Let the Church Meet in Your House!

Emerson T. Manaloto

Description

The communities in which we live all suffer alienation from God and the sin, social disorder and brokenness that follows. As Christians, we yearn to see our communities saturated with the good news of Jesus Christ, but there are countless obstacles to overcome in our churches and mission agencies as we seek to fulfil this vision. In this book, Emerson Manaloto offers the model of New Testament-based house churches as the vehicle for gospel ministry in communities around the world with specific applications for the Filipino context.
Examining four areas – leaders, learners, lessons, and locations – Dr Manaloto presents foundational principles of the New Testament that can be the basis for our own contemporary churches and ministry. Manaloto critically analyzes the house church in terms of its concepts in the first century, its context in the Greco-Roman world and its practices as outlined in the New Testament. This analysis is then used to draw conclusions for how twenty-first century small groups in the Philippines can be stable, mature, and multiply, resulting in the birth of more churches locally and globally, and the transformation of lives and communities as they encounter Jesus Christ.

Informations

• Publié par: Langham Creative Projects
• Date de parution: 31 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783687213
• Langue: English

Extrait

Emerson Manaloto combines biblical perspectives with contemporary practical concerns to address the pressing need for a view of the church that shifts priorities from programs to people. He competently and accurately sketches the profile of the New Testament church and then suggests ways that vision might be carried out in the Filipino church that he is so familiar with.
Douglas J. Moo, PhD
Kenneth T. Wessner Professor of Biblical Studies,
Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, USA
Chair, Committee on Bible Translation
The “house church” is not a new invention. It goes all the way back to the apostolic era of the early New Testament church. In the contemporary church age, “small groups” have made a significant impact upon the maturity, growth and discipleship of the church. While much literature has been published, Pastor Emerson Manaloto’s vital contribution lies in two significant ways. He presents a keen survey of the biblical, theological and sociological ramifications of small groups and house churches, as well as a practical assessment of the effective implementation of this pertinent church dynamic to the Filipino church. We can certainly learn from it!
Rev Edmund Chan
Leadership Mentor, Covenant Evangelical Free Church, Singapore Founder, Global Alliance of Intentional Disciplemaking Churches
One of the great delights in contemporary theologizing is to hear the ever-increasing voices from the Majority World. And one of the persistent challenges in global Christianity is to wrestle with what it means to be the gathered people of God in a world where traditions and institutions are increasingly being questioned. This questioning is also occurring within the church. How can we more fully shape our life together in the light of the biblical story as a way of worship, formation and service to the world? In this very readable text, Dr Manaloto gives us some answers from within a Southeast Asian context for being church as community rather than as institution.
Charles Ringma, PhD
Adjunct Faculty, Asian Theological Seminary, Manila, Philippines
Emeritus Professor, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada
Honorary Research Associate Professor, Studies in Religion,
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
I am grateful for the publishing of Dr Emerson Manaloto’s book, Let the Church Meet in Your House! Having studied small group ministry myself and having lived for years in the Filipino context, I have followed this study as it developed in our church. Many here in Asia have copied the latest small group models from North and South America, South Korea, and Singapore, but this is a Filipino model fit for the Filipino context, based on the historical and biblical perspective of the New Testament church. All of this is foundational for further theological and practical development of small group ministry for the future. I highly recommend this book!
Frank Pardue, DMin
Asia Director, WorldVenture
What makes this book an important contribution to the study of small groups is its specific consideration of both the New Testament and the Filipino contexts. We have a saying in Filipino, Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan (Those who do not know how to look back from where they came will never reach their destination). The book surveys the relevant works on small groups and growth groups, but does not stop there. Instead, Dr Manaloto goes back to his own history and culture in order to understand the challenges confronting Filipinos in the application of New Testament principles. The result is the much-needed contextual interpretation of the biblical teaching of home/house groups.
Federico Villanueva, PhD
Asia Regional Commissioning Editor, Langham Publishing
Scholar Care Coordinator, Asia, Langham Scholars

Let the Church Meet in Your House!
The Theological Foundation of the New Testament House Church
Emerson T. Manaloto

© 2019 Emerson T. Manaloto
Published 2019 by Langham Global Library
An imprint of Langham Publishing
www.langhampublishing.org
Langham Publishing and its imprints are a ministry of Langham Partnership
Langham Partnership
PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 9WZ, UK
www.langham.org
ISBNs:
978-1-78368-720-6 Print
978-1-78368-721-3 ePub
978-1-78368-722-0 Mobi
978-1-78368-723-7 PDF
Emerson T. Manaloto has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
Requests to reuse content from Langham Publishing are processed through PLSclear. Please visit www.plsclear.com to complete your request.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
The other modern Bible translations cited here (HCSB, NIV, ASV, KJV, ESV, and RSV) are taken from the Bible study software by Rick Meyers, e-Sword: The Sword of the Lord with an Electronic Edge , Version 7.7.7. Franklin, TN: Equipping Ministries Foundation, 2005. CD-ROM
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-78368-720-6
Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com
Langham Partnership actively supports theological dialogue and an author’s right to publish but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth here or in works referenced within this publication, nor can we guarantee technical and grammatical correctness. Langham Partnership does not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

Converted to eBook by EasyEPUB

This work is dedicated to my house , my loving and ever supportive wife, Dyan, and to our children, Paul Emerson and John Emerson, and to my church, Greenhills Christian Fellowship, and its small groups.
Contents

Cover


Foreword


Preface


Acknowledgments


1 Introduction


A. Background of the Study


B. Thesis Statement


C. Purpose of the Study


D. Research Methodology


E. Limitations of the Study


F. Literature Review (Condensed and Updated)


G. Theological Foundation of the NT House Church (Overview)


2 The Church and House Churches in the First Century


A. Concepts of a Church and a House Church


B. Context of Greco-Roman House Churches


C. Content of New Testament House Church Practices


3 The Church and Small Groups in the Twenty-First Century


A. Concepts of a Church and a Small Group


B. Context of Filipino Small Groups


C. Content of Small Group Theology


4 Research Findings and Summary


5 Conclusion


A. Recommendations for Further Research


B. Future Plans for Project Implementation


Appendix 1: The “Stairs” Diagram of a Church


Appendix 2: The GCF’s Growth Group Ministry


Biblical Basis


Philosophy of Ministry


Ministry Team


Policy Statements


Organizational Structure


Appendix 3: A Sample Study Guide Lesson


Appendix 4 : A Sample Action Plan


GCF’S DISCIPLE-MAKING GROUPS


Bibliography


About Langham Partnership

Endnotes
Foreword
This scholarly research, I believe, is on the road to becoming one of the most important textbooks in ministry, particularly for those who are praying for the saturation of the gospel in any given sphere or location. The book also affirms the vision and direction of the evangelical church in the Philippines to saturate the whole country, all cities and all spheres of society, with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Where conventional and traditional church-planting strategies cannot reach, the church must go back to the strategy of the apostles in the book of Acts to see the discipleship of the Filipino people here and everywhere around the world.
The last one hundred years in the Philippines saw the explosive growth of the number of disciples and the multiplication of churches in the Philippines. In 1974, denominations and church leaders gathered together to evaluate the growth of the church over the last century. It was reported that there were 600,000 evangelical born-again Christians and 5,000 local churches in the country at that time. That meeting also gave birth to a new cooperative discipleship and church-planting program in the country called Discipling a Whole Nation or DAWN 2000 Philippines, that aims to accelerate church growth by planting a church in every barangay [1] in the country.
At the end of the DAWN 2000 program, the count of the number of churches grew from 5,000 in 1974 to 51,300 in 2000. But it was noted that after the program, that there were still 20,000 bara