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A Free Course – The Fundamentals of Home Church 15 Oct 12:06 PM (5 days ago)

Want a free course on the fundamentals of home church?

Here is one I created a while back…10 lessons and 10 action items (to keep it practical) covering:

You can access the course here – Home Church Fundamentals

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!

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Ignorance Only Works So Long Before it is Disobedience 14 Oct 11:38 AM (7 days ago)

Why is it that Jesus can give direct commands and we completely ignore Him?

For instance, “Go and make disciples…” – Matt 28:19

That means someone else. That means “only the apostles.” That must mean anything other than “me”!

Here is the deal, if you don’t know how to make a disciple – go learn how. This will teach you how.

It is one thing to know he gave that command and another thing to know how to do it. Jesus trained his disciples to do what He said to do (go and make disciples) but today most people don’t even know that command and for those who do most don’t know how to obey it.

When we don’t know how to obey Jesus’ teaching, we go learn how. Ignorance only works so long before it is disobedience. Once you know the teaching, it is on you to obey it and if you don’t know how to obey it, learn!

I want to encourage you to take a few free online classes in that link that will help you be a disciple who makes disciples. There are also a number of tools in there that will give you PDF helps and an approach to make disciples as well.

When you run into question, please reach out to me. I want to help us all obey what Jesus commanded! matthewdabbs@hotmail.com

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Church in the Bible vs Church Today 14 Oct 11:24 AM (7 days ago)

Church in the Bible

In the early church, the apostles came through a town found people who were willing to have a conversation, shared the gospel with them, brought people to faith in Christ, baptized them and taught them further.

Eventually, the apostles left as local leaders emerged. Someone or a few someones opened their home for the gathering. People used their gifts as needs arose. It was highly participatory and very edifying. Some were paid to preach the gospel/teach including some elders. But by and large, the church family operated like a family with shared responsibility.

Their gatherings were small and intimate. There wasn’t a bunch of hierarchy, branding or signs saying to not bring your coffee into the gathering!

Church Today

2000 years later in America, we have dedicated buildings. Dedicated professionals, and few doing the work of the many. You can be a total spectator and no one would care as long as you keep showing up. Church has become more like a place you go than a people you are.

We now have organizations to do the work the church should have been doing. And we need those organizations to get things kick started. We have organizations to help feed the poor, make disciples, send people on mission, and so much more…and in the early days all of these things were the responsibility of each believer.

This means we now have less people using their gifts, less people opening their homes and less people trained to do the work of ministry. And that makes our churches weaker.

Two Big Questions

How do we shift back to an early church “spiritual family” operating system when so many have had so much done for them for so long that there is no sense of urgency to shift the system?

A related question is this, does the “system” described above need to be shifted in the first place?

Let’s talk!

PS – If you would like to read more about what churches can do? Read this. If you want to get access to over 500 videos exploring topics like this, check out my YouTube channel – Revolution of Ordinaries. The comments on the videos are also absolute gold!

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5 Reasons Home Churches are Essential to the Future of Christianity in America 18 Aug 10:35 AM (2 months ago)

There are countries in the world where the population growth rate has gone so low that it is nearly impossible to recover from. I believe something similar is happening to the traditional American church model.

Churches are closing.

That isn’t really new news. They have always closed since Paul’s day. But they are closing at a faster rate than normal. Pair the increase closure rate with a decreased planting rate and you have a real problem.

And that problem can become hard to come back from because the solution is so costly that it has become prohibitive (real-estate, salary, etc). This makes reproducing traditional churches incredibly difficult in the current climate when there is not a long line of people to fill them and pay the bills.

Enter home church.

Home churches are not perfect. They have their weaknesses. But they also have a lot of strengths that are ideal for a time like this.

Here are five reasons home churches are essential for the future:

1 – They are a solid biblical example of the early church.

The early church started in homes and stayed that way with exponential growth in a hostile culture for over 100 years. Our times are not that different from theirs. They moved from church at home to church as an institution over 300 years and we are moving back from church as institution to church at home again.

2 – Home churches are easily reproducible

Instead of needing millions of dollars and a steady cash flow to pay the staff and operate you already have what you need – a living room, park, backyard, etc and volunteers to do the work of the church. This costs nothing extra. The giving can go directly to needs.

And we need fast reproduction right now to catch the people who need the Christian community. We cannot build buildings fast enough to meet the need and many churches that are already in buildings are struggling as is. Homes can help this.

3 – The future church needs mature Christians and home churches tend to produce mature Christians

Christians mature in home church for a few reasons:

4 – Home churches are leadership/servant pipelines not leadership magnets

Traditional churches draw in leaders to fill positions. They typically don’t have a system for producing mature leaders “in house” to send out to other places. Home churches more naturally produce people who are equipped to serve/lead. The future is going to require more people who are willing and knowledgeable in the skills needed to advance the kingdom. Churches must produce them rather than relying on third parties to do it for the church (Seminaries).

5 – Intergen and kids participation

Home churches don’t typically silo off the children and that means home churches are prime to raise a generation in faith because the children, from day 1, are integrated members of the church family. Their voice matters. They are heard. They add value. They hear the testimonies and eventually share their own God stories. We need to raise a generation in faith that is just not going to happen through large scale age segregated ministries.

Here is more info on challenges to traditional church – Three Things the Traditional Church Needs to Survive.

If you want to learn the history of home churches, check this out!

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What To Do With the Kids in Home Church…4 Viable Options 11 Jul 1:44 PM (3 months ago)

This is the age old question but I think it is actually not the right question. This question could lead to babysitting kids while the adults talk and miss a huge opportunity to use the gathering time to include and mature the faith in our kids!

There are four options and I explain them at length in the video below:

  1. Full Inclusion
  2. Parent teaching rotation
  3. Hire a young adult to teach them
  4. Have the older kids teach the younger kids

We have gone through all of these options at different times and they all have pros and cons. This video gives a full explanation of all four along with pros and cons. It also gives a detailed explanation of how we prepare our older kids to teach and disciple the younger.

What have you found that works? Please share in the comments so we can all be blessed.

Check it out!

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Three Things The Traditional Church Needs to Survive (Hint – all three are being challenged right now) 24 Jun 12:40 PM (3 months ago)

The traditional church model (churches that meet in buildings, have paid staff, etc) worked as long as a few things were in place:

  1. A baseline of people who were brand loyal to fill the pews and make budget
  2. Low cost of real estate, salary, maintenance and other expenses
  3. A pipeline of people to fill the paid staff positions

But today…

  1. There are fewer brand loyal people…people will “try out” all kinds of churches, not just the one they were raised in.
  2. Costs are high and cost of living is high = need for higher salaries while the attendance/budget are often lower than they were a few years ago
  3. The pipeline for preachers is drying up so that the staff positions are sitting vacant for years

This means we need new approaches to continue to have flourishing churches.

How Home Churches Help

Home churches help solve these issues because they:

  1. Aren’t about a denomination or brand loyalty. There is no brand.
  2. They alleviate the hurdles of higher costs of the traditional approach (the host already pays their rent/mortgage and power bill)
  3. Don’t have to have paid staff to have a home church or the preacher pipeline.

I believe we need both approaches but what made the traditional approach the traditional approach is shifting and we need to be smart, spiritually sensitive, scriptural and flexible.

Thoughts on how we got here and where we are going?

The post Three Things The Traditional Church Needs to Survive (Hint – all three are being challenged right now) appeared first on Revolution of Ordinaries | Matt Dabbs.

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Is Fasting the Missing Piece In Your Faith? 4 Jun 7:28 AM (4 months ago)

Fasting may be a missing piece in your walk with Jesus.

I was messaging with a younger Christian and fasting came up. What made me so happy about that was they brought it up as something they saw as a next step in their walk. I couldn’t agree more. Fasting may be the most important thing that is least done.

Jesus on Fasting

Jesus started his ministry with fasting (Matthew 4). At one point he said his disciples don’t fast while he was with them but will fast when he leaves (Mark 2:19-20). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says “When you fast…” not “If you fast…” (Matt 6:16-18).

Jesus expects us to fast if we are able.

Why does it matter?

Not only did Jesus model fasting in his ministry. At one point he ties it to spiritual warfare. In some manuscripts at the transfiguration Jesus tells his disciples some demons only come out through prayer while other manuscripts say fasting and prayer (Mark 9:29). Either way, Jesus modeled in his ministry in Matthew 4 that spiritual warfare with the devil is best done through fasting.

Fasting is important for a few reasons:

1 – It helps us keep our flesh in check.
2 – It teaches us to rely on God/depend on God above all else
3 – It sets our mind/thoughts on God (when hungry, pray)
4 – It helps us discern what is from God and what is not as we tune into God through fasting and prayer.

If you want to know more about how to fast, here is a quick guide!

Quick Guide to Fasting!

A word of caution

Any time we engage in an activity that can change our relationship with God for the good, it can also change our relationship with God for the bad. Satan doesn’t like to see our progress. So he will tempt you to twist the reason for your fasting and make it about you rather than about God. You will be tempted to use it as a way to get things your way…to convince God you are serious. You will be tempted to use it for the power rather than for the weakness. And that will get you off track and put you in a worse position than when you started. So be aware!

The post Is Fasting the Missing Piece In Your Faith? appeared first on Revolution of Ordinaries | Matt Dabbs.

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Does the Restoration Movement Need Restored? 24 Apr 8:42 AM (6 months ago)

Does the Restoration Movement need to be restored?

What a question!

Some believe it was accomplished in the early to mid 1800s and we need to keep things frozen in time during the heyday of the Church of Christ.

But is that really the case? Or are there aspects of the Restoration Movement that neglected restoring some of the most important things? For instance, is God trying to get us to restore a church or is God trying to restore Christ-likness in us through the transformative work of the Holy Spirit?

I had the privilege of doing an interview on the Christian Chronicle podcast answering this question. If you are from a Church of Christ, Christian Church, International church of Christ background…this may hit home for you!

Thanks to the Christian Chronicle for allowing the hard things to be said openly and then, of course, critiqued.

Here you go! Click below to listen to the full interview (just under an hour – speed it up to 2X to get it in under 30 minutes 😉 )

Does the Restoration Movement Need Restored?

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Three Logos Packages That Help You Live Life on Mission! And they are on sale in April! 18 Apr 11:06 AM (6 months ago)

It is important that those who make disciples are students of the Word of God. Healthy discipleship and evangelism is grounded in a solid faith in Christ and that means a solid understanding of His Word. In the Great Commission at the end of Matthew, Jesus ties making disciples to teaching them to obey all He commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). The same is true at the end of the sermon on the mount where he connects knowledge with obedience to His teaching.

We need to be in the Word to learn and live the Word. We also need to be in the Word to share the Word with others. Like Paul wrote in Romans 10:14-15, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

We need to be people who understand the gospel, have faith in Christ, are living out our faith and sharing it with others. That means Bible study is going to be very important to our lives.

I do a lot of my study out of Logos Bible software and they are kind enough to periodically have me do some reviews here on the bog. So I went looking through the sales to find the ones that I thought best fit this audience and are at a hefty discount in April (2025).

Three Library Expansion Packages to Help you live life on mission

I found three packages that are a great combination for understanding the gospels, Jesus, the New Testament and Evangelism/Mission. What a great combo!

These packages of books come in three sizes to better fit most budgets: Small, Medium and Large. Here is what you can expect price/approximate number of books in the three sizes (each package is different):

Further discounts:

Logos discounts your price if you are a subscriber (5% off) and if you already own any of the books in the packages so you don’t pay twice for the same thing. There are also periodic coupon codes that you can find in the Logos Discounts facebook group (which I run and I encourage you to join).

Buying strategy:

I realize money can be tight and budgets are limited. Here is one thing to consider. Everything in Small is also in Medium and everything in Small and Medium are in Large. You can also buy a smaller package while on sale now and upgrade to a larger package some day in the future when they go on sale again and get dynamic pricing discount.

Evangelism and Missions Library Expansion (Large) – Review

This is the first package that caught my eye because it has an emphasis on evangelism and discipleship. This is my focus in ministry at this time and maybe it is for you as well. If so, then this package is truly exciting. Get all the details and buy it here.

Second, there are some notable scholars who I follow who have books in this collection:

Third, this is one of the most practical collections Logos has to offer, at least that I am aware of. This is not for people who want a lot of theory. This is practical.

If you want to learn evangelism, discipleship, disciple making, world missions and more…this is the collection for you with titles like:

You will also get info on apologetics, the history of missions and world religions with books on Islam, Mormonism, the Atlas of World Religions and books by Lesslie Newbigin.

Want to know the history of missions in Africa? This set has you covered. Want to be more effective in sharing your faith? You will find it here. Want to engage a friend but first want to understand their religious heritage better? This set has you covered.

Evangelism & Mission

Jesus and the Gospels Library Expansion (Large) – Review

There is no good news to share or disciples to be made without Jesus. Jesus told us to go and make disciples by baptizing and teaching people to obey everything He commanded. Studying Jesus is essential to mission and disciple making. Get all the details and buy it here.

This set has a lot of standouts that have helped me over the years like:

This list has an all star lineup of some of the best Jesus/Gospels scholars around. Many of these have been a blessing to me and have helped me grow in my understanding of Jesus over the years. So many of these people have a fairly conservative approach to the scriptures and are not theologically progressive.

I don’t know of a better collection on Jesus and the gospels and at $175 off!

Jesus & The Gospels

New Testament Studies (Large) – Review

This set is focused on the New Testament as a whole, then on the letters (with emphasis on Paul) and then the gospels (which are the primary focus of the set above).

You are going to find in this set a lot of material devoted to the New Testament as a whole with multiple introductions to the NT, the world of the New Testament, New Testament history, genre/rhetoric and the text of the NT. Get all the details and buy it here.

Here are some of the standout volumes in this set that are worth the price of the whole thing:

New Testament Studies

We don’t have to be a scholar to evangelize or understand every nuance of the New Perspective on Paul but I do find that I get to know Jesus the more I study the whole New Testament by scholars who have a heart for God and who take His Word very seriously.

If you want a video walk through of these three packages you can get that here!

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**New** Video Lessons For Your Home Church Or Small Group 8 Apr 7:46 AM (6 months ago)

Need video lessons for your home gathering, home church, small group or Bible class?

There are times the teacher needs a break or you just need another teacher in the mix.

These lessons are created with pauses for discussion, looking through the Bible together and prayer. Basically, I teach them just like I teach in home church – in a way that facilitates participation rather than just straight lecture.

The first lesson series is complete on Spiritual Gifts (8 lessons). Get the Spiritual Gifts Lesson Series here.

The second series is nearly done on Experiencing the Psalms (8 lessons). Get the Experiencing the Psalms Lesson Series here.

Check the video descriptions for a weekly lesson guide for your church/group members.

I would love for you to subscribe if you find this helpful – Home Church Resources YouTube.

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