Recently our team got asked by two different groups how we address the threat of heresy in churches.  Isn’t a recipe for disaster to have smaller churches, no heirarchical church structure in place, and no person in a pulpit teaching the people what is and isn’t correct doctrine?  This is an excellent question, and while I have given my own responses to this, I want to recommend an excellent article by Neil Cole on how you can avoid heresy in your churches, entitled, “The Threat of Heresy in the Organic Church.”  

Caveat: In Cole’s article, he describes how Life Transformation Groups have been part of the solution for his churches.  We have used LTGs in E-Ho but they are not the centerpiece to our ministry.  We’ve been doing Discovery Bible Studies and life-on-life accountability in ways that meet the needs LTGs do, which we think may be even better given our context.  The main thing is, putting the Bible back in the hands of the people and letting God’s Word (not a church leader) be the teacher.  Cole makes a great point about being patient with new believers when heresy does pop up (letting new believers learn from their mistakes as opposed to micromanaging and thinking for them all the time).  His observations about the ‘greater threat’ in our churches is superb. 

Check out the article here.  Well worth the read!