If you make disciples, church happens

We are entering our third week of evening trainings for new church planters. Actually, we are discipling groups of men and women on becoming true followers of Christ, and not just "evangelical pew-sitting Christians." Currently, we are training four different groups to go out and "make disciples". It is our conviction that as you make disciples, church happens.

The following comes from a post by Gary Snowden who quotes Allan Karr, a missions professor at the Denver campus of Golden Gate Seminary at the recent Forum 121 Gathering. "If you make disciples, church happens."

Allan outlined a series of shifts needed to achieve a viable 21st Century ecclesiology and expressed them in terms of respiration, breathing in and out.

1. Breathe in - From extrabiblical traditions to biblical minimums.

2. Breathe out - From institutional church-based to Kingdom of God based ecclesiology.

3. Breathe in - From a regional focus to a neighborsphere/local community focus.

4. Breathe out - From an organizational maintenance focus to an incarnational community transformation focus.

5. Breathe in - From hierarchical structure to shared leadership.

6. Breathe out - From "going to church" to "being the church."

7. Breathe in - From a focus on a main gathering to "doing life together."

8. Breathe out - From "right belief" to living out sound biblical doctrine holistically.

9. Breathe in - From efficiency-driven strategies to collaborative relational efforts.

10. Breathe out - From strategies of the flesh to a reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit.