Hi!
My name is Heidi and I am starting a new church in our community. We had a faith based church in town a few years ago, but our pastor retired - we couldn't find a replacement - so our church doors closed. Most members are driving 40 to 50 miles to church, because there is only a catholic church here and a couple of mainline.
Now our pastor and his wife would like to come back, (they are missing home). I've been asked to start a new church with a few of our former members. We are not part of the denomination anymore. We'll build the church up to the point where our much loved pastor and wife can come back and be financially supported by the church.
I have to decide what kind of church we will be. I don't know anything about "word of faith" churches. Can someone tell me more about the movement??
Word of Faith Churches are churches that believe the Word of God over their experiences. If you want to know more, pm me and I will tell you about the word-faith church my wife and I are currently planting, pioneering and pastoring.
__________________ Never let experiences or circumstances determine how you interpret the Word.
Stand on the Word and change your experiences and circumstances.
We had a lady return this week who left in August saying we were not the church for her. The Lord spoke to her on November 5th (which in the UK is Guy Fawke's Night where we light fires and set off fireworks to celebrate the capital punishment of a Catholic, long story) and said "Do you want to watch a fire or do you want to catch fire?"
So she came. She said after the sermon that she knew deep down inside that what I was teaching was what was helping her grow up.
We have turned out Sunday services into prayer meetings for the nations, today we prayed for Austria because we have an Austrian lady.
I have also been offered ordination with a phenomenal church planting group and I told them I would give them my answer in 2 weeks, I am sure the answer is yes, but you cannot rush such important decisions.
We had another lady today who has been twice tell us she wants to come regularly.
It is slow going, and I am frustrated that I have so little time with my work and family, but I trust God to move things on.
One of our members has been in our house for a couple of hours because her father in law has just been found out cheating on her mother in law and her family is in a state. We have prayed and counseled and helped her, and I feel like a real pastor.
We are having a Carol Service on Dec 17th so also feel like a real church.
On a good week, we might have 12 people, but our average and "minimum" is now about 6 or 7.
Keep praying for boldness and persistence for me. The great news is that after 2 years of working in three of the worst jobs I have ever had, I am now working for a great company. It is wonderful. The Lord told me this morning that this will be the last secular job I do...
Thanks for asking,
Blessings,
Ben
__________________ Never let experiences or circumstances determine how you interpret the Word.
Stand on the Word and change your experiences and circumstances.
We had a lady return this week who left in August saying we were not the church for her. The Lord spoke to her on November 5th (which in the UK is Guy Fawke's Night where we light fires and set off fireworks to celebrate the capital punishment of a Catholic, long story) and said "Do you want to watch a fire or do you want to catch fire?"
So she came. She said after the sermon that she knew deep down inside that what I was teaching was what was helping her grow up.
We have turned out Sunday services into prayer meetings for the nations, today we prayed for Austria because we have an Austrian lady.
I have also been offered ordination with a phenomenal church planting group and I told them I would give them my answer in 2 weeks, I am sure the answer is yes, but you cannot rush such important decisions.
We had another lady today who has been twice tell us she wants to come regularly.
It is slow going, and I am frustrated that I have so little time with my work and family, but I trust God to move things on.
One of our members has been in our house for a couple of hours because her father in law has just been found out cheating on her mother in law and her family is in a state. We have prayed and counseled and helped her, and I feel like a real pastor.
We are having a Carol Service on Dec 17th so also feel like a real church.
On a good week, we might have 12 people, but our average and "minimum" is now about 6 or 7.
Keep praying for boldness and persistence for me. The great news is that after 2 years of working in three of the worst jobs I have ever had, I am now working for a great company. It is wonderful. The Lord told me this morning that this will be the last secular job I do...
Thanks for asking,
Blessings,
Ben
Some of the most powerful and pure churches are the small house-churches. It is an environment that encourages all members to be the ministers they were meant to be, with some prophesying, some healing, some edifying by teaching and exhortation - a true and tight knit family more akin to the pre-RCC church than anything else. It wasn't until the RCC came that we got the large central churches with a single preacher and a passive "audience." IMHO, that audience is supposed to be an audience of ministers and the pastor is shepherd to those ministers, keeping them in proper order and helping facilitate a mutual edification of all thru the various ministries within the church.
I think a good size would be around fifteen to twenty people - and then splitting into two house-churches as you grow and soforth. All the house-churches can come together to celebrate communion frequently to maintain the fellowship.
Here in the USA, tax exemption and church registration comes at a cost of what we can preach and who we keep company with. Registered churches are considered public property - which means anyone can come sit in your pews so long as they're not causing a ruckus - including passive protesters like homosexual activists and there's nothing you can do about it. While it's good that they hear the Word, intimate and private fellowship is crucial too. Additionally, to be tax exempt, you are told that you cannot promote political candidates from the pulpit. However, a gun club or bar can. So, I prefer to remain unregistered and happily pay to Caesar what is Caesars - after all, God can easily afford that anyway.
Just my personal thoughts. KCM and related ministries have massive churches and they are tax exempt and it works fine for them and glory to God for the blessing they bring the world.
We had a lady return this week who left in August saying we were not the church for her. The Lord spoke to her on November 5th (which in the UK is Guy Fawke's Night where we light fires and set off fireworks to celebrate the capital punishment of a Catholic, long story) and said "Do you want to watch a fire or do you want to catch fire?"
So she came. She said after the sermon that she knew deep down inside that what I was teaching was what was helping her grow up.
We have turned out Sunday services into prayer meetings for the nations, today we prayed for Austria because we have an Austrian lady.
I have also been offered ordination with a phenomenal church planting group and I told them I would give them my answer in 2 weeks, I am sure the answer is yes, but you cannot rush such important decisions.
We had another lady today who has been twice tell us she wants to come regularly.
It is slow going, and I am frustrated that I have so little time with my work and family, but I trust God to move things on.
One of our members has been in our house for a couple of hours because her father in law has just been found out cheating on her mother in law and her family is in a state. We have prayed and counseled and helped her, and I feel like a real pastor.
We are having a Carol Service on Dec 17th so also feel like a real church.
On a good week, we might have 12 people, but our average and "minimum" is now about 6 or 7.
Keep praying for boldness and persistence for me. The great news is that after 2 years of working in three of the worst jobs I have ever had, I am now working for a great company. It is wonderful. The Lord told me this morning that this will be the last secular job I do...
Thanks for asking,
Blessings,
Ben
Ben,,
I have been there. we pioneered from a large WOF church. Unlike others, I did not sheep thieve, trusting God will provide. We have been as high as 20 total, as low as 5, but God sent us and we continue to reach out to people. We have had plenty of visitors too. I like to think they got so much Word that one time that it will last them a long time. LOL. Keep preaching the Word, because He commanded us to be faithful.
Blessings,
Russ
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"I am a spirit being. I have a soul. And I live in a body. Saying that helped me become more spirit-concious. It helped my faith, because faith is of the spirit, or the heart." Kenneth E. Hagin
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