IKHTHUS

We are followers of Jesus Christ, like many others. But we don't see Christianity as a religion; we see it as a personal, intimate relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We don't 'go' to church (to an institution or organization), but we meet as the church with other believers, like the early church did. We believe that God calls every believer to 'make disciples' of Christ and not of a leader or institution, and so we spend time with people, helping them to become disciples of Christ.

An organic or simple church is just a group of people that, like a family, meets in houses according to the model set by the apostles and the early church. We have no denomination nor structures like an institutional church. We share together a meal, pray, sing and share together what God has taught us every week during our daily walk with him. No person has a higher rank, but we still have leadership, and no one will ask you for money, but we still give generously. We try our best to live out Jesus in our everyday life and support each other in doing so.

Sure you can! But remember, more important is that you fulfill Jesus' call to us done on Matthew 28:19-20: to make disciples of all nations! So, if you want to start a simple church, just keep in mind the following steps: Pray first, and ask God if He is calling you to open your house to start an ecclesia there? If God confirms, start with your family. Remember that God is already there where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name. Don't invite Jesus or the Holy Spirit! They are already there!! He is the host, we are the ones invited. So let the Holy Spirit take over and guide the meeting from beginning to end. Share a meal together and have the Lord's Supper during it, every time you meet as a church. Allow God to bring the people He wants to your house, as you share the Gospel of Christ with the people around you.

Many people think that there is no leadership in an ecclesia, but that's not true! The main leader in the church is Christ himself, but there are different people with different gifts that have different roles and functions in the church, according to Ephesians 4. There is certainly no hierargical structure in the simple church, like we see in institutional churches. They are more mature Christians that have the function of elders, that will help to keep the meeting and followers focused on Christ and the Bible, but they are also subject to the church as a body.

Tenth and offerings are not a must in the simple church. According to Jesus and the apostles, 100% of your belongings are the Lord's. You are just an administrator of everything. Give according to what God put in your heart, and to whoever God himself showed you. The early church did share everything and gave to the widows, the poor and the orphans, and also for missions. The elders had their own jobs and did not receive any regular financial support or payment. If they were full time in the elder's job, than people could give them - if they wanted - an offering, but it wasn't a payment. If God leads you to support financially someone or a project, just do it. In the early church, the church in Antioquia did once supported the church in Jerusalem that was in need because of a drought.

Many people tell us that simple churches are more prone to have false teachings, but this is not true. Because in the organic church every person has to submit to God and the church, every time they teach or prophecy, they are going to be judges by the whole church. So, if there is a false teaching, they will be immediately corrected by the church. Not so in an institutional church, where only the pastor, apostle or other leader claims to have the true. And what if not? How many people can just stand up in the church and tell the preacher that what he is saying is a false teaching?

Children are part of the church and the family of God. They should be part of the meetings too. In most of the meetings in the OT and NT the children were there. They were never separated and taken into a 'bible school' or similar. Just let them be part. They can learn so much from adults discussing about the Bible, and many times we experience that they are also used by God to teach us something.

Sure you can! But we suggest that you first start meeting on a one-to-one basis to learn the basics, before joining the main group. We are also thinking in having special meetings only for non or new believers, and you are welcome to join that meetings.

First of all: start reading it! This is the most important step. Just read it; at least once completely! You can start with the book of John in the New Testament (NT), since John was the closest friend of Jesus. After John you can read the whole NT in order to understand Jesus' whole message and the development of the early church and the teachings of the apostles. And at the end read the Old Testament to get a better idea of Jesus' whole message and culture. But if you want to study the Bible more deeply, you can use some help, like biblical dictionaries and commentaries, or a free software that has most of it: e-sword. We recommend that you use the Vine and the Strong dictionaries if you want to understand the original meaning of a word and the grammar of the originals of the Bible, which were in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

It's great that you want to get baptized. We gladly will help you. Please contact us to arrange a time and place. Read carefully the materials on that topic that are on our page, or are going to be send to you. If you consider that you fulfill the spiritual and biblical requirements for being baptized, than there will be no problem. If not, let us help you and be prepared for this important step as a believer.

That's great! Prayer partners are very important. Just call us to arrange a time and place.

All materials in this website are for free to download and use. But we ask you to recognize the copyrights and not take parts of it without previous permission. We are willing to grant it, if you mention the authors and keep the copyrights clear. Materials not related directly to the Bible or spiritual topics, like personality test or coaching materials, may have a small fee to cover for the expenses related to creating that materials.

We will post different mission projects from time to time. When that's the case, and there is a need of financial support, we will post a special site for it and announce it in our future blog. Just keep looking from time to time in this site.