Tag Archives: simple church

Perhaps Church Is Much Simpler Than We Think It Is . . .

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Steve Simms

Maybe church is much simpler than we think it is? Perhaps church is just two or there or more believers gathered under the actual leadership and direction of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ in our midst? (In Matthew 18:20, Jesus … Continue reading →

Posted in belief, bored in church, Christ, Christ-centered, Christian, Christian community, Christian history, Christian values, Christianity, church, church programs, church roles, church structure, disciple making, disciples, discipling, East Nashville, ekklesia, faith, gifts of the Spirit, God's government, hearing God, hearing Jesus, Holy Spirit, house church, improv, improvisation, Jesus, Jesus Movement, kingdom of God, Matthew 18:20, move of God, participatory church, presence of Christ, presence of God, relational church, religion, Spirit-led, spiritual, spiritual formation, the way we do church | Tagged Jesus Christ, Nashville, organic church, simple church, Tennessee, The Salvation Army, worship | 3 Comments

Does Western Christianity Disengage God

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Steve Simms

As an avid reader of church history, I’ve noticed a consistent trend in Western religion. It seems to disengage God — treating Him as a figure to occasionally honor rather than as a living power source. Let me explain. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Acts, Anabaptists, Catholic mystics, Christian history, Christianity, church, church history, early church, Methodists, monastics, Moravians, Nashville, Quakers, religion, religious ceremonies, Salvationists, show and tell, spiritual, spiritual formation, the way we do church, Uncategorized, Waldensians | Tagged church history, drivetrain, Nashville, religion, simple church, The Salvation Army, Western Christianity, Western religion | 5 Comments

A Nashville Dream Fulfilled After 121 Years

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Steve Simms

Nashville is a place where people come to seek their dreams of fame and fortune in country music. However, have you ever heard of the Nashville man who dreamed a dream that wasn’t fulfilled until 121 years after his death? … Continue reading →

Posted in Acts, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christian history, Christianity, church, church history, East Nashville, hearing God, hearing Jesus, history, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, John Berry McFerrin, Methodist class meeting, Methodist revivalists, movement, Music City, mystery, mysticism, Nashville, non-traditional church, normal Christianity, organic church, religion, simple church, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, support group, The Salvation Army, the way we do church, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged Berry Street Worship Center, Christian, East Nashville, John Berry McFerrin, Methodist class meeting, Nashville dream, organic church, simple church, support group, The Salvation Army | 60 Comments

Tag-Team Church — A Nashville Prototype

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Steve Simms

Exploring Tag-Team Church: Definition of tag-team: Tag-team is an activity where people take turns participating as team members. The best known use of the term tag-team is in reference to wrestling where it refers to wrestlers who fight as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, church, church structure, congregational, disciple making, discipling, evidence for God, hearing God, hearing Jesus, Holy Spirit, house church, improv, improvisation, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Music City, Nashville, non-traditional church, organic church, proof of God, prototype, revelation, simple church, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, supernatural, support group, tag team, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, voice activated, voice of God, wrestling | Tagged Berry Street, Nashville, organic church, prototype, simple church, tag-team, The Salvation Army, wrestling | 15 Comments

Are Sermons Effective?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Steve Simms

Have you ever tested the effectiveness of sermons? I did. I was a brand new pastor in my first church — Mayfield Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Mayfield, Kentucky. After finishing three years of seminary, I had been preaching for about … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christ, Christianity, church, Cumberland Presybterian Church, East Nashville, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, kingdom of God, lifestyles, movement, mystery, mysticism, Nashville, organic church, praise and worship, religion, sermons, simple church, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, supernatural, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, values, What is church?, worship | Tagged 225 Berry St., 37207, AA, afternoon, alcoholics, Alcoholics Anonymous, American, American Christianity, an oral test, Berry Street Worship Center, better caught than taught, brand new, called, captured by, Christianity, church meeting, church setting, congregation, considered, continued, creating, culture, Cumberland Presbyterian, decided, doctrines, effectiveness of sermons, evening, everyone has a, experience, exploded, facts, fads, first church, following, follows trends, functions, grow, help people change, hot to hold, house church, however, hymn, ineffective, influencing, interpretation, job description, Kentucky, lecture, less than, lifestyles, like, little happens, little power, Mayfield, meetings, membership, message, mind, much more, Nashville, noble, nobody, none, one simple and easy question, open participation, openly, organic church, overwhelming, passively, pastor, Paul of Tarsus, Paul's instructions, poems, preach, preaching, prepared in a, professional, questions, requires more than, response, revelation, right, shocked, simple church, simple questions, sit and listen, society, society's, something more than, sometimes, started, Sunday morning, test, the basic point, the main topic, The Salvation Army, three years of seminary, TN, to build, to reach people, tongue, treating, try, type, virtuous, visit, weekly, When you come together, word of instruction | 26 Comments

Finding Nashville’s Most Unique Church With Your GPS

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Steve Simms

–Get out your GPS (God’s Positioning System)– Enter that you are looking for a church where: * People are more important than programs; * Encouragement is more important than entertainment * Love is more important than liturgy: * Faith is … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, church, God, house church, I Corinthians 14:26, Jesus, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, meaning, movement, Music City, mysticism, Nashville, organic church, popular culture, religion, simple church, support group, The Salvation Army, values, What is church? | Tagged 10:45, 225 Berry Street, 37207, about, always, amazing, Berry Street, called, church, come, concepts, contagion, creating, encouragement, enter, entertainment, excitement, experience, faith, for yourself, fund raising, get out your, God's Positioning System, GPS, house church, however, Jesus, Jesus Christ, lead, lecture series, liturgy, lives, looking for, love, meetings, meets, more important than, more like, mornings, most unique, names, Nashville, Nashville's, organic church, participation, passivity, people, programs, several, show and tell, simple church, Sunday, support group, The Salvation Army, theology, TN, type, very well, what God has done, words can't describe, Worship Center | 6 Comments

If The Chosen Are Frozen, How Can God’s Fire Rage Through Our World?

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Steve Simms

We live in a world that is fastly fleeing from traditional social and moral constraints. People nowadays uninhibitedly express their feelings and views without regard for what is decent, right, or wholesome, even when they are sober. There is no longer a need to … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street, Christian history, Christianity, church history, discipling, drunk, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Movement, morality, morals, Nashville, organic church, prayer, religion, simple church, spiritual, What is church? | Tagged 120, 225, 37207, about, agenda, allow, amazing, as ever, attitude, Berry Street, Bible, break, burn, but denying the power thereof, cast aside, celebrating, check, chosen, Christian, church, church age, church attenders, church is in decline, church-service, command, contrary, crucifixion, decent, described, die to self, disciples, drunk, dry, encourage, entertaining, enthusiasm, events, every member, experience, express feelings, expression, fastly, filled, fire, flames, fleeing, flow, follow, formal, formalism, foundation, frozen, function, gathered, God's fire, God's light, group, having a form of godliness, hidden, hiding, history, Holy Spirit, house church, inhibited, Jesus, languages, living, loudly, love, mighty, moral constraints, morally, move of God, movement, Nashville, now, obey, one reason, openly, organic church, organized, original, passion, Paul's, Pentecost, perhaps, power, praising God, praying, presence, publicly, reclaim priesthood of the believer, Reformation, rejoicing, remove, restrained, restraints, right, run, scholars, see, share, show up, simple church, sit, sober, social, society, speak, speaking, spiritual inhbitions, spirituall, spontaneous, start, street, structured, suddenly, Sundays, tear down the wall, theatrical, theory, this out, time, traditional, turn away, turn the world upside down, under a bushel, uninhibited, uninhibitedly, views, wait, we live, wholesome, willing, without regard for, wonders, works, world, years | 1 Comment

The Most Unique Church In Nashville

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Steve Simms

This isn’t documented with an official survey or anything, but I think McFerrin Park has Nashville’s most unique church. It is diverse economically, racially, and socially. It has no pulpit and no sermons. It has a different worship leader every … Continue reading →

Posted in Berry Street Worship Center, Bible, Holy Spirit, house church, life, lifestyles, Nashville, organic church, religion, simple church, Sunday school, The Salvation Army, What is church? | Tagged 225 Berry Street, 37207, a drummer, a need comes up, adults, anytime, Berry Street Worship Center, Bible study, box, brass band, chairs, changed, church, colored cloths, come and see, couch, couple, cross, curious, different, diverse, documented, during the week, each other, economically, every Sunday, every week, front yard, gathering, hanging on it, house church, intentionally, McFerrin Park, mix, most unique, Nashville, Nashville's, national magazines, nights, no pulpit, no sermons, non-traditional, offering, open discussion, open sharing, organic church, participation, pews, plate, play, pray for people, racially, really care about, Salvation Army, sanctuary, simple church, socially, somewhat, spend time together, Sunday, support group, takes the time, tambourines during worship, The Tennessean, Thursday, uniforms, visibly excited, wall, worship leader, written up | 5 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

Tag Archives: simple church

Perhaps Church Is Much Simpler Than We Think It Is . . .

Does Western Christianity Disengage God

A Nashville Dream Fulfilled After 121 Years

Tag-Team Church — A Nashville Prototype

Are Sermons Effective?

Finding Nashville’s Most Unique Church With Your GPS

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

These elephants want to inspire you! Search Amazon for: Elephants INspiring The Room.

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

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