Honoring God-given Identity and Community

by Rebecca Lewis

All movements to Christ are amazing works of God! But not all movements are the same.How Is an “Insider Movement” Different from Other Movements to Christ? Three distinct types of movements to Christ among unreached peoples have been described in the last century: “insider movements,” “people movements,” and “church planting movements.”

Insider movements can be defined as movements to obedient faith in Christ that remain integrated with or inside their natural community. In any insider movement there are two distinct elements:

1. The gospel takes root within pre-existing communities or social networks, which become the main expression of “church” in that context. Believers are not gathered from diverse social networks to create a “church.” New parallel social structures are not invented or introduced.

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Two Obstacles by Brian Hogan

As I coach church planters all over the world, I get to evaluate a variety of approaches to this difficult task. God has relentlessly brought two facts to my attention—the two main obstacles to church planting movements across our world.

One: What we are doing is too complex. Even though we stress to those we train that they must reduce the “heavy package” of ‘Church As We Know It’ to bare New Testament essentials before carrying it to an unreached people group, most church planters are still struggling to strip away the cultural elements that slow or stop reproduction in the new cultural setting. For example, dispensing with the need for a special “holy” building to meet in on Sundays may be easier than modeling active ministry by every believer.

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Christian Values from Unexpected Places

By Nathan Albert

CHICAGO, IL (February 17, 2009) - My shelves are covered with Christian books, comprising every topic from apologetics to theology, from how to live out the Gospel to tips on evangelizing in coffee shops. I sometimes get caught up in the sin of reading my exciting Christian theology books more faithfully than Scripture. All too often, my desire to live out the way of Christ is based on lessons from best-selling books and gripping Sunday sermons. Yet after two weeks in Thailand as a part of class at North Park Theological Seminary, I have learned Christian values from some unexpected places—namely from Buddhists.

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There's a Sheep in my Bathtub

There's a Sheep in my Bathtub is the story of an American family (the author's) as they survive and even thrive in the bizarre and topsy-turvy world of post-communist Mongolia from 1992-96. The Hogan family served as English teachers and worked in Asia largest copper mine in addition to helping start Mongolia's first movement of multiplying fellowships of Jesus followers (now numbering over 40,000). Replete with photo illustrations, this humorous and, at times, heart-wrenching memoir chronicles an intensely personal bird's eye view of the cataclysmic changes that sweep Mongolia after the fall of totalitarianism.

You will laugh, you will cry, but you will not be able to put down this adventure at the ends of the earth.

Check it out at Amazon.com