An emerging Apostolic Picture

''This section originally appeared as part of Why this book? in the Manifesto v0.8. The other sections of that chapter appear below'':


 * The Shake-up
 * The Age of the Spirit
 * New Spiritual Leadership
 * New Reformation
 * Sacrificing the Church's Idols
 * Disciples Answering the Call


 * Expect Conflict
 * The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
 * Summary of Why this Book?
 * Goals of the Manifesto
 * An emerging Apostolic Picture

What picture emerges if we connect all the dots? A global house church based apostolic partnership – including the challenge for you to join an entirely new global missions venture that I call The Starfish Partnership. With the emergence of a new global phenomenon - hundreds and thousands of starfish-type multipliable house churches and networks - something has suddenly become possible that was utterly unimaginable only a few years ago. The actual and realistic finishing of the job Jesus left the church: the discipling of all nations on this planet.

One of my basic themes here is that the entire thinking pattern established behind CAWKI is faulty to the core and needs to be changed. Ideas have consequences, and if we want to see things changed, we do not have to change our practice, but our ideologies legitimize our practice. As we then “change our thinking” (Romans 12), our actions will follow. As Christians, we have been victims of too many lofty theological opinions. That is why I will try to connect every major statement I make here with the bedrock of biblical revelation and indicate references of biblical texts in brackets. The inspired word of God is the only available plumb line for life and faith, and I have done my best to show biblical principles based on biblical theology first, before I come to implications and applications. If you seriously want to study what I propose here, I recommend you have your Bible ready to re-examine some thoughts and theologies that are new or unfamiliar to you before you dismiss or accept them. It is my passion for biblical theology that makes me believe that the truth will set us free. But more than that, it is my passion for the person of Jesus that has taught me that it is never theological systems, doctrines, or the letter of the law that breathes life, but our intimate, personal, and passionate relationship with the lover of our soul, Jesus, that ultimately makes all the difference in the world – and beyond.
 * Ideas have consequences