Will “Dones” go “Back to Church” as usual, in a post-Christian world?

Posted on September 17, 2016 by Steve Simms

Will “Dones” and others who have left the institutional church, go back to church as usual in a post-Christian society?

National Back to Church Sunday (NBTCS) thinks they will. It was begun in the United States in 2009. Their website says that this year (2016) 30,936 churches are taking part in it. They are from more than 100 denominations and in all 50 states (as well as countries around the world).

Here’s a quote from their web page: “Back To Church Sunday is a campaign strategically designed to help churches reach out and invite everyone to try church again. This powerful movement encourages church attendance by inspiring and empowering church members to invite their neighbors, friends and loved ones to a special Sunday service designed just for them.”

To celebrate Back To Church Sunday, let’s go all the way back (beyond church as usual). Let’s go back to a form of Christian worship that preceded the traditional Western church format  — the New Testament concept of a Christ-led support group as taught in 1 Corinthians 14:26. Philip Yancy puts it this way: “All too often the church holds up a mirror reflecting back the society around it, rather than a window revealing a different way.”

back-to-church-sunday

So why are people leaving church? Perhaps it is because they get board when they are required to just sit and listen to a religious talk. However, when people are allowed to talk freely about their personal experiences with the living, resurrected Jesus Christ, they come alive with excitement!

The most effective group communication depends on dialogue, sharing ideas, and personal interaction. A monologue reduces attempted communication to passively listening to one person’s ideas. That may work in an authoritarian environment, but it fails to build relationship. Perhaps it is time to go beyond church as usual.

Without the free flowing,
Heart-felt expression
Of genuine love for Jesus
And surrender to His presence,
Christianity becomes a shell
Of programs and performances.
“Having a form of godliness,
But denying the power thereof,
From such turn away.”
2 Timothy 3:5

At The Salvation Army Berry Street in Nashville, our goal is to go “back to church” as taught in 1 Corinthians 14:26, where ordinary people are free to show and tell what God has done. Learn more in the book, Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible, available in paperback and Kindle @http://amzn.to/2d5fr9d. Visit us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 at 225 Berry St. 37207.

 

Posted in 1 Corinthians 14:26, 2 Timothy 3:5, Back to Church Sunday, back to the Bible, back to the future, denominations, denying the power, having a form of godliness, having a form of godliness but denying the power, house church, interdenominational, Jesus Movement, movement, National Back to Church Sunday, organic chruch, outreach, outreach ministry, Philip Yancy, post-Christianity, simple church, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Own-mind security protects against mind-hackers

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Steve Simms

Use own-mind security. Protect yourself against head-hackers that strive to drain your brain of common sense, corrupt your conscience, and blow up your belief system. Here are 4 own-mind security techniques can give you the moral fiber to help you defeat the inner, cyber attacks from your emotional enemies.

  1. Do you screen thoughts and their baggage before you let them freely fly around in your mind? Don’t let tormenting thoughts trample through your head and tinker with your thinker. Make them take off their shoes. And if they look like they are going to track up your cranium and terrorize your psyche, quickly take away their boarding pass and forcefully turn them away.
  2. Do you let media hack your head? Don’t let the media mind-hackers hijack your neck-top computer and train your thought-processor with self-destructive programming. Vigorously protect yourself from their viruses that vacate virtuous values, violate your volition, and hook you up with vicious addiction. Use mental malware to vanquish malicious media messages from your mind.
  3. Do you let thought-hackers outsmart you? Don’t be unaware of the spiritual foes fighting against you. Don’t be ignorant of their devices. Out maneuver them. Innovate. Learn to use your mind more effectively. Do things differently. Try something you’ve never tried before. Get out of the rut and out of the box. If you try something new and it doesn’t work, at least you have had a learning experience.
  4. Do you weakly submit to and give in to your mental enemies? Don’t surrender to their tormenting thoughts. Continually strengthen your inner defenses and internal resources. Increase your focus on and effort toward personal and spiritual growth. Tackle a sin and overcome it! Monitor your media and stop watching anything that is not wholesome, uplifting, and pure. Pray with another person (spouse or spiritually-strong friend) every day and hold each other accountable. Read the New Testament at least 5 minutes every single day. Fast (go without food to seek the Lord). Be open, honest, and humble with others. Ask the Lord to show you anything in your life that isn’t in line with His will. When He shows you turn away from it. Get help from others before you are in a crisis.

ownmind-security

Posted in anxiety, attributes of mental health, fear, information technology, insanity, internet security, malware, mental illness, mental torment, online safety, overcoming fear, secular fundamentalism, security, security system, spiritual formation, technology, Uncategorized, worry | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Are Christians dying for dialogue in church services?

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Steve Simms

The most effective group communication depends on dialogue, sharing ideas, and personal interaction. A monologue reduces attempted communication to passively listening to one person’s ideas. That may work in an authoritarian environment, but it fails to build relationship. Nowadays churches are dying for lack of dialogue as millions of people are calling themselves Dones and Nones and leaving the institutional church. Perhaps it is time to go beyond church as usual.

Bored with church? People often get board if they are required to just sit and listen to a religious talk. However, when people are allowed to talk about their personal experiences with the living, resurrected Jesus Christ, they come alive with excitement!

Ready for some excitement? Let the members of the body of Christ gather to listen to and obey the living, resurrected Jesus Christ and they will begin to turn the world upside down.

When Christ is in you, you’re like a beach ball. Life may pull you down, but Christ in you comes bounding back. When this happens in a group of people, it is an amazing thing to see.

Break out of church boredom, experience God’s excitement, and bounce back at The Salvation Army Berry Street. We meet every Sunday morning at 10:45 — 225 Berry St., Nashville 37207. Check out the book about how we meet at Berry Street: Beyond Church: The Lost Word Of The Bible–Ekklesia.

 

 

Posted in 12 step group, bored in church, business communications, church programming, church revitalization, dialogue, Dones, group therapy, interaction, interactive church, monologue, nones, recovery groups, small groups, support groups, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Go relevant!

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Steve Simms

Go relevant.

wealth

relevant-christianity

Posted in attributes of mental health, contentment, He is risen, inner peace, Jesus is alive, joy, love, mental health, mental health note, peace of mind, practical religion, real world, religion, resurrection, resurrection of Jesus, resurrection power, risen from the dead, risen Jesus, Uncategorized, We serve a risen Savior | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Taste test the Lord in a Christ-led support group

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Steve Simms

Without a strong connection with your Creator, the suffering is real. Nothing can offer ongoing relief for your inner angst, but reconciliation with God.

Taste tests are popular ways of promoting food or drink products. In a taste test, a company goes beyond merely talking about its products and instead offers samples for people to taste.

Trying to describe the taste of something to someone who has never tasted it, is very hard to do. That’s why ice cream and yogurt shops give you samples on tiny spoons.

Perhaps it is time that we go beyond religion and theology, and begin to offer people a theism taste test. (Theism is belief in the existence of a Supreme Being.) The Bible puts it this way: “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8).

The Salvation Army and some other Christian denominations have a tradition of offering people a taste test at the end of worship meetings. We invite people to come to the “altar” or “mercy seat” and to experience (taste) God for themselves. However, in much of what we do during the the rest of church meetings, we try to explain God theologically to people’s minds.

Perhaps we can create more opportunities for people to actually “taste and see that the Lord is good.” But how?

1) Make sure that you have tasted God for yourself and aren’t just basing your belief in Him (your theism) on head knowledge and/or on your religious background. It’s hard to promote something that you, yourself, aren’t tasting and enjoying.

2) Offer to pray for someone on the spot. When you pray a spontaneous, heart-felt prayer over a person, he/she can get an actual taste of God’s presence. Many times I’ve seen tears run down people’s faces as I have prayed with them.

3) Encourage people to read the Bible for themselves and to obey it. Let them share something with you that they got from their own Bible reading.

4) Encourage people to listen to what God is saying in their heart and then to say and/or do what He tells them. Ask them to share with you something they have heard from God. If they realize that they haven’t heard anything from God, then offer to listen to God with them and then share with them what God tells you for them.

5) Taste and experience God in a Christ led support group based on 1 Corinthians 14:26. Learn more about the theism taste test and Christ-led support groups at this link. If you are ever in Nashville, visit the Christ-led support group that meets at The Salvation Army, 225 Berry St., 37207 on Sundays @ 10:45 am.

beyond-theology

 

Posted in 12 step group, Adult Rehabilitation Center, celebrate recovery, Christian recovery, Christian support group, Christianity, discovery group, encounter group, God is good, group interaction, group therapy, overcoming addiction, Psalm 34:8, recovery groups, rehab, Salvation Army church, Salvation Army Corps, self-help group, small groups, spiritual hunger, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

We can’t follow Jesus, if we won’t let Him lead us!

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Steve Simms

 

follow-jesus

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” –Romans 8:14

Learn to follow Jesus in the book “Beyond Church.”

forum-for-him

Posted in follow the leader, followers, followers of Christ, following Christ, leadership, led by the Spirit, servant leadership, Spirit-led, Spirit-led church, Spirit-prompted, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The fruit of true Christianity

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Steve Simms

Jesus warned that there would be false prophets — counterfeit Christianity. So how can we tell the difference between true and false Christianity? Jesus put it this way:”Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.” –Matthew 7:15-17.

I believe that the fruit that Jesus is talking about is a person’s lifestyle, beliefs, and words. That fruit reveals whether a person is a Christ-follower or not.

  1. Lifestyle: Does their lifestyle center around the living, resurrected Jesus? Does their life demonstrate the character, integrity, purity, love, and other qualities of Christ? Do they live like Jesus in their day-by-day life? Are they passionate about Him like the early Christ-followers were? If their lifestyle contradicts Christ, then they are not in line with Him.
  2. Beliefs: Is their belief system, their worldview, consistent with Christ’s? Do their belief’s align with the words of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament — the foundational teachings of Christianity. If their beliefs disagree with Christ then they are not on the same page as Him.
  3. Words: Is what they say consistent with both the love and the character of Christ and His teachings? If they say and teach things that differ with Christ, then they are not lined up with Him.

We not only need to recognize false prophets, we need to avoid their influence. Otherwise, we can be led away from true Christianity.  The Bible says: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test?” –2 Corinthians 13:5. We also need to examine the fruit in our own lives and see if we are “in the faith” or not? In an environment of false prophets, it is very easy to be misled and deceived. Does your life show forth the fruit of true Christianity?

Christianity is a day-to-day surrendering of your will to the living Savior; not a lifetime sequence of simply sitting through Sunday sermons. There’s no syllabus for salvation. Follow Jesus!

christianity-is

 

Posted in 2 Corinthians, alternative lifestyle, Bible quotes, Christian doctrine, deception, doctrine, Examine yourself, faith, heart is deceitful, Let the words of my mouth, lifestyles, Matthew, not with enticing words of men's wisdom, power of words, preach without words, Quotes, speaks louder than words, Uncategorized, words, world view | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus didn’t say to follow a preacher, a program, or a curriculum. He said: “Follow Me.”

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Steve Simms

Doing my daily Bible reading, I saw Paul describe a Christ-led support group in Romans 1:11-12. He wrote: “I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”
–2 observations–

1) Paul expressed a desire to “impart some spiritual gift” (not to present a systematic teaching); and

2) He desired to engage in mutual encouragement (community) not to be a 1-man authority. More @ this link.

There’s no syllabus for salvation.

follow-me-not-a-program

Posted in Bible one anothers, Bible teaching, church format, church program, church programming, curriculum, curriculum-free, encouragement, faith, mutual ministry, one anothers, preacher, teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The support group that sets you free!

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Steve Simms

A support group is an informal, interactive, participatory gathering of everyday people who openly and spontaneously share their concerns, issues, insights and experiences with one another so that they may encourage, comfort, and help each other to overcome problems, discouragements, frustrations, habits, addictions, etc. Support groups are often focused on a particular issue, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, etc.

A Christ-led support group is focused on being directed and guided by the living, resurrected Jesus. People meet to listen to Jesus speak in their heart and then say or do what He tells them to. The original instructions for Christ-led support groups were written by Paul of Tarsus: “When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up.” –1 Corinthians 14:26 (WEB)

Some benefits of participating in a Christ-led support group include:

  • Overcoming loneliness, isolation, and self-judgment;
  • Experiencing  personal and spiritual growth;
  • Improving your ability to cope and your sense of adjustment;
  • Being able to safely talk openly and honestly about your life;
  • Reducing your worry, fear, anxiety, distress, or depression;
  • Obtaining victory over self-destructive habits;
  • Seeing God’s love working in and through ordinary people;
  • Helping others experience life-transformation;
  • Encountering Jesus as a present-day reality in your life.

Here’s a link to learn more about Christ-led support groups.

To experience a Christ-led support group in person, visit the one that meets at The Salvation Army, 225 Berry St., Nashville, TN 37207 on Sunday mornings at 10:45. Click here for a link to our Facebook page.

christled-support-groups-b

Posted in 12 step group, 12 step meeting, 12 steps, AA, AA meeting, Adult Rehabilitation Center, alcohol rehab, Alcoholics Anonymous, alcoholism, celebrate recovery, Christian recovery, drug addiction, drug rehab, facebook, NA, Narcotics Anonymous, overcoming addiction, recovery groups, rehab, Salvation Army ARC, Salvation Army church, Salvation Army Corps, self-help group, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mother Teresa did this:

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Steve Simms

Mother Teresa traced the tracks of Christ with her feet and while doing so she transformed her life and the life of countless others. Now the Catholic Church has officially called her a saint.

The truth is: All genuine Christ-followers are saints. Everyone who traces the tracks of Jesus with their feet and lives out Christ’s lifestyle is a saint. Saints are normal Christians. If anyone claims to follow Christ but isn’t saintly (Christ-like), then they are subnormal.

Jesus gave the world a new normal. Now He calls all His followers to trace His tracks and to live like He lived. Mother Teresa did. Will you?

Here are a few of her quotes:

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

Follow Me

Posted in Catholic, Christ followers, Christian history, church history, examples of forgiveness, Follow Me, followers of Christ, following Christ, Footprints In The Sand, history, holiness, In His steps, India, Indian history, Indians, normal Christianity, Quotations, Roman Catholic, The Normal Christian Life, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment