September 13, 2005 | Issue #10
  


Neil Cole (Long Beach, CA) is a church starter and pastor, and founder and executive director of Church Multiplication Associates, which has helped start more than 500 churches in 16 states and 12 nations in six years. Neil is an international speaker and also the author of Cultivating a Life for God.

His latest book, Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens, is one of the newest books in the Leadership Network Publications series, produced with Jossey-Bass.

ADVANCE: What is the big idea--the basic message--of Organic Church?

I want to see us lower the bar on how we do church, and raise the bar on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. If we can do that, the Kingdom of God will not only be changed, it will be a change agent. Ordinary people will be involved in extraordinary works of God.

ADVANCE: What new ideas are you putting out there for church leaders to consider?
The idea that church can grow out of the harvest of lost souls and find its expression in common places where people live and work and play is new in some respects. The drive in our movement of churches for true, spontaneous multiplication has led us to many of the simple ideas expressed in the book. The DNA of the living church is a new concept that has huge ramifications for a movement.

ADVANCE: What do you mean by the "DNA of the living church"?

Our hope is to see the value of DNA--Divine Truth, Nurturing Relationships and Apostolic Mission--intact at the smallest, most basic unit of church life. An organism is only as healthy as its smallest cell, and a church is only as healthy as its disciples. The true test of spiritual health is our disciples--not our preaching, our music, or our programs.

The solution to health in a complex organic creature is to bring health to every cell of the body. If my church is spiritually healthy at its smallest unit--one disciple in relationship with one or two others with the DNA intact--and all of those units are healthy, we will have a spiritually healthy church. We view it from micro to macro.

ADVANCE: What one or two lessons inherent in the concept of simple, organic ministry would you most like to see people apply?
BarnaFilms Presenting Preview of C.S. Lewis Classic
On December 8, 2005, BarnaFilms Preview Night™ is offering tickets to an advance screening of Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media's production of the classic C.S. Lewis story The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
Talking: The Anti-Drug
Based on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 59% of youth (14.6 million) reported having talked with at least one of their parents during the past year about the dangers of tobacco, alcohol or drug use...
Ginghamsburg To Host Change Conference
Join Michael Slaughter and the staff of Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio as they take you on a journey to miracles and hope during the conference on change entitled, "Great Expectations: Extraordinary Miracles in Unexpected Places."
A day does not pass that I don't think about and give thanks for the investment that Leadership Network has made in my life. Bob Buford said a long
time ago, "Our fruit grows on other people's trees." I increasingly believe that the Father is going to allow me to live long enough to actually begin to see the fruit of a harvest of unity with a purpose. After years of yearning, praying, pleading, working, and hoping for the church in the city to truly function in unity. . . I actually believe that we are seeing the fulfillment of that.

Jim Herrington
Harbor Church
www.harborchurch.com
Houston, Texas

Multi-Site Conference Offers Unique Viewpoints
The upcoming Multi-Site Church Conference (www.multi-site.org) in Chicago, IL, on October 24-25 promises to be a landmark event that will introduce hundreds of forward-thinking pastors to this exciting new way to "do church."

Externally-focused Churches Featured in Leadership Journal
The latest installment of Leadership Network's Innovation Series--Churches Team Up to 'Clothe A Child'--has been published in the quarterly Leadership Journal and is available at...
Church Planting Resource Guide
For churches involved in church planting or those wanting to move into that realm of ministry, Leadership Network has scoured the Internet, researched the publishers and asked the experts to gather a wide collection of church planting resources into one publication. You can tap into this vast collection for $39.95 at www.leadnet.org.
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