The Church

THE "CHURCH"

WHAT IS "THE CHURCH"?
Since the second or third century, Christians have referred to themselves as "the Church." We have become accustomed to the word "church" without understanding how it came about or why. By researching the origins of certain Greek and Latin words, we have found that there is no such word in the original languages of Scripture. We have also discovered that the New Covenant established in Jesus Christ's blood was a fulfillment of God's promise that He would one day make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31; 33:14; Hebrews 8:8). The religious systems known as "churches" are descendants of Roman Catholicism which grew out of early attempts to clericize the assemblies of believers. The truth is that the New Covenant was made with Israel. Only Israelites and Gentiles who receive Jesus enter into that covenant. Gentile believers are grafted into Israel; they are not something different called "the church." If this startles you, read this report and judge for yourselves. NEW! (View the PDF)

THE EMERGENT CHURCH - A New Path to Ancient Religion
Over the past few decades there has appeared a new way of looking at church ministry which incorporates a more world-relevant approach to church services. Called the emergent church movement, it was born out of a feeling that in many modern churches something has gone wrong, especially in failing to attract the younger, postmodern generation. NEW! (View the PDF)

THE PURPOSE DRIVEN PROGRAM - A growing PHENOMENON in the Churches
Thousands of churches around the world are incorporating teachings found in two best-selling books and disseminated through seminars. Those two books The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church, have taken the Christian community by storm. This phenomenon is the product of Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., situated at the base of the Santa Ana Mountains in Orange County. NEW! (View the PDF)

APOSTOLIC REFORMATION - A New Move or an Old Deception?
A recent phe nomenon described as a"move of God," termed "Apostolic Reformation," is implementing a plan for world evangelization through the efforts of Global Harvest Ministries (GHM) under the direction of C. Pe ter Wagner. It has taken a few years for this move to get into high gear, but it is now impacting a large number of churches. Apostolic Reformation posits that God is restoring the offices of apostles and prophets, and that C. Pe ter Wagner, in particular, is the apostle God is using to implement that restoration. NEW! (View the PDF)

THE ALPHA COURSE - Chapter and Verse on Alpha's Jesus
By Dusty Peterson and Elizabeth McDonald with Introduction by Albert James Dager
Few Christians today have not heard of the Alpha Course, offered to churches as an opportunity to explain the Christian faith to those who do not know Christ or to Christians who want to review their faith. The following introduction to Alpha is found on the course's Web site: NEW! (View the PDF)