Bloom Where You Are Planted, Make your Neighborhood your Church

This message is for everyone who calls themselves Christians or followers of Jesus. All of you reading this can be part of something amazing that will change your life and the future of the Christian church in a most remarkable way.

It’s been said “The grass is not greener on the other side, but where you cultivate it”. Touching peoples lives is the same way. As Christians we look for a church that will hopefully meet our needs and when we think we have found it, after a while are mildly disappointed.

If I may be so bold, I think we are missing the forest for the trees. The Christian life is not about where we go to Church nor is it about Church Buildings or meetings, yet that has become the center of our Christian experience.

Why do we drive away from the place we live, to go to the non existent greener pastures to minister to people who live somewhere else and we usually only see them one day a week? Meanwhile we are surrounded by a congregation of people around us already and they are available to us seven days a week.

If you are a church goer, Pastor or Church planter who wants to make a difference, I dare you to step out and make your neighborhood your church. You’ll automatically be surrounded by a congregation, your life will never be the same again and you will begin to see first hand real transformation unfold before your eyes.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are on the threshold of seeing the renewal of the “church”(us) in the most unlikely place. Right in front of us.

New Video Resource - Comedy with Tim Hawkins

It’s ok to laugh. Really. Here is a great video resource to use when starting a marriage discussion with a group of neighbors, along with other meaningful discussions. You can find this and more at http://www.timhawkins.net

What is a Spiritual Movement?

The results of ordinary everyday followers of Jesus taking adventurous steps of faith in a grass roots environment to help facilitate spiritual and physical transformation.

What is a House Church?

“It is a simple church using a residential structure in a neighborhood or village to gather together”.

What is a Simple Church ?

“It is a group of at least two or three people who are, or are seeking to be followers of Christ, gathering together on a consistent basis, anywhere, anytime and facilitating change wherever they are.“

I wonder why I didn’t do this sooner. Maybe it took a while to finally whittle it down. One day I hope I can just put it into one simple sentence, but this will do for now.

Another Neighborhood Church Begins

Meet Rebecca. She is starting a home church in her neighborhood. It wasn’t hard. She just did it. It only took her three weeks from the first time she heard about the idea. Having tools made it easy to do, but her foundation is love. So what are you waiting for. Go for it. Want to learn more about Rebecca? Click on her video below. You’ll see she’s not much different than you and me.

Creative Ideas for Neighborhood Gatherings

Click here to view another video excerpt with Randy Frazee to view some creative ideas you can use in your neighborhood.

Create a Spiritual Footprint in your Neighborhood

Click here to view part of an interview in which Randy Frazee talks about Neighborhood Life. Many of the things he talks are similar to what has happened in our neighborhood and can happen in yours also.

New site Announcement - Answers to your Lifes Questions

I am putting together another site to give people an opportunity to ask some of the most asked questions people have about life.

It is a straight shooting site with practical, humorous and no hold barred answers. So feel free to check it out and ask your own questions. Click here for the site.

Alligators in the Neighborhood

There are many ways to meet a neighbor. Our neighborhoods in Orlando have some interesting four legged residents, which can start up an active conversation in no time. Click below to experience two of many encounters we have here. What kind of critters do you have in your neck of the woods that get your neighbors buzzing.

1. Resident Backyard video

2. http://www.wftv.com/video/15825371/index.html

How to Create a Free Lifechurch.tv Video Resource Library for Your Neighborhood

Click here to download instructions on How to Create a free Lifechurch.tv Video Resource Library for your Neighborhood, Church, or Lifegroup.

The link also contains pre-made “ready to print” CD/DVD and sleeve labels created by Simplechurch.tv for your Lifechurch.tv DVD media. You can use them with the free Memorex Expressit DVD Software you can download here, or use the pre-made images which can be used with your own CD/DVD label making software. These labels can be printed in Color or B&W. It’s up to you.

How to Start a Church Where You Live

It is exciting to have an interactive church at home, right in the neighborhood you live in, especially with the high gas prices at the pump. Not having to drive to church every Sunday is beginning to make a lot of sense to people everywhere. The good news is you can have a quality experience right where you live, with the people in your neighborhood and it’s much easier than you think. Click on the links below to help you get started or just wander through the the site for ideas and inspiration.

How to meet your neighbors - Video

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How do I get started?

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Some great tips for connecting with people and meeting new people in your neighborhood

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Free Tools you can use

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Connect with others

Don’t struggle with Life Alone, Live Life Out loud

I know many of you are having a tough time now. Its hard to admit when things aren’t going so well, especially for those of us who people look up to. No ones exempt from difficulties and we don’t have all the answers. Don’t go through the mess of life alone anymore. Aren’t you tired of that?. Live “Life Out Loud”. Life’s to short. The moments are too precious.

Where to Connect to a “Live” Church Experience

These Internet Online Church Campuses allow you to experience weekend services with a group of neighbors, friends or family in the comfort of your home or any choice location.

All you have to do:

1. Invite some friends, neighbors, family, or someone you would like to get to know.
2. Hook up your computer to a TV. Click here for instructions
3. Add a nice meal and discussion (before, during and after).
4.Walla!, “Live” Church where you are.!!

 

• LifeChurch.tv Internet Campus

• Northland, A Church Distributed

• Seacoast Church

• Flamingo Road

These recommendations are based on quality of content, production, ease of use and user response. If you know of another quality Internet Campus, please let us know. Feel free to check in for an updated list as we continue to test different ministry sites.

Why Our Neighbors Don’t Go to Church

Recently Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, Georgia went around town asking people why they don’t go to church. These are the same people who live where you and I live. They may never walk into a church door, but we “the church” can walk into their’s. My neighbors love their families, are thoughtful, intelligent, hard working, and worthy of my time to listen carefully and spend time with them as Jesus would. There is more to people’s answers than what’s being said.

How a Neighborhood can Transform the Church Pt 4

3. We will find out if we are “Doers or just hearers”

The neighborhood is proving to be one of the best hands on environments for revealing whether “we are doers or just a hearers”. Religious sounding answers or great biblical knowledge just won’t cut it. If you want to know if you are a true follower of Christ open your door. Your faith will always be challenged. You will find out if your faith is real or not.

Get involved in the transformation of your neighborhood. It will be you “the church” who will become transformed because “The church is not where we go, but who we are”.

How a Neighborhood can transform the Church Pt 3

By choosing to become intentionally active in the well being of our neighborhood,

2. We are forced to make a decision.

Who we are in our neighborhoods contributes to the perception of what people think about Christianity and Christians. I found that my neighbors can be kinder, more generous, have stronger families and be more forgiving than I am without them ever stepping into a church. My “Christianity” can be perceived as powerless to them and something to be avoided. Our actions or inactions reveal us. We can not hide behind the church smile and Christian phrases anymore. The truth of this forces us to make a decision and ask the right questions. “Am I really a follower of Christ or do I just have good intentions?”

How a Neighborhood can transform the Church Pt 2

By choosing to become intentionally active in the well being of our neighborhood, here is one of several the ways the neighborhood can transform us.

1. We are forced to confront who we really are.

Jesus put his disciples in environments that forced them to confront themselves. In my neighborhood I can only fool my neighbors so long before they discover the truth. At some point my neighbors begin to match my words with my actions. My religious mask eventually falls off, my Christian smile fades and I am exposed.  I can’t hide. I have no where to go.

The temptation is to stay inside my house, keep the world out, become active outside of the neighborhood at church or events and be comforted with the myth that “It’s not my calling. “Someone else can do it.

How a Neighborhood can transform the Church Pt 1

Several years ago I started a project to see if I could find a way to bring spiritual transformation to my neighborhood. It’s turned out that God used the neighborhood to transform me.

To most of my neighbors Church is viewed as “out there”. “Come to us, get saved, give us your time and money” is the message they hear. That message is not relevant to most people, but it is the message we the church are sending. That’s a key reason why churches in America are struggling. Jesus had a different message. “Love God, and love your neighbor.” The message is simple. The course of action easy to understand.

My neighbors want a safe and vibrant neighborhood to call home, raise their families or retire. The question for me changed from “How do I get my neighbors to go to church?” to “What can I, the church, do to make this a better neighborhood?”. That question changed everything. Click here to learn more about the Neighborhood Project.

Become A Neighborhood Life Coach

You can create a spiritual footprint in your neighborhood and see transformation where you live by becoming a Neighborhood Life Coach.  SimpleChurch.tv along with partnering churches and organizations will give you free training, tools and support to help get you started.

Click Here to contact me for more information.

Is Christianity boring to you?

I don’t think we want a boring life especially as follower of Christ. Here’s a show I loved as a kid. Hmmm, maybe it’s the reason I can’t sit in a church seat very long without going crazy. Shouldn’t the Christian life be full of adventure and danger?

A Free Tool that can Connect the Church Anywhere

If you want to keep in touch with friends from around the world, for free, click here to download an amazing program called Skype. You can even talk up to 9 people at once if you wish. Below is an example of what Skype does. I just used it. Its so simple.

Change happens locally.

These are some excerpts that I found at Marshill.tv I’m using their quotes because they just said it better than me.

“We believe the Church is God’s chosen vehicle for creating change. Change happens locally. It happens when people act where they are with what they have. Change happens gradually. It occurs when people do a series of little things well over a long period of time. As Christians, we love to talk but we don’t necessarily like to get up and out and get it done. It’s one thing to proclaim Christ on Sunday morning; it’s another to get wrapped up in your next-door neighbor’s life on any given day… What can you do? Place yourself in front of people. Put yourself squarely in the middle of their lives…”

Scared to meet your Neighbors?

O if it were that simple. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you will actually have to step out your door to meet them. Relationships don’t come with shortcuts.

What is the Church?

1. The Church
A group of people who are actively seeking to become fully devoted followers of Jesus.

2. Spiritual transformation
Dramatic changes in purpose, attitudes, behaviour and lifestyle, characterized by actions of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control that reflect a commitment and obedience to Jesus Christ.

3. Community
An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common geographical location.

4. Neighborhood
An interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common geographical location within walking distance to each other.

Free Spiritual Gifts Assesment Test

What are your spiritual gifts? Click the links below to take the free online spiritual gifts test along with other assessments tests. Then ask others for feedback on the results.

http://www.gregwiens.com/gifts/

http://www.assess-yourself.org/

Changing Your World!

I am on one of the most amazing journeys one can imagine. Hard and dusty roads, full of life and adventure. I have chosen to be a follower of Jesus. This decision has been life changing.

I want us to be inspired together to continue pursuing this great adventure and be the kind of life changer whose actions change the world around us for the better.

I want others to experience this amazing life, full of adventure, wonder and celebration.

I want to bring this experience into every neighborhood in America. The neighborhoods where you and I live.

Here is some music to inspire you.

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Using your TV as your Display for a PC or Laptop for a House Church “Live Experience.

Below are instructions on how to set your TV to use as a display for your computer. We run our wireless connection through the laptop connected to a 32 inch screen TV. It’s bigger than it looks on the picture below.

By connecting the DVD, stereo system, and carefully placing speakers in different parts of the house the effect is amazing and so “Live”.

You can transition DVD videos, mp3, and live Internet together to develop a somewhat seamless transition for the experience. It’s amazing.

Connecting-your-PC-to-your-TV.pdf.

House Church Goes “Live”

You can now connect and be part of a live Church experience at home with your family and friends, and interact with other homes around the world at the same time without ever leaving your neighborhood. We have had up to three homes in our neighborhood connected at the same time along with people in Africa, Asia and Europe. Below is an example of what you might see connected to a “Live” Internet Campus experience via Lifechurch.tv . You can also connect or partner with other Churches who do their services online. These are effective tools along with the video DVD library that can help expand the capabilities of what how you can do in a neighborhood environment. Feel free check the download section to find out more. We have had great responses to both. .

The clock is running, 30 seconds to go….. The “Live” experience is about to begin.

What do we do about the Kids?

What do we do with the kids when we get together?

Here are our best observations.

• It’s much easier to find solutions in your own neighborhood environment than having to transporting kids to a different neighborhood or part of town. The more people you get to know in your neighborhood the easier it becomes to handle most kid situations.

• Kids naturally create connections opportunities better than anyone. I like to treat the kids as part of the team. Our kids make it so much easier for us to connect with other parents and teens in the neighborhood.

• Get kids involved with the group experience as often as possible, especially the teenagers. They will always surprise you. Let them be creative. Kids want to have ownership in the process along with the adults.

• Be flexible and enjoy them. “Let the children come to me, for such is the kingdom of heaven”. It’s important to remember to see kids as first class citizens.

Check out the Download page for links to free downloads for kids. They can use them when you meet together or if they want to start a club of their own.

Free Simple Church Video Messages Anyone Can Download

Below are some low resolution samples of the free teaching messages available in high quality DVD format that you can use in a Neighborhood Life group, Simple Church or House Church experience.

The messages deal with, relationships, marriage, parenting, financial freedom, personal issues, how to handle people, sex, and how a relationship with God plays a part in all these issues.

Videos courtesy of LifeChurch.tv can be downloaded free of charge.

If you cannot download these great video messages click here and we will find a way to get them to you.

Click here to download a list of the messages available. They are about 35 minutes in length and will keep everyones attention. We have had great success with them. Click here to learn how you can create your own Free Video Resource Library for your Neighborhood, or college campus.

Who is my Neighbor?

Why is it important for us to be active in our neighborhood? I find when we open our door and let people in or let ourselves out, even a simple hello can make someone’s day.

Click here to continue

How do I meet my neighbors?

Let’s keep it simple. Here is an interview of what one person did.

Here are a few more ideas.

1. Go for a walk in your neighborhood. Say hi to people. Become familiar with the people around you.

2. Use what you have - A touch, a smile, a listening ear, food, your TV. Everyone has one of these items.

3. Keep an “open chair” at the kitchen table and invite family, friends, neighbors, churched or the unchurched to join you for a meal.

Update - Click here to view another example of what one person can do.

 

 

How do I get started?

• Eat with people as often as you can, wherever and whenever you can. People engage and interact better with food on their plate than at any other time.

• Listen to people as much as possible, as often as possible. Don’t preach to them. No one likes that.

• Invite your friends, family or neighbors and do something nice for a neighbor, especially one in need.

• Invite your friends, family or neighbors, gather around some food. Have a spiritual discussion, preview a video together, learn about the bible or experience a “live” service. It works at any level whether it’s a small or a large gathering. There are lots of options.

• Don’t try to solve everyones problems. The more you listen, touch, and serve, the greater impact you will have.

• Click here to contact us to see how we can help you.

Simple Church - Anytime, Anywhere, By Anyone

With the rising costs of gas, church buildings, real estate and staff salaries, the old ways of doing things no longer fit the practicalities of our changing culture.

The good news is today, you can now experience or create a Church experience with friends or neighbors without leaving your block or home. No buildings to build, offerings to take, no qualifications needed, anyone can do it and you can do it at anytime. This site will give you the tools to do just that. Join us in this new awakening of the Church in America.

Click here to contact us.

Click the Neighborhood Initiative Project to find out more about how you can bring transformation to your neighborhood.