Inside Steve Stratford's Head

KevinM

Steven Joseph Stratford, the director for institutional research at Maranatha Baptist Bible College and a pioneer in integrating computers into church ministry, died on Saturday in Watertown, Wis. He was 52.

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Internship or Summer Mission work suggestions

Teri Ploski
I’m not sure if this is the correct forum, but my son is looking for an internship (paid preferred, but may be willing to take unpaid) or summer missions work. He’s a junior at Southwestern College - ok, not a fundy college, but still a pretty good one, as far as I can tell - and is seriously considering missions work in the future. He’s likely to end up in seminary somewhere (I’ve recommended Dallas, because I know a lot of pastors from there), but until then would like some exposure to other opportunities.

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Feed My Starving Children for Haiti

Daniel
My wife and my small group signed up to do Feed My Starving Children today. The group we were with broke the million meal mark, which was their pledge for this week.

If you live near a site for this organization, you really should take the opportunity to do it at least one time. Not only was it quite fun, but you feel extremely good about yourself afterward.

Discussion

Music class for ministry members

EMJ
Hello folks. A longtime SI lurker posting a question here.

I recently re-inherited the music director position at my church. I was music director in the past from around ‘93-‘99. Our choir has grown to about 30 people, and I see a challenge with many of the choir members not having any clue as to music theory. We have a great group of folks, but it’s discouraging when we constantly spend time going over what are really simple rhythms, dynamic changes, and phrasing.

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Correspondence school

Todd.Semko
Hello, I’m up in Edmonton Canada, looking for a good Bible Theology correspondence course. Anyone able to point me in the right direction?

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Haiti: Earthquake relief

Jim

Are you or is your church doing anything by way of earthquake relief for Haiti?

If so: Through which organizations?

Discussion

Building a Biblical Model for House Churches

Ken Davis

The following is reprinted with permission from Paraklesis, a publication of Baptist Bible Seminary. The article first appeared in the Summer ‘08 issue.

The move from conventional congregations to house churches has been termed a revolution. Researcher George Barna estimates at least 1 million Americans have shifted to small-groups worshiping primarily in homes or businesses.

But the revolution comes in this statistic: by 2025, Barna predicts 70 percent of Christians will be worshiping in such “alternative faith communities.”1

While the trend is clear, the benefits and biblical focus of such gatherings is more muddled. The early church detailed in the New Testament indeed met “house to house,” and the Apostle Paul regularly gathered new believers in homes. But this is not an exclusive or biblically prescribed model for worshiping.

The home church model can work today, and in circumstances where proper ty is scarce or expensive it can be a practical approach. Pastors and church leaders, though, need to think clearly before moving to a house church model. They must keep a biblical focus paramount and not let relational benefits overrun sound doctrine and New Testament church polity.

Inside house churches

House churches are small bodies of believers that meet primarily in homes, have generally fewer than 30 members, and normally have unpaid lay leaders. These back-to-basics congregations do not start in a home with the goal of moving later to a permanent facility. They are designed to stay in a private residence or similar surroundings.

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