CLOSE YOUR CHURCH FOR GOD

Close Your Church for Good

By Jeremy Myers

I’m writing a book called Close Your Church for Good. The goal of the book is to help churches and pastors move themselves and their congregations in a missional direction that will help them live and operate according to the principles of the Kingdom of God.
In Close your Church for Good, I don’t want your church to shut down and cease to exist; I want to it to rise up and be all that Jesus intends.
When will the book be out? Well, my current word count is 50,000 words, and I am about 2/3 done. But I am running into problems on some of the later chapters, so… who knows how long it will take to finish…

But you don’t have to wait!

I am actually writing this book online. I make 3-4 posts per week which are based on the content of the book. While the final edition will not be exactly like these posts, the posts still provide the general idea and thought flow of the book.
In other words, whether I get the book published or not, you can still read a rough version of it right here on the Till He Comes blog.

Why am I posting the book online?

For several reasons.
First, free is the new business model. Besides, I am not an established author, and I already have a job, so why not give the content away for free?
Second, am I crazy? I have some fairly extreme ideas for how a church can become more missional, and I really desire reader feedback. So as you read the section, please comment and interact, even if you disagree. If you think I’m crazy or have completely lost my senses, tell me! If, however, you think that other people need to hear what I’m writing about, you don’t necessarily need to tell me, but please tell them!
Third, books and blogs are getting connected. If/when the book gets published, I will have a ready-made place to send the readers if they want to ask me a question, or interact with other readers.
Fourth, blogs are sometimes better than books. I can do things on a blog post that I cannot do in a paper book. Like lots of pictures, for example. To see what I mean, check out this post about church buildings. There is no way I could put those pictures in the typical book.
Finally, I am a book lover. As such, I have always wished that all books were free. I used to have a sign that hung in my study which said, “If grace is free, why are Christian books so expensive?” While I don’t believe that all authors should offer all their books for free, I still think that all authors would benefit from making more of their stuff available for free.

So where can you start reading?

I thought about listing ALL of the posts in the entire book right here. But then I realized that this would be about 200 posts. Nobody wants to look through that.
So I decided to arrange the posts like a book. Think of this post as the Table of Contents.
Below are the chapters in Close Your Church for Good. Each link goes to another page, which contains a ordered list of all the posts that were made from that chapter. If you read straight through them, you will get the basic content of the chapter.
Enjoy!

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Close Your Church for Good

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. The Satanic Church
2. Faith of the Fallen
3. The Church Must Die
4. Cancel your Church Service
5. Cut All Church Programs
6. Sell Your Church Building
7. Resign as Pastor
8. Down with Preaching
9. Discard the Doctrinal Statement
10. Let Prayer Meetings Cease
11. Enough with Evangelism
12. Pass on the Offering Plate
13. Give Up Your Rites
14. Give Up Your Rights
15. To Hell with the Church

Epilogue: Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

Whole Church Whole Gospel Whole World

banyak sekali orang yang salah menafsirkan apa itu gereja dewasa ini sesuai pengertian dan tradisinya semata. Video ini menggambarkan apa itu gereja yang sebenranya dan apa tujuannya di muka bumi ini bagi perluasan kerajaan TUHAN. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_4u8TRorUw&feature=player_embedded#at=19

FROM THE FRONT LINES

Hello Friends The link below if for the Asian Harvest April Newsletter from Paul & Joy Hattaway and the article "From the Front Lines" is very worthwhile in understanding cross cultural mission. We would encourage you to take the few moments required and give it a read! The piece covers a large area and includes a quote from Rolland Allan, "Foreigners can never successfully direct the propagations of any faith throughout a whole country. If the faith does not become naturalized and expand among the people by its own vital power, it exercises an alarming and hateful influence and men fear and shun it a something alien." http://asiaharvest.org/pages/newsletters/114-April2012-TheAsianWorkersFund.pdf We also want to let you know that "The Luke 10 Manual" is now available as a free PDF download from out website, www.harvest-now.org , in English, German, Dutch, French, Russian, Spanish, Kyrgyz and Bulgarian. The English version is available in hard copy from lulu by clicking on the picture of the book and the Dutch version is available in hard copy from amazon.de . Please help us get the word out that these various versions are available. Would you consider helping us print the Burmese and the Urdu versions which are now being translated? Every blessing Steve www.harvest-now.org

What is Apostolic?

What Is Apostolic?
by Martin Schmaltz www.apostolicmissions.org
Email: martinschmaltz@gmail.com

Much is being said today about “the apostolic.” There are those who believe a restoration of “the apostolic” is necessary. Various views of what apostolic means include: a succession of leadership traceable back to Peter, a particular doctrine instructed by the apostles or a particular church organizational structure with an individual in leadership, calling themselves an apostle. Many of these may contain some elements of truth or they may be man’s attempt to apply the principles of apostolic, but they often can fall far short of God’s original intentions. In this Ezine I would like to present a view of apostolic for us to consider.
 
To begin with, the word apostolic is not contained in the scriptures. This word is a creation of man. So what is this word based on? In my personal experience, apostolic is used as an adjective to describe the type of ministry first demonstrated by Jesus, as The Apostle, then His apostles. The Greek for apostle is apostolos. According to Vine’s it is “one sent forth.” Holman Bible Dictionary says it is “a person sent to accomplish a mission. An apostle represents the one sending and has authority to represent the sender in business, political or educational situations.” An apostle is one who has been specifically sent by another to deliver a message or conduct business according to the one doing the sending.
 
Scripture shows us that the word apostle and sent are similar. According to Thayer’s, send or sent is apostello; “properly, to send off, send away.” Furthermore, Thayer’s tells us there are four components to being sent.
First, they are ordered to go.
Secondly, they are sent with a commission or something intended for another.
Thirdly, the place of their sending is specific.
Fourth, the completion or manifestation of the duty is proof of the sending.
In the literal sense of the word, anyone who has been given a job to perform then sent (apostello) to do this duty for the one sending is an apostle (apostolos). In Matthew chapter 2, those that Herod “sent forth” to slay the children in Bethlehem were apostello. In John 1:19, the Jews “sent” or apostello as their apostolos, priests and Levite's to question the identity of John. If you are part of an organization or business and you delegate someone to go and relay a message, represent you or conduct business for you, they have been sent (apostello) by you and are your apostle (apostolos).
 
The major significance of biblical apostolic is WHO is DOING the sending.
And What are we being sent to accomplish.
 
Being apostolic is being sent as a representative of Jesus Christ. It is from Him we are to get our orders. Jesus stated that all power had been given to Him. When He sent out his disciples in Mark 6:7-13, they were given specific commands of where, who and what to say. When they operated as He commanded is when they saw the miraculous happen. In Acts 19, we see the sons of Sceve attempting to operate under their own initiative. They were attempting to accomplish something of benefit, yet they were not effective. Their problem was they were not sent. I can desire to do good things for the kingdom, yet find frustration and limited results IF what I am attempting is not what He has sent me to do.
 
This is significant for us to grasp because if we desire to see His kingdom manifest or reach the lost of this world with His miraculous delivering power we MUST make sure we are operating as His representatives in the manner that He has determined. We must make sure we are not perpetuating man’s traditions, values or structure. In my personal life and ministry, I must be sure that I am operating in a manner that He has authorized. Our churches must carefully evaluate and make sure we are performing His mandate and not our programs. The power to impact our worlds only comes when we are operating in accordance with His commission.
 
Food For Thought
Am I operating according to my plans or His sending?