INTRODUCTION
In Acts chapter nineteen we witness an amazing thing in the life of the apostle Paul. In the opening verses Paul is traveling and comes to the city of Ephesus. He finds twelve disciples and in talking to them he discovers that they have not yet been baptized in the name of Jesus. So he baptizes them then lays hands on them and ministers to them the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Then, for about three months, he and this little group of disciples reason with the Jews in the synagogue persuading them about the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God. But some were hardened and would not receive their teaching, so Paul takes the disciples and moves to the school of Tyrannus. For two years, he had daily discussions with both Jews and Greeks about the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The amazing thing is what resulted from Paul’s little "Bible School" in the city of Ephesus. The NIV version puts it like this: "He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them." (Acts 19:9-10)
The province of Asia in Paul’s day was about the size of the state of California. Can you imagine the influence of one school reaching the entire state of California? Even his adversaries acknowledged the effectiveness of Paul’s school! They said, "And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia." (Acts 19:26)
It must not be overlooked that it was more than just teaching the word of the Lord that gave Paul’s school such a dynamic impact on the people of Asia. It was miracles of healing and deliverance added to the teaching of the word.
The ministry of healing and deliverance was the drawing power in the ministry of Jesus also. They not only came to hear his words but to be healed of their diseases and delivered from demonic oppression.
The Ministry Training Schools not only teach the word in the same way as Paul, through discussion Bible study, but we minister healing and deliverance in the name of Jesus, following Paul's example and the example of Jesus.
It is our prayer that the teaching, healing and deliverance ministry of the MTS will be so powerful in every city that it will be said of us what was said of the early disciples in the city of Jerusalem: "You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." May these Ministry Training Schools impact every city and town in every state in the USA and in every nation of the world.
AN OVERVIEW
1. Goal- The Ministry Training School (MTS) is a response to Jesus’ command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It is training the saints to begin doing the works of Jesus right where we live and work.
2. Plan -Our plan is to plant churches, healing rooms, and houses of prayer in every city and town in every state in the USA.
3. Structure - Small groups meeting in homes. Better to have a hundred groups of 12 than 12 groups of 100, or one group of 1,200. Larger groups have their place, but the ABC is a small group of disciples.
4. Leaders -Qualifications for leaders are listed in I Timothy 3 and in Titus 1.
5. Schedule - The MTS is an ongoing school. Students are released into ministry as it beomes evident that they are ready and are called of God to be commissioned into the work God ordains for them.
6. Method - Discussion Bible Study is our method for teaching through the New Testament.
7. Classes - In every meeting we spend time in the following activities under the acronym PRAISE: P - Praise and worship
R - Read and discuss
A - Assignments and reports
I - Intercessory Prayer
S - Signs and wonders
E - Eat and fellowship
8. Assignments - Read Acts through Revelation as homework.
Write out your own testimony.
Pray the Great Commission prayer daily (see Evangelism below)
9. Expectation - We expect to make disciples in every nation teaching them to observe all things that Jesus commanded. We expect Jesus to work with us as He did the early church, confirming the word with signs following.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The MTS could be called an Ephesians Four School. Paul says in verses 11-13 that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor teachers are given to the church for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. This is the purpose of the MTS. Each student will go through the Life of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in interactive Bible study in class using the book JESUS CHRIST THE GREATEST LIFE BY Johnston Cheney, and read through the rest of the New Testament in his/her private devotions. MTS has a vision to train believers worldwide to start healing rooms, houses of prayer and house churches by appointing individuals and couples in every country to help spread this vision for Simple Church.
Church Planting: MTS teaches simple methods of church planting that are effective and adaptable anywhere in the world.
Evangelism: MTS teaches evangelism in everyday life situations. At each session, time will be given to share experiences in ministry and personal evangelism as the Lord opens hearts and sets up "divine appointments" in answer to the Great Commission Prayer: "Father, give me a divine appointment today with someone who is hungry for God or in need. Give me sensitivity to know when that happens and grace to minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit."
World Mission: Our goal is to train and appoint national coordinators for every country who in turn will appoint state or provincial coordinators who will appoint county coordinators who will appoint city coordinators. The purpose is to start house churches, healing Rooms, and houses of prayer in every city and town in every nation
DISCUSSION BIBLE STUDY
Discussion Bible Study is simple and spontaneous. Another name for it is Interactive Bible Study. You do not need a teacher or any Bible study material. All you need is a Bible, a group leader, and a few people who want to know what the Bible is all about. If one is present with a gift of teaching, let him/her participate as a learner first. All may teach as God reveals truth during the reading. DBS is group participation and not a lecture-type presentation.
The scriptural basis for this type of Bible study is Colossians 4:16, "After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea." Paul could have said, "After you have studied this letter" but he just told them to read it. Reading is studying! It is studying on the most basic level. Paul was confident that with the guidance of the Spirit they could understand his letter.
In discussion Bible study we simply take turns reading the scripture. While it is being read, everyone is invited to interrupt at any time and make a comment or ask a question. That is discussion Bible study.
You may be surprised at how much conversation is generated and how much you learn as you read the Word of God together. Sometimes one may read a long passage without any discussion at all. Don’t be alarmed. Just let the Word minister. Don't try to force conversation. Once the conversation gets going the problem will be how to get back into reading. The work of the leader is to keep reading and conversation going, not just one or the other.
You won't need to dissect and scrutinize each word. Just read it. It is amazing how much you can learn about the Bible by reading it! It reminds me of a conference we held years ago in Child Evangelism Fellowship. We had invited a prominent Bible teacher to be our speaker. At lunch I asked him to give us some helpful hints on how to study the Bible. He smiled and said, "Sure, I'd be glad to."
After lunch when it came his time to speak again, he stood and said, "Brother Fitts has asked me to give you some pointers on how to study the Bible. Here they are: Got your pens and paper? There are three of them." There was a flurry of paper and pens being readied for the speakers points on how to study the Bible.
"Point number one is, READ THE BIBLE! Point number two is, READ THE BIBLE!! And point number three is, READ THE BIBLE! That's it."
Everyone laughed. He didn't laugh. He was serious. He wasn't joking. We stopped laughing. We got the point. He went on to explain the importance of just reading the Bible without any thought of "studying" the Bible. I have never forgotten that powerful lesson. Most believers have never read the Bible once. Want to know the best way to study the Bible? READ IT! You can do more than read it AFTER you have read it, but you can’t do anything more basic or more important than reading it UNTIL you have read it! I am convinced that more than 80% of all believers in the USA have never read through the Bible once.
Paul admonished Timothy, "Devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching." (I Timothy 4:13) Discussion Bible study is the public reading of the scripture. Preaching and teaching have their place, but DBS is for group interaction.
Recently the question came to my mind, "Did the writers of the New Testament letters direct them to the pastors and leaders or were they addressed to the common people?" I immediately read the introduction to each letter that Paul wrote to find the answer to that question. I was amazed! I thought some of them would be directed to church leaders, but what I discovered was a shocker!
We had just received an urgent letter from Russia for Bible study literature for the hundreds of house churches that were forming there. "Why literature?" I thought, "They already have the simplest, most powerful, life transforming literature in the whole world, the Bible, and there are Bibles all over the USSR."
The New Testament was written to the common people. Look what I found as I read Paul's introductory remarks in all his letters:
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus...to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints." Romans
"Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God...to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy..." I Corinthians
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God...to the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia." II Corinthians
"Paul, an apostle...to the churches in Galatia:" Galatians
"Paul, an apostle...to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:" Ephesians
"Paul and Timothy...to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi together with the bishops and deacons." Philippians (Note: This is the only letter that mentions the leaders of the church, but even this one is still addressed to all the saints, which, of course includes the elders and deacons.)
I found that each letter was written to the people and not to an elite group of "clergy" who were to explain the meaning of the letters to the people. The letters were to be read to the people and that implied that they could understand the content of the letters. Of course there is nothing wrong with explaining difficult passages, but the Holy Spirit can and will reveal the meaning of his word to his people through his people. Group Bible study, especially discussion Bible study, is an excellent way to allow the Body of Christ to minister to itself.
The Priesthood of the Believer
We are a "Royal Priesthood" and are not dependent upon a "special" priesthood to understand the Bible. The following words of the apostle, Paul, show that the New Testament was written for the common, ordinary Christian. "I have become the servant (of the church) by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery..."
Paul was able to give the word of God directly to the people, even the deepest mysteries, because these mysteries are now disclosed (revealed) to the saints. Paul knew his writings could be understood by ordinary Christians though Peter said that some things Paul wrote were hard to understand. (See II Peter 3:16)
These and other passages make it plain that it is not only safe but very practical to have a group of common, ordinary believers come together for Bible study with nothing more than the Bible. When Paul left Ephesus, he spoke these words to the leaders and to the saints there: "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." (Acts 20:32)
Advantages of Discussion Bible Study
DBS Keeps the meeting informal. Let the gift of leadership arise, but let none assume the role of the "expert" in Bible knowledge.
DBS gives an opportunity to let God's word speak for itself without the aid of commentaries! There is a place for good Bible commentaries and gifted Bible teachers, but DBS is another approach that calls for a small group of believers to listen to the Holy Spirit and to share their insights.
Using the simple DBS method will make it easier to start churches. The simpler the format of the meeting, the easier to start and lead new churches.
DBS makes us dependent on the Holy Spirit to comprehend what we are reading. The team approach gives balance and strength. What one will not see, someone else will. If the group gets off track, it is the leader’s job to get things back on track.
DBS will put the emphasis back on the Bible itself. This will open up the Bible to each participant. Most Christians do not know what is in the Bible. They have heard and read much about the Bible, but seldom get into the Bible itself.
DBS is safe; and it is in line with the vision for bringing the body of Christ into the work of edifying itself.
GUIDELINES FOR DISCUSSION BIBLE STUDY
1. Pray and ask the Lord to direct the study and that everyone will be edified.
2. The leader will direct the discussion, but all may share their questions and insights as the scripture is being read.
3. Make a determined effort to concentrate on what is being read so that you can ask questions and share your understanding and insights.
4. Feel free to interrupt the reader to make comments or ask questions.
5. On controversial issues, everyone should have perfect liberty to say it like you see it without taking each other to task or trying to prove your viewpoint.
6. Do not remain too long on the same point of discussion. Move along in the reading of the Word. The Word of God itself, without commentary, has power to transform our lives.
7. Read without trying to provoke discussion, but welcome it when it comes.
8. Keep on track; discuss the passage being read without going off on a tangent.
9. Encourage the accomplished talkers to practice holding back and encourage the non-talkers to practice jumping into the conversation.
10. Those who don't want to read aloud for any reason should feel free to pass it on to the next person.
11. All questions are directed to the group and not to the leader.
12. The reader also has liberty to stop reading to make comments or ask questions.
13. Read as many verses as you feel comfortable reading then pass it on to the next person to read, taking care that you don’t read an excessive amount. Everyone should have the opportunity to read.
14. If you need to leave the group for any reason before the session is over, please feel free to do so.
15. Please do not make any derogatory remarks about individuals or groups. We do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit and quench the anointing for revelation in the study of the Word of God.
16. As you read there will be times when you will come across names of ancient people, places, and things that will be difficult to pronounce. This is to inform you that nobody really knows how these words were once pronounced so however you pronounce them is correct!
17. End with a time of praise for what the Lord did in your own heart through the Discussion Bible Study.
18. If you do not cover the assigned portion of the N T for that session, spend more time the following session to catch up.
ASSIGNMENTS
There will be no written tests and no grades given in the MTS. The test is whether or not you are able to finish the course set out before you, discover your ministry gifts and calling and complete three simple assignments: READ through the New Testament from Acts through Revelation as homework. WRITE and make copies of the story of how you became a Christian. These will be used as gospel tracts. (example page 25)
PRAY the divine appointment prayer daily. "Father, give me a divine appointment today with someone who is hungry for God or in need. Give me sensitivity to know when that happens and give me grace to minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit."
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR ABC LEADERS
1. For the first few weeks, read the Guidelines for Discussion Bible Study just before you begin that part of the class.
2. Appoint an assistant leader. You will be training a new MTS leader as well as preparing a helper to take over for you in case of an emergency.
3. Be early for the meetings. You will set the example for the rest.
4. In most cases it is wise to let someone else host the weekly meeting. If you host it and also lead it, you may find it too much to carry in the long run.
5. Leave the enrollment open for about four weeks after the school starts. They will need to catch up on the reading of Acts through Revelation. Consider starting another ABC as soon as several new people want to join in.
6. Ask God to put new people on your heart to contact about the MTS before the enrollment closes.
7. Allow people to "audit" the school without being required to do the assignments. They will be edified and trained to move into the work of the ministry at their own level of anointing and commitment.
8. Rely on the Holy Spirit to pour out revelation, truth, understanding, and light on every student as you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John together.
9. Make it your goal to do all six things in every session, using P,R,A,I,S,E as a guide: Praise and worship, Read and discuss, Assignments and reports, Intercessory prayer, Signs and wonders, and Eat and fellowship.
10. Be faithful to have the meeting each week. The MTS will begin to die when you begin to cancel meetings. Let the assistant lead when you can’t.
11. In the personal ministry time lay hands on the sick and pray the prayer of faith.
12. As each student feels he/she is ready to be sent out to start a new house church, healing rooms there will be the laying on of hands to send out those who finish the course.
13. Help the slower students to succeed.
14. Be careful not to dominate the meeting by talking too much. This is difficult as the leader, but do-able.
15. Become familiar with the contents of the ABC Leader’s Manual. Each student should also get a copy and be aware of its contents.
16. Pray often for each student by name.
17. Pray the "Divine Appointment" prayer together at each meeting.
18. Try to restore anyone who drops out.
THE HEALING ROOMS MINISTRY
The ministry of the healing rooms that is springing up in cities across the USA today is one of the brightest and most encouraging developments in the worldwide move of the Spirit!
Most of us want to go back to John G. Lake to find the beginnings of this wonderful ministry, but in reading the life of Lake, I find that there was another John who preceded John G. Lake who more than likely planted the seed for the Healing Rooms ministry in the heart of John Lake. His name was John Alexander Dowie.
Dowie was a famous pastor in Chicago late in the 19th century who, in his later life, founded Zion City, IL as a Christian community. He had a marvelous healing ministry with thousands of remarkable healings that attracted multitudes from all over America and the world. A part of this healing ministry was Healing Homes. People with terminal illnesses would move into these homes, almost like our modern Convalescent Hospitals, and stay till they received total healing. They would receive ministry over and over again till the healing was complete.
John Lake was born into a family of twelve children, a family who, over the years, bore the pain of almost constant sickness and death among the children. When John grew up he took two of his sisters who had terminal diseases, to Dowie’s Healing Homes in Zion City and, after a period of time, they were both healed.
Lake was a highly successful businessman and amassed a fortune early in life. His heart for God and his call to minister the gospel, however, became so overpowering that in the midst of business deals he would be diverted into evangelizing his client. This began to cause a problem.
Eventually he heard the call of God to quit his business and go to the foreign mission field by faith. He sold everything and gave away his fortune; went to South Africa and spent five amazing years of miracle ministry. God gave him a remarkable anointing to heal the sick and more than five hundred churches were started as a result of those five years of signs and wonders.
After that he moved back to the USA to the city of Spokane, WA where he started a church and a Divine Healing Institute. The school was actually a workshop for divine healing where the students learned to minister divine healing by hands-on experience. Lake rented office spaces for the institute in downtown Spokane and called them "Healing Rooms." Over the next five years thousands of people came to those healing rooms and were healed. Some reports say there were more than one hundred thousand healings in that five year period.
His vision was to start healing rooms in every city in the USA, but he died at the age of 66 and his vision died with him.
About eighty years later, God spoke to Cal Pierce of Redding, CA to move to Spokane and "re-dig the wells of healing" as Isaac had done in the book of Genesis after the Philistines had stopped up the well his father Abraham had dug years before.
Pierce was not disobedient to the heavenly vision and in the space of three or four years, the Healing Rooms Ministry was once again flourishing in the very same rooms in the very same building that John G. Lake had used eighty years before. Now this ministry is popping up in city after city all over America. No doubt the healing rooms vision will be planted in every other country in the days and years ahead.
The ministry of divine healing belongs to the entire Body of Christ. Cal Pierce has freely shared with the Church how he has gone about to re-establish the healing rooms ministry. For more on Cal Pierce's healing rooms ministry, go to.
You can take the training offered by the ministry in Spokane, or you can do as Sam Buick and his leadership did in Kitchener, Canada. They took the simple idea of Healing Rooms with very little explanation, set aside a day and an hour and a place and began to lay hands on the sick. The results? People started getting healed! Not only physical healing, but also inner healing and deliverance. They meet at 3 PM in a home every Sunday afternoon and sometimes the healing session goes on till 9 PM.
I encourage you to avail yourself of all the help you can get in launching into this exciting ministry of divine healing. Be aware that every situation is somewhat different and we must not try to do this by following a formula, trying to follow what others have done in other places. I was in four churches where we tried to copy the methods of Dr. Cho of Korea for church growth and all four failed. Then one day I overheard someone interviewing Dr. Cho on the radio. When asked what was the "bottom line" formula for building the largest church in the world he said, "I just pray and I obey." Six simple words! That approach will work anywhere, among any people. Take the healing rooms concept, then pray and fill in the blanks
As I listened to Dr. Cho's simple explanation of how he did his ministry suddenly I saw how simple it is to enter into any ministry the Lord calls us to do. There may be more and varied principles and methods attached later, but behind every step forward it is, "I just pray and I obey." We can learn from those who have gone before us into the Healing Rooms Ministry, but there is still a uniqueness about every local situation.
You may consider proceeding along the following lines:
1. Plan to do the Healing Rooms in a home one day a week. Most homes have 3 or 4 rooms that are adequate to meet the need. Each one can become a "healing room." The purpose for more than one room is so that you can have two or more healing teams ministering to more than one person at a time.
2. Ask others to pray with you for the success of the healing rooms.
3. Feed your faith for supernatural healing on good books and tapes. (see list below)
4. Set a day of the week and the hours when the healing rooms will be
open and tell others. Miracles of healing will be your strongest advertisement.
5. Train others to be a part of the healing teams. God will show you how.
6. Make teaching tapes, books, and videos available to the healing teams.
7. Depend on word of mouth and testimonies of healings to get the word out and cause the ministry to grow. Be not weary in well doing for in due season you will reap if you faint not. Don’t doubt in the dark what God gave you in the light.
8. Open the healing rooms from 10 AM to 3 PM (or the hours that best suit your situation) one day a week. You may want to start with only one or two hours to begin with.
9. Add another day only when the first day has been filled. Let another family host it in their home.
10. Keep a file on each person who comes for ministry. Encourage them to return again and again till the healing is complete. Even Jesus had to minister more than once before the healing was complete. (see Mark 8:24)
11. Be open to the need for inner healing and deliverance in some cases.
12. Use the believers in the city wide Body of Christ as well as those who attend house churches to be on the healing teams.
13. Provide as many as possible of the following books:
CHRIST THE HEALER by F. F. Bosworth,
DIVINE HEALING by Andrew Murray,
THE HEALING LIGHT by Agnes Sanford,
THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JOHN G. LAKE by Kenneth Copeland Ministries.
GOD’S GENERALS by Roberts Lairdon Ministries,
THE PRAYER THAT HEALS, by Francis MacNutt
14. There are many other good books and tapes that you can use to train the healing teams. It is also good to have them attend teachings on divine healing whenever possible.
15. Some may ask, "But why can't we just do this ministry as a part of the church service?" The fact is that in most cases there is not nearly enough time. Most churches never give a call to the sick to come forward for healing prayer and even those who do cannot give more than a few minutes to each person who comes. The healing rooms give a place where quality time can be given to each one who is in need of healing.
God bless you as you move into this important work. Remember the words of Jesus: "In my name they shall . . . lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
WRITING YOUR STORY
To be used in Personal Evangelism
Three times in the book of Acts Luke records the story of how Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus. I believe that is not just repetition without purpose, but rather shows us the importance of our personal testimony. The story of how we came out of darkness into light is a very effective tool for evangelism!
One of the assignments is to write your story in three parts: life before Christ, how I received Christ and the changes Christ has made in my life. This will be formed into a very brief gospel tract with your picture on the front cover. It has to be brief enough to fit on the front and back of a one sheet of paper. Those who receive it will be more inclined to read it because it is a personal sharing of your own story rather than a "generic" booklet. You can make copies of it at an office supply store, fold it appropriately and use it as an evangelistic tool.
I am sharing MY STORY below to give you an example of about how long to make your story and the three things to include. The story should include the simple message that Christ died for our sins.
A Word of Explanation
For several years I have wanted to make up a little booklet with a photo of myself on the front cover and call it MY STORY and use it as a personalized gospel booklet to give to the person with whom I have been witnessing. Nothing is more powerful in personal evangelism than your own story of how you came to Jesus.
My Story
Psychologists tell us that the four most dramatic and life-changing events in anyone's life are the following: (listed in the order of their importance and the depth of their effect upon our lives)
The first is the experience of knowing God or spiritual conversion. The second is marriage. The third is the birth of a baby into the family, and the fourth is the death of a family member. I have lived long enough to experience all four of these life-changing events.
My earliest awakening toward God and spiritual things was when I was about two years old. My mother was holding me in her arms and our family was attending a revival meeting in Roscoe, Texas. The preacher was shouting and stomping as he preached and it scared me half to death. I remember that it scared me so much I started crying.
I learned very early in life that God is good and the devil is bad. Good people go to heaven when they die and bad people go to hell. I didn’t know much about heaven or hell but I knew enough to know that I didn’t want to go to hell and I did want to go to heaven. I thought that if my good deeds weighed more than my bad deeds when I died, God would let me into heaven. At the time I did not know why Jesus died on the cross.
So, as a very small boy I started trying to be good. It wasn’t long before I stopped trying. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not be good. So I gave it up, thinking it would be easier later on in life.
It may seem unusual for someone so young to have such thoughts as these. But after years of working with small children, as a father of seven, as a public school teacher and in children's evangelism, I have no doubt that very small children can believe on Christ and receive him as Savior.
When I was eleven years of age I attended a tent revival in Chester, Arkansas along with my big brother and some of our gang. Night after night when the invitation was given to receive Christ I wanted to respond, but I didn’t want to be laughed at by my "tough" friends.
One night the preacher said that if we were ashamed of Jesus before men he would be ashamed of us before his Father. The fear of the Lord struck my heart when I heard that. As I stood there with this battle between the fear of God and the fear of man going on inside me, suddenly Bud, my big brother stepped out and walked down the isle to receive Jesus. I was right behind him. Years later Bud was one of the first American airmen killed in the Vietnam War. I believe I'll see him again in heaven.
When we walked home that night, I felt so good! I had peace with God for the very first time, knowing that my sins were forgiven and that when I died I would go to heaven. For the next few weeks I prayed all the time and sang the songs I had learned at the tent meetings, but little by little the spiritual fires within me began to die down and cool off.
I was raised in a home where we seldom ever went to church. The effect of the revival in Roscoe on my family did not last long and my Dad had a serious drinking problem. Drunkenness, foul language, partying, fighting, quarreling, and immorality surrounded me much of the time in those days.
Over the years I had developed habits of lying, cheating, stealing, smoking, cursing, fighting and several other character traits of a typical budding criminal. Now that I had received Jesus into my life, things were different. But satan does not give up easily and . . .
One day I was alone in the kitchen when I saw a woman’s purse laying on the cabinet. As I stood there alone, looking longingly at that purse, I thought, "There must be money in that purse, but I can't steal it now 'cause I'm a Christian."
Then I remembered what I had heard someone say about "the age of accountability." They said we are not responsible for our sins till we are twelve years old, and I was still eleven years old. It would be several months before I would turn twelve. So I prayed a short little prayer, "Lord, I will come back to you when I am twelve, but I am going to take that purse."
So I grabbed the purse, ran out the back door, ran down into the woods, scrambled behind a huge bolder and opened up the purse. My heart sank! It was EMPTY! I had sold out for NOTHING!
I was numb with guilt and regret and if I had only known about confession and forgiveness I would not have wandered in sin for the next several years. I did not know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin and that confession and repentance would have put me back on track again.
But that was the beginning of six wasted years, living the life of a prodigal son. I did not return to God on my 12th birthday, or my 13th, or 14th, or 15th, or 16th, or 17th. I went all the way down to the pigpen following my selfish ways.
Then tragedy struck. My mother was killed in an auto accident on Mothers Day, May 10, 1952 in San Angelo, Texas. At the time I was working in the oil fields in Mineral Well, Texas. I was almost 18 years old. I can still hear the tremble in Bud's voice on the phone that night when he called to tell me that Mother had been in a car wreck. When I asked him how bad she was hurt he said, "Bob, she's dead." I can still hear those words and I still feel the pain in my heart at the memory of that awful night nearly fifty years ago.
After Mother died, I knew I had to turn my back on the life of sin that I was living. I left Mineral Wells, moved back to San Angelo and started to attend a little Baptist church one block from my house. I made a public confession of my faith in Jesus and was baptized in the Concho River near Christoval, Texas in July of 1952.
Jesus became my Lord, my life, my joy, and my strength. One day I found a little Gideon New Testament and as I read, I began to grow in the knowledge of God.
My girlfriend, Joni Montgomery, had secretly been praying for me that I would be saved. She had received the Lord when she was twelve. When I came back to God, she renewed her walk with the Lord and became my strongest support. We were eventually married and she has become my lifelong partner in this walk of faith.
Our pastor, T. H. Harding, asked me one day, "Bob, what are you planning to do with your life?" I said, "Well, I don’t really know. I like to play the guitar and sing and write songs." My driving ambition at the time was to be a country and western recording artist.
A few days later Pastor Harding took me to Howard Payne College in Brownwood, TX, about a hundred miles away, and helped me get enrolled. I had dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, but they allowed me to take an entrance exam and suddenly I was a college student!
When I was age 19 and Joni was 17 we got married and moved from Texas to California and over the next 25 years God blessed us with seven children, five daughters and two sons.
While still a teenager I committed my life to be a missionary and for the past 49 years I have been telling people about Jesus, and teaching others to do the same, all over the USA and in several foreign countries.
Jesus has made all the difference in my life. He provides all my needs. He picks me up when I fall down. He comforts me in times of sorrow. He awakens in me a desire to live a pure and holy life. He helps me to resolve my problems. He heals me when I get sick. He keeps me from the snares of the devil. He helps me forgive those who hurt me. He gives me wisdom and direction in the decisions of life. He reveals truth to me when I read the Bible. He enables me to teach, to share the good news of God's love with others. He gives me strength to reach out and help those in need.
I am so thankful I heard the simple message of God’s love and forgiveness at an early age and gave my heart to Jesus!
If you have read my story this far, you are more than mildly interested in the things of God. I want to share with you how very simple it is to receive Jesus into your life.
If you know that you have sinned, and if you believe that God loves you and sent Jesus to die on the cross for your sins, you can pray this simple prayer and Jesus will come into your life:
Dear God, I know I have sinned, but I believe you love me and sent your son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die in my place to pay for all my sins. I invite you, Lord Jesus, to come into my heart right now and cleanse me from all my sins. Make me the kind of person you created me to be. Thank you for hearing my prayer and for coming into my life.
If this prayer is the desire of your heart, pray it right now. Jesus will come into your life and take away all your sins; he will transform your life and you will have peace with God that passes all understanding!
If you would like to have a copy of THE LIFE OF JESUS written by John, one of Jesus' disciples, send me your address and I will send you one free of charge.
SPIRITUAL SYNERGISM
Several years ago I was physically tired and worn out most of the time. A friend noticed my droopy appearance and gave me a bottle of some kind of tea or tonic that he said would give me some energy. It was a mixture of herbs, vitamins, and minerals. I took some of it and a couple of days later I started feeling a great boost in my energy level. Apparently that particular mixture had infused ENERGY into my system.
One morning I was lying in bed right after I awoke and the word "synergism" came into my mind. I didn’t know what it meant, but I felt the Lord wanted to show me something, I got up and looked up that word in the dictionary and found that it has to do with certain mixtures. When two elements are combined and the total effect is greater than the sum of the two effects taken independently, it is called a synergism.
For example, if I have three stones and each one weighs one pound, when I put them on the scales together they will weigh three pounds. But if that mixture of three stones is synergistic, they may weigh thirty pounds! A synergism has an explosive element that multiplies the effect simple because certain elements come together.
I believe there is such a thing a SPIRITUAL SYNERGISM! When certain people get together, there is an explosion of spiritual energy. When certain elements of ministry come together there is a dynamic surge forward!
For ten years I have labored in this ministry to plant house churches. There were some victories and we did succeed in planting a few churches here and there from time to time, but, on the whole, it was a very discouraging program. Then about two years ago, God added the Home Bible Colleges. We have seen remarkable strength added to the house church vision through the addition of the home Bible colleges.
Then about a year ago, the Lord added the Healing Rooms, John G. Lake style. That gave us a spiritual synergism that has caused exciting things to start happening wherever we start the healing rooms alongside of house churches and home Bible colleges. More recently the Lord has spoken to us to add one final H to the mix . . . houses of prayer. Now we have a 4H Vision . . . House church, Home Bible colleges, Healing rooms, and Houses of prayer.
Wherever we start a house church it will be our goal to start the other three ministries. Wherever we start the ABC (Alpha-Omega Bible College), in God's time, we will start the other three. Wherever we start the Healing Rooms, our goal will be to start house churches, home Bible colleges, and houses of prayer.
FORTY TRENDS BACK TO SIMPLICITY
Rethinking the Nature and Function of Church
By Robert Fitts
1. From the sanctuaries to the streets. (Doing the works of Jesus wherever we find a need)
2. From Christianity to Christ. (Not a philosophy or a system, but Christ in you!)
3. From church houses to house churches. (Simplify to multiply)
4. From upward to outward growth. (Plan to have a church split! You’ll be blessed!)
5. From paid pastors to common, ordinary tentmakers. (Rejecting the clergy/laity system)
6. From a special priesthood to a priesthood of all believers (All are ministers & preachers)
7. From hierarchy to servant leaders. (The great ones are those who wash feet)
8. From weekly worship to constant worship. (Worship is more than singing. Rom. 12:1-2)
9. From bringing people to church to bringing church to people. (A life changing prayer) *
10. From symbolism to substance in the Lord's Supper (Take it often. Take it with a meal)
11. From denominations to Spirit-led networks (Identify with the whole Body of Christ)
12. From social respectability to salt and light. (Turn the world upside down. It needs it!)
13. From performance by professionals to I Cor. 14:26 meetings. (Everyone has something to share)
14. From program based to home based church. (Liturgical, Evangelical, Informal, which is largest?)
15. From the seminary system to the apprentice system.. (Two Timothy Two Two)
16. From tenth to total in our giving. (When generosity is encouraged, reward is promised. Ck. it out!)
17. From selective submission to total submission. (To every authority, everywhere, all the time)
18. From titles to function. Call no man teacher, father, Rabbi. (What about "Paul, an apostle"?)
19. From independence to inter-dependence (Embrace the city-wide church)
20. From paper membership to Body membership (We ARE members one of another, already!)
21. From the wheel to the vine (Releasing teams to plant simple churches in homes all over town)**
22. From organizational unity to spiritual unity. (There is only one step to unity - Rom. 14:1, 15:7)
23. From Safeway or Circle K to Safeway and Circle K. (Receive everything that God receives.)**
24. From "Us and them" to just "Us" (Refuse to allow an "us and them" spirit in your midst)
25. From planned church to spontaneous church. (Recognize ekklesia when 2 or 3 gather in his name)
26. From bondage to freedom for women. (Acts 2:17-18, Gal. 3:26-28. Freeing God’s ministers )
27. From presbytery without the people to presbytery with the people involved. (Acts 15:22)
28. From arbitrary guidelines to biblical guidelines for appointing elders (I Tim. 3, Titus 1)
29. From "my pastor" to "my pastors." (MR. PASTOR, TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS!)
30. From raising up leaders to appointing servants. (The ground is flat in God’s kingdom)
31. From local vision to world vision. (Jesus last command: (All the world, every person, every nation)
32. From building my kingdom to building His kingdom. ("Come and let us help you fulfill your vision")
33. From wall-wide church to city-wide church. (They filled Jerusalem with their teaching)
34. From fear of stealing sheep to fear of possessing sheep. (Acts 20:28-31. One city-One flock)
35. From building-centered pastors, to people-centered pastors. (Acts 20:28-31. One city-One Body)
36. From using the word "church" to using the phrase "the Body of Christ." (Acts 19:32-41)
37. From restricted to unhindered fellowship. (I’m a member of every church in town.)
38. From overwhelming oversight to restful oversight. (Tomato plant, Fire, Starter motor)**
39. From lecture Bible study to interactive Bible study. (The Body of Christ ministering to itself)
40. From dependence on programs to dependence on prayer. (the Acts 4:29-30 kind)
* Father, give me a divine appointment with someone today who is hungry for God or in need. Give me sensitivity to know when that happens and grace to minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
** These allegories are found in the body of my book Forty Trends.
An Invitation
Will you help us start one of these ministries in your Town? Your City? Your University? Your Church? Your Home? Pray about it and if God leads you to co-labor with us, contact us at:
Outreach Fellowship International - INDONESIA
DAVE BROOS
MOBILE PHONE: 081330135643
E-MAIL: davebroos@yahoo.co.uk
In Acts chapter nineteen we witness an amazing thing in the life of the apostle Paul. In the opening verses Paul is traveling and comes to the city of Ephesus. He finds twelve disciples and in talking to them he discovers that they have not yet been baptized in the name of Jesus. So he baptizes them then lays hands on them and ministers to them the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Then, for about three months, he and this little group of disciples reason with the Jews in the synagogue persuading them about the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God. But some were hardened and would not receive their teaching, so Paul takes the disciples and moves to the school of Tyrannus. For two years, he had daily discussions with both Jews and Greeks about the Kingdom of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The amazing thing is what resulted from Paul’s little "Bible School" in the city of Ephesus. The NIV version puts it like this: "He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them." (Acts 19:9-10)
The province of Asia in Paul’s day was about the size of the state of California. Can you imagine the influence of one school reaching the entire state of California? Even his adversaries acknowledged the effectiveness of Paul’s school! They said, "And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia." (Acts 19:26)
It must not be overlooked that it was more than just teaching the word of the Lord that gave Paul’s school such a dynamic impact on the people of Asia. It was miracles of healing and deliverance added to the teaching of the word.
The ministry of healing and deliverance was the drawing power in the ministry of Jesus also. They not only came to hear his words but to be healed of their diseases and delivered from demonic oppression.
The Ministry Training Schools not only teach the word in the same way as Paul, through discussion Bible study, but we minister healing and deliverance in the name of Jesus, following Paul's example and the example of Jesus.
It is our prayer that the teaching, healing and deliverance ministry of the MTS will be so powerful in every city that it will be said of us what was said of the early disciples in the city of Jerusalem: "You have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine." May these Ministry Training Schools impact every city and town in every state in the USA and in every nation of the world.
AN OVERVIEW
1. Goal- The Ministry Training School (MTS) is a response to Jesus’ command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. It is training the saints to begin doing the works of Jesus right where we live and work.
2. Plan -Our plan is to plant churches, healing rooms, and houses of prayer in every city and town in every state in the USA.
3. Structure - Small groups meeting in homes. Better to have a hundred groups of 12 than 12 groups of 100, or one group of 1,200. Larger groups have their place, but the ABC is a small group of disciples.
4. Leaders -Qualifications for leaders are listed in I Timothy 3 and in Titus 1.
5. Schedule - The MTS is an ongoing school. Students are released into ministry as it beomes evident that they are ready and are called of God to be commissioned into the work God ordains for them.
6. Method - Discussion Bible Study is our method for teaching through the New Testament.
7. Classes - In every meeting we spend time in the following activities under the acronym PRAISE: P - Praise and worship
R - Read and discuss
A - Assignments and reports
I - Intercessory Prayer
S - Signs and wonders
E - Eat and fellowship
8. Assignments - Read Acts through Revelation as homework.
Write out your own testimony.
Pray the Great Commission prayer daily (see Evangelism below)
9. Expectation - We expect to make disciples in every nation teaching them to observe all things that Jesus commanded. We expect Jesus to work with us as He did the early church, confirming the word with signs following.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The MTS could be called an Ephesians Four School. Paul says in verses 11-13 that apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor teachers are given to the church for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. This is the purpose of the MTS. Each student will go through the Life of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in interactive Bible study in class using the book JESUS CHRIST THE GREATEST LIFE BY Johnston Cheney, and read through the rest of the New Testament in his/her private devotions. MTS has a vision to train believers worldwide to start healing rooms, houses of prayer and house churches by appointing individuals and couples in every country to help spread this vision for Simple Church.
Church Planting: MTS teaches simple methods of church planting that are effective and adaptable anywhere in the world.
Evangelism: MTS teaches evangelism in everyday life situations. At each session, time will be given to share experiences in ministry and personal evangelism as the Lord opens hearts and sets up "divine appointments" in answer to the Great Commission Prayer: "Father, give me a divine appointment today with someone who is hungry for God or in need. Give me sensitivity to know when that happens and grace to minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit."
World Mission: Our goal is to train and appoint national coordinators for every country who in turn will appoint state or provincial coordinators who will appoint county coordinators who will appoint city coordinators. The purpose is to start house churches, healing Rooms, and houses of prayer in every city and town in every nation
DISCUSSION BIBLE STUDY
Discussion Bible Study is simple and spontaneous. Another name for it is Interactive Bible Study. You do not need a teacher or any Bible study material. All you need is a Bible, a group leader, and a few people who want to know what the Bible is all about. If one is present with a gift of teaching, let him/her participate as a learner first. All may teach as God reveals truth during the reading. DBS is group participation and not a lecture-type presentation.
The scriptural basis for this type of Bible study is Colossians 4:16, "After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea." Paul could have said, "After you have studied this letter" but he just told them to read it. Reading is studying! It is studying on the most basic level. Paul was confident that with the guidance of the Spirit they could understand his letter.
In discussion Bible study we simply take turns reading the scripture. While it is being read, everyone is invited to interrupt at any time and make a comment or ask a question. That is discussion Bible study.
You may be surprised at how much conversation is generated and how much you learn as you read the Word of God together. Sometimes one may read a long passage without any discussion at all. Don’t be alarmed. Just let the Word minister. Don't try to force conversation. Once the conversation gets going the problem will be how to get back into reading. The work of the leader is to keep reading and conversation going, not just one or the other.
You won't need to dissect and scrutinize each word. Just read it. It is amazing how much you can learn about the Bible by reading it! It reminds me of a conference we held years ago in Child Evangelism Fellowship. We had invited a prominent Bible teacher to be our speaker. At lunch I asked him to give us some helpful hints on how to study the Bible. He smiled and said, "Sure, I'd be glad to."
After lunch when it came his time to speak again, he stood and said, "Brother Fitts has asked me to give you some pointers on how to study the Bible. Here they are: Got your pens and paper? There are three of them." There was a flurry of paper and pens being readied for the speakers points on how to study the Bible.
"Point number one is, READ THE BIBLE! Point number two is, READ THE BIBLE!! And point number three is, READ THE BIBLE! That's it."
Everyone laughed. He didn't laugh. He was serious. He wasn't joking. We stopped laughing. We got the point. He went on to explain the importance of just reading the Bible without any thought of "studying" the Bible. I have never forgotten that powerful lesson. Most believers have never read the Bible once. Want to know the best way to study the Bible? READ IT! You can do more than read it AFTER you have read it, but you can’t do anything more basic or more important than reading it UNTIL you have read it! I am convinced that more than 80% of all believers in the USA have never read through the Bible once.
Paul admonished Timothy, "Devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching." (I Timothy 4:13) Discussion Bible study is the public reading of the scripture. Preaching and teaching have their place, but DBS is for group interaction.
Recently the question came to my mind, "Did the writers of the New Testament letters direct them to the pastors and leaders or were they addressed to the common people?" I immediately read the introduction to each letter that Paul wrote to find the answer to that question. I was amazed! I thought some of them would be directed to church leaders, but what I discovered was a shocker!
We had just received an urgent letter from Russia for Bible study literature for the hundreds of house churches that were forming there. "Why literature?" I thought, "They already have the simplest, most powerful, life transforming literature in the whole world, the Bible, and there are Bibles all over the USSR."
The New Testament was written to the common people. Look what I found as I read Paul's introductory remarks in all his letters:
"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus...to all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints." Romans
"Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God...to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy..." I Corinthians
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God...to the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia." II Corinthians
"Paul, an apostle...to the churches in Galatia:" Galatians
"Paul, an apostle...to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:" Ephesians
"Paul and Timothy...to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi together with the bishops and deacons." Philippians (Note: This is the only letter that mentions the leaders of the church, but even this one is still addressed to all the saints, which, of course includes the elders and deacons.)
I found that each letter was written to the people and not to an elite group of "clergy" who were to explain the meaning of the letters to the people. The letters were to be read to the people and that implied that they could understand the content of the letters. Of course there is nothing wrong with explaining difficult passages, but the Holy Spirit can and will reveal the meaning of his word to his people through his people. Group Bible study, especially discussion Bible study, is an excellent way to allow the Body of Christ to minister to itself.
The Priesthood of the Believer
We are a "Royal Priesthood" and are not dependent upon a "special" priesthood to understand the Bible. The following words of the apostle, Paul, show that the New Testament was written for the common, ordinary Christian. "I have become the servant (of the church) by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery..."
Paul was able to give the word of God directly to the people, even the deepest mysteries, because these mysteries are now disclosed (revealed) to the saints. Paul knew his writings could be understood by ordinary Christians though Peter said that some things Paul wrote were hard to understand. (See II Peter 3:16)
These and other passages make it plain that it is not only safe but very practical to have a group of common, ordinary believers come together for Bible study with nothing more than the Bible. When Paul left Ephesus, he spoke these words to the leaders and to the saints there: "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." (Acts 20:32)
Advantages of Discussion Bible Study
DBS Keeps the meeting informal. Let the gift of leadership arise, but let none assume the role of the "expert" in Bible knowledge.
DBS gives an opportunity to let God's word speak for itself without the aid of commentaries! There is a place for good Bible commentaries and gifted Bible teachers, but DBS is another approach that calls for a small group of believers to listen to the Holy Spirit and to share their insights.
Using the simple DBS method will make it easier to start churches. The simpler the format of the meeting, the easier to start and lead new churches.
DBS makes us dependent on the Holy Spirit to comprehend what we are reading. The team approach gives balance and strength. What one will not see, someone else will. If the group gets off track, it is the leader’s job to get things back on track.
DBS will put the emphasis back on the Bible itself. This will open up the Bible to each participant. Most Christians do not know what is in the Bible. They have heard and read much about the Bible, but seldom get into the Bible itself.
DBS is safe; and it is in line with the vision for bringing the body of Christ into the work of edifying itself.
GUIDELINES FOR DISCUSSION BIBLE STUDY
1. Pray and ask the Lord to direct the study and that everyone will be edified.
2. The leader will direct the discussion, but all may share their questions and insights as the scripture is being read.
3. Make a determined effort to concentrate on what is being read so that you can ask questions and share your understanding and insights.
4. Feel free to interrupt the reader to make comments or ask questions.
5. On controversial issues, everyone should have perfect liberty to say it like you see it without taking each other to task or trying to prove your viewpoint.
6. Do not remain too long on the same point of discussion. Move along in the reading of the Word. The Word of God itself, without commentary, has power to transform our lives.
7. Read without trying to provoke discussion, but welcome it when it comes.
8. Keep on track; discuss the passage being read without going off on a tangent.
9. Encourage the accomplished talkers to practice holding back and encourage the non-talkers to practice jumping into the conversation.
10. Those who don't want to read aloud for any reason should feel free to pass it on to the next person.
11. All questions are directed to the group and not to the leader.
12. The reader also has liberty to stop reading to make comments or ask questions.
13. Read as many verses as you feel comfortable reading then pass it on to the next person to read, taking care that you don’t read an excessive amount. Everyone should have the opportunity to read.
14. If you need to leave the group for any reason before the session is over, please feel free to do so.
15. Please do not make any derogatory remarks about individuals or groups. We do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit and quench the anointing for revelation in the study of the Word of God.
16. As you read there will be times when you will come across names of ancient people, places, and things that will be difficult to pronounce. This is to inform you that nobody really knows how these words were once pronounced so however you pronounce them is correct!
17. End with a time of praise for what the Lord did in your own heart through the Discussion Bible Study.
18. If you do not cover the assigned portion of the N T for that session, spend more time the following session to catch up.
ASSIGNMENTS
There will be no written tests and no grades given in the MTS. The test is whether or not you are able to finish the course set out before you, discover your ministry gifts and calling and complete three simple assignments: READ through the New Testament from Acts through Revelation as homework. WRITE and make copies of the story of how you became a Christian. These will be used as gospel tracts. (example page 25)
PRAY the divine appointment prayer daily. "Father, give me a divine appointment today with someone who is hungry for God or in need. Give me sensitivity to know when that happens and give me grace to minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit."
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR ABC LEADERS
1. For the first few weeks, read the Guidelines for Discussion Bible Study just before you begin that part of the class.
2. Appoint an assistant leader. You will be training a new MTS leader as well as preparing a helper to take over for you in case of an emergency.
3. Be early for the meetings. You will set the example for the rest.
4. In most cases it is wise to let someone else host the weekly meeting. If you host it and also lead it, you may find it too much to carry in the long run.
5. Leave the enrollment open for about four weeks after the school starts. They will need to catch up on the reading of Acts through Revelation. Consider starting another ABC as soon as several new people want to join in.
6. Ask God to put new people on your heart to contact about the MTS before the enrollment closes.
7. Allow people to "audit" the school without being required to do the assignments. They will be edified and trained to move into the work of the ministry at their own level of anointing and commitment.
8. Rely on the Holy Spirit to pour out revelation, truth, understanding, and light on every student as you read through Matthew, Mark, Luke and John together.
9. Make it your goal to do all six things in every session, using P,R,A,I,S,E as a guide: Praise and worship, Read and discuss, Assignments and reports, Intercessory prayer, Signs and wonders, and Eat and fellowship.
10. Be faithful to have the meeting each week. The MTS will begin to die when you begin to cancel meetings. Let the assistant lead when you can’t.
11. In the personal ministry time lay hands on the sick and pray the prayer of faith.
12. As each student feels he/she is ready to be sent out to start a new house church, healing rooms there will be the laying on of hands to send out those who finish the course.
13. Help the slower students to succeed.
14. Be careful not to dominate the meeting by talking too much. This is difficult as the leader, but do-able.
15. Become familiar with the contents of the ABC Leader’s Manual. Each student should also get a copy and be aware of its contents.
16. Pray often for each student by name.
17. Pray the "Divine Appointment" prayer together at each meeting.
18. Try to restore anyone who drops out.
THE HEALING ROOMS MINISTRY
The ministry of the healing rooms that is springing up in cities across the USA today is one of the brightest and most encouraging developments in the worldwide move of the Spirit!
Most of us want to go back to John G. Lake to find the beginnings of this wonderful ministry, but in reading the life of Lake, I find that there was another John who preceded John G. Lake who more than likely planted the seed for the Healing Rooms ministry in the heart of John Lake. His name was John Alexander Dowie.
Dowie was a famous pastor in Chicago late in the 19th century who, in his later life, founded Zion City, IL as a Christian community. He had a marvelous healing ministry with thousands of remarkable healings that attracted multitudes from all over America and the world. A part of this healing ministry was Healing Homes. People with terminal illnesses would move into these homes, almost like our modern Convalescent Hospitals, and stay till they received total healing. They would receive ministry over and over again till the healing was complete.
John Lake was born into a family of twelve children, a family who, over the years, bore the pain of almost constant sickness and death among the children. When John grew up he took two of his sisters who had terminal diseases, to Dowie’s Healing Homes in Zion City and, after a period of time, they were both healed.
Lake was a highly successful businessman and amassed a fortune early in life. His heart for God and his call to minister the gospel, however, became so overpowering that in the midst of business deals he would be diverted into evangelizing his client. This began to cause a problem.
Eventually he heard the call of God to quit his business and go to the foreign mission field by faith. He sold everything and gave away his fortune; went to South Africa and spent five amazing years of miracle ministry. God gave him a remarkable anointing to heal the sick and more than five hundred churches were started as a result of those five years of signs and wonders.
After that he moved back to the USA to the city of Spokane, WA where he started a church and a Divine Healing Institute. The school was actually a workshop for divine healing where the students learned to minister divine healing by hands-on experience. Lake rented office spaces for the institute in downtown Spokane and called them "Healing Rooms." Over the next five years thousands of people came to those healing rooms and were healed. Some reports say there were more than one hundred thousand healings in that five year period.
His vision was to start healing rooms in every city in the USA, but he died at the age of 66 and his vision died with him.
About eighty years later, God spoke to Cal Pierce of Redding, CA to move to Spokane and "re-dig the wells of healing" as Isaac had done in the book of Genesis after the Philistines had stopped up the well his father Abraham had dug years before.
Pierce was not disobedient to the heavenly vision and in the space of three or four years, the Healing Rooms Ministry was once again flourishing in the very same rooms in the very same building that John G. Lake had used eighty years before. Now this ministry is popping up in city after city all over America. No doubt the healing rooms vision will be planted in every other country in the days and years ahead.
The ministry of divine healing belongs to the entire Body of Christ. Cal Pierce has freely shared with the Church how he has gone about to re-establish the healing rooms ministry. For more on Cal Pierce's healing rooms ministry, go to
You can take the training offered by the ministry in Spokane, or you can do as Sam Buick and his leadership did in Kitchener, Canada. They took the simple idea of Healing Rooms with very little explanation, set aside a day and an hour and a place and began to lay hands on the sick. The results? People started getting healed! Not only physical healing, but also inner healing and deliverance. They meet at 3 PM in a home every Sunday afternoon and sometimes the healing session goes on till 9 PM.
I encourage you to avail yourself of all the help you can get in launching into this exciting ministry of divine healing. Be aware that every situation is somewhat different and we must not try to do this by following a formula, trying to follow what others have done in other places. I was in four churches where we tried to copy the methods of Dr. Cho of Korea for church growth and all four failed. Then one day I overheard someone interviewing Dr. Cho on the radio. When asked what was the "bottom line" formula for building the largest church in the world he said, "I just pray and I obey." Six simple words! That approach will work anywhere, among any people. Take the healing rooms concept, then pray and fill in the blanks
As I listened to Dr. Cho's simple explanation of how he did his ministry suddenly I saw how simple it is to enter into any ministry the Lord calls us to do. There may be more and varied principles and methods attached later, but behind every step forward it is, "I just pray and I obey." We can learn from those who have gone before us into the Healing Rooms Ministry, but there is still a uniqueness about every local situation.
You may consider proceeding along the following lines:
1. Plan to do the Healing Rooms in a home one day a week. Most homes have 3 or 4 rooms that are adequate to meet the need. Each one can become a "healing room." The purpose for more than one room is so that you can have two or more healing teams ministering to more than one person at a time.
2. Ask others to pray with you for the success of the healing rooms.
3. Feed your faith for supernatural healing on good books and tapes. (see list below)
4. Set a day of the week and the hours when the healing rooms will be
open and tell others. Miracles of healing will be your strongest advertisement.
5. Train others to be a part of the healing teams. God will show you how.
6. Make teaching tapes, books, and videos available to the healing teams.
7. Depend on word of mouth and testimonies of healings to get the word out and cause the ministry to grow. Be not weary in well doing for in due season you will reap if you faint not. Don’t doubt in the dark what God gave you in the light.
8. Open the healing rooms from 10 AM to 3 PM (or the hours that best suit your situation) one day a week. You may want to start with only one or two hours to begin with.
9. Add another day only when the first day has been filled. Let another family host it in their home.
10. Keep a file on each person who comes for ministry. Encourage them to return again and again till the healing is complete. Even Jesus had to minister more than once before the healing was complete. (see Mark 8:24)
11. Be open to the need for inner healing and deliverance in some cases.
12. Use the believers in the city wide Body of Christ as well as those who attend house churches to be on the healing teams.
13. Provide as many as possible of the following books:
CHRIST THE HEALER by F. F. Bosworth,
DIVINE HEALING by Andrew Murray,
THE HEALING LIGHT by Agnes Sanford,
THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JOHN G. LAKE by Kenneth Copeland Ministries.
GOD’S GENERALS by Roberts Lairdon Ministries,
THE PRAYER THAT HEALS, by Francis MacNutt
14. There are many other good books and tapes that you can use to train the healing teams. It is also good to have them attend teachings on divine healing whenever possible.
15. Some may ask, "But why can't we just do this ministry as a part of the church service?" The fact is that in most cases there is not nearly enough time. Most churches never give a call to the sick to come forward for healing prayer and even those who do cannot give more than a few minutes to each person who comes. The healing rooms give a place where quality time can be given to each one who is in need of healing.
God bless you as you move into this important work. Remember the words of Jesus: "In my name they shall . . . lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
WRITING YOUR STORY
To be used in Personal Evangelism
Three times in the book of Acts Luke records the story of how Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus. I believe that is not just repetition without purpose, but rather shows us the importance of our personal testimony. The story of how we came out of darkness into light is a very effective tool for evangelism!
One of the assignments is to write your story in three parts: life before Christ, how I received Christ and the changes Christ has made in my life. This will be formed into a very brief gospel tract with your picture on the front cover. It has to be brief enough to fit on the front and back of a one sheet of paper. Those who receive it will be more inclined to read it because it is a personal sharing of your own story rather than a "generic" booklet. You can make copies of it at an office supply store, fold it appropriately and use it as an evangelistic tool.
I am sharing MY STORY below to give you an example of about how long to make your story and the three things to include. The story should include the simple message that Christ died for our sins.
A Word of Explanation
For several years I have wanted to make up a little booklet with a photo of myself on the front cover and call it MY STORY and use it as a personalized gospel booklet to give to the person with whom I have been witnessing. Nothing is more powerful in personal evangelism than your own story of how you came to Jesus.
My Story
Psychologists tell us that the four most dramatic and life-changing events in anyone's life are the following: (listed in the order of their importance and the depth of their effect upon our lives)
The first is the experience of knowing God or spiritual conversion. The second is marriage. The third is the birth of a baby into the family, and the fourth is the death of a family member. I have lived long enough to experience all four of these life-changing events.
My earliest awakening toward God and spiritual things was when I was about two years old. My mother was holding me in her arms and our family was attending a revival meeting in Roscoe, Texas. The preacher was shouting and stomping as he preached and it scared me half to death. I remember that it scared me so much I started crying.
I learned very early in life that God is good and the devil is bad. Good people go to heaven when they die and bad people go to hell. I didn’t know much about heaven or hell but I knew enough to know that I didn’t want to go to hell and I did want to go to heaven. I thought that if my good deeds weighed more than my bad deeds when I died, God would let me into heaven. At the time I did not know why Jesus died on the cross.
So, as a very small boy I started trying to be good. It wasn’t long before I stopped trying. No matter how hard I tried, I just could not be good. So I gave it up, thinking it would be easier later on in life.
It may seem unusual for someone so young to have such thoughts as these. But after years of working with small children, as a father of seven, as a public school teacher and in children's evangelism, I have no doubt that very small children can believe on Christ and receive him as Savior.
When I was eleven years of age I attended a tent revival in Chester, Arkansas along with my big brother and some of our gang. Night after night when the invitation was given to receive Christ I wanted to respond, but I didn’t want to be laughed at by my "tough" friends.
One night the preacher said that if we were ashamed of Jesus before men he would be ashamed of us before his Father. The fear of the Lord struck my heart when I heard that. As I stood there with this battle between the fear of God and the fear of man going on inside me, suddenly Bud, my big brother stepped out and walked down the isle to receive Jesus. I was right behind him. Years later Bud was one of the first American airmen killed in the Vietnam War. I believe I'll see him again in heaven.
When we walked home that night, I felt so good! I had peace with God for the very first time, knowing that my sins were forgiven and that when I died I would go to heaven. For the next few weeks I prayed all the time and sang the songs I had learned at the tent meetings, but little by little the spiritual fires within me began to die down and cool off.
I was raised in a home where we seldom ever went to church. The effect of the revival in Roscoe on my family did not last long and my Dad had a serious drinking problem. Drunkenness, foul language, partying, fighting, quarreling, and immorality surrounded me much of the time in those days.
Over the years I had developed habits of lying, cheating, stealing, smoking, cursing, fighting and several other character traits of a typical budding criminal. Now that I had received Jesus into my life, things were different. But satan does not give up easily and . . .
One day I was alone in the kitchen when I saw a woman’s purse laying on the cabinet. As I stood there alone, looking longingly at that purse, I thought, "There must be money in that purse, but I can't steal it now 'cause I'm a Christian."
Then I remembered what I had heard someone say about "the age of accountability." They said we are not responsible for our sins till we are twelve years old, and I was still eleven years old. It would be several months before I would turn twelve. So I prayed a short little prayer, "Lord, I will come back to you when I am twelve, but I am going to take that purse."
So I grabbed the purse, ran out the back door, ran down into the woods, scrambled behind a huge bolder and opened up the purse. My heart sank! It was EMPTY! I had sold out for NOTHING!
I was numb with guilt and regret and if I had only known about confession and forgiveness I would not have wandered in sin for the next several years. I did not know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin and that confession and repentance would have put me back on track again.
But that was the beginning of six wasted years, living the life of a prodigal son. I did not return to God on my 12th birthday, or my 13th, or 14th, or 15th, or 16th, or 17th. I went all the way down to the pigpen following my selfish ways.
Then tragedy struck. My mother was killed in an auto accident on Mothers Day, May 10, 1952 in San Angelo, Texas. At the time I was working in the oil fields in Mineral Well, Texas. I was almost 18 years old. I can still hear the tremble in Bud's voice on the phone that night when he called to tell me that Mother had been in a car wreck. When I asked him how bad she was hurt he said, "Bob, she's dead." I can still hear those words and I still feel the pain in my heart at the memory of that awful night nearly fifty years ago.
After Mother died, I knew I had to turn my back on the life of sin that I was living. I left Mineral Wells, moved back to San Angelo and started to attend a little Baptist church one block from my house. I made a public confession of my faith in Jesus and was baptized in the Concho River near Christoval, Texas in July of 1952.
Jesus became my Lord, my life, my joy, and my strength. One day I found a little Gideon New Testament and as I read, I began to grow in the knowledge of God.
My girlfriend, Joni Montgomery, had secretly been praying for me that I would be saved. She had received the Lord when she was twelve. When I came back to God, she renewed her walk with the Lord and became my strongest support. We were eventually married and she has become my lifelong partner in this walk of faith.
Our pastor, T. H. Harding, asked me one day, "Bob, what are you planning to do with your life?" I said, "Well, I don’t really know. I like to play the guitar and sing and write songs." My driving ambition at the time was to be a country and western recording artist.
A few days later Pastor Harding took me to Howard Payne College in Brownwood, TX, about a hundred miles away, and helped me get enrolled. I had dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, but they allowed me to take an entrance exam and suddenly I was a college student!
When I was age 19 and Joni was 17 we got married and moved from Texas to California and over the next 25 years God blessed us with seven children, five daughters and two sons.
While still a teenager I committed my life to be a missionary and for the past 49 years I have been telling people about Jesus, and teaching others to do the same, all over the USA and in several foreign countries.
Jesus has made all the difference in my life. He provides all my needs. He picks me up when I fall down. He comforts me in times of sorrow. He awakens in me a desire to live a pure and holy life. He helps me to resolve my problems. He heals me when I get sick. He keeps me from the snares of the devil. He helps me forgive those who hurt me. He gives me wisdom and direction in the decisions of life. He reveals truth to me when I read the Bible. He enables me to teach, to share the good news of God's love with others. He gives me strength to reach out and help those in need.
I am so thankful I heard the simple message of God’s love and forgiveness at an early age and gave my heart to Jesus!
If you have read my story this far, you are more than mildly interested in the things of God. I want to share with you how very simple it is to receive Jesus into your life.
If you know that you have sinned, and if you believe that God loves you and sent Jesus to die on the cross for your sins, you can pray this simple prayer and Jesus will come into your life:
Dear God, I know I have sinned, but I believe you love me and sent your son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die in my place to pay for all my sins. I invite you, Lord Jesus, to come into my heart right now and cleanse me from all my sins. Make me the kind of person you created me to be. Thank you for hearing my prayer and for coming into my life.
If this prayer is the desire of your heart, pray it right now. Jesus will come into your life and take away all your sins; he will transform your life and you will have peace with God that passes all understanding!
If you would like to have a copy of THE LIFE OF JESUS written by John, one of Jesus' disciples, send me your address and I will send you one free of charge.
SPIRITUAL SYNERGISM
Several years ago I was physically tired and worn out most of the time. A friend noticed my droopy appearance and gave me a bottle of some kind of tea or tonic that he said would give me some energy. It was a mixture of herbs, vitamins, and minerals. I took some of it and a couple of days later I started feeling a great boost in my energy level. Apparently that particular mixture had infused ENERGY into my system.
One morning I was lying in bed right after I awoke and the word "synergism" came into my mind. I didn’t know what it meant, but I felt the Lord wanted to show me something, I got up and looked up that word in the dictionary and found that it has to do with certain mixtures. When two elements are combined and the total effect is greater than the sum of the two effects taken independently, it is called a synergism.
For example, if I have three stones and each one weighs one pound, when I put them on the scales together they will weigh three pounds. But if that mixture of three stones is synergistic, they may weigh thirty pounds! A synergism has an explosive element that multiplies the effect simple because certain elements come together.
I believe there is such a thing a SPIRITUAL SYNERGISM! When certain people get together, there is an explosion of spiritual energy. When certain elements of ministry come together there is a dynamic surge forward!
For ten years I have labored in this ministry to plant house churches. There were some victories and we did succeed in planting a few churches here and there from time to time, but, on the whole, it was a very discouraging program. Then about two years ago, God added the Home Bible Colleges. We have seen remarkable strength added to the house church vision through the addition of the home Bible colleges.
Then about a year ago, the Lord added the Healing Rooms, John G. Lake style. That gave us a spiritual synergism that has caused exciting things to start happening wherever we start the healing rooms alongside of house churches and home Bible colleges. More recently the Lord has spoken to us to add one final H to the mix . . . houses of prayer. Now we have a 4H Vision . . . House church, Home Bible colleges, Healing rooms, and Houses of prayer.
Wherever we start a house church it will be our goal to start the other three ministries. Wherever we start the ABC (Alpha-Omega Bible College), in God's time, we will start the other three. Wherever we start the Healing Rooms, our goal will be to start house churches, home Bible colleges, and houses of prayer.
FORTY TRENDS BACK TO SIMPLICITY
Rethinking the Nature and Function of Church
By Robert Fitts
1. From the sanctuaries to the streets. (Doing the works of Jesus wherever we find a need)
2. From Christianity to Christ. (Not a philosophy or a system, but Christ in you!)
3. From church houses to house churches. (Simplify to multiply)
4. From upward to outward growth. (Plan to have a church split! You’ll be blessed!)
5. From paid pastors to common, ordinary tentmakers. (Rejecting the clergy/laity system)
6. From a special priesthood to a priesthood of all believers (All are ministers & preachers)
7. From hierarchy to servant leaders. (The great ones are those who wash feet)
8. From weekly worship to constant worship. (Worship is more than singing. Rom. 12:1-2)
9. From bringing people to church to bringing church to people. (A life changing prayer) *
10. From symbolism to substance in the Lord's Supper (Take it often. Take it with a meal)
11. From denominations to Spirit-led networks (Identify with the whole Body of Christ)
12. From social respectability to salt and light. (Turn the world upside down. It needs it!)
13. From performance by professionals to I Cor. 14:26 meetings. (Everyone has something to share)
14. From program based to home based church. (Liturgical, Evangelical, Informal, which is largest?)
15. From the seminary system to the apprentice system.. (Two Timothy Two Two)
16. From tenth to total in our giving. (When generosity is encouraged, reward is promised. Ck. it out!)
17. From selective submission to total submission. (To every authority, everywhere, all the time)
18. From titles to function. Call no man teacher, father, Rabbi. (What about "Paul, an apostle"?)
19. From independence to inter-dependence (Embrace the city-wide church)
20. From paper membership to Body membership (We ARE members one of another, already!)
21. From the wheel to the vine (Releasing teams to plant simple churches in homes all over town)**
22. From organizational unity to spiritual unity. (There is only one step to unity - Rom. 14:1, 15:7)
23. From Safeway or Circle K to Safeway and Circle K. (Receive everything that God receives.)**
24. From "Us and them" to just "Us" (Refuse to allow an "us and them" spirit in your midst)
25. From planned church to spontaneous church. (Recognize ekklesia when 2 or 3 gather in his name)
26. From bondage to freedom for women. (Acts 2:17-18, Gal. 3:26-28. Freeing God’s ministers )
27. From presbytery without the people to presbytery with the people involved. (Acts 15:22)
28. From arbitrary guidelines to biblical guidelines for appointing elders (I Tim. 3, Titus 1)
29. From "my pastor" to "my pastors." (MR. PASTOR, TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS!)
30. From raising up leaders to appointing servants. (The ground is flat in God’s kingdom)
31. From local vision to world vision. (Jesus last command: (All the world, every person, every nation)
32. From building my kingdom to building His kingdom. ("Come and let us help you fulfill your vision")
33. From wall-wide church to city-wide church. (They filled Jerusalem with their teaching)
34. From fear of stealing sheep to fear of possessing sheep. (Acts 20:28-31. One city-One flock)
35. From building-centered pastors, to people-centered pastors. (Acts 20:28-31. One city-One Body)
36. From using the word "church" to using the phrase "the Body of Christ." (Acts 19:32-41)
37. From restricted to unhindered fellowship. (I’m a member of every church in town.)
38. From overwhelming oversight to restful oversight. (Tomato plant, Fire, Starter motor)**
39. From lecture Bible study to interactive Bible study. (The Body of Christ ministering to itself)
40. From dependence on programs to dependence on prayer. (the Acts 4:29-30 kind)
* Father, give me a divine appointment with someone today who is hungry for God or in need. Give me sensitivity to know when that happens and grace to minister the love of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
** These allegories are found in the body of my book Forty Trends.
An Invitation
Will you help us start one of these ministries in your Town? Your City? Your University? Your Church? Your Home? Pray about it and if God leads you to co-labor with us, contact us at:
Outreach Fellowship International - INDONESIA
DAVE BROOS
MOBILE PHONE: 081330135643
E-MAIL: davebroos@yahoo.co.uk
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