Simply Kingdom, Simple Church: Multiplying Disciples and Churches

By Charles Kridiotis

“Charles Kridiotis has been serving the simple church movement in Sweden and Europe for many years in a mentoring and equipping role, forming teams that thrive. In this book Charles gives his perspective on the simple church movement as a practitioner. He describes the basics of the Kingdom that Jesus preached, how to make disciples, simple church life and leadership, and the multiplication of simple church groups and networks. The principles he shares are biblically founded and illustrated with real-life anecdotes from his own experience.”
Marc van der Woude
Dutch innovator, trend watcher, networker, founder of Simple Church Europe and publisher of Joel News International (joelnews.org), a weekly e-zine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Mar 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483446738

Book preview

SIMPLY KINGDOM, SIMPLE CHURCH

Multiplying Disciples and Churches

Charles Kridiotis

Copyright © 2016 Charles Kridiotis.

FrontLine Foundations NetWork

FRONTLINE FOUNDATIONS NETWORK

Porfyrstigen 5

19633 Kungsängen

SWEDEN

www.simplechurch.se

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

This book has been translated and published in Swedish as

"Guds rike, lärjungeskap och enkla församlingar" by XP Media (Address: Hantverkarvägen 24, 136 44 Handen, SWEDEN)

Requests for translation into other languages should be addressed to the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4672-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4673-8 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 3/21/2016

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface -- Into the Light

SECTION 1 - SIMPLY KINGDOM, SIMPLY JESUS

1. Simply Kingdom

2. Simply Jesus

SECTION 2 - SIMPLY GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES

3. Simple Discipleship

4. Simple Gospel

5. Simple Water Baptism

6. Simply be filled with the Holy Spirit

7. Simply Be (part of) the Church

8. Simple Gospel Planting

SECTION 3 - SIMPLE CHURCH, SIMPLY LIFE

9. Simple Church, Simply People

10. Simple Church, Simply Life

11. Simple Fellowship

12. Simply remember the Lord when you eat together

13. Simply Worship

14. Simply Pray

15. Simply Teach and Apply the Word of God

16. Simply Give

17. Simply Minister

18. Simply Enduring in Persecution

SECTION 4 - SIMPLE LEADERSHIP

19. New Testament Leadership

20. Simple Leadership in a Simple Church

21. Ministry Gifts to the Church

SECTION 5 - SIMPLE MULTIPLICATION, NETWORKING AND MOVEMENT

22. Simple Church Multiplication

23. Simple Church Networks

24. Simple Movement

APPENDIX

Simple Resources and Training

Thanks and Acknowledgement

Recommendations

About the Author

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to friends and co-workers that relate to Dandelion Network, simplechurch.se and other simple church networks in Europe:

You are the unsung heroes of our time.

It is also dedicated to those in the harvest, those not yet born into the Kingdom, but who will be:

Let no one rob you of your inheritance in Christ and life in the Kingdom as described in the book of Acts.

FOREWORD

The church is dead, long live the King!

Thought provoking? Of course the church is not dead. But 'church as we know it' is declining in many European nations. In my own country, the Netherlands, two churches are closing every week. That's 1,000 churches by 2025, a quarter of the total. The future looks bleak, the only hope for the church is in rediscovering what it means to truly follow the King.

Many Jesus followers long for a fresh grassroots movement of the Kingdom of God. A movement that is passionate, generous, prayerful, provoking, righteous, restorative and pioneering. Many people in our society long for spiritual fulfilment, real community and a message of hope to the world.

The meta trends point in a clear direction. The church of the future will be more simple, flexible, and multi-coloured. A gradual shift is taking place from 'regular church' with a large building, Sunday service, paid professionals, and 'one-size-fits-all' to new expressions like simple churches, pop-up churches, neomonastic communities, 24-7 prayer rooms, festival churches, social enterprises, online communities with meet-ups, and much more. Current church forms will remain, but become part of a much more colourful palette.

Because of globalisation, postmodernity, the rise of a creative class, and the revolutionary development of the internet, many western nations have become network societies. A new generation, raised with the digital social web, expects the church to function as a participative network community, where everyone can take part and contribute their God-given ideas, talents, creativity and learning experiences to shape the mission of the church. New communities will be started 'bottom-up', no longer 'top-down'. The new groups spread via friendships and relationships into all kinds of social networks, and therefore often will be versatile and mobile.

I know of groups among athletes, actors, skaters, rockers, business people, migrants, highschoolers, new agers, prisoners, mothers, couriers and bloggers. Tomorrow's church gathers in art studios, Turkish tea rooms, IKEA restaurants, disadvantaged neighborhoods, office canteens, and some 500 other locations. Perhaps, occasionally, also in a dedicated church building.

All you need is a table, a fridge, and an open heart for people

Take simple churches, the topic of this book - small churches that meet in houses, schools, offices, cafes, or outdoors. They have six ingredients: Jesus, friendship, prayer, sharing a meal, serving other people practically, and sharing the Gospel. In Europe these simple churches grow on average 20% each year. Because they're so simple, everyone can do it. All you need is a table, a fridge, and an open heart for people!

Charles Kridiotis has been serving this simple church movement in Sweden and Europe for many years in a mentoring and equipping role, forming teams that thrive. We met in Amsterdam in 2009 and have been friends and co-workers since. In this book Charles gives his perspective on the simple church movement as a practitioner. He describes the basics of the Kingdom that Jesus preached, how to make disciples, simple church life and leadership, and the multiplication of simple church groups and networks. The principles he shares are biblically founded and illustrated with real-life anecdotes from his own experience.

I hope you will not only read this book, but also actively discuss it with your friends, and start living it out in fresh Kingdom initiatives. After all - only following the King keeps the church alive and kicking. And pursuing his Kingdom is the start of an epic adventure. Promise!

Marc van der Woude

Dutch innovator, trend watcher, European missional networker, founder of Simple Church Europe (simplechurch.eu) and publisher of Joel News International (joelnews.org), a weekly e-zine.

PREFACE -- INTO THE LIGHT

2,000 years ago an invasion took place. It had been a long time coming. It had been preceded by 400 years of silence -- true, the world was filled with many voices, but there was no word from God. It was an eloquent silence, pregnant with doom and hope, possibilities and expectations. A silence that had been preceded by a history of thousands of years of ups and downs. A history of people walking with God and prospering in body, soul and spirit. A history of people walking without God and living in poverty of body, soul and spirit and with the consequences of captivity to sin, death and Satan.

Yet God had a master plan and a timetable that he relentlessly held to. At the right time God incarnate, Jesus, came to the earth as second Adam. King Herod quaked at the announcement the wise men had made that a new King had been born. He recognized that his kingdom was not safe anymore. A new King and a new Kingdom had invaded. Little did he and world rulers, nor Satan and his minions, realise the full extent of this invasion.

Herod's attempt to murder the Christ child failed. So did Satan's attempts. Satan did not know that a whip of iron and bones, a crown of thorns, a handful of nails and a wooden cross, meant for the destruction of King Jesus, the Son of God, would be the instruments that signalled the beginning of the end of his rule over humanity. King Jesus, the Son of Man, pleasing his Father in every way, obedient in everything, even to death, broke the dividing wall of sin between God and humanity. His crucifixion and resurrection effectively destroyed the power of Satan, sin and self. King Jesus, the Messiah, ascended into heaven to rule at the right hand of His Father and then sent the Holy Spirit to earth to usher in a new era.

It was a plan that had been unfolding before time began. Those, from every tribe and nation and language, who repented and believed on Jesus became new creations, birthed by the Spirit of God. They became disciples of Jesus, citizens of a new Kingdom, victorious and persecuted, living with much and living with little, dying, yet eternally living. They went everywhere proclaiming and demonstrating the Kingdom of God, literally turning the world upside down. Wherever they went, people were discipled, renounced sin, came to faith in Jesus, were baptised and filled with the Holy Spirit in an ongoing movement of disciples making disciples who made disciples. Disciples gathered wherever they could, mostly in homes, but not exclusively.

This was the church, a mobile, dynamic, naturally supernatural multiplying community of people who loved God in worship and thanksgiving, listening to and obeying His word, sharing meals together with the breaking of bread and drinking from a cup of wine as they remembered what Jesus had done on the cross. They loved each other, sharing their lives and food, clothing and money. God worked miracles, healings and signs and wonders through their hands and words, healing broken bodies and minds and restoring people into fellowship with himself. The disciples were not perfect, but they were hungry learners of God, true theologians, growing in grace, favour and obedience. The world looked on and marvelled, attracted to what they saw and yet fearing what they saw. Nothing like this had been seen before. A foretaste of God's Kingdom had invaded planet earth, occupying ground and expanding through the indwelling life of King Jesus in the believers. The Gates of Hell could do nothing to stop this irresistible force. Persecution and death just seemed to fan the flames brighter as suffering believers, living in the tension of the Kingdom Now and the fullness of the Kingdom to come, forgave their tormentors and embraced the passage into an eternal life with the one who so absolutely loved them.

AN INTERRUPTION

About 320 years into the life of the church, a diabolical event took place that seemed to hijack God's plan.