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Eastridge Presentation - Church Planting and Restoration in America
Acts 1:8 (KJV)Timothy said:
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
I believe the greatest mission field is the USA. The path we are on right now in a few generations there will not be enough bible believing Churches to send out to the utter most parts,, we must first reach our Jerusalem which we are failing at. Reach, your community (Jerusalem) then our country (Judaea) THEN and only then can we reach Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
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Timothy
Guest
prophet said:
Jesus said, "... teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you"
His instructions to them were to be witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria ... I wouldn't say it is taken metaphorical when we apply this to other geographic locations, but more applying this as a personal statement from Jesus to us. We don't live in Jerusalem - so the obvious application for us is the location we are now physically located. This is how the teachings are passed down and applied. We see the need to work locally, regionally, and nationally from this scripture.
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Just because you heard several junk preachers misapply this teaching, doesn't mean Christ applied it this way. He wasn't laying out a plan for every church to use to evangelize. He was laying out the order of the path the Gospel would take, originally. Or else the only proper place to start a church would be the capital city, of a particular region.OZZY said:
Anishinabe
I don't want to open up a can of worms here but this is something I have pondered for quite awhile. In the area in which I grew up in very rural country in the North you can find nearly any kind of church you want. The little town I grew up going to church in has 3 Baptist churches, an adventist church, and a pentecostal church along with the standard array of others. Within 25 miles you can find practically any denominational stripe that you want. In some towns down south there are baptist churches about every 50 feet.
I can find anything I want here in NW Indiana. I can listen to the radio and can hear Son Life Broadcasting, Moody, I think it is called Family radio in Joliet, the Shine, and the Key. I can listen to christian music, preaching, teaching, etc. 24 hours a day if I choose.
Are there areas in the US that are void of churches? Or do they have Bible preaching churches that may disagree on some small point?
When it comes to missions I have always been an advocate of planting a work where there isn't any others and there are a lot of places in the world like that. I have become disillusioned with missionaries who want support for some foreign field and go to a place where there are a lot of Bible preaching churches but they claim that there isn't another ifbx church. Or an American missionary who wants to start a church in some town in the US just because we are the only ones who are preaching some little doctrinal point that nobody else does. Recently read an article from a man who claimed that if you could not trace your roots back to John the Baptist that you were not a real church and had no authority to baptize converts.
I can find anything I want here in NW Indiana. I can listen to the radio and can hear Son Life Broadcasting, Moody, I think it is called Family radio in Joliet, the Shine, and the Key. I can listen to christian music, preaching, teaching, etc. 24 hours a day if I choose.
Are there areas in the US that are void of churches? Or do they have Bible preaching churches that may disagree on some small point?
When it comes to missions I have always been an advocate of planting a work where there isn't any others and there are a lot of places in the world like that. I have become disillusioned with missionaries who want support for some foreign field and go to a place where there are a lot of Bible preaching churches but they claim that there isn't another ifbx church. Or an American missionary who wants to start a church in some town in the US just because we are the only ones who are preaching some little doctrinal point that nobody else does. Recently read an article from a man who claimed that if you could not trace your roots back to John the Baptist that you were not a real church and had no authority to baptize converts.
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Torrent v.2
Guest
BALAAM said:
That always bothered me when I was IFB. Then when I left it really came home. We had a missionary who I personally knew, and he came and said there were no bible preaching ministries in Bangkok, thailand, where he was going. A city of millions. I asked him if he was sure, and he said they had surveyed the area and only found heretical groups.
Then I left IFB. I went to another kind of Baptist church, and found that this church itself had 2 missionaries who had been in Bangkok for over 10 years. And they were from the same city in the US my "friend" was from. Turns out he thinks they are heretics because they are not separatists.
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Timothy
Guest
Torrent v.2 said:
I have often wondered the definition of "no good Church"
Torrent v.2 said:
Very true. I am traveling the US right now. We have had difficulty finding a perfect fit, but we have found many great churches. Is there a need for local church planting? Absolutely. For at least two reasons:
1) Our people need to be engaged in mission work. What better way but to have our people actively involved in starting churches? Not everyone has the resources or language skills to go to a foreign country.
2) The local church mission is to replicate itself. That replication will take place locally.
3) Mega churches have their place and are able to do awesome things on a grand scale. However, most people, if they are honest with themselves, do not have the administrative skills to pastor a mega church. Many small churches with good fellowship ties are what we need.
Unfortunately, some church planters feel the need to justify their existence by painting a negative picture about other Bible-teaching churches in their particular community. That justification is misplaced and often wrong.