The following contains my pre-conference breakout notes from Gospel Movements Intro with Dave Garrison:
- Training for Trainers has planted 80,000 churches since 2001.
- "Reproducible, transferable, self-fed groups of people from a movement."
- In Europe (1999)- the Netherlands had 45 new churches begin in a single year among refugees.
- In Latin America- the myth is that Latinos won't be involved in church unless it's a cathedral; Honduras has 7,000 home churches in 1,000 cell groups (bible studies).
- In Cuba- In 1990 there were 235 churches; in 2000 there were 4,000 churches. By 2010, it is estimated that there will be 100,000 churches with 1 million baptized. Fidel Castro's attempt to wipe out the Christ-centered churches has been fueling its growth.
- In Africa- 9 million Christians in 1900; 470 million Christians by 2010.
- In Muslim countries- Algeria saw 22,000 baptized in 2003 and 160,000 baptized in 2009. Bangladesh had 125,000 people baptized in 2002.
- In China- it was estimated that there were 25,000 new Christian believers every day. According to the Communist government reports, it is actually 30,000 new believers per day.
"We need to stop asking 'What do I do?' and start asking 'What will it take?'"
If God is at work all over the world..
Why not here?
Why not us?
Why not now?
- As is pertains to church planting, "Don't ask 'What works?'... ask, 'What is God doing?'"
- "They can't stop you if you're not afraid to die."
- "If people own their relationship with Christ, heresy tends to not exist."
- "Indiginize the [gospel] movements as soon as possible."
- When it comes to guiding new Christ-followers, "put the controls inside the movement to govern itself." How? "Let's commit to do whatever the Bible tells us." This allows transformation from the inside out.
The challenge of gospel movements:
- Heretical movements are still heretical.
- Highly controlled churches don't reproduce.
- Loosely controlled churches reproduce rapidly, but what do they reproduce?
"You can't just do church anyway you want to... it's Christ's church. Do it His way."
"Be a learner of how God is moving and growing others in Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak through them to teach us." (speaking to church leaders)
"Use whatever resources reaches others."
In regard to mission and the church, "you can't do better than Jesus."
2 Timothy 3:16-17 teaches that the Bible addresses the following:
- What's right
- What's not right
- How to get right
- How to stay right
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composed by
dave
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