Category Archives: Multiplication

Life Together, Multiplication

Church 101 Course

Leave a comment

I have been meaning to let y’all know that a few of us among the Summit Fellowships have been exploring a course called Church 101 that is prepared and presented by a friend of mine in Denver. I have known John White for many years and recently did an interview with him for the the Church of the Heart Podcast.

As a network of fellowships, I have been wondering if we are being intentional enough about equipping people to do church more simply. What if more people come to us asking for advice and encouragement in creating simple churches?

So, a group of six of us from three different Summits have been taking the course–sort of a beta test–to see if it might be helpful to recommend to people who are interested in house churches. It involves a lot of video learning, personal interaction and even online video conferences. So far the response among our intrepid little team has been positive. I’ll try to keep you posted about our progress. Eventually, I may even interview some of the beta team to share our experiences.

Stay tuned!

 

Church Planting Movements (CPM), Multiplication

House Churches in Cheltenham, UK

Leave a comment
Griffiths-Jonathan-and-Sarah-2Meet Jonny, Sarah and Family!
Jonathan and Sarah Griffiths met in England in 2003, and were married in Idaho, USA in 2004. They have served together in the church for over a decade, with Jonathan being appointed as Lead Pastor of Cornerstone (Nampa Foursquare) in 2012. They are both licensed ministers with the Foursquare Church. They both love good coffee, sushi, great stories, worship, art, and other humans.
They have three sons, who love Jesus, books, wrestling, Legos, all kinds of food, snowball fights, sandy beaches, and the occasional 5 mile hike.
The Vision
Their vision is to help make Jesus central in Great Britain, to make him famous in all the earth. The mission is in two parts.
1) Launch a discipleship and church planting movement in Great Britain.
2) Plant a missional training and sending church in London to serve and partner with all the nations in deploying culturally impacting missionaries to all the world.
Before they can make an Cheltenhamimpact in London, they will need to establish a presence with British nationals, starting  in towns and cities outside of London, with a current starting location of Cheltenham, England.
The Griffith’s primary work will be in evangelism, discipleship, and leadership training as they seek to help other people plant healthy churches that transform lives, communities, and culture.
Jonny and Sarah plan to spend time relearning British culture and finding appropriate ways to love and serve people. Once they have established a pattern, it will be repeated in several locations in order to facilitate a church planting movement.
The Griffiths are going to England under the auspices of the Foursquare Church. Here is a link to their their page at  FMI (Foursquare Missions International). Their work may be a great opportunity for a Summit Fellowship to contribute prayer and/or resources.
From the Churches, Gathering 242, Life Together, Multiplication

Church Too Big? Multiply!

Leave a comment
Serving the Lord’s Table to one another.

After nearly year of expectation, Gathering 242 finally came to the day we’ve been anticipating (dreading?) We have to multiply.

Multiply!

If everyone shows up on the same night the group would have about 25 regular members. We call that a “church growth problem.” We
are too big. In the old days, we may have started talking about getting a building so we could bring in more people. That’s not the way The Summit Fellowships do things. When a group gets too big for the house it’s meeting in, the group will multiply and branch out into a new neighborhood, making room for more people in two places. That’s what is happening to G242 beginning on September 12, 2015. A new fellowship will be putting down roots in the Roseway neighborhood in Portland, at the Mayhew’s house.

So, how did it go on our last night? Here’s what we did: Continue reading Church Too Big? Multiply! →