:::House Church:::

We had a very thought-provoking class this week; the title: Church Planting Movements. It was taught by a missionary to India and who shared on principles of the massive outbreak of Christianity in China. What a cool concept and strategy they have going on! The big idea of it is

training people to be trainers.

Sound strange? Instead of being a missionary and just winning people to Jesus, be a missionary, win people to Jesus then train them to train others, not only to win people to Jesus but to train those people to train others too! So it's this big organic movement where everything that is needed to sustain the life of the "cell" is there from the beginning. For instance, instead of having a linear perspective (becoming a Christian, getting baptized, being discipled, evangelizing after a long time, being in leadership...etc.), having an "organic" perspective. Let me elaborate on this...

It starts with a small group of people, maybe even all missionaries to begin with. They are committed to meeting together in a house (no extra finances, comfortable, being a Christian isn't seen as Sunday only thing, but penetrates your every day life) for church consisting of worship, fellowship, ministry, discipleship, evangelism/missions. These people are bold, being intentional to love and reach out to those they encounter during the week, and are prepared to share with anyone their story (testimony) and the gospel. Prayer is central to this, but they share and win people to Jesus, inviting them into their house church. Once it grows, they multiply and keep each church small, (better accountability and participation for and from all) and keep multiplying and reproducing.

You can't reproduce what you aren't.

I love this idea of church being our everyday lives, of the body of Christ living with vision and intentionality, of seeing the Holy Spirit work as everyone is sharing and stepping out to sow the seed.

I love the concept of house churches. It provides such a great atmosphere for all to be involved and participate (the smaller the group, the easier it is to be vulnerable!), that way there isn't one pastor who is overworked. I love the idea of everyone using the gifts the Holy Spirit has given and functioning as a body.

This class really fueled me up to take my ideas of "church" to God and let Him define them. Who knows what the future holds, but I'm looking forward to experiencing more and more the fullness of God through His church.

The servant of Abraham

I thoroughly enjoyed the story of Isaac and Rebekah (Gen 24) this morning. What a great romance, what divine provision, what consolation in great sorrow!

I learned several things from this story, but what impacted me the most today was about Abraham's servant who went to carry out the mission of finding Isaac a wife from the land of Abraham's relatives.

I love his eagerness to do good, his desire to please the Lord and his master, and his respect for God and his ways. I like how he asked God for specific things in order that he would know which woman was the right one. Then, "Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold Rebekah came out...", doing exactly what the servant had asked of the Lord (Gen 24:45)! Here is part on an interesting commentary on this chapter by Matthew Henry:

"Those that would have good speed must pray for it.

This day, this affair.

We must, in all our ways, acknowledge God (Prov. 3:6). And, if we thus look up to God in every undertaking which we care about, we shall have the comfort of having done our duty,
whatever the issue may be.
It is our wisdom to follow providence and our folly to force it."

Today I enjoyed acknowledging God in all (maybe not all but more than usual! :) my ways...

...asking for people to talk to at the local pool as I worked out, since I hadn't connected with anyone there in a long time.

Two people initiated conversation with me!

...asking for connections with my teammates because I felt lonely.

I had dinner and a 2 hour conversation with Lindy then the
dudes on our team came to hang out. :)

Just little things, and sometimes God doesn't answer right away, and some prayers receive a no, but I'm learning that in SO MUCH God says, YES, and even better than that, the journey of

asking
seeking
knocking

is far more lively, enriching and fulfilling than the life of not

expecting
engaging
participating.

I'm thankful for the companionship of Christ. :)

Frohes Neues Jahr!

Happy New Year everyone! I sure had an interesting New Year's Eve- our team and some friends all went to the 1st district in Vienna to experience "Silvester in Wien" (New Year's Eve in Vienna). It's quite a popular destination for tourists (especially Italians!) so the streets were flooded with people, enjoying the fireworks, live music and food/drink stands.

Stephansplatz (the place where the main cathedral in Vienna is at the heart of the city) was like a war zone of fireworks! We were amazed how freely people were able to set off fireworks in the middle of downtown, among such historical buildings and so many people!

Other than celebrating with friends, this has been a good time for me of digging into knowing God. "The marathon pace" has really been on my heart-- not setting huge spiritual goals only to fall short, but rather with consistency, faithfulness and at a medium-pace seek the Lord in an intentional way. My biggest desire is to KNOW GOD! Not just knowledge about God, but to truly know Him.
The more we seek Him the more we find Him, and the more we find Him the more we love Him.

I want God's values to be my values, God's emotions my emotions, God's ways my ways. His Kingdom is all that will remain in the end. I want my life to be ruled by Jesus now! I've realized this takes a lifetime, being conformed into the image of Christ, but I truly believe this lifestyle is a lifetime well spent.

It's been cool getting vision and motivation from God, through prayer, for these next 4 months in Austria. I have a growing passion to invest in intercession at Mercy House of Prayer and to serve the leadership there as much as I can. I'm also looking forward to tutoring 3 missionary kids in English once a week and continuing with the girl's small group and youth group.

"I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,
with Thee, O Father, as my harbour,
Thee, O Son, at my helm,
Thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails."

Please pray that I would have a tender heart to the Lord, responding to His direction, filled with His Spirit that He might reveal His love, joy, peace and righteousness to all I encounter.

Blessings on your new year!