This is a tremendous conference and an excellent resource opportunity. I have attended this conference, and would highly recommend it to all Colorado House Churches. With speakers like Wolfgang Simpson, Frank Viola, and Paul Young (author of The Shack), you know you will get a lot to chew on.

Below is an email from Tony Dale about the conference, click here for the House2House 2008 Conference Flyer.

I am dropping you this note to enlist your help in getting word out about the H2H National conference, and to bring you up to date information on what we believe will be accomplished by the conference. Through your mailing/emailing lists, if you are open to helping us in this way, many who are likely to be interested in what this conference is about will be able to hear and possibly decide to come because they value your perspective and endorsement.

This year, we are hosting a very special conference in Dallas, Texas. I’ve attached a flyer that explains the details of this conference. The conference is over the Labor Day weekend, which this year is the last weekend in August.

Specifically, I’m asking if you would kindly send a special one-time email blast to the people on your mailing list with your encouragement to people to seriously consider going, with the attached flyer. The subject line of the email could say something along the lines of: “The 2008 National House Church Conference.” We would like to extend our “early bird” registration rate to your contact as our thank you for you doing this email blast for us.

Registrations are already at the highest level we have ever seen for one of these National conferences. In fact they are running more than 2 X’s higher than we have ever seen for this early in the summer. The Holy Spirit is obviously drawing people. The mix of those speaking and the four “tracks” that will make up the bulk of the conference experience are also a factor in drawing people. These four tracks, of which people will be able to choose one primary track to be a part of are:

• House2Harvest-Reaching the unreached through world missions
• House2Harvest-Maximizing our workplace involvement and impact
• House2Harvest-Understanding the basics of House Church life
• House2Harvest-Relationship Christianity: Deepening our walk with God and with each other

Those speaking at the main sessions, will also each be involved, but under the facilitating leadership of others within the four tracks that will define the conference experience. We are very blessed to have the following coming as our main speakers within the plenary sessions:

• Dennis Balcombe – Missionary extraordinaire to the Chinese House Church movement.
• Wolfgang Simson – Author of “Houses That Change The World” and “The Starfish Manifesto”.
• Frank Viola – Author (with George Barna) of “Pagan Christianity” and many other books.
• Paul Young – Author of “The Shack”, which has taken the Christian world by storm over the past year.
• Felicity and I will also be involved in the plenary sessions

Although our official “early bird” registration date is already over, if you contact Paul Byerly at paul@house2house.com he will give you a “Registration Code” which when used by your contact list by June 20th will give them the same early bird registration rate as those who heard about the conference and registered early through the H2H lists. This rate will need to be limited to those who register by June 20th to help our planning processes. Please also note that the pre-conference day for network leaders and others in Christian leadership positions is already 70% full, and so if you have contacts that you think need to be a part of that pre-conference day, please urge them to register now, as we have to limit numbers there to around 100 because of limited space available at the hotel on that day.

Thank you very much for your consideration. If you have any questions, please feel very free to contact me directly.

Tony Dale on behalf of the H2H conference planning team.

People of every age, race, and class. Leaders from Virginia, Denver, Chicago, Oregon, Boston, Colorado Springs, Ottowa, L.A., Maryland, San Francisco, and… Southeast India.

“I don’t want to plant churches. Jesus said ‘I will build my church’ and he’s a lot better at it. I would rather build families, because we know the church is not somewhere we go, something we do…it is who we are.”
That is my quote/paraphrase of the opening remarks of the facilitator.

I have long desired one family under our Father, yet have seen divisions along racial, theological, denominational, and class lines.

Father, thank you for work in simple churches, small communities of faith…families which are laying aside the old divisions under the headship of Jesus Christ.

Brian

Stapleton is a growing neighborhood in Denver, built on the former site of our airport. As you walk through the open air malls, there are young trees in the middle of large circles of soil. Three metal stakes surround the base, and strands from each stake connect to the diminutive trunk. Though the tree is young and no more than 8 feet tall, it is obvious what Stapleton intends for these saplings to become. Tall, strong trees providing shade in the summer, and beauty throughout the year.

Imagine now this same setting…a large circle of soil, three metal stakes, three strands…connected to a seedling about one foot tall. A bit odd you might say? Not only that, but the seedling would either be ripped out of the ground or choked to death. These growing organisms benefit from support that is designed for their stage in the life cycle of a tree.

In our church network, Ancient Paths Church, we have begun to multiply churches into several neighborhoods in Denver. As we grow, our need for support also has grown. We have begun a monthly leadership meeting for house church leaders and shepherds to share God stories, encourage one another, share church family needs, and share lessons learned. With almost a half dozen churches in existence or starting soon, there were about 15 people in the room. This monthly meeting will be essential for us to stay connected, encouraged, and focused.

In Colorado at large, we have begun to gather together from across the state to accomplish similar goals. Previous posts here on this website talk about the blessing it has been to share our challenges, blessings, and lessons learned. in the past months, opportunities have also begun to arise for training through several of the church networks. It has seemed good to the Spirit and to many of us involved in leading networks to begin praying about how we can grow churches, disciples, and leaders tall and strong.

All of this has happened….quite organically. As the need has arisen, the Head of the church has placed it upon the heart of individuals to exercise their gifts for the benefit of the church.

It is far too easy too look for hard and fast models. “If you want a healthy church network have 1 local leadership meeting each month with 3 leaders from each church, 6 community gatherings per year, attend 2 national conferences, read 8 books…” Too many of us have experienced the fruitlessness of building a house in vain, where the Lord has not been the builder. It is also seductive when experiencing growth to take too much credit for that growth. It is true that the skilled gardener deserves her due, but also the One who provided the sun, rain, seed, soil, and fertilizer.

Are you looking for wisdom in how to grow your church sapling into a tall, strong tree? The Lord knows better than any other the condition of the soil and those seeds that grow best. He knows the gifts His Spirit has given to the members of the body, and following His lead will provide the best context for those gifts to thrive.

Pray for wisdom to know what supports your community needs. If you don’t see those supports available, perhaps you are the one to begin praying for them, and initiate offering them to others!

Do you have training opportunities or support ideas gained from your church networks? Leave a comment to this post and share how God is working.

About ColoradoHouseChurch.com!

We want this site to help tell the story of what God is doing in our beautiful state through Spirit gathered communities of faith. We also want to be a resource to the same…so tell a couple friends about this site, or link to it from your blog!

A Miracle is something only God could do, and I can confidently say I have been blessed to be a part of a very unique one.

    Over a year ago, my family left our traditional church, feeling the call of God to start gathering from house to house in Aurora and east Denver – just as the believers did in the New Testament. When we first started, we did not know that there were so many others doing the same thing all over the place! A few months later, through a series of God-ordained events, we made our first contact with another “Simple church” in the five points area near downtown Denver. I remember emailing Desi Starr (I had found him by chance through house2house.org) and going over to their home a couple nights later to meet and share what God had been doing with us. This began a close friendship between us and our house churches, which shortly thereafter included a meeting with John White, local DAWN associate and house church friend.

    Well 4 or 5 months ago Desi, myself, and another brother started talking about the need for holding a larger gathering of simple churches every few months for support, fellowship, and a larger vision. We proceeded in presenting the idea to a few other simple churches we knew around here, and it seemed that nearly everyone was feeling the same desire to be connected to other simple churches around the front range. So back in October, on a Saturday evening we gathered for the first time in Golden, CO for an evening of sharing food, testimonies, and fellowship. We weren’t sure how many would show (at least 50 would’ve been nice!) but when the event arrived there were an estimated 150 or more people (not counting the kids) packed into this fellowship hall from house/simple churches all over the front range (from down in Pueblo all the way up to up in Fort Collins!). People from different denominations, different backgrounds, different beliefs – but all gathering with one purpose - to love Jesus and love and build up one another.

    What’s the miracle? The Christian church here in America has been segregated by denominations for so long, it is hard to see how it will ever regain its original unity (remember the wonderful diversity and unity of the “love feast” gatherings of the early church?)… Personally, in all my life I’ve never been a part of a church gathering with such incredible diversity and such incredible unity at the same time - but God is doing it, right here and now!  In our planning sessions alone between gatherings (of 8-12 people), we have at least 8 different denominational backgrounds represented (Lutheran, evangelical free, southern baptist, foursquare, presbyterian, campus crusade, grace brethren and united pentecostal). Imagine how many denominational backgrounds are represented when we come together in our larger gathering of 150+ people! What could people from such different backgrounds and belief systems possibly have in common? Well, at least 2 things: A sincere love for Jesus Christ, and a burden to see simple churches of all kinds in every neighborhood along the front range.

    You can experience this miracle as well.

Our next Colorado house church gathering is Saturday, January 12th at 5pm! (see below)

Much love to all the brethren :) 

-Sean Hyatt, Aurora CO, 303.523.2315

________________________________________________________        As always, we seek to keep the Head of the Church (Jesus) at the head of our gatherings, but here are the general details:

Come one, come all to the next Colorado House Gathering!

Some background…
House church network leaders from around Colorado gathered this week to share what God is doing in our lives and our churches. We rejoiced at a variety of stories from the revolution, stories of the kingdom of God at work here in Colorado. It was truly breathtaking.

We also marveled at the amazing encouragement and fellowship in our last gathering. It seemed good to us and to the Spirit to get another such gathering on the Calendar!

As always, we seek to keep the Head of the Church (Jesus) at the head of our gatherings, but are the general details

5pm: Sharing a meal around the tables. Bring your own meal.

5:45pm: a few songs from the worship team

6pm: “World Cafe” We will have some key questions prepared about what God is doing in your house church, obstacles for growing healthy churches, and more. Around our tables, we will share with each other from our hearts and experience. Call it eavesdropping on the Spirit of God, it is going to be an awesome time of sharing.

7:30pm: worship through some amazing music. If you were there last time, you will remember how wonderful it was to be in the midst of 100′s of brothers and sisters praising the Lord. We are going to sing until people don’t want to sing anymore. So stay as long or as short as you want!

The location is the same: Hillside Community Church, 103 N Ford St, Golden, CO
However, we will be in the big room this time to avoid standing room only like last time!

***Have suggestions of questions you want us to discuss? Leave a comment to this post with your ideas!

Look forward to seeing you there!

Last year, my network of churches in Lakewood began meeting every 8 weeks with a network from Golden for mutual encouragement and celebration. More recently, we have begun meeting with the leaders of networks in central and east Denver. Out of this flowed a combined Celebration on October 20th which included worship, sharing and vision casting for our city. It was a packed night and some people were standing for over two hours as people shared from house churches all over Denver Metro. We had people all the way from the Black Forest area in the south to Ft. Collins in the north. There were over 100 people from at least 20 different house churches.

This is just wild, not only how many there are and how we are connecting and but the spontaneous growth that is happening among them. There was an excitement of the growing numbers of HC’s… guessing 70 or more in the Denver area. For the next gathering we may need to get a room about 4 times the size. There is a new website and we are trying to get all the house churches on the map. www.coloradohousechurch.com

Our vision of a house church within walking distance of every person in Golden/Lakewood… Denver ….Colorado… North America… is beginning to spread.

Does that make you want to be part of a HC …and the HC movement… and then join to help and/or start one after that?

Living for so much more and it is too exciting,

Jan Cowles
Lakewood, Colorado

jancowles[AT]comcast.net

How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!
Psalm 133:1

As I sat in a church nestled in the breathtaking hills of Golden, it was a realization of a deep desire. I have longed to see simple churches across Colorado united in worship of our God. Saturday was an awesome time of worship, sharing, and prayer.

Isn’t it great that we can celebrate the unity of Christ in the midst of great diversity? We dress ourselves different, we worship in different styles, we have different colors of skin and come from different neighborhoods. Saturday night was a time to celebrate the common thread of God’s love that is woven through all of our unique stories. This love, this unity of Spirit is what will make the world say…wow. I want that. Look how they love each other.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35

We had a small taste of that on Saturday night, and I’m already hungry for more! I would love to see opportunities for training in the principles and practices of organic church, dreaming about the marvelous things God wants to do here in Colorado, and praying to see it come to pass.

What do you want to see? We want to hear your input, so leave a comment and let us know!

Look for more news coming soon about the next gathering!

As is the case in many US Cities, God has brought the world to our doorstep. Due to violence and genocide in Burundi, the US Government has brought over 60 refugees (that we are aware of) here to Denver. They basically have apartments for 4 months, a sofa and beds, the clothing on their backs, and some food stamps.

Burundi has an equatorial climate (find out more about Burundi on Wikipedia). This means these refugees are going to be really cold in our Colorado mountain winters.

So we are looking for people to bring their old winter coats, boots, gloves, hats, pants, etc. Micah DeKorne from the Ancient Paths Church network will be collecting the clothing and coordinating the delivery to the refugees through our contact Chris. Micah and his roomate Mark also do TAP (tea and prayer), a time focused on prayer for the world. Get the details on our house church listings map.

Thanks for your help!

October 20th is the date for the upcoming Denver Gathering of house churches! For this first gathering we will be joining a network of house churches in Golden, CO who have been holding these types of gatherings for many moons now. We have perhaps a dozen different house churches in different locations around Denver (and along the front range) who are planning on representing that we know of (probably many more than that).

The meeting is for networking, worship, sharing, and fellowship among all the house churches who would like to participate. Please invite ANY and ALL who would like to join us there!! A few details about the upcoming evening:

-Childcare will be provided for young children

-Anyone who can is invited to bring a dessert to share (desserts only this time to keep it simple, so eat dinner before you come)

-ANYONE who would like to help with worship during the gathering (if you play an instrument, or sing, or just like to pretend to do either one please come early at 4:30pm to practice. Anyone welcome!

-The forum will be a time of fellowshipping, a time of worshipping together, a time of sharing (different folks will be sharing their stories, or their visions for what God wants to do in Colorado)…

-WHERE will it be? *** Hillside Community Church, 103 N Ford St, Golden, CO, @6:00PM ***

I am convinced that this gathering will be a huge blessing to all in attendance, so please join us in prayer that the Lord’s will be done!

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