging and mentoring. (Eph.4:11-12)
9.) LIETC is built upon the strategic use of locally available and reproducible communication media. We don't use or model anything that can't be done/reproduced locally by the people we work with.
10.) LIETC is built upon the idea of church being more a "family gathering" held in a home setting, and less a "traditional church service." (1 Cor. 12-14, 14:26, Book of Acts)
11.) LIETC is built on the twin pillars of prayer and lifestyle evangelism. There is a continuous emphasis on these two areas.
12.) LIETC is built upon the understanding that multiplication of disciples is the focus of all we do. Simply adding to existing works will not get the job done. (Matthew-Luke, the "parables of the kingdom.")
13.) LIETC belongs to God, and He can do as He pleases. Change in the way things are done is an on-going process as God continues to open our eyes to his ways of building the Kingdom.
Very encouraging post. I think the problem that we as Christians have in the US today (or one of the problems) is that we have gotten to dependant on the institutional church and its programs rather than simply living the Christian life in an authentic way. We clean up nice on Sunday but as for Monday-Saturday----err not so much.
ReplyDeleteJoe,
ReplyDeleteThank you! One of the things that is so encouraging about living amongst believers who live their faith Sunday-Sunday is that truly matters of the Kingdom are more important to them than obtaining material goods of this world. Whenever we go back to the States, one of the most striking differences is that most Christians seem to be more concerned about their lifestyles and personal interests, than they are about advancing the Kingdom of God.
Good post and some of those guiding principles are challenging. I can imagine that it is very hard to really accept that it's God's place to build his church--as we've talked about your work, I can imagine many missionaries cringing at the idea of works crossing denominational lines, little control and feeling as if it's highly irresponsible of you! But I, for one, applaud the idea of equipping anyone and everyone with one of the few conditions being that they must be working for the Kingdom and not just filling their head with knowledge. It is indeed His church, when we let Him take control...
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