“The Old is not dead, the new is not yet”, Bishop Spong.”

 My own dilemma in starting a church in Pepin:

*      Not old time religion

*      Not new age

*      Small town

*      Business conflict

*      Meet where?

*      Collage of belief system in my little community

*      How to “hook” people

My experience as a Fundamentalist

*      Seven Baptist Churches

*      Two Community Churches  (New Age)

*     “Souls for Jesus is our Battle Cry”

*     God needs men to bear the chest to the storm & fight the  good fight for Christ, Bob Jones Sr. “Get ‘em lost Brother”.

*     Two key books on church planning:

The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church by Roland Allen

Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? By Roland Allen

 The current social/religious situation

*      People – most are lost

*      Christianity is lost.

*     The old has to die – like Christ did – to resurrect the new Christ’s Body – 2^nd coming?

Planting Independent Catholic Churches

Think of yourself as a “missionary” (shudder)

Think of yourself as an outpost of the Catholic – Universal Spiritual/ Christian faith & for the developing community of Christians/World Servers.

When an idea gets clear it begins to be magnetic.

“You may be a member of the Church of Antioch and not know it”, the Bish.

“Be against something” Jack Hyles – A theme polarizes in a magnetic way.

Bob Mounds & Booze

*      Against equals Fear, hate, warfare. We have turned that corner in the PLAN of God on Earth – relative to fear & hate as a motivation.

*      When the energy leaves a negative theme it dies.

*      Seek a theme for your area that will attract people (expand)

• Classes, what subject: dreams, meditation, Bible, etc.
• Catholics
• Baptism (history of circumcision)
• Marriage (open communion)
• Men and women
• Sexual orientatio
• Divorce – Glen Ray
• Handicapped
• Prisoners

The Key person concept – Andrew got his brother to come to Christ. “You need a bird dog.”

*      Key Venue – discuss place to meet.

*      Don’t go dark.

*      You will have problems if you attract people. (This is a big stumbling block)

*      Invite people – use church cards, personal contacts – let the bird dogs work – share your dream, then have a service/class, etc. let it develop a life of its own.

You hold charter?

*      A congregational rule, vs Government by Hierarchy

*      Contrast; Church leadership styles

*      Other denominations are different

*      Build a nucleus of people that see the vision clearly.

Bishop Dan Gensing & the American Catholic Union– (Bingo) Convergence

*      Evangelical

*      Liturgist

*      Charismatics

*     New agers

*A New Christianity For a New World

Why Traditional Faith is Dying & How a New Faith is Being Born, John Shelby Spong, Harper Publishing, 2001.

(Each of these subjects is a discussion in and of itself. Later Postings will be dealt with more individually. Stay posted!)