June 17,
2005
BILD's
flagship course, Acts: Keys to the Establishment and Expansion of the First
Century Church, by Jeff
Reed, has received a
major update. Since the course was first written in 1984, Jeff was aware of
many important articles that had been written on the role of the church and
missions that could significantly benefit the course and the resultant
conversation engaged in by leadership teams studying the course.
The
Advanced Edition of the Acts course has received a total of eight new articles by
these cutting edge authors: David Hesselgrave, Arthur Patzia, two by James F.
Engel and William A. Dyrness, Kenneth B. Mulholland, Ted Ward, Roland Allen,
Jonathan Chao, and Jeff
Reed. Primarily,
these articles bring the course up to date on the research on social structure
and the history of the Early Church.
Though
significant readings have been added to the course, the overall objectives,
issues, and projects, which have been life changing for so many churches and
leaders, have remained the same. The course directs leaders in grappling with the
biblical keys from the Early Church, as recorded in the book of Acts, that allowed those
churches to become established and multiply, and how those principles must
affect our churches and church movements today. Leadership teams going through
the course will design their own models to use in planting churches and helping
them become strong and multiplying, keeping local churches central in the
expansion of the Church. The principles of this course are also essential for
rapid church planting movements seeking to stem the attrition, which so easily
plagues them today.
The new addition is now available in the U.S., since all permissions
have been obtained for use of the articles. (Permissions are currently being
sought for international use in English and other languages.) If you have
purchased an English Acts course in the past and want to update your course,
you may purchase the new contents from BILD for $25. The regular price for the
course is $55 for the Advanced Edition (18 articles) and $35 for the Basic
Edition (8 essential articles).
We are very pleased to offer this updated,
expanded course. We believe it will be even more effective in helping church
leadership teams think through the critical missional issues they must wrestle
with in order to be alive in their mission—empowering leaders and the whole
church and church movements in fulfilling the Great Commission.
