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“Contextualization by outsiders is not the issue! Obedience to the Word of God and His Holy Spirit within each context is the issue.” says David Watson. The main focus of missions is making disciples of Jesus who obey His commands out of love (with the help of the Holy Spirit). The gospel is lived out differently in a each specific context. The context of the first century church is different than the context of the 21 century. We cannot impose our cultural doctrine derived from the gospel to another context. We need to present the gospel in an acultural way, so that the new believers learn to love and obey God by the power of the Holy Spirit in their specific context. Read on to learn how to do this.

The Simple Church movement is growing rapidly. Lot’s of people are starting simple churches among campuses, houses, cafes and bars. Many have written good books to help understand simple church. But what are the best books? The Simple Church Europe team tried to identify the nine best simple church books that are out there. All these resources are great to help you catch the simple church vision and plant simple churches in the harvest!

“For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers;” (1 Cor 4:15a,b) For the simple church movement in Europe we need spiritual fathers and mothers. Larry Kreider writes about the need for spiritual fathers and mothers and what their tasks are. They poor their lives into new born believers, encourage, serve, love and care for them. They live by example and are models for their children. At the end of his book Larry describes what the barriers are for becoming a spiritual father and mother and shares practical insight how to be a spiritual father and mother.

What does it take to become a leader? When does leadership begin? Robert Clinton identifies the patterns God uses to develop a leader. By studying the lives of hundreds of historical, biblical, and contemporary leaders, Clinton has determined the six stages of leadership development, and he establishes checkpoints to clarify where you are in the process. God’s major work in leaders is not developing fruitfullness through them, but working IN them. Ministry flows from what’s inside a leader. This summary will help you in the following ways: 1) Identify those with leadership characteristics 2) Direct the development of maturing leaders 3) Recognize where you are in the development process 4) Counsel those who are experiencing periods of trial or frustration.

“What Would Jesus Do?” a great question to ask in our daily lives. Gayle Erwin gives an exhaustive study on the nature of Jesus. Summarized by a list of His attributes: servant, not lord it over, example, child, younger, least, last, no force, no blind ambition, no reputation, human, obedient, and death. The book boldly discusses problems Jesus would have had with many modern day institutions and cultural norms, and what he would have done differently. The ultimate conclusion is that Jesus was a leader who led by deliberately choosing to be a servant to all. If you want to know how to effectively lead or serve in any capacity, read this summary.

Why don’t we see a Church Planting Movement yet in the West, while in other continents millions are coming to Christ? Felicity shares 15 points why we don’t see a big harvest. Here are a few of them: lack of apostolic passion, we don’t GO to the people, we don’t have a vision of making disciples and there is a lack of training. Continue reading to learn more!

Many simple church networks in Europe are engaged in cross-cultural church planting. But how do you do that? How do you present Jesus in another culture? David L. Watson shares that it is important not to impose your cultural views of Jesus and the church on the people you are reaching. Doctrines are not wrong, but only fit in a specific culture. In cross-cultural ministry we need to learn the people to obey Christ within their specific culture and context. Instead of providing all the answers when reading the bible, we ask questions so they can discover how to obey Jesus in their culture. E.g. God commands us to pray, but how do you want to pray? Or, how would you teach God’s Word? How would you lead a church? Read on to learn more.

Jesus founded a missionary movement that now spans the globe. This study guide is about helping you to understand what this means and how to participate in what God is already doing. Each study follows the main themes of the book by Steve Addison: Movements that Change the World. The study guide focusses on how the principles in the book are revealed in the ministry of Jesus and the early church. Use this study guide in pairs or in groups to learn to start and fuel a movement for Christ. Learn about the importance of a movement, characteristics of it, how to proclaim Gods story and your story, how to find a person of peace and many more. The guide helps you to obey Christ!

We tried to identify the best simple church English resource websites that we know of about simple church and church planting movements. All of these websites are active information hubs with practical resources on how to plant new simple churches and facilitate church planting movements. A few of the websites are blogs, others are real resource websites.

Children are supposed to be educated in a family setting according to the bible. It is vital for us to have children in our midst to learn from them and help them grow instead of people they hardly know. But how do we educate them in a simple church setting? Dan shares seven practical insights.