Category Archives: church government

Ecclesiology (church government) can’t heal your hurting heart.

Posted on March 18, 2023 by Steve Simms

The only cure for your hurting heart is the risen Jesus. If you’re looking anywhere else (even to church), you’re looking in the wrong places. Meetings in the body of Christ are supposed to be about empowering, releasing, and sending … Continue reading →

Posted in church committees, church elders, church government, ecclesiological, ecclesiologist, ecclesiology | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Baiting people with religious candy or net fishing for human hearts?

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Steve Simms

Net fishing for people? New Testament net fishing doesn’t work if you don’t have a network of people connected heat-to-heart with the living Jesus and with one another. As the inner spiritual knots that tied the earliest Christians together loosened … Continue reading →

Posted in church government, ecclesia, ecclesiology, ekklesia, house church, organic church | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spiritual leadership guides people beyond the human

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Steve Simms

To grow strong in the Lord, stop looking to a preacher and start looking to the living Jesus and the writings of His early disciples. Jesus never intended for His power and ministry to be monopolized by a professional clergy! … Continue reading →

Posted in church government, church leader, church overseers, church roles, spiritual formation, spiritual giftings, spiritual maturity, spiritual power, spiritual relationships | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Unity is more important than unanimity

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Steve Simms

Unanimity is a word that can be difficult to say. However, it’s even harder to consistently do. A simple definition of unanimity is: “agreement by all people involved.” Here’s an example of unanimity or uniformity: Find a group of passive … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Denominations, church burn out, church community, church decline, church government, church organization, church revitalization, church structure, denominations, religious tradition, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Emil Brunner Quotes about ekklesia

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Steve Simms

Ever since I encountered the risen Jesus in a Spirit-led meeting on a college campus, I’ve wanted to go beyond the formal way of doing church and meet the way Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 14:26. In 2008, The Salvation … Continue reading →

Posted in 1 Corinthians 14:26, books, church government, church leadership, church services, Dones, house church, organic chruch, participation in church, participatory church, simple church, Spirit-led, Spirit-led church, worship | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sports referees, overseers, elders & ekklesia

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Steve Simms

Ekklesia has overseerers (like sports referees); not an overlord. (“Guides by the side; not one sage on a big stage.”) Overseers are those who the body recognizes as mature Christ-followers. The Dones are beginning to clamor for a Jesus-led church. They … Continue reading →

Posted in 1 Corinthians 14:26, authority, Beyond Church, body of Christ, by the word of their testimony, church government, ecclesia, ecclesiology, glamour, how the body of Christ functions, Jesus untangled, New Testament, New Testament Christianity, New Testament church, platform, spiritual authority, testimonies, Uncategorized, unchurching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Body Of Christ: Dictatorship? Democracy? Christocracy?

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Steve Simms

Must a gathering of Christ-followers choose between being a hierarchy (a body of believers governed by an organizational chart) or anarchy (a body of believers with no government or order at all)? Historically church has chosen to be a hierarchy. … Continue reading →

Posted in Benjamin Rush, church government, God's government, government, Israelmore Ayivor, Jesus Christ, John Leland, kingdom, kingdom of heaven, kingdom values, kings and kingdoms, not of this world, organizational chart, the Kingdom of God is at hand, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How many sermons does it take to make a person pure?

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Steve Simms

Christ-followers are called to be pure and holy! That’s not easy to do when seductive media is so readily accessible and overflowing with negativity, disrespect, vulgarity, adultery, nudity, profanity, and worse. Have all the sermons that we have heard (and … Continue reading →

Posted in church, church fathers, church government, city council meeting, early church, ekklesia, evangelism, God's government, government, on earth as it is in heaven, Origen, religion, spiritual formation, spiritual transformation, testimonies, Thom Schultz, transformation, Uncategorized, Walk by the Spirit | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Icons transport me beyond church

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Steve Simms

Icons in my favorite church building transport me beyond church. It’s an Orthodox church near Franklin, Tennessee. Icons are images dedicated, set apart, and anointed to reflect the glory of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. Icons, unlike ordinary religious art, … Continue reading →

Posted in Christ the Head of the church, Christian history, church, church government, church in decline, Eastern Orthodox churches, ekklesia, Greek Orthodox Church, move of God, organic church, organized religion, Pentecost, revival, revival history, spiritual awakening, Tennessee, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Christ-Controlled Church (How to move beyond human control of church meetings.)

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Steve Simms

A Sunday morning church service is a controlled environment. Often everything that happens there is planned out ahead of time and inked onto a handy program which is given to people as they enter.  People are expected to passively sit, … Continue reading →

Posted in Chris Turner, church government, confession, Conquering the Game of Control, Craig Green, ecclesiology, gifts of the Spirit, Head of the church, how to, playing church, Southern Baptists, Steven J. Cole, surrender, who runs the church, William Booth, wisdom | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments