Category Archives: What is church?

Of Human Bondage — Judgment, Tolerance, Or Salvation?

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Steve Simms

We boast of freedom in a life of limits. As humans we live in the ever present bondage of boundaries. Nothing in our lives is unlimited. We can only climb so high, reach so far, run so fast, think so long, enjoy … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Berry Street Worship Center, boundaries, church history, history, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, mysticism, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, positive thinking, Quotes, religion, salvation, simple church, social justice, The Salvation Army, thinking, What is church?, William Booth | Tagged 000, 18802, 2, a third option, about, acceptance, accepting, accusing words, addictive, amazing, and/or, army, attempting to justify, attitudes, begin, behaviors, being rescued from, being set free, blame, blaming others, boldly, bondage, boundaries, Bramwell Booth, but in deed and in truth, cause and effect, climb so high, consequences, create, crossed out the word, culture, daily, decades, denial, destructive, devasting, discussing, disguise the pain, do, don't know when, dull, duration, East London, efforts, embraces, enjoy, ever preent, expiration date, fast, fatalism, father, flyer, forgotten concept, freedom, get free, guilt, harmful, held hostage, held in bondage, Here I am to save the day, how do we deal with, human thoughts, humans, I am a regular, I was born this way, in an effort, in the mean time, Jesus Christ, judgment, judgmental, jusdge us, life, life choices, life's limits, limits, live, lives, living, long, meet, mighty power, millions, movement, news media, not in words only, nothing at all, nowadays, opening, other parts of England, others, ourselves, pain producing, passively, pen, people, perhaps, perishable products, physical existence, pie-in-the-sky, practical, presence, pretend, price we pay, prison doors, proclaim, proclamation, raging fire, reach so far, read, real freedom, rediscover, religious platitudes, resurrected, run, said, salvation, say, so many ears, social work, spread around the world, surrender, talk, that's just the way I am, the end is coming, The Salvation Army, the things that, the way we live, think, though out, three ways, time, to promote a meeting, tolerance, unlimited, verbally, volunteer, We are a salvation army, We are a volunteer army, we boast, who can say, William, William Booth, working, world, written | 6 Comments

Church — Lab or Lecture? Intellect or Votech? Academic or Epidemic?

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Steve Simms

Should church be academic or epidemic? Should it be based on the transfer of religious knowledge or on an ongoing contagion of spiritual life spreading like raging fire? Here is a quotation from Paul of Tarsus, the church planter who established … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, change, God, Holy Spirit, house church, lifestyles, mysticism, organic church, Quotations, Quotes, religion, simple church, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 225 Berry St., 37207, academic, academic study, accepting, agreeing to, area, based on, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, Biblical doctrines, book of Acts, called, Christian votech, Christians, church, church planter, contagion, contemporary church, creed, daily lives, Dear children, deed, demonstrative, disciples, disciplined, dry intelect, epidemic, established, experiential learning, first Christian churches, follow and obey, followers, formation within, gave, go and make disciples of all nations, godliness has value for all things, Great Commission, hands-on activity, hearts, holy, Holy Spirit, house church, ignored, inflaming, intellect, isn't it time, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John the Beloved, knowledge puffs up, lab, laid-back, lecture, lifestyle, like, listening, live, living love, love builds up, make this change, making disciples, mental adherents, merely, move beyond, Nashville, New Testament, not love with words, nowadays, ongoing, organic church, others, passion for God, passivity, Paul of Tarsus, Paul's words, physical training, practice, quotation, raging fire, read, religious, religious knowledge, reproduce, return, said, seeking, sermons, serve, simple church, some value, spiritual athletes, spiritual formation, spiritual life, spiritual lifestyle, spreading, Sundays, talk, Tennessee, the apostle, The Salvation Army, Thursdays, time of, tongue, train, train yourself to be godly, transfer of, transformation, turned, visit a church, votech, with actions and truth, wrote | 8 Comments

Organic Church = God On The Loose

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Steve Simms

There are sometimes awkward moments in unprogrammed, participatory church (also known as organic church or simple church). People sometimes say things and/or do things that are outside of my comfort zone. On a recent Sunday morning at The Salvation Army Berry Street … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street Worship Center, God, Holy Spirit, house church, life, mysticism, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, simple church, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged are you ready, awkward, Berry Street Worship Center, bit, blow, but, came to, church, close, comfort zone, comfortable, comfy, courage, cut, danger, denying the power, disturb, farthest from God, freedom, fuffle our feathers, gather together, God, having a form of godliness, Him, His way, Holy Spirit, how true, information, Lord, meeting, midst, mind, moments, my, Nashville, on the loose, organic church, outside of my, participatory, power, predictability, rock, shake, sharing, simple church, situations, sometimes, spiritual life, startle, stretch, structure, Sunday morning, take the limits off of, The Salvation Army, thereof, things, throbbing, transformation, unbound, uncomfortable, unprogrammed, visit, where it will, wide open, wind, wondering, words, work, working | 4 Comments

Can A Church Be Full Of The Glory Of God?

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Steve Simms

A popular worship song says: “The splendor of the King; clothed in majesty . . .” It is great to sing about God’s splendor, but how do we bring it forth? There is a simple, but powerful answer to this … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, God, house church, Jesus Christ, music, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, prayer, religion, simple church, What is church? | Tagged among, awe, baton, Berry Street, Bible, blends, bring it, called, chaos, Christ's body, church, clothed in majesty, conductor, contributions, directory, do, do their own thing, experience, expressions, forth, gathered, gifted, giving, glorious, glory of God, God, God's splendor, great, hear, heart-felt, hearts, holy, Holy Spirit, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, indescribable, instructions, leading, leadings, member, men, morning, move, musicians, Nashville, obeys, open, option, orchestra, organic church, people, perform, place, popular, powerful, prayer, presence, responds, revelation, seek, shares, shines, silence, simple, simple church, sing, spiritually hungry, splendor of the King, stand, standing on holy ground, Sunday, symphony, talented, taps, taste and see, testmony, The Salvation Army, verse, women, word of knowledge, worship song | Leave a comment

Uh Hum . . . What The Bible Says About Interrupting Church

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

Interrupting a church meeting has been considered taboo for just about as long as church has existed. I only remember two times being in a church service that was interrupted, prior to being part of an organic church. When I was … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, freedom, history, Holy Spirit, house church, mysticism, Nashville, Quakers, simple church, What is church? | Tagged a fresh word, adds, allowing, ambulance, Arkansas, arrive, assistant, attend, bold, carefully, change, church, church history, collspsed, congregation, CPR, deeply, disorderly, eagerly, early, earthquake, enthusiastically, excited, existed, gave, George Fox, gone to be with the Lord, halt, ignored, insight, interrupted, interrupting, Jonesboro, Kentucky, kid, kind, left, light, man, meeting, middle, movements, moving, Nashville, New Testament, open, organic church, Paducah, panic, participatory, pastor, pauses, perhaps, person, polite, powerful, prayed, preacher, Presbyterian Church, prophets, Quakers, quenching, raises a hand, responded, revelation, revival, rude, service, silently, sitting down, speaker, spiritual, stop, Sunday, taboo, tag team wrestling, Tennessee. sharing, the Holy Spirit, think, times, transitions, two or three, weigh, words | 11 Comments

More Original Organic Church Thoughts

Posted on July 1, 2011 by Steve Simms

Organic church is a term used to describe church that is based on spiritual life, personal relationships, heart-felt love, Spirit-led worship, and open participation, rather than on institutional structure or man-led meetings. It is also known as simple church and/or house … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, freedom, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, mysticism, organic church, public speaking, religion, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged active role, based on, beautiful, believers, body of believers, builds, caring, Christians, church, comments, community, completely, conjecture, constantly seeking, creates, family, field, flooding, free, freedom, Friends, give people, heart-felt, Holy Spirit, honest, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, ignored, institutional structure, kindergarten, lecture, love, makes God real, man-led, meet in a house, meetings, minister, ministry, more effective, most recent, New Testament, one another, open, opportunity, organic church, original, originally, others, participation, perhaps, personal relationships, posted, professional, program, publicly, rare, rather than, religious, rivers, seek, service, sharing, show and tell, simple church, souls, spectators, spilling, Spirit-led worship, spiritual growth, spiritual life, spoke, stirred, superfulous, taught, term, the Spirit, theological, time, tweets, used to describe, verse, watch, what God has done, what to do, written | 3 Comments

How Can Christianity Be Boring?

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Steve Simms

Christianity teaches that God loves every human being and that He showed His love through Jesus dying on the cross for each one of us. Perhaps that concept is too familiar to many of us. We’ve heard it since we … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Bible, church history, God, house church, Jesus Christ, life, lifestyles, mysticism, new birth, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, prayer, religion, tears, What is church? | Tagged 9/11, agree, amazing, Amen, ancient history, babies, believe, beloved of God, big game, bland, boring, boring people, burn brightly, casually, Catherine booth, Christianity, comfort zone, concept, cry out, daily life, dance, day off, deep, depths of our being, dying on the cross, emotion, excited, excitement, express, fact, Friends, God loves, Gospel, greatest sin, human being, in the streets, in the world, Jesus, Jesus died for me, joy, most, move, moved, moved to tears, notify our face, obeying, out of, passion, people, preachers, profund, rejoice, repentance, respond, sermons, shake us up, shame, shed, should not be, shout it form the housetops, showed, sleepy, speak with passion, talk, teaches, team, tears, tell, too familia, tried everything, truth, truths, try ti fire, weather, wins, work, yank | 2 Comments

Joel’s Jolts — Powerful Words From An Old Testament Prophet

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Steve Simms

Joel is an Old Testament prophet whose words will give you a jolt. Are you ready for a jumping Joel jolt? Here are some quotes from Joel: “The word of the Lord that came to Joel, son of Pethuel.” “Hear … Continue reading →

Posted in ancient history, Bible, biography, God, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, mysticism, Oh my God, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, reading, tears, What is church? | Tagged abounding, afterward, Are you ready for, assembly, at hand, blessing, blow the trumpet in Zion, calamity, call, close, coming, compassionate, cry out, daughters, day of the Lord, declare, declares, dream dreams, elders, even now, fast, fasting, garments, give you a jolt, God, gracious, have, hear this, Here goes, hill, holy, I am strong, I will pour out my Spirit, in the valley of decision, Joel, jumping, land, leave behind, listen, Lord, love, mourning, multitudes, not your, old men, Old Testament, people sons, Pethuel, pity, prophesy, prophet, relents, rend your heart, return, sacred, say, see visions, sending, servants, slow to anger, sound the alarm, The word of the Lord, those days, tremble, turn, weakling, weeping, Who knows? may, with all your heart, women, words, young men | 6 Comments

The World’s Most Omitted Second Half

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Steve Simms

What is the world’s most omitted second half? Here are some nominations. * The second half of NFL preseason games. (Look how many people leave before or during the second half.) * The second half of a homework reading assignment. (If I … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, books, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, new birth, NFL, organic church, popular culture, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, resurrection, self-image, sports, What is church? | Tagged Bible, Eye has not seen, fast food, homework, NFL preseason games, revelation, second half, statemant | Leave a comment

My Top Five Christian Groups (Churches) Of All Time

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Steve Simms

I am an avid church history reader. However, I don’t much enjoy the politics and religion of the institutional church. Instead I love reading about the living faith of Christians in the past and about spiritural movements when multitudes came to … Continue reading →

Posted in Anabaptists, ancient history, Bible, church history, God, history, house church, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, lifestyles, mysticism, new birth, Oh my God, organic church, pentecostals, Quakers, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 100 years, 12, 1906 Pentecostal experience, affluent, aggressive, Anabaptists, assembly, avid, awesome, back home, bar tunes, beat drums, believed, Bible, billion, boldly, book of Acts, buildings, Christ, Christian movements, Christians, church history, countries, doctrine, drunkards, evangelize, favorite, finanical support, First Century, five, folks, generations, great love, group, healing, history, home, I Corinthians 14, institutional church, invaded, lead a song, lifestyle, lived, living faith, love, marched, meetings, miracles, missionaries, moved, multitudes, name, New Testament, of the, official, on fire, on the streets, one-way ticket, open air, participate, past, Pentecostals, people, politics, poor, power of God, preachers, professional, prostitutes, Quakers, reader, religion, Roman Catholics, Salvationists, sea steamer, silently, Society of Friends, speak, speaking in tongues, spiritual movements, store front, tens of thousands, The Salvation Army, turned the world upside down, words, world, worship | 10 Comments

Category Archives: What is church?

Church — Lab or Lecture? Intellect or Votech? Academic or Epidemic?

Can A Church Be Full Of The Glory Of God?

How Can Christianity Be Boring?

Joel’s Jolts — Powerful Words From An Old Testament Prophet

The World’s Most Omitted Second Half

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Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible

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