OIKOS Australia

The audio from the day and evening with the Dale’s last Friday (27th) is up on the starfishoz website. ( www.starfishoz.com.au)  You can either click on the photo of Tony and felicity, or go directly via this link http://starfishoz.com.au/?p=485

We have received many comments about the accessibility and relevance of Tony and Felicity’s message.  No matter where you are in the journey of serving Jesus, these recordings will only serve to equip you further.  Share with your friends, family and those whom you feel would benefit from what you have heard. (As well as sharing what you heard yourself! 2Tim2:2!)

Craig
www.starfishoz.com.au

I went to the Wednesday session in Melbourne and Tony and Felicity both spoke.  They spoke about the difference they could see between established Church and House Church.  One thing that struck a cord with me was that Tony mentioned a lack of intimacy which I have noticed appears to be getting worse not only in the established Church but amongst friends and family. People seem to be afraid to say who they really are! Continue reading →

This is a section from their latest e-letter, mentioning their time in Australia.

Then came a whistle-stop tour of Australia.  Towomba (outside Brisbane), followed by Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and finally Perth, in Western Australia.  Six days of meetings in nine days in a country of this size leaves little time for site-seeing!  But the truth is that we were there to work!  As Jesus said, “Night is coming when no man can work.”  Tiring it was, but also a great blessing.  We had a real sense of the Holy Spirit on the move.  The great “wild goose chase” (a phrase that originally meant following after the Holy Spirit) is gaining momentum across Australia, as growing numbers of committed believers are seeking the Lord for transformation of their cities as well as their churches.  There were many highlights within these meetings, but a number specifically come to mind as I write.
?    Oikos Australia has been gently and faithfully finding ways to support the house church message in Australia for the past 19 years.  Bessie Pereira, their founder, has been willing to pay the price to pioneer, and her faithful work is now showing fruit all over the country.  This remarkable lady, one of the first women Anglican priests in Australia, gave up her “fast-track” within the Anglican communion to follow the Holy Spirit on a remarkable journey that is now seeing house churches sprout up all over Australia.
?   But it is not just Oikos as many other groups are being led into the challenges and the joys of simple church life.  Whether it was Transforming Melbourne sharing the platform with Oikos for the meetings in Melbourne, or the wonderful leadership provided by Peter Streicke and other Lutherans and former Lutherans in Adelaide, we  came away with the sense that there is a much greater openness to simple church concepts than we have ever previously seen across Australia.
?   Tools that we produce here in the States are relevant and appreciated in many other parts of the world.  We were blown away with how many had read our books, or used and passed on House2House videos and other resources.  This strongly confirms our sense that we need to continue to produce the DVDs and other tools that go up on the web to be freely used by the Lord’s people all over the world.

www.house2house.com

The current meetings are bringing inspiration and encouragement to many people around the nation.  Not only OIKOS friends we already know, but others in home churches have come out of the woodwork, plus those in various missional ministries are attending the events.  The big surprise is how many in traditional churches are appreciating this opportunity to be challenged to see simple church multiplication as a way forward.  Tony and Felicity very capably bridged these groups because of their involvement both with independent groups for many years, plus their close association with several mega churches in the United States who work alongside the house church movements.  One of the inspiring challenges that has come out of these meetings is to see legacy churches and home churches working together in greater cooperation in reaching people for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Both Tony and Felicity have a depth and graciousness in the way they impart effective teaching, stories and practical ways of engagement in simple church.  Their time with us will have a ripple effect that will be seen for a long time in the way missional home churches develop in our country.

I am thrilled that Peter Fowler, OIKOS W.A., was able to travel around with Tony and Felicity.  He will be able to bring a sense of the overall impact of these events and assist OIKOS as we develop follow-up gatherings.

I aim to gather reports from each of these events and will put them on this Blog as they come to hand – hopefully with photos, DVDs and podcasts here, on the web site and in the Spring edition of the newsletter.