HOUSE CHURCH ARTICLES
RE-THINKING EVANGELISM
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Re-Thinking Evangelism - article
(Editor’s Note) As with anything, you may not agree with everything in this article, but it has a lot of very good input which I think is crucial for us to consider as God seems to be in the process of causing a major paradigm shift in the whole way that the Church thinks about and does evangelism / discipleship. In coming months, we hope to include more on this. If you have done some prayerful thinking / digesting about this and feel some of your thoughts might be helpful to readers, please send them to me Here
DISCIPLEMAKING IN A POST-MODERN
WORLD
To see entire article, check out: http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200204/200204_052_discipling.cfm
“…The average person influenced by postmodernism may never have
heard a lecture or read a book about it. Nonetheless, the traits that embody
the philosophy are all around us:
The centrality of community
The primacy of experience
The subjectivity of truth
The complexity of human perception
The fragility of progress
The unreality of absolutes
The enormity of the spiritual
The plurality of worldviews
The sunny, straightforward, things-are-as-they-seem world of modernism is
being submerged in a darker, more complex perspective that is bringing a different
kind of person through the doors of our churches. This person is biblically
illiterate, skeptical, unconvinced that truth exists in absolute terms, and
personally adrift.
It is doubtful that conventional teaching methods will form this new sort of "raw material" into a devoted follower of Jesus. Futurist Tom Sine puts it bluntly: "Typically, the young watch at least 20 hours of TV a week, plus spend a huge amount of time with CDs, video games, and the Internet. It is a joke to believe that an hour of Sunday school a week will have much influence against this . . . onslaught. We will need to create much more serious approaches to Christian nurture that involve families and communities."
The day is over when we can rely on a fairly conservative
society, and a church experience being in almost everyone’s background,
to do much of the work for us. Now we have to actually do Christianity if
anything of substance is to result…”
CONTENTS
Video About God Drawing People To Himself Through Dreams & Visions
More Than Dreams:
From Dreams to Reality – excellent DVD – a great way to encourage
believers and to reach out to Muslims, etc.
Dreams and Visions of Jesus
For decades, a phenomenon has been recurring in the Muslim world. Men and women – without any knowledge of the Gospel and without any contact with Christians – have been forever transformed after experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. Reports of these supernatural occurrences often come from “closed countries” where preaching the Gospel is forbidden and where converting to Christianity can invoke the death sentence. A common denominator appears to be that the dreams come to those who are seeking to know and please God. We decided to capture some of these stories and use them as a witnessing tool to Muslims all over the world.
Real-life Stories
Through numerous personal interviews, we selected five true-life stories of
former Muslims who now know Jesus as their Savior. From the outset, the producers
endeavored to represent a global cross-section of Islam, and for that reason,
stories were selected from Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, and Indonesia. More
Than Dreams re-created each of these stories, producing each in its original
language, in a docu-drama format and shot in high-definition video. The movies
include a ministry segment explaining what it means to follow Christ and leading
viewers in the salvation prayer.
Five Remarkable Testimonies - subtitles in English
Khalil (Egypt) - A radical Egyptian terrorist changed from a murderous “Saul”
to a forgiving “Paul” after Jesus Christ visited him in a soul-penetrating
dream. This hater of both Christians and Jews set out to discredit the Bible,
but instead, he was transformed when Jesus appeared to him and changed his
heart. (in Arabic * 28:51 minutes)
Mohammed (Nigeria) - This Fulani herdsman in Nigeria found
the deep love and lordship of Jesus Christ through a series of remarkable
dreams. Jesus’ appearance in those dreams altered the course of his life.
Though his father tried to kill him in the wake of his conversion, he survived
the various attempts on his life and eventually led his father to faith in
Christ.
(in Hausa * 45:50 minutes)
Dini (Indonesia) - An Indonesian teenager let down by
family, friends and society, became a Christian the night Jesus appeared to
her in a vision. That special night was Lailatul Qadar when Muslims individualize
their prayers to Allah. From the moment she saw Jesus, His peace filled her
heart and stayed with her even as persecution began.
(in Indonesian * 42:17 minutes)
Khosrow (Iran) - A young Iranian man, depressed and without
hope, met Jesus Christ in a vision. The Savior extended His hand and invited
him to take hold, promising that his “life would change forever.”
He took Jesus’ hand and, as he describes it, “waves of electricity
flowed through my body over and over again. I wept for the first time since
I was a child and joy filled my heart.”
(in Farsi * 29:30 minutes)
Ali (Turkey) - This Turkish man in bondage to alcohol
saw Jesus in a dream and his life was changed forever. Desperate, he moved
to Saudi Arabia a place where alcohol
is forbidden. However, upon his arrival, he found liquor there. He then made
the pilgrimage to Mecca, hoping to be freed of his addiction and to be led
in the way of a true Muslim. To his surprise, he met Jesus Christ instead.
(in Turkish * 40:04 minutes)
More Than Dreams
To order: Phone: (718) 554-1468 http://www.morethandreams.org
LEARNING TO FUNCTION MORE EFFECTIVELY IN THE SUPERNATURAL REALM
LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND YOUR POST-MODERN FRIENDS' WORLDVIEWS & RESPOND FROM A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW
***
NEED HELP IN REACHING OUT TO YOUR
NEW AGE FRIENDS?
I imagine that many of you are in relationship with folks that are involved
in New Age philosophies / practices, etc.
The following is a very helpful, biblically-based book written by a Christian
apologist, which can help you better understand some common New Age perspectives,
as well as how to communicate biblical truth with New Agers.
---
‘The Truth Behind
Ghosts, Mediums & Psychic Phenomena’ – book by Ron Rhodes
– has been on It’s a New Day quite frequently.
www.ronrhodes.org
More
Than Dreams: From Dreams to Reality – excellent DVD – a great
way to encourage believers and to reach out to Muslims, etc.
Dreams and Visions of Jesus
For decades, a phenomenon has been recurring in the Muslim world. Men and women – without any knowledge of the Gospel and without any contact with Christians – have been forever transformed after experiencing dreams and visions of Jesus Christ. Reports of these supernatural occurrences often come from “closed countries” where preaching the Gospel is forbidden and where converting to Christianity can invoke the death sentence. A common denominator appears to be that the dreams come to those who are seeking to know and please God. We decided to capture some of these stories and use them as a witnessing tool to Muslims all over the world.
Real-life Stories
Through numerous personal interviews, we selected five true-life stories of
former Muslims who now know Jesus as their Savior. From the outset, the producers
endeavored to represent a global cross-section of Islam, and for that reason,
stories were selected from Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, and Indonesia. More
Than Dreams re-created each of these stories, producing each in its original
language, in a docu-drama format and shot in high-definition video. The movies
include a ministry segment explaining what it means to follow Christ and leading
viewers in the salvation prayer.
Five Remarkable Testimonies - subtitles in English
Khalil (Egypt) - A radical Egyptian terrorist changed from a murderous “Saul”
to a forgiving “Paul” after Jesus Christ visited him in a soul-penetrating
dream. This hater of both Christians and Jews set out to discredit the Bible,
but instead, he was transformed when Jesus appeared to him and changed his
heart. (in Arabic * 28:51 minutes)
Mohammed (Nigeria) - This Fulani herdsman in Nigeria found
the deep love and lordship of Jesus Christ through a series of remarkable
dreams. Jesus’ appearance in those dreams altered the course of his life.
Though his father tried to kill him in the wake of his conversion, he survived
the various attempts on his life and eventually led his father to faith in
Christ.
(in Hausa * 45:50 minutes)
Dini (Indonesia) - An Indonesian teenager let down by
family, friends and society, became a Christian the night Jesus appeared to
her in a vision. That special night was Lailatul Qadar when Muslims individualize
their prayers to Allah. From the moment she saw Jesus, His peace filled her
heart and stayed with her even as persecution began.
(in Indonesian * 42:17 minutes)
Khosrow (Iran) - A young Iranian man, depressed and without
hope, met Jesus Christ in a vision. The Savior extended His hand and invited
him to take hold, promising that his “life would change forever.”
He took Jesus’ hand and, as he describes it, “waves of electricity
flowed through my body over and over again. I wept for the first time since
I was a child and joy filled my heart.”
(in Farsi * 29:30 minutes)
Ali (Turkey) - This Turkish man in bondage to alcohol
saw Jesus in a dream and his life was changed forever. Desperate, he moved
to Saudi Arabia a place where alcohol
is forbidden. However, upon his arrival, he found liquor there. He then made
the pilgrimage to Mecca, hoping to be freed of his addiction and to be led
in the way of a true Muslim. To his surprise, he met Jesus Christ instead.
(in Turkish * 40:04 minutes)
More Than Dreams
To order: Phone: (718) 554-1468 http://www.morethandreams.org
THE COUNTERFEITS PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE BIBLICAL TRUTH
still to come
Creation & Environmental Stewardship - giving creation the value God has given it
still to come...
still to come...
LEARN TO MEDITATE FROM A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
Learning to Love & to Be More Real & Allows Others to be More Real
* * *
PERMISSION TO LAMENT: A Time to Weep and a Time to Laugh; a Time to Mourn and a Time to Dance - one of the seemingly lost arts of the day is the ability for us to listen well to each other - not just to people's words, but to their hearts.
In a world in which loneliness is one of the key reasons for depression and which plagues most people in varying degress / at various time, one of the ways that I believe we can show God's love the best is to take the time to listen to other people - to REALLY listen to them. Other than paying counsellors to do this, generally our lives are so busy that we don't tend to make time for relationships that have this 'luxury' - which is not really to be a luxury but a normal part of life, I believe...Or we think we'll be looked at as a 'wuss' or 'weak', etc. if we don't keep everything to ourselves and 'suck it up'. We then often tend to also see others as weak if they seem to have a need to share their hearts or receive counsel.
It is often in these times of being truly listened to when people will open up to us because they feel valued and loved, and when they feel like they have permission to share their pain. We as western cultures, especially, have tended to squash many of our painful emotions and griefs, and so have tended to quickly bury our pain rather than actually dealing with it.
Also, many people coming to our nations have endured much suffering and atrocities of horrendous degrees.
Whether they are Christians or not, I believe that one of the ways that we can show Christ's love for family, friends and those God brings into our lives for a moment or for a season, is to 'give them permission' to lament (as we ourselves learn how to do that from a biblical perspective so we can share with them the comfort we have received from Him in the midst of our pain when we have learned to lament to Him from a biblical perspective).
Jesus says to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. One of the most encouraging things for us when we're happy about something is to have others rejoice with us! And one of the most comforting things for us when we are going through pain is to realize that someone else is seeking to identify with us in our pain (even if they can't totally relate since everyone's circumstances are different). Identifying with us is often how Jesus comforts our hearts the most deeply. And so I believe that encouraging people to lament, and crying with them in their pain even if you have no words, is one of the most effective ways of sharing His love with those around us, whoever they may be.
Reaching Out to the Lost Through Listening to Jesus
True-Faced - book - still to come
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