by Brett Jacobsen

In order to get our heads around this topic we will have to remove our Greek style, tradition infected mindsets and flow with the Spirit of truth and revelation.

Please pray (Eph 1:17-18, 2 Cor 10:5-6) and proceed.

Because most Christians have been a part of the contemporary church for some time now it is quite natural to kick, at least a little, against truth that challenges where we’ve been and what we’ve done as the church.

In the same way as the children of Israel demanded a worldly leadership structure, when they cried out for a king (1 Sam 8:1-20), so to does the humanness of the church crave an institution as its identity rather than flowing organically in Christ. Due to Israel’s history repeating itself in the church it didn’t take very long for worldly institutionalism to arise, dominate and set in.

by Andrew Strom

by John White

Dear Church,

The following is my contribution to the New Testament Church Planters discussion group that I am a part of. (Anyone can join - see the address below). The current thread concerns the definition and ministry of apostles. I am making the argument that in the early church there was great diversity in the ministry of apostles and that we should expect the same today.

This is important because if we are going to see a million house churches planted there will need to be thousand of these apostles (church planters). I think we will be surprised at some of the people God will call to function in this way. (Might even be some of you!)

by David Orton

“…until a time of reformation”

Heb 9:10

Part 1 of this teaching will explore the spirit of the New Reformation and Part 2 the structure.

Christ’s coming triggered a ‘reformation’, inaugurating a new order.

The letter to the Hebrews is a transitional and therefore reformational book. Using both comparison and contrast, it shows the superiority of the new over the old, calling the believing Hebrews into complete transition. With a foot in both camps, they were caught in the external requirements of the old, despite having put their faith in Christ in the new.

The Greek word ‘reformation’ in our text (Hebrews 9:10) is ‘diorthosis’, meaning ‘a making straight, a rectification, correction’. But what was the nature of this ‘reformation’ – what was it rectifying or correcting?

by Andrew Strom

I just spent the last week or so in Minnesota, ministering mainly
amongst Christian youth and also some leaders - on the subject
of 'Street Revival'.  A number of young people were baptized and
filled with the Holy Spirit - and others were fired up to hit the
streets. You can feel the excitement building in that place for
what God is about to do.

But what blessed me most was a phonecall that I received today.
I was told that a couple of the young men had brought a homeless
person to one of the meetings, and continued to minister to him
afterwards. Apparently, not only did he REPENT the next day, but
these young men then went and BAPTIZED him themselves and
also saw him FILLED with the SPIRIT!

By Brett Jacobsen

This 4 part audio teaching series by Brett Jacobsen presents an overview of the current reformation of the Church.

(All audio files are mp3 files and are around 20 mb. Just click on link to download.)

Part 1 : The Early Church in its New Skin - How it all Began 

Part 2 : Journey Into the Dark Ages - What Went Wrong  

Part 3 : Gods Process of Reformation - Brokenness in Heart 

Part 4 : Much Needed Change - Fruit of Man Made Structure  

By Brett Jacobsen

The following are a few key Biblical points on how to see the life of God continue to flow in our midst after He as revived us.

Intro
I would like to start by saying that I, and probably God for that matter, don’t want a flash in the pan revival. In fact I’d rather have no revival at all than to have God so wonderfully move and then we gravitate back to our current state. I tend to agree with Smith Wigglesworth when he said "To live two days in succession on the same spiritual plane is a tragedy". How much worse is it then to go backwards in the things of God? I am not saying that everything has to be going good all the time. That would be a result based Christian perspective, which I think is one of our greatest enemies in the modern day church. I am however, talking about continually flowing in the eternal purpose and the life of God on a daily basis for the rest of our lives. Remember, it’s more about flowing in harmony with the Spirit of God, therefore being eternally fruitful, than it is about having a nice life.

PRINCIPLES OF TRANSFORMATION

Invite God – Pray 

Isaiah 62:6-7
Deeply feel inside that God wants to, and will come.

Holiness & Humility

Are we ready to die and be changed.
Is 66:2 contrite heart.
Humility is the door to unity.
God uses broken people.
Simple, sincere people.

Individual Obedience 

Not what we do, but why we do it.
Man is impressed by activity, God is impressed by obedience. 
Will encounter resistance.
Has to start with a core group of obedient people.
Always starts with a few who won’t give up. Usually two or three.

Biblical Unity

by Wolfgang Simson

God is changing the Church, and that, in turn, will change the world. Millions of Christians around the world are aware of an imminent reformation of global proportions. They say, in effect: "Church as we know it is preventing Church as God wants it." A growing number of them are surprisingly hearing God say the very same things. There is a collective new awareness of age-old revelations, a corporate spiritual echo. In the following "15 Theses" I will summarize a part of this, and I am convinced that it reflects a part of what the Spirit of God is saying to the Church today. For some, it might be the proverbial fist-sized cloud on Elijah's sky. Others already feel the pouring rain.