Hello friends,

Judy and I were privileged to have the boys and their families spend Christmas Day with us. At the end of the day one of the little fellows (6 years old) prayed: ‘Dear Jesus, can you please make tomorrow like another Christmas Day!’

But not all relate to the birth of Jesus. Our neighbours are Sikhs, Muslims, secularists. We enjoy times with each, and will visit with a gift to celebrate New Year. There are always invites to coffee – and, another family have invited us over for a meal. (STEP 1 in connecting – check out Luke 10:8 & 9.) I am not sure about you, but we have a mission-field on our doorstep and we have to be intentional in making the time to spend with neighbours.

It was not possible for me to attend the NOPLACELEFT 2015 conference in Australia, however, three weeks ago I participated in a three-day retreat with key leaders of this initiative – praying, sharing disciple making and movement building ideas! These leaders are serious about obeying the gospel commission – with the vision that there be ‘no place left’ to share the gospel! (Romans 15:23) But such a vision can be lost in implementation. Again, it comes back to being intentional.

Some movement leaders have identified key tangible steps for disciple making movements –

1. Write down the name of the key movement leader you are equipping:  _______________________________
2. Write down the name of a next level leader in movement building: _______________________________
3. Write down the name of a person you have led to the Lord in the last six months: _______________________________ (Don’t fudge on this one!)

Now, write down the next thing you will do with each to equip them as a multiplying disciple! _______________________________

Movement leaders observe –

1. If you are not personally making disciples (3 above) – you are not a movement leader!
2. If you don’t know what you will do as the next step with key people – you will not foster a movement’.

I pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit for you – as you relate to new opportunities in the New Year, even in your neighbourhood!

Peter Roennfeldt

CHURCH PLANTING NEWS – 26 Dec 2015

NewChurchLife Blog Updated: We have entirely updated www.NewChurchLife.com – and it is easier to navigate, find resources, search for historic references to your church plant each. Check it out. You will find regular updates on Facebook – and more detailed resources, events etc on the Blog.

Out searching for people of peace! There is renewed commitment an old, tried and true method of connecting to people – visiting! Tim Scheuer in Sydney, Steve Addison in the UK, and others – are out knocking on doors! Sometimes they carry the gift of home baked cookies – but always the gift of prayer. They are asking: Is there something you would like us to pray for? Do you feel far from or close to God – and, would you like to be closer? It’s not easy – but homes are opening for Discovery Bible Reading.

Most of these could be adapted to your culture! Church planting teams in Africa are connecting with people through –

• Literacy programs – providing basic reading & writing skills
• Support networks – for those suffering from alcoholism and/or drug dependency
• Visitation & counsel – for those caught in family violence
• Deliverance & prayer – for those suffering demon possession
• Compassion & visitation – at funerals
• Involvement – in community clean up days
• Adoption of orphans – into the homes of believers
• Working with village farmers – improving agricultural methods

Pacific Reach is being extended with 2016 church planting conferences in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. For details contact Faafetai Matai [email protected] .

SHIFTm2M launched in Europe with 21 participants and facilitators Peter Roennfeldt and Bill Hodgson. The second retreat is being held in the Netherlands 17-20 April 2016.

For more stories and reports go to www.facebook.com/newchurchlife.

Equipping Resources & Opportunities

Church Planting Basics: Go to https://www.newchurchlife.com to download these articles as PDF files –

• Six Steps to Planting a Church: (Ministry June 2012 – Roennfeldt)
• Cultivating Church Planting in Your Territory: (Ministry Dec 2013 – Roennfeldt)
• Disciple Making: Jesus’ Five Invitations: (Ministry Nov 2014 – Roennfeldt)

My Friends: http://www.myfriends.life (in German) introduces an outstanding initiative by postmodern young adults in Switzerland to equip & multiply a disciple making movement. My Friends encourages connecting into relational streams (not just strangers); to share My story as a bridge to My experience with Jesus – keeping the discussion on a relational rather than intellectual, cognitive doctrinal level. Great ideas to introduce dbf (discovery bible reading) – and a simple inspiring concept that is having impact!

Books

• Nathan Brown’s Why I Try to Believe (2015) – a very good read. Fresh, dynamic, personal. At first I thought the chapter Hoping to Believe a little weak – but it really came together in the section ‘Choosing to hope’. Excellent. Believing the Stories is a very important chapter – and Clinging to Belief. I appreciated the approach – tentative, but real: wanting, needing, choosing to believe.
• Andrew Dejonge’s Giving up Control: why movements are preferable to revivals (2015) – outlines his journey from a ministry on an Australian university campus to movement.  Excellent insights and principles – available at http://crupressgreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/book.pdf.

The Parting Gift – an innovative approach to get into conversations about the gospel, produced by CCCA film maker Chris Bailey. Download the app. Only 6 minutes, and no words so there is no translation problem. If it works in your culture you can train people how to use it effectively immediately. The website for the film has a brief training video also (that is in English).

Are you on the map? If not, add your house church location at https://my.simplechurchathome.com/house_church_finder . Developed by the Simple Church Global Network, this new house church finder is designed to strengthen and connect house churches. Features include practical resources, training, coaching – all free. Serving and strengthening house churches is the goal.

CHURCH PLANTING NEWS

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