Penginjilan dan perintisan gereja rumah

Perintisan Dalam gereja Rumah

Langkah Perintisan gereja Rumah

Koinonia dan Perjamuan Kudus

About NTRF

The Protestant Reformation of the 1500s began a reform of unscriptural church practice and belief. As wonderful as the Reformation was, the Reformers stopped short of fully reforming church practice. For example, in the 1600s the Baptists took reform a step further, insisting on the separation of church and state, believer’s baptism and the autonomy of each local church. The New Testament Reformation Fellowship is simply a fellowship of brothers who desire to continue the reformation of today’s church by the adoption of New Testament church practice.
We at NTRF believe in the Doctrines of Grace, hold to New Covenant Theology and agree with the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. The essential tenets of the faith to which we subscribe are identical to those found in the doctrinal statements of any sound evangelical institution. Our favorite statement of faith is the First London Baptist Confession of 1646.

We advocate orthodox, historic, classic Christian theology poured into the wineskin of New Testament church practice as established by the apostles. We argue from Scripture for such things as small churches (under a hundred people), the Lord’s Supper as actual meal (a sacred, covenant feast), elders who are truly servant leaders but not lords, government by elder-led congregational consensus and participatory church meetings. Our emphasis on small, simple, relational, family integrated churches is coupled with careful attention to order and organization. Our goal is to be Christ honoring and thoroughly biblical in every area concerning our church life.

While we are firmly convinced that God’s best is for all His people to organize their churches according to New Testament patterns, we are not against those who do things another way. We just think that they are missing a blessing! We understand that sincere, godly saints sometimes understand the same Scripture passages differently. We hear Paul when he asked, “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand” (Ro 14:4).

Our desire is to provide resources and training in how the early church met together in community. We seek to aid others in recapturing the intimacy, simplicity, accountability and dynamic of Spirit-led first century church life. God has opened doors of opportunity for us to travel and present these concepts to believers in North and South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. We’ve sent materials to many countries that we have not yet gone.

As for those of us at NTRF who lead house church workshops, we truly do identify with Paul when he wrote, "we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake" (2Co 4:5).

About Our Workshop Leaders

Steve Atkerson

Married since 1983, Steve Atkerson and his wife Sandra have three children, two in college and one married, and two grandchilren. A graduate of Georgia Tech, Steve worked for several years in electronics before enrolling in seminary. While there he served on the part-time staff of a 14,000 member Baptist church. After receiving an M. Div. from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, he ministered on the pastoral staff of a Southern Baptist Church in Atlanta with a membership of around 1000. Then in 1990, after seven years in the traditional pastorate, he resigned to begin working with churches that desire to follow apostolic traditions in their church practice. He thus has transitioned all the way from mega churches to much smaller churches. He travels and teaches about the practice of the early church as the Lord opens doors of opportunity. Steve is an elder at a local house church, is president of NTRF, edited Toward A House Church Theology, authored both The Practice of the Early Church: A Theological Workbook and The Equipping Manual, and is editor of and a contributing author to both Ekklesia and House Church: Simple, Strategic, Scriptural.

Dan Trotter

Dan Trotter is an NTRF trustee, former editor of The New Reformation Review news letter, a contributing author to House Church: Simple, Strategic, Scriptural and Ekklesia, author of Red Neck In Red China, co-sponsor of past Southern House Church Conferences, team teaches NTRF workshops, and was actively involved in starting and leading a church in South Carolina that followed New Testament church practices. He has degrees from the University of South Carolina in history, economics, business administration, and law, plus a Master of Arts in Church History from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

In addition to their love for their three grown children and several grand-children, Dan and his wife, Linda, have a love for China and its people. He surrendered his tenure at Coker College so as to be able to teach business at colleges in China.

Tim Melvin

After college and a military career, Tim went on to earn a Masters of Divinity from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (MABTS) while serving on two Baptist church staffs in Memphis, Tennessee. He then did three years of doctoral work in Hebrew and Old Testament while teaching Research, Writing and English at MABTS. He and Sarah home educated their three daughters, two of which are married. While in the Memphis area, he also planted two house churches. He and his wife Sarah and their youngest daughter now reside in Columbus, Georgia. Tim travels widely teaching church life workshops for NTRF. In addition, he teaches a child training seminar, "Raising Wise Children in a Foolish World," and is a contributing author to both Toward A House Church Theology and Ekklesia.

NTRF Our Practice

Our Practice

Our hope is that you will find our web site enjoyable reading and that it will help you to gain a better understanding of the church as it was originally set up by the Apostles. We believe that the basics of New Testament church life are generally relevant to any culture, any time, with few exceptions.
We believe that the basics of New Testament church life are generally relevant to any culture, any time, with few exceptions. Some of the basics, as we see them, are:

• The Agapé. The Lord's Supper was originally celebrated each Lord's Day as an actual meal. This Holy Meal was the main reason for the weekly church meeting, as it should be today. It is a sacred, covenant meal that is like rehearsal dinner for the marriage banquet of the Lamb! Communion should be a wonderful time of blessing, fellowship and encouragement for God's people.
  
• Participatory Worship. Lord's Day church meetings are to be participatory, with spontaneous sharing and worship per 1 Corinthians 14, rather than merely performances by professionals. Any brother should be free to contribute to the meeting (via a teaching, a song, a testimony, a prayer, Scripture reading, etc.). The prime directive for anything said or sung is that it must be calculated to build up, to edify, to encourage the church. However, such free participation does not preclude prior individual preparation. The things that occur in the meeting depend on how the Holy Spirit has sovereignly led various brothers to prepare during the week. Elders participate as well, but part of their ministry is to be sure everything is edifying and in alignment with historic Christian orthodoxy and ethics.
  
• Preach The Word! Special times each week should be devoted to the in-depth exposition of God's Word. These ministry meetings are not to be confused with participatory church worship. In a ministry meeting, typically one gifted person (such as an elder) exercises his gift in service to the body of Christ at large. Each Lord's Day gathering could thus have three phases: the participatory worship of all the brothers, the ministry of the Word taught by an elder and the Holy Meal celebrated by the whole assembly. We at NTRF advocate historic Christian orthodoxy poured into the wineskin of New Testament church practice. Our favorite statement of faith is the 1st London (Baptist) Confession of 1646.
  
• A Family Atmosphere. Church is to function more like a family rather than a corporation. It is to be relationship based. Foremost is each believer's relationship with our Triune God, then with each other. In the essentials there is to be unity, in the nonessentials liberty, and in all things love. Small congregations help foster community, accountability and intimacy among the members of the body. Further, churches are to be family-friendly. The church and the family are to be integrated, not segregated. Age-graded Sunday School and Children's Church too often only serve to further divide families. Children belong in church meetings and Bible studies with their parents.
  
• Small Congregations. Since the early church gathered mostly in private homes, the typical New Testament church necessarily had to be smaller rather than larger. Every letter in the New Testament was written to a church where everyone knew everyone else. Excavated first-century Roman homes that were known to host church meetings could hold 65-70 people. We believe that Christ's church functions best in this smaller setting. The ideal design is for each congregation to contain scores of people, not hundreds and certainly not thousands. Since many homes today will not hold as many people as a Roman villa, we should be open to creative alternatives (modified homes, renting homes big enough to host the church, small home-like church buildings, etc.). The Romans also did not have to worry with where to park all the cars that it takes to bring 70 people to church!
  
• Elder-led Congregational Consensus. Major church decisions are to be made under the headship of Christ by the consensus of all the brothers, but with elders given special consideration in the consensus process. Though elders are very important to the functioning of the church, important decisions are to be made by the church corporately, not by its elders in isolation.
  
• Treasuring Timeless Traditions. We are committed to follow apostolic patterns (traditions) for church practice. These are practices that are derived directly from the New Testament, not church history. There are really only two choices for church practice: whatever it is that you want to do versus the ways of the apostles. The churches represented by the folks associated with NTRF have all made a conscious effort to seek to follow the traditions of the Twelve in their church practice. In short, we believe that the patterns for church life evident in the New Testament are not merely descriptive, but are actually prescriptive (2Th 2:15, 1Co 11:2). Thus, even though we are quite "traditional" in the New Testament sense, what we advocate is rather nontraditional by contemporary standards.
  

This type of church is largely decentralized, simple, easy to reproduce, intimate, personal, inexpensive and quite literally down-home. It is also the biblical pattern. Indeed, how can we improve on God's design?

Such a church in an Asian or Latino country would certainly look different in outward style than one in a posh suburb of London. The food, music, language and homes would be unique to each culture, but the internal basics would still be the same.

In stating the above convictions, we do not intend to imply factiousness, elitism, spiritual superiority, nor arrogance. We love and appreciate all those who belong to Christ, regardless of how they live out their church life (Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc.). Yet these are deeply held convictions with us, and we humbly present them to the church at large in hopes of persuading our brothers and sisters to enjoy the benefits of New Testament church practice along with us!
Our desire is to provide resources and training in how the early church met together in community. To this end, we have posted many Articles on our web site, offer live streaming Audio messages, and there are ready to print PDF files for teachers. Our Publications Page details the various books, tapes, and manuals we produce. We also conduct Weekend Workshops on our Lord’s design for His church.
To Jesus alone be all the glory, power, and honor!

New Testament Reformation Fellowship

We go back to the future as we follow the trail blazed for us by the New Testament church. In researching the practice of the early church, our mindset is both "Back to the Bible" and "Onward with the Spirit"! Our desire is to honor the Lord by patterning our churches after the timeless traditions left by His chosen Apostles. A tremendous blessing awaits today’s Christians in early church practice.

For over twenty years, the New Testament Reformation Fellowship has been part of a growing body of believers who see importance in following New Testament patterns of church practice. We have taken to heart the evangelical belief that the Bible is our final authority, not only in matters of faith, but also in what we do as God's people when we gather together. We see theological significance in the distinctive traditions of the apostolic church. Learn More >>

	Audio Listen on-line to talks about: • The Practice of the Early Church (also known as simple church, relational church, early church, New Testament church, organic church and house church). You can listen to talks on: The Lord's Supper as a Holy Meal, Participatory Worship, Elder Led Congregational Consensus, House Churches, Church Discipline, Leadership, Relational Church, Timeless Apostolic Traditions, Divine Order, Heresy and the House Church, New Covenant Giving, etc. • New Covenant Theology (What it is and how it compares with Covenant Theology and Dispensational Theology). • How to Lead a Bible Discussion ("Never tell when you can ask!"). • Matthew's Gospel (A contextual, chapter by chapter exposition). There are also Power Points to view on many of these talks!
	Articles • Read on-line articles to help you think through the basics of church life as Jesus intended. Topics covered include Practical Considerations for Starting A House Church, Toward A House Church Theology, Sisters in Service, House Church Personality Problems, The Lord's Supper as a Holy Meal, Participatory Worship, Elder Led Congregational Consensus, Church Discipline, Leadership, Relational Church, Timeless Apostolic Traditions, Divine Order, Heresy and the House Church, and New Covenant Giving. • Request books on both the practice of the early church (in English, French or Russian) and God's behind-the-scenes role in drawing people to Jesus.  We also offer PDF files to help you teach expositionally through Mathew's Gospel and the book of Revelation.  Coming soon is a study guide to Hebrews!
	Video NTRF offers several videos on such early house church practices as the Lord's Supper as an actual meal, participatory worship and elder led congregational consensus. • Watch now on-line. • Request a DVD be sent to you. • We also offer a DVD set called Amazing Grace, a look at the amazing work God is gracefuly doing behind-the-scenes to bring people to Christ.
	Training • NTRF has collaborated with the Internet Biblical Seminary to produce an on-line interactive seminary course on the Lord's Supper as an actual fellowship meal. • In addition, we offer a teacher's manual to facilitate a group discussion on organic New Testament church life (why the Lord's Supper was celebrated as a holy meal, the advantages of participatory worship, the proper function of elders, the significance of smaller (house sized) churches, timeless apostolic traditions for church practice, etc.). • Under this category you can also find out about our  Wineskin Weekend Workshops.
	It's About Ministry, Not Money! NTRF is not a business, nor have we anything for sale. "Prices" shown in our automated ordering system are merely pre-set donation amounts for those who wish to give voluntarily via our ''store.''  You don't have to give anything ~ simply tell us what you'd like via the green "Contact Us" sidebar and we'll send it to you! If you'd like to co-labor with us through giving, you may do so by credit card via our Donations section or by check.